Garden's Last Bounty

On October 24th, I took this arrangement to garden club for the horticultural display.  I used the last of the blooms in the garden to fill the small Nantucket lightship basket:  mums, Sedum 'Autumn Joy', daisies, balloon flowers, lavender, heuchera leaf, sweet potato leaf, a gerbera daisy, some fountain grass, sage and rosemary.  I called it "Last Bounty".  The basket now sits empty on my windowsill reminding me of the scents, and colors, and textures of the garden that filled my summer but will just be memories until spring comes again.

Speaking of hunters--Where are those turkeys?

If you've been following this blog, you might remember that the wild turkeys started the idea of blogging.  I haven't seen them all growing season, but one late afternoon in October, they appeared.
I ran to get the camera and caught them as they disappeared in the high grasses across the street. You can see a tail of one and the neck and head of another one further into the laurels.  There must have been a dozen of them.  Many less than I had seen in April.

It interesting to see them again after so long--and at the end of my garden year.  The blog is winding down as the plants notice the shorter days.  The planter boxes on the deck were still supporting some bloom when the snows hit--and the electricity went out here for two days.

I pulled them into the garage before the storm and they are still blooming on the front porch, safe from frosts (after the snow?!) and getting some sun in the mid-afternoon before the sun goes down by 4:30 even though we've left Daylight Savings Time.  Neighbors remark when they see the Sunny Susans still budding! I plan to use the rosemary and sage next week for Thanksgiving.



Full Moon October--Hunter's Moon 10.10.11

It was a beautiful evening!

And a great year of gardening!

November 17th Fall is really here!

It's been a long time since I last posted. The garden has been overlooked for most of October after Hurricane Irene and more recently the nor'easter in late October.  It was hard to see the garden under 10 inches of snow on Halloween.  Now, the snow is gone but we had some pleasants days during October. I was kept from the garden by some sewing projects and a back that couldn't do winter clean-up. I hope to get the garden put to bed this weekend since the sewing projects are in hiatus.

I'm posting some photos I've taken in the past six weeks but didn't have a chance to add to the blog until now.

Visit to Lee May's garden in East Haddam 10.9.11

A creative use for tomato stakes--Chinese ribbon dance in the wind!

Old fence parts as trellises

Broken urn becomes two planters.

Old bottles reflect light on an old fence rail.

Cairn or inukshuk in CT woodland garden.

No mowing necessary with moss and gravel and stones.

Bonsai garden by the back door.

Beginning of CT autumn color.