Last days of summer.

Over the weekend we had our first fall "system" move through.  This brought much cooler weather, lots of rain and wind.  The rain was appreciated by the garden, but the first few windy days are not appreciated by me.  They bring down all the dead pine needles from the Ponderosa Pine.  It takes many, many days to get them cleaned.  Just when they are mostly swept and raked up, another wind comes through.  Our roof looks as though we have a thatched roof.  Pine needles are my very least favorite thing about the end of summer.  But, once they are sort of cleaned (until the yard waste bin is packed full of them) and untangled from everything, the garden looks good again.

 Sunflowers tall and short are blooming in the front garden.

 Yes, that's a RED tomato!  I started these 'Tigerella' tomatoes last year and none turned red.  I'm so glad that at least one is turning this year.  In a few days my in-laws will be visiting from California, hopefully we'll be eating tomatoes from the garden while they are here.

 We spent a long time yesterday cleaning out the front raised reds, pulling out lettuce and greens that were done and planting more seedlings.  We've got lots of chard, kale, beets and carrots starting.  I sowed lettuce and radishes yesterday.  I still consider this an experimental year, so we'll see how well things do started now.  I do know for sure we need to organize our plantings much better next year, also that we'll plant way fewer tomatoes since they took up a lot of space and haven't produced much.

Oh, and I found what the strange Sunflower is called.  It's 'Sunspot' and supposed to get 18" - 24" tall according to the packet.

 This has got to be the prettiest lettuce I've ever grown.  'Mottistone' has been doing great, no signs of bolting, and I found that the fairies like it too.

 The other raised bed seems to have more warm season veggies growing.  Pattypan, Buternut and Zucchini are all still growing.

 I showed the start of the changes of the driveway bed in a previous post.  I really like how it's turning out.

 From a different angle you can see the new Nandina 'Gulf Stream' on the left and Osmanthus 'Goshiki' on the right.  These two are both evergreen.

 Love the seed heads on this Clematis.

 The shed garden still looks pretty good for this late in the summer.  I've been noticing how much red/burgundy colored foliage  I've been adding in both the front and backyard.

 Fuchsia magellanica is still doing great by the pond.

 One plant I'm very happy with this year is the Bugbane or Actaea.  I've had it in several places and it seems it finally likes it here.  It's close to 5 feet tall and is covered in the best smelling flowers.  The honeybees were all over it.

We are looking forward to my husband's parents coming for a visit.  It looks as if summer is returning for this week and we should be able to enjoy lots of time outside.  Not too long ago I replanted both Dill and Basil for my father-in-law to use when he hopefully makes us Spanakopita.  In March they were here and saw the very beginnings of the garden, and he also helped my husband build the front arbor.  I'm excited for them to see how it all looks now.

 All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.