As The Year Turns

Lowe's had bags of bulbs marked down to $5 from $19.95. Big bags - 100 daffodils; 50 tulips. The salescleark in the garden area said they have a 1 year gaurantee and I could get my money back if they don't grow. Hmmm.... I asked if the quality of the green thumb was questioned. Nope - just bring back the receipt. With that, who could say no to a sack of $5 bulbs? And then some little sacks of crocus bulbs.

I had an amarylis and some paperwhites bulbs that came with coco fiber pellets. After rehydrating with water, and using what I needed, I had leftovers that I can use for bulbs.

Freddies, getting rid of their Christmas stuff, had a couple of red galvanized containers, and a cute ceramic reen planter with a green base. Now I have the fixings for my winter container experiments.

I mixed the coco fiber with a big scoop of potting soil. Put some rocks in the bottom, then some of this potting mix. Some bulb food. Bulbs. More potting mix. Top off with some rocks. Half cup of water.

I put this container in a box, surrounding the planter with some straw. I'll give it to my neighbors for New Year's and hope it will bloom in spring!

Snome

A blanket of 3 inches of snow at the end of December.

The storm was short-lived.

2+ days, and it's still on the ground.

Temp today upper 40s.

Autumn Flowers

This is a Gazania blossom.
They bloom for a day, and then close up at night. Open next day and that's about it. I don't like them so much because they don't last very long. I hope I remember this when I buy plants next spring!

This next photo is meant to show the rain drops collected on this leaf. I don't remember the name of the plant, but it's a foliage plant.
I do like this one alot. Produced a good quantity of green under brush for the container.

I planted a couple containers of pansies, violas and mums with some bugle weed, and ornamental grass. The pansy is a tough plant from my experience. Some have lasted since spring when first planted. Lasted through the heat and all.

Origin of the word Pansy: c.1450, from M.Fr. pensée "a pansy," lit. "thought, remembrance," from fem. pp. of penser "to think," from L. pensare "consider," freq. of pendere "to weigh." So called because it was regarded as a symbol of thought or remembrance.

Needle Drop

What we have here is something called natural needle drop. This is the ponderosa pine that blossomed back in the spring and had magenta colored cones - also a natural process every couple years.

Pine trees drop needles every fall. Ponderosa's keep needles for about 4 yrs - these needles you see on the ground first appeared on the tree 2005-06. If the needle drop is more than usual, it means that 4 yrs ago was a great year for growing needles.

Sometimes needle drop happens over several weeks, or it can happen much more quickly. They say it depends on the weather. Last Sunday, I was mowing the lawn and there was no needle drop. Today, voila!

1st Blue

September 29 - First blueberry! It was sweet and ripe. This is the extent of the blueberry crop - yes, two (2) berries. But, since they usually don't bear fruit the first year, I hear, then this crop is overflowing!

Weather has taken a turn. Weekend was up to 80F. As of Monday, we have upper 40s, low 50s in the morning and high of 60ish. Today, sprinkles only.

Sunflower Status Report

The Lemon Queen Sunflower that I planted (as part of the Great Sunflower Project), have smallish blossoms, last for about 5 days or so. Then they slowly wither, dry out, and die to brown. The stems have been spindly for sunflowers. Too many to a container? Too much water? Not enough water? Or just the way the plant is? I dunno.



As they wither, the sunflower and stem start leaning over, as you can see here the 3 are headed south. I planted a wooden stake in the container and trussed them all up together. To keep the stake upright, I tied it off to the iron hanging planter in the middle of that patch of comfrey. The stems still seem a bit top heavy.

So far, only 1 seed head. The seeds don't taste like much though. I think the birds have been pilfering the seeds. This plant isn't grown for it's seed heads, apparently.

Weather today was mild, in the 70s, a bit cloudy by afternoon.

Flower Shots

I bought a new little ultra compact camera to supplement my larger one for trips and such. I am impressed by the way it handled some flower shots in the yard. Here are 3 examples. The bee is on an autum sedum which is flowering right now. For some reason, I thought the flowers were supposed to be on the orange side of the color wheel, but they appear pink to me. The bee is proof that the honey bees are still here! In fact I've had honey bees throughout the spring and summer.

Here is the interior of a petunia. This was totally an automatic pic, taken with the camera deciding all elements of shutter, etc. I cropped this to show how in focus the stamens and seed pods are.

The yellow viola I cropped to focus in on the flower. Violas have been hanging in here since early spring. They are rejuvenating now that the weather is cooling down some.

This Labor Day weekend was the first 2 days of rain in a row that we've had in some time. Today, it's about 70, sunny at the moment, with a slight breeze. Some clouds.