I thought I'd go ahead and start a new thread before we got too far into October. What better way to introduce October and cool weather than with a pot of mums and pansies (well, at least one is blooming)! Happy Fall y'all!!
Fall into October
While I'm posting pictures, I thought I'd post this lovely bird I saw this weekend. It's a rose-breasted grosbeak, not normally one we see around here, so I guess he was just passing through. He was either at the feeders or at the birdbath most mornings. I managed to get a shot through the window.
Thanks Elaine for the new thread and the reminder that fall is in the air. Of course, no reminder needed here today...our high today was 72 and it's burr right now!!!
I have never seen that bird before. You are right, it is very pretty. Love the mums!!! I bought 2 black crepe myrtles that I am trying to figure out where to put them. They are small right now and I bought these pumpkin planters and the 2 look good together, I think. Upon looking at that picture, I see, I need to remove the black pots and just put them in the orange pot.
Cute bird! I haven't bought any mums but I have a pot that's blooming now! I'm terrible about mums. I just consider them an annual for pretty color in the fall and usually just leave them in the nursery pot and sit them around. I have a few pots I've never gotten around to throwing away and despite my neglect they are blooming now!!
I will plant some pansies but I usually wait until we have a frost before I plant them.
Rather than going to that trouble Jeri, just hide the black pots with some moss!
Last year I bought 3 mums and put them in the ground in late fall after they finished blooming, but I waited a little too long. Two died but one came back really huge this year and is blooming away in the garden. These 2 were really pot-bound, as I think most are and they need a lot of water.
Elaine maybe you paid too much attention to your mums!! LOL Mine that are blooming are from last year and still in the original nursery pot.
Hi Elaine, Jeri and Charlotte. I'm out and working in the garden once again. Waving at everyone; happy Fall. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a striking bird, Elaine, I saw a pair here several years ago. But haven't seen them since. Love those Mums, I've gotten some Pumpkins, and a huge pot of Mum yet to be set out as of yet. It has been in the mid 80's here. Tomorrow it's called for high on the 70'ish.
Kim so good to see you posting!! I've missed your posts. Hope all is well with you.
I think the high here today was 69. But it's warming up to the low 80's later this week. But fall is definitely in the air! I just don't like the short days!!! Getting dark way too early for me!
Me too Charlotte, I need the light, I hate long dark winter nights ! Hi Kim, how are you? I haven't seen you here in a while now.
Jeri, I love those crepe myrtles, that is the first I have seen of them, is the bloom white or pink? I can't really tell from the photo, and are they dwarf ?
LOL Sandra you probably walked by some of those Crepes at Jim's. If you find room for 1 let me know and I'll hang onto it for you.
Kim I like that grosbeak. Every now and then I'll see and odd bird around here.
Hey Sis!!! It never ceases to amaze me that Yall are warmer than we are!!! Hope Jim is fine and how is that new grand baby doing? I've missed you!!!
Sandra they are new to me too!!! I fell in love. These are just small now but will grow. The flower is white but the bud is kinda a reddish pink. Really different. I've had them under the carport where Clegg's Nursery had them in full sun and the new leaves are a bright green. I don't know if it's b/c they are in the shade are if that is how they start out.
Where were they Kenny? There was so much to see at Jim's !
I hope he is doing well
They where near the " do not touch" pile in pots. Easy to overlook with all that mess. I'll message you sometime about Jim.
You're probably right, Charlotte, lol!
Oh, I almost forgot to tell y'all! Thanks for voting in the County Fair, if you did! I won in the favorite farm animals category! My photo of our twin pygmy goat girls, Lucy and Sally, won! Check it out if you haven't done so yet. There are some great photos in that category so it would have been hard to pick a favorite. Picabo (Betty) won third with a pic of a newborn calf. She also entered several categories and her barn photo won and I think her art, plus she had several second and thirds. She is one talented lady!
Thank you Charlotte, Jeri, Sandra and Kenny for the welcome back. Congratulation on your twin pygmy goat girls Lucy and Sally. I'll spend some time checking out the County Fair. In regard to Betty. She's indeed talented a lady. Congrats Betty. Thanks Elaine for the passing on the news.
Aww, my woodland garden isn't ideal to keep mums year after year. They still sit in the nursery pots; and obviously didn't do too well there either. So it's time to renew. lol Jeri. The new Crepe Myrtle is one fine specimen plant! It's so striking! Oh the grandbaby is a ham! Thanks for asking. Please send my best to everyone.
Congratulations, Elaine! Unfortunately, I never got over to the contest to vote, but I am glad you won! Thanks for starting the new thread for October! Love the grosbeak--I don't think we have them here.
Kim! great to see you posting again! We have missed you. (By the way, Kim, I have re-married and moved to southern Missouri since I last saw you posting!)
Jeri, those are cute pumpkin pots and I like those crepe myrtles, too. :o)
Good idea, Charlotte, about hiding the black pots with moss.
Al and I finally got all the plants in the ground that I brought home from the RU. Yesterday we made a new bed just for the daylilies. I don't really want daylilies in my other flowerbeds because they multiply and spread quickly so we made a new bed just for them! :o) Thanks to each of you who gave me daylilies--and all the other plants, too!
Speaking of mums, I seem to have good luck with mums--probably because it is hard to kill them LOL After Al and I met and married, I was cleaning out the front flower bed which was full of weeds. I found a pot of mums which Al had just thrown out there. Somebody had given it to him when his previous wife passed away last year. I rescued it and put it in the ground and here it is, blooming away! It is the bronze mum in the first photo. The others are some of my other mums:
Hi Marilyn, such great news on your new establishing family! Al is one lucky man to have found you! Terrific job with those mums; the color is vibrant!
Well, I had been planning to pick up my Mums for my porch at the annual barn sale (craft fair) that we went to this past Saturday. For the past several years there has been a vendor there selling mums. They weren't there this year!! So, I still don't have mums! The ones at Walmart look rather sad, so I am going to try to find some somewhere else. IF I could remember the name of that vendor, I might could pick up some in Bismarck this week - I know that is where they were from, and I have to be over that way for Tiger Tunes........maybe I will google it and see what I can find!
Marilyn, you always have the most beautiful mums! I don't seem to have as good a luck with mine surviving in the ground. I did have some small purple ones that I had bought on clearance scattered around the edges of my big circle bed - when my sister helped me clean out the bed year before last, she pulled almost all of them up! She didn't realize they weren't weeds! I think I only have one left, but it is blooming!
I didn't notice the black crepe myrtles at Jim's either, but I did say I think every time you walk around his yard a hundred times and see something different every time! That black crepe myrtle is very lovely!
Genna drive out the highway (toward Hot Springs) where the Cracker Barrel is located. I can't remember the name of it but there is a wonderful nursery right around the Cracker Barrel area. It is on the left. She has very healthy plants and good prices. I've bought a number of things from her.
Yeah, I forgot about them! I have been there once before..................... will go there if I can't find the mum nursery. I have been to the one in bismarck before to pick up Mums. ..... just has been several years. Just made me wonder if they were still in business because they usually sell several hundred mums at the barn sale - can't imagine them not coming.................
Happy Fall everyone, just put this grouping together today. May need some rearranging to spruce things up. Hi Genna.
Kenny where did you find the black crepe myrtles? I will look for some in the spring,
Hi Kim! good to 'see' you again! I hope all is going well! Your grouping is looking very nice! Love that purple mum!
By the way, this week brings Ouachita's homecoming festivities and Tiger Tunes! Many of you remember that Kyle was in TT last year, and it was a LONG time before they had a recorded version on line to be viewed. If any of you happen to be interested, you can watch the finale Saturday evening performance live. Here is the link to information about it..... http://www.obusignal.com/index.php/tunescast-2012-new-format-features-announced/entertainment/ I know not everyone will want to watch it - but this is a really funny and talented 'variety' show for lack of a better description. They alter lyrics to songs to fit the theme of their show.... and each group on campus has different themes and there is a competition as well as to who does the best. Actually they have winners for every night - but the finale is the BIG one to "win"...... anyway, I just thought if some of ya'll were looking for some cheap (the tickets are 18 bucks to see it in person) entertainment..... you might want to watch! Jessica will be in the Campus Ministries group this year - their theme is Camp Ouachita. I believe she is supposed to be on the far left side of the stage. She will also be a tree toward the end of their performance! :) albeit a short tree....... ^_^ Kyle isn't doing tunes this year because he has chemistry plus anatomy and physiology! They practice 3- 4 hrs 4 nights a week, so he decided he better skip it this year and focus on his studies. I am always impressed by the creative ability of all the kids involved in coming up with themes, lyrics, costume designs, etc..................
Sandra Homestead and Dabneys have the crepes, but just get 1 from Jim whenever we cross paths.
Ok, if he has plenty !
I talked to Cindy Sat and she has had pneumonia, much better now, but busy keeping Audrey, her 2 year old granddaughter, not every day, but quite a bit
Thanks for the compliment, Kim! :o) Nice grouping--I really like that big white pot on the stand!
Genna, Home Depot and Lowe's also have mums. We bought our most recent mums at a place in Mountain Home called Orscheln's. It is mainly a farm supply place. They were cheaper than any other place around. I remember watching Kyle's performance in Tiger Tunes last year. Those young people really do a good job!
Sandra, I'm sorry to hear that Cindy had pneumonia but glad that she is feeling better now. Keeping a 2 year old will keep her busy, for sure!
I bought mine at Lowe's last Saturday. They had a good selection here, but not as many bronze ones.
Kenny can you ask Jim if the crepe myrtles are in the shade do they loose the dark color leaves? I've noticed that mine are doing that. I really need to move them into the sun.
Thanks Marilyn. That is the extent of my Halloween spirit so far. I love your mums!!!
I wonder how Peg is doing getting ready for her annual Halloween party? Haven't heard from her in a while.
Jeri they get morning sun and evening shade and the leaves are dark. The place we got them from last year has them setting in full sun. They may be like out black elephant ears. In the shade they turn more green and in the sun they turn black. If I think of it I will put one of the crepes in full shade and see what happens.
Thanks Kenny!! I'm gonna move mine to the stoop on the front porch. It's get sun there.
I think I may have lost my yellow bells!!! It's been blooming like crazy all summer long. Just noticed this morning that it was really wilted. I discovered the roots had grown through the drainage hole and had clogged it up and water had accumulated in the pot from all the rain we've had recently! I turned it over on it's side and drained all the water out but it may be too late! Any suggestions??
Sorry, Charlotte---I don't have a clue as I have never grown yellow bells. I'm sure somebody else can offer you some advice.
Yesterday while I was away at a ladies luncheon, Al tried burning the ivy in the back yard behind the fence. He did get some of it burned but he said it is still too green for it to burn very well. That stuff is a menace! Ack! We are slowly hacking away at it, though, and have dug enough of it out so that we were able to plant some of the RU plants where the ivy once was. If it starts popping up next spring I plan to shoot it with a weed killer.
About the only way I've found to get ivy up is to pull it up!! It will be back next year with a vengeance. Burning it may be getting rid of the top of it but does nothing to the roots. Weed killer does not kill ivy!! In a column Janet Carson wrote just recently she said if you plan to use round up on ivy you will have to use a weed eater on the ivy to expose parts of the leaf and then spray it. But she said even doing that round up will not work very well. Of course you also risk killing all your other plants! I've been pulling up ivy for 30 years! It's fairly easy to pull up but once you have ivy you will always have ivy!!! You might want to really work on getting rid of it before planting in the bed.
Charlotte, do you mean forsythia? Mine only blooms in the spring, so I figure you must have something else
This is what I have Sandra.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2047/
I notice it says it's hardy to zone 7 but I've always had mine in a pot and taken it inside in the winter. Maybe I can try putting it in the ground. I love it! It does bloom all summer and will continue blooming up until frost.
I ended up breaking the pot it was and and have it just sitting without a pot so it can really dry out. I bought it from a local nursery several years afo and they were selling it as a tropical for here.
Elaine just got around to looking at the photos of the county fair. Your pigmy goats are SO CUTE!! Congratulations!
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That really is pretty Charlotte! How big is yours?? It says it can get up to 12 feet!!
You can always try rooting some cuttings to take inside in case it does not make it. I am trying to root some of that Mona Lavender I got from Jim, it is so pretty I took cuttings so I would hopefullyhavemore than one for next summer, we will see. I don't have the best track record with inside plants, I also clipped some of the coleus and put them in to root. If the cost of annuals gets any higher next year, it will be rough.
Sandra I'll put a Lavender aside for you. You should have taken a plant!! Charolette I would take cuttings for a back up, but I bet it comes back out once it gets dried up some.
I've been letting the yellow bells dry out today but I'm going to pot it back up tonight. I think I will take a cutting to be safe. I'm not going to try and put it in the ground this late in the year. But I may put it in the ground next spring. It's really grown this summer and actually needs to be trimmed back some. It had a huge roots growing through the pot's drainage hole. I decided I probably shouldn't cut it off since it was already struggling so I just broke the pot it was it. It was a nice ceramic pot but one I hadn't gotten at a really good price since it had a chip on the rim. So I didn't feel too bad about breaking it! Rather lose the pot than the plant!!
Genna mine being in a pot probably hasn't grown as much as it would in the ground but it's about 5 ft tall and bushy.