All The Leaves Are Gone

Leaves

"How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,

Colors gleaming in the sun.

At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow."

- Elsie N. Brady-

Well maybe not all of them are gone but they are sure
getting there.
All that seem to remain are the mighty Oak leaves
and a few stragglers hanging on.
I spent four hours raking and mowing Monday
and got about half done. With the rain yesterday and
last night the rest of the leaves fell and you cannot tell
I was even in the yard. ;-)
Oh, well I need the exercise anyway and what better
thing to do on a mild sunny day.

All of the little spooks and goblins will be coming Thursday
evening. I tried to make the kitten that grew in my flower
beds to look scary for a Halloween posting but it was just no use.
Who could call this
one scary with those little eyes peering up at you.

Dwarf Iris bulbs have arrived to force this Winter and
some tulip bulbs are already in the fridge to get their cooling
down period. A fellow blogger said that the Iris reticulata did not
have to have a cold period so I had to get some 'Blue Harmony'
to give it a try at least once.
See what you started ----. You will remain nameless but you
know who you are. ;-)
After throwing out the Paper Whites last Winter because of the
strong smell I won't be trying to force those again.
Also as a winter project some more Gloxinia seeds
were sown and some new variegated African Violet leaves
are coming to start some new plants. (That is my hope anyway)
The Poinsettia was brought in and I am trying to get it to set
on some red color which I am told is very hard to accomplish. It
will no doubt be thrown out then as another fail experiment.
The osteospermum was raided for some branch ends to start.
I was shocked, but now I do not know why it surprised me, that
the deers had finally got up the nerve to come right up to the house
and munch on it and my anemones. Good thing I got those
pictures before they went on an eating frenzy.
I thought they were deer proof !
They are eating everything now that shows the color green.

All deer hunters please come to my house this November.

The new Gardening and seed catalogs are starting to come in
the mail now already to tempt me for gardening this
Winter and next Spring. They will come in handy on a rainy,
cold day.
" The house is clean". ;-)

Happy Gardening and Have a Safe
Halloween Everyone!

Fall Blooming Anemones or Windflowers

Most of the flowers are about gone now at least
the ones I have in my beds.
The Fall blooming anemones or wind flowers
are trying to keep their heads above all of the falling
leaves over the weekend.
I am so glad that I at least have them and the Mums
blooming now.



Anemone x hybrida 'Queen Charlotte' or also known as
'Konigin Charlotte' was such a beauty this Fall and it was
so tall this year getting to 4 feet with the blooms.
She is spreading out all around her and will be
giving me some great divisions next Spring.
Also she is loaded with seed heads so they are being
cast to the woods garden bed in hopes of getting
new ones started there. Some of the seed heads
from my flowers are covered with a little soil in
the Fall and next Spring they will start growing
new plants. I have gotten so many Coneflowers
just by covering the seed heads. It works better
for me than trying to seed them indoors in the winter.
Her blooms are all but gone now after the rains.




Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jorbet' is a new one I just
planted in late Summer purchased from Bluestone Perennials.
It was so healthy and big that it took right off and
started giving me a few blooms already this Fall.
This bloom looks a little rough from all of the rain.
I needed some white in the shade garden.
It will grow tall at 3 to 4 feet and is good in zones 4-8.




Anemone hybrida 'Party Dress' was planted this
Summer in the shade garden. She is such a pretty
one but her heads are drooping. It will get to 36-38
inches tall and is good in zones 4-8 also.
The pictures are not the best but I have an awful time
getting good pictures from white and pink blooms.
The lighting was not quite right.




The Royal Carpet Alyssum is still putting on some
bloom and looks even darker with the cooler temps.

This purple osteospermum is looking tired but is still
putting on a few blooms. I want to try to grow some
cuttings from it although I have little luck rooting plants.
I keep trying different ways though.

We had hard rains this weekend and wind so all of
the beautiful Fall leaves have fallen here in the
Hocking Hills.



And this is what will be keeping me busy today
and this week, raking and mulching leaves.



Hope everyone had a great weekend and
Happy Gardening and Raking Everyone!

Mums the Word

Hey gang I got the housework all done and cleaned
today. Yeah, it is raining straight down ;-)
The leaves are falling with it and there is now showers of
yellow leaves falling in the back yard. The rain will bring
down what was left of the pretty leaves and only the old
brown oak leaves will remain, and remain, and remain.
They just last and blow around forever.

Since it is time to Flaunt those Flowers I thought
I would share some of the Mums that are around the
yard. I hope you all are not tired of pictures of Mums yet.
I have saw such pretty ones on blogs over the last few weeks,
and some were flat out gorgeous. I for one never get tired
of seeing beautiful flowers. In fact I would say I never met
a flower I didn't like but that would be an error, there are
one or two. Paper Whites forced indoors.Sorry I hate the
smell of them indoors and although I like some of the
newer Marigolds I cannot tolerate the fragrance of them.
They are suppose to be good for keeping pests from
gardens though.

These pictures were taken this week when the sun
decided to pay us a visit and we did get a little warm up.




The blooms were loaded with this green metallic looking
bees or bugs of some kind. I do not remember seeing them
before but they have a pretty color to them.



This Mum was one of the ones that were grown
from seed a year ago.






They were even on this Becky Shasta Daisy bloom. They
sure were busy little things that day. Maybe they were
storing up.




This is another one grown from seed.

I could not help but snap a picture of this Mourning
Dove with all of the color for its backdrop.

Today is Fertilizer Friday so join us with the hostess
Tootsie over at Tootsie Time and Flaunt Those Flowers!



Happy Gardening Everyone and
Have A Great Weekend!

Time For Gloxinia's To Come Out

It's time to take the Gloxinia plants out of the dark.
After spending a dormant spell where they were kept
in the basement in the dark this Summer the Gloxinia's
were taken from the basement last week to the sunlight
once again.
They got their watering, a fertilizing and some sunlight
and they are welcoming it by sprouting once again.



While most may grow theirs in the Summer and let them
rest in the Winter I do just the opposite and enjoy their
colors in the dull days of Winter to get my flower and
color fix. They are easy to grow and can be grown under
artificial lighting or partial sunlight and in fact do not like
direct sunlight so they are perfect for a Winter infusion
of color. The same rules of growing them applies as with
those of the African Violets only the Gloxinia needs a period
of rest. So if you want some color this Winter you may want
to try growing your own from seed now.
Here at Grownotes.com is some growing and care tips.



The "Invasion" that was mentioned before about the
dreaded Asian Beetles is in full swing.
When they started coming into the house, as bad as
one hates to, the whole outside of the house had to be
sprayed to stop most of them from coming in. No matter
what kind of house you may have and how air tight you
may think it is, believe me they will come inside somehow,
someway. They are drawn to light so when the sun hits
the side of the house or garage that is where the majority
land to get in. As seen here on the side of my house---
See all of those little beetles, now picture them in the
hundreds all over your buildings.



This is just a small pile that were swept up from my front
porch the following morning to show you how many
there really are. Now imagine a pile like this all around
the foundation of your buildings where they die and fall.



When they first showed up here in Ohio they were
in masses and despite spraying and businesses having
to call in exterminators to be rid of them, their numbers
are not dwindling.
Even if you are against insecticides you will have second
thoughts when they migrate into your state and they are
on the move having started on the east coast.
We women have a hard time allowing bugs to stain
our window curtains, walls and stinking up the place.
I do not know how the restaurants deal with them.
Be aware that that crunchy bacon bit in your salad might
well be a beetle. YUK!



Enough of the stinking pests!


This week is the Circleville, Ohio Pumpkin Show.
It is the largest free fair in the state and was started in
1903 as a few small stands where Farmers showed
off their crops and pumpkins in the Fall.
Now it has grown and the show vies every year to see
who grows the largest pumpkin. States compete against
each other to break the records for the largest pumpkin.
Yesterday at the weigh in Dr. Bob Leggitt won the
first prize spot amongst the participators by having a
record winning pumpkin of 1,635.5 pounds.
The World record is 1,725 pounds so it was a little short of
the record. It was a great attempt though.
This is the size of the pumpkins I grew this summer,
just pumps on the Circleville pumpkin in
comparison ;-)

So with the pumpkins being the name of the fair there is
everything eatable imaginable with pumpkin in it.

Including pumpkin: pie, ice cream, fudge, cookies,
cake, butter, bread, donuts, waffles, brittle, pancakes,
taffy, elephant ears, brownies, cheesecake, pizza,
chili and pumpkin burgers. Which is just a sloppy joe
but they are really yummy.

The local bakery bakes a 400 pound pumpkin pie that is
6 feet in diameter and takes six hours to bake.
You cooks will appreciate this recipe:
100 pounds of pumpkin
40 pounds of sugar
26 gallons of milk
15 dozen eggs
4 pounds of corn starch
1 1/4 pound of pumpkin spice
1 1/4 pound of salt
42 pounds of dough

Now that is a pie!
Here is a link to the worlds largest free show:
Circleville Pumpkin Show



Happy Gardening Everyone!

Time For the Yearly Invasion

Well I have good news and bad.
The dreaded hard freeze and frost did not happen
as predicted. Thank Heavens! I was dreading looking
out the window to see all of the dead plants and
flowers. I just knew if it was 27 degrees they were a
gonner. When I looked out they looked a little wilted
but were not mush so I checked at in was 35 degrees.
So we missed the big freeze so far.
And now we are having a few days of beautiful
sunshine and some warmer temps, it being up to a
whopping 63 degrees. Yeah!!!
Buttttt--- with the warmer weather it means the
farmers are rushing to get in their crops from the
field which is good, buttttt............ when the corn is
getting picked and it is the last warm days of the season
that means that the old pesky, dirty, stinking Asian Lady
Bugs are trying to get into the houses for the Winter.
I will not expound on how much I hate them again this
year by posting a whole section on them .If you want to
read up on them go to a posting I wrote last year
Lady Bug Invasion



Oh, I know you just love Lady Bugs, Birds or Beetles.
So do I but these are not your usual Lady Bugs.
There is a big difference.



The Autumn leaves are falling so fast here
in the Hills this year. With a little rain all
of the pretty leaves will be gone and all that will be
left will be the brown oak leaves. The big Sycamore
trees along Salt Creek have already fallen and
the trees are bare but their white bark will still
make them pretty this Winter.



I have a stand of beautiful yellow Maple leaves
behind my house and they are falling off fast.







I also have this Maple tree that always has the
brightest red leaves on it and they are going too.
One year I had a car load of college students that
were from Japan jump out and set in the yard and
take pictures of it. I wondered at the time if they
thought they were on park owned land. I was glad
that they were enjoying the leaves.





There are touches of orange leaves around in
the woods behind the house too.

The Sumac are so pretty in Autumn with their
red leaves and berries hanging from them.



The Sassafras trees which are in large supply
are so golden yellow. How many love Sassafras tea?



Even the brier leaves are pretty in the Fall
with their variegated leaves.




The berries of the Green briers are in plain sight now.

The field across from the house was so pretty
last week with all of its colors and pines.



Trees of russet color are nearby.




Autumn splendor at its best.