witt's Blog

Porch-sitting
Oct 20, 2011 | 3:01 AM PST
It was dreary and drizzly yesterday, but Hubby wanted to go out on the porch again. Since the wind wasn't blowing the rain in, I bundled him up in a jacket and put on his cap. We were perfectly comfortable and evidently the chickadees were too. They were flitting all around the feeders. We decided that we probably wouldn't be seeing any hummingbirds because it was gloomy and cool. After about an hour, the clouds parted and the sun slowly came out. Would you believe that a hummer came and sipped the nectar from the few blossoms left on the pineapple sage. He, or was it they, stayed until the skies darkened again about thirty minutes later. What a treat. Suddenly the rain came in again with a vengence, and the wind began to blow with ferocity. You've never seen an old guy with a walker shuttling inside in such a hurry. I held open the door and took the wet blast in the back.  We're going to really miss our porch-sitting when the cold weather comes.

Out of the Box
Oct 13, 2011 | 1:36 PM PST

Today I got Hubby out on the porch. We were lucky enough to see some hummers. We spotted one on the feeder. Then later one went over to the pineapple sage and stayed there a long time working the blossoms. I'm not sure if it were the same one or not, but that doesn't matter. I'm so glad that I planted this wonderful, should I dare say, late summer bloomer. It may be autumn, but it still feels like the end of the summer to me. I have missed all of August and September. This is a picture of those that I transplanted from those coming up in the lawn this spring. I love finding plants "out of the box."

 

Another Garden Thrill
Oct 11, 2011 | 3:31 AM PST

The other day when I finally had a chance to explore what was left in my flower beds and take pictures, I noticed that my little succulent dish garden was doing well.

 

This is what it looked like in early summer:

 

At least I had some success with something. I don't know what I'm going to do with it during the winter. I sure don't have enough light in the house to keep it going.

We're having a little drizzle here this morning. That will help the poor flowers that are still trying to give me a garden thrill.

 

This Year's Favorites
Oct 10, 2011 | 3:10 AM PST

Even though I had a rough time this summer with Mom and Hubby, some of my flowers survived without any help from me. I went crazy at the beginning of the summer with begonias, but the one that thrilled me the most was an old-timey begonia. A friend gave me a cutting in the spring, and I liked the shiny leaves. I kept taking cuttings and putting them in pots around the yard until things began to get hectic. I thought surely that I would lose them because I couldn't water and take care of them, but they bloomed and bloomed. Here's two that I had in pots beside Aunt Winnie's Garden.

 

 

The pink one is the old-timey one and the red one was "store-boughten." I have pots of them all around the yard and they did great. I hope that I can winter one over so that I can have loads of them next summer.

The other plant that I have enjoyed was the cleome. Would you believe they're still blooming? KeyWee gave me seeds a few years ago, and I had a few to bloom. I saved the few seeds that I collected. This spring I planted them in the Herb Garden and they went wild!

Here they are now, and they still have blossoms!

These two plants are definitely this year's favorites.