Late October in Our Garden

A few overview photos, just because I happened to take them (and am not sure how prompt I'll be about taking November's "survey")...

The lingering morning glory vine on that "rustic obelisk/tripod" has turned out to be the blue type.  Not a great show of flowers, but every bit of blue counts.  Next year, if I use similar obelisks, I think I'll try to get the plants growing in the ground instead of pots.  Maybe we'll get healthier, fuller, less thirsty vines that way.

The viburnum isn't looking its best, but that probably has a lot to do with the arrival of autumn.  (Sometimes it's hard to remember that many plants are already going dormant.  The Curcuma elata in the semi-shade area, for example, is rapidly turning yellow and drooping its stalks.)

Now for a few plant close-ups...

The long-awaited flowers of the Mexican purple sage (Salvia purpurea) have finally begun to appear!

They aren't quite so large as I was picturing, but measured by the whole spike, they're not bad-- and if the whole plant ever gets blooming at the same time, I can imagine it making a bigger impression.  Also, the color is very rich and vibrant.

It's extremely easy to start from cuttings (with very little effort, I multiplied our one plant into a handful in one growing season)-- but not very cold-hardy.  I'll try my best to give the plants an adequately heavy winter mulching, but I'll also take some cuttings before the first frost.  I'm still not sure I can keep cuttings alive over the winter, but I'll give it a try.

The Knock Out roses continue to do well.  I'll probably cut back most of the roses (with the definite exception of the new 'Joseph's Coat' and a gentler hand on the other climbing rose), this late fall/early winter.  I'm a little nervous about the Knock Out roses, but it should be fine.  Mom prunes hers that way, and Granny did, too.

The KO roses take a lot of abuse from some quarters-- they don't have perfume (except for the yellow); they're everywhere and therefore lacking in "rose mystique"; they're "charmless"-- but they've been effortless bloomers for us, so far, and they're beautiful, even if they are everywhere, at the moment.  

The swamp daisy is another plant (like the Mexican purple sage) that takes its time to bloom, but it comes at a time when a shot of bright color is greatly appreciated!

I don't have a great photo of them, but we've been surprised at how long into the fall these new azaleas have been blooming.  They're Encore 'Autumn Sunburst', and we're planning to put them in as foundation planting along the front of the house.

These self-seeded coleus have been impressive and easy, this year.  I never knew before that they could grow from seed, but now that I do, I'd be interested in starting some on purpose, sometime.  I'll try to overwinter some cuttings of this year's volunteers, but I don't have high hopes.

There are some new plants awaiting placement in the garden, too.  (This is prime planting-time for perennials, trees, and shrubs, in our climate.)

In the photo below there's purple muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) and Japanese shrub mint
(Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Golden Angel').

This is forsythia sage (Salvia madrensis).  When it's established, it can get pretty big-- like 8-feet-tall big-- and sports foot-long spikes of yellow blooms.  I think the highly textured leaves are interesting, too.

Here's Salvia leucantha 'Waverly'.  I hope it'll be happy in our garden.  The fuzzy white blooms make a nice contrast with the plummy purple calyxes.

This unusual-looking little flower is a toad lily bloom.  (It's a variegated toad lily, though the foliage is so blurred in the background of the photo that you can't really see it.)  Tricyrtis formosana.  I've read that these are easy to grow from seed.  No idea if it's true, but if this one does well, it might be interesting to try, if I could find a reasonable source for seeds of other types/colors.

And for our last photo, here's the Alabama ox-eye daisy (Heliopsis helianthoides).  It's supposed to be a fast spreader, but it's native to this area, so it can't technically be "invasive". (g)  It doesn't look like much right now, but I'm predicting it will be more impressive this time next year.

Luna and the Pineapple Guava

There are two canine "helpers" in our garden-- Trixie and Luna, the Eskies (short for "American eskimo dogs").

Sometimes I refuse their help (by leaving them inside), because they can have a tendency to want to get right in my face, if I'm kneeling, and I don't really need them crushing tender plants as I weed.  Also, they can't be trusted to stay in the yard (or at least we're not convinced they can), so if I'm doing work that requires frequent coming and going through the gate, it's easier to leave the gate open and dogs indoors.  Oh, and then there's the fact that they think the water hose is a very exciting dog toy and dash in front of the spray when I'm trying to water plants (heedless of all obstacles, including the plants themselves).  But when allowed, they do enjoy keeping us company outside!

The last time I was taking photos outside, Luna was out with us.  Donald noticed that she'd found a fallen pineapple guava, and (knowing from experience how she likes to play with them) alerted me, so I snapped some pictures of her crazy antics.

She likes to bite the pineapple guava gently and toss it in the air (or on the ground)...

Roll around with it in her mouth...

...Or underneath her, or maybe just in front of her face (where she can keep an eye on it)...

Wiggle, wiggle, squirm, and pounce!

It's good fun!

(Though maybe a little tiring.)

Mmm... Sour pineapple guava!

What a silly dog!

Mostly Bees

I haven't seen any hummingbirds for a few days.  Maybe the last of them have moved through our area-- or just the two or three that had been hanging around here.

On sunny days, there are still quite a few butterflies (mostly sulphurs, skippers, and Gulf fritillaries).

But mostly, in recent days, I'm noticing the bees.

Bees on "blue bedder" sage...

Bees on "pinata" lavender...

Bees on swamp daisies...

Bees (though unpictured) on marigolds and Mexican petunias...

And even more bees on blanket flowers.

The other evening, we noticed bees sleeping on the blanket flowers, and Donald took a photo.

There's something sweet and calming about bees sleeping on flowers.
It makes me sleepy, too, just thinking about it.

Faux Wainscoting (Work in Progress)

(This is a house-centric entry, in case the title didn't give it away.  They'll pop up from time to time, since this mostly-gardening blog is also the most logical place for house-blogging to go.)

I've been wanting to freshen the paint in some rooms.  I guess it's been ten years or more since most of them were painted, not long after the house was built.  (Where does the time go?!)

When we first painted, we installed chair rail molding and chose two shades of green for the living room (formerly a rarely-used formal dining room)-- a lighter green for the top and a slightly darker one for the bottom.  I still like those colors, but it felt like time for a change.  Besides, the room has suffered the rigors of being "the puppy room" two time over, and Trixie and Luna both made their marks in the form of chewing and scratching.

(I accidentally deleted my recent "before" photos from the camera, so we'll have to make do with the photos from 2004, back when the room was freshly painted.  I hadn't even put up the curtains, yet, but at least you can see the paint colors.)

The light in that room always felt greenish (no mystery why!), and it didn't help that, unless the lights are on, the room is fairly dim most of the day (east-facing and shaded by trees).  This time, a "barely there", pale color seemed wise.  I wanted either a soft, neutral grey or a soft, neutral beige.  Are you sensing a theme here?  Bold paint colors work well for some people and places; however, I think I've had enough bold wall color for a while and am craving neutral walls and bold accents, instead.  (The exception will be in our kitchen, which is painted a decidedly mustardy yellow.  That will stay, as it's a fairly recent paint job and is toned down by so much surrounding neutral in the form of cabinets and beadboard wainscoting.)

We ended up choosing new colors for both the living room and the foyer.  One of the rooms the foyer opens into is the living room, so they're closely linked.  The light grey will go in the (currently dark red) foyer, and the very soft beige goes in the living room.

Of course we couldn't just keep it simple and paint the whole wall (minus the chair rail).  No, that would've made the job too easy.  Instead, we did our usual thing of starting out with a simple idea and  gradually talking ourselves into something more time-consuming and complex.  In the end, we decided to put up "faux wainscoting" in both rooms.  Below the chair rail, we've put up hardboard (I think that's what it's called) to create a smooth, non-speckled texture, which will be followed by rectangles of narrow molding.

Incidentally, molding is not cheap!  We checked one of the big box stores, but they didn't have much selection for simple, narrow molding, and what they did have would quickly have added up to more than we wanted to spend.  Fortunately, there's a Dirt Cheap Building Supplies store in Pensacola.  Some time back, Donald found our replacement cabinet/drawer pulls there-- brand new (in the bag) ORB(-ish) finish hardware marked down 90% off the original price!  Well, they also sell narrow molding for 5¢ a foot-- 40¢ for the typical 8-ft piece.  A much better price than the first place we looked.

Here it is after two coats of Valspar's "Woodrow Wilson Putty" (in satin finish) on the upper portion of the walls and the unpainted hardboard on the lower portion:

We've primed the lower wall (except for a few seams that may need more attention), and Donald is in the process of figuring out the layout of the molding.  Then there's more caulking and painting to do before we can move the furniture back in.  (The foyer is next on the list.)

Apologies for the varying, not-true-to-life colors and the off-level look of these photos.  I just snapped them, and it turns out it's not that easy to get a really good photo of a room that way.  There are more photos to follow as the project progresses, though, and maybe they'll turn out better!

A Few October Flowers

The month is slipping steadily by.  We've enjoyed some beautiful open-window weather, but the heat and humidity are beginning to inch up again.  Rain is in the forecast for Sunday and much of next week.  We need it, though, so I won't complain.

In the meantime, there are still flowers to enjoy!

The morning glory on the arbor continues to unfurl heaps of blooms.

On the other side of the arbor there are roses and the occasional clematis.

These swamp daisies from Mom's garden make a very cheerful, bright spot.  They're a promising addition to the flowerbed.  It will be interesting to see how they do next year.  I must remember to trim them back at some point-- early summer? mid summer?-- because otherwise they can get too tall and be susceptible to catching the wind and flopping over.

This photo was taken on a cool, early morning, but a little later in the day, they are bee magnets.

One vine of mina lobata is still in triumphant bloom.

The pale green pods are mina lobata seed pods.  If you look closely, you'll also see some of the dried, brown pods of cardinal climber (a.k.a. cypress vine).  Some of it sneaked in with the Spanish flag, unfortunately.  At least it's easy to tell the difference between the two types of pods, even when both have turned brown.  The mina lobata pods are fairly rounded, while the cypress vine's are more elongated and conical.

Speaking of seeds, I've been gathering moonvine pods.  This is only part of the harvest so far, and there are still many pods drying on the vines.  There are far more than I could ever find a place for, so I'll have to see if anyone I know is interested in a handful.

I haven't been working in the yard much, lately.  Partly, this is because I've just been enjoying the nice weather by being lazy.  Then there's the feeling that if I wait just a bit longer the wasps and snakes will no longer be a threat... And some of what I need to do hinges on other things being done or decided... or cooler weather... Oh, it's always only too easy to find an excuse to put things off!

We've also been focusing on a indoor home improvement project.  More on that another time.