Looking for some sun...

Another week has gone by since I last posted.  Things are changing quickly in my garden and yet I've had such a hard time staying in the mood to go out and enjoy it.  School for the kids wrapped up today, sports are done for awhile and other that the Littlest Gardener's ballet recital this weekend, the schedule is finally clear.  Being really busy along with having the worst allergies I've had in years, have made garden time and blog time almost non-existent.  The weather continues to be mostly gray and cool, although we did have sun yesterday.  All this combined has left me feeling like this hummingbird looked this morning.

Not very energetic

and lazy.  This little guy must have been hoping that the sun would come out and perk him up, but it never did and he finally flew away.

So, trying to get myself motivated I decided to take a walk around the garden even if it was gray and probably too late in the day to get very good pictures.  I hadn't taken the time to notice that the Catmint was in full bloom and spilling out over the gravel path.  The bees are very busy on it.

Awhile ago I moved Green Man to the fence and I love how he looks behind all the volunteer Foxgloves.

Waterlilies are starting to bloom!  This is 'Sioux'.

In the front yard I've been admiring this little corner from the living room window.  More Penstemons are blooming now, but 'Catherine de la Mar' is by far the most showy.  I saw a Swallowtail butterfly on the Verbena in the big blue planter yesterday.  That was pretty exciting since they haven't been around yet this year.

Veronicas are starting to bloom too now!  I finally have found places that they like and they are taller and fuller than ever.  The 'Iceberg' rose has begun to bloom too.

Another new flower in bloom is the Baptisia.  The orange Geum and Red Valerian have been blooming for awhile.

The Lilies have started to bloom, I have no idea which is which anymore, but this is such a pretty pink one.

Rose 'Honey Perfume' has it's first blooms.  I love the color of this one.

And over in the driveway garden I found that 'Lady Emma Hamilton' had an open flower, it was so heavy it was laying on the ground.

In another part of the driveway garden are the Canterbury Bells and Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise' blooming together.  I started the Canterbury Bells from seed last year.

I'm not sure that I have very high hopes for tomatoes or peppers this summer.  It looks like it will be cool and cloudy for another week.  The big joke around Seattle is that summer officially starts July 5th, and since we never really had a spring I'm hoping that our summer will make up for it.  Sun and blue skies are what this gardener needs!

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

Fertilizer Friday - October 22

We had another beautiful day here yesterday, but things changed overnight.  Rainy days after a string of very sunny ones are not so bad this time of year.  They are a good excuse to get something done inside, like send seeds to people I promised them to.  This year I'm glad to have my garden shed to work in and have somewhere to keep the seeds and bulbs that have usually by now started piling up all over the desk.  I've got a basket of bulbs needing to be planted, it was fun finding some new varieties to try.  At the nursery the other day I found Snowdrops, Chionodoxa 'Pink Giant', Fritillaria uva-vulpis and Tulip 'Green Spring'.  Once I find somewhere to squeeze them in along with new Allium, Tulips and Daffodils I may go back for more.
Now for some flowers that I don't have to wait to see until spring:

Hydrangea 'Ayesha' had one fresh bloom as do a couple other Hydrangeas.

Scabiosa 'Beaujolais Bonnets' was new this summer and I kept forgetting to take pictures.  It suddenly has put out a lot of new growth and flower buds.

Rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton' is still looking gorgeous and full of flowers.

Now the Cosmos have decided to bloom like crazy.

Calendula has lots of new flowers too.

The Abelias are loaded with flowers.  They are mostly evergreen here and bloom for a very long time.

New Violas waiting to be planted.  I'm going to plant them in the front flower bed and mix in lots of spring bulbs with them.

Pansies and Pennisetum in a container.  The grasses won't make it through a frost, but I love how they look together.

As I walked through the yard I noticed how wet my feet were feeling.  Guess this combination of socks and flip flops wasn't very effective, it's time to pull out the rubber boots now.  And no, I would never wear this combo anywhere other than my yard.

Now I hope you'll visit Tootsie at Tootsie Time to see what she's up to and what other gardeners have blooming this Fertilizer Friday.

Last Fertilizer Friday of "summer" 2010.

I can't believe a week has already gone by since I last posted.  I've been looking at my garden as I drive away or out the window while I do housework or am on the phone scheduling appointments.  I've barely had a chance to just walk around the garden and enjoy it.  Luckily earlier in the day yesterday I was able to get a couple of planters planted and did a little clean up before the rain started - again.  It's been a frustrating year of gardening around here (click here to read about the actual stats, especially if you live in the PNW).  I was listening to NPR on the radio the other day that has a garden show in the morning.  They were telling the listeners that if this was their first year gardening here not to give up, "you're probably a better gardener than you think you are."
There are lots of garden chores to be done this time of year.  I usually start cutting back some of my perennials now.  I've started on the job of cutting my Clematis group C's down, and have thrown out a tomato plant that is obviously not going to have any tomatoes ripen.  The yard waste bin was quickly filled with pine needles and annuals that were "done".
There isn't really much new blooming, many of the same plants continue to bloom and look pretty.

Clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchaud'

Rose of Sharon is attracting lots of hummingbirds.

Geranium 'Rozanne' hasn't stopped blooming all summer.  I just added a new one to the front yard.

I bought this fuchsia many years ago as a container filler, it probably cost 79 cents.  It comes back bigger and better every year, it's now planted in the ground near the deck.

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis) 'Empress' is finally planted.

This could be my favorite rose now.  I've shown this a few times recently but wanted to show how many buds are still coming.  It's a David Austin rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton' and just planted this summer.

The buds start out orangey-red then as they age they become more of a lighter apricot color.

Calendula

Bugbane (Is it Actaea or Cimicifuga now?).  It's supposed to keep insects away, but the flowers smell good to me.  The little American Beautyberry is behind it and covered in little green berries that I hope will turn purple soon.

Will I ever see flowers on my Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) 'Golden Delicious?  It's probably an annual here, so I planted it in a container and plan to bring it in over winter.  I love the color of the foliage.

Fertilizer Friday is hosted each week by Tootsie.  Be sure to visit her and see what she and other gardeners have blooming.

Rainy garden.

I was finally able to get out and walk around the garden yesterday while the rain stopped falling for awhile, it's been pouring since then though.  Things are looking really good and I'm so glad that there is still so much happening since I didn't really enjoy the garden as much as usual this summer.  There is quite a bit of color and I'm really anxious to start doing some fall planting.

The hummingbird resting on the Dogwood tree had been enjoying the Monarda 'Jacob Cline'.  I've said it before, but really if you want hummingbirds to visit, plant 'Jacob Cline'.  Even as the flowers are drying up they still cause the hummingbirds to fight over them.  The Littlest Gardener, the neighbor cat and I stood within 5 feet of this one while she was sipping the nectar, not bothered in the slightest by us standing and talking.

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is turning red now.  I plan to buy more of this (even though I know it's very easy to divide), and add it to a few spots that could use a little color now.

The front view of the house is one place I plan to add some, right behind the Lamb's Ear.

Verbena bonariensis is really popular with the hummingbirds too now.  They rest on the long stems and reach their beaks towards the flowers.  Each year I love this flower more, it's coming up everywhere.

The newest David Austin rose in our garden is 'Lady Emma Hamilton', she's finally blooming and is covered in beautiful buds.  It smells as good as it looks too!  Right after this picture was taken I cut the two open flowers to bring inside to enjoy.

One of Lady Emma's buds resting in some Cosmos foliage.  The Cosmos have suddenly decided to sprout, wonder if they'll make it to blooming?

I collected seeds from Veronica 'Lilac Fantasy' last fall and they are already blooming.  They are a bit darker than the original plant.  Tina are yours blooming?  I promised seeds to some other bloggers, but the first ones molded, I'm hoping to get more seeds soon so I can share them.

The pink Flower Carpet rose is making it's way across the walkway.  It's too pretty to cut right now and luckily it hardly has any thorns.  There's a lot blooming along this walkway.  The sick Japanese Maple leaves have all turned brown and are really hanging on for dear life.

I found a "new" old watering can this weekend at an antique store in an extremely cute town called Port Gamble.  I was having battery issues so didn't end up with many pictures.  Port Gamble is a historical old mill town on the Kitsap Pennisula founded in 1853.  Most of the old homes and buildings are surrounded by old white picket fences and beautiful gardens.  We rode the Kingston Ferry across the Puget Sound to get there.  Definitely a fun day trip.

As you can see by the last picture I'm beginning to accumulate plants for containers and the rest of the garden.  Today I plan to visit one of my favorite nurseries for their 2 for 1 perennial sale if it ever stops raining.  Then the next sunny day I'll have lots of fun getting  all my newest additions planted.

So, how's the weather?

I've realized that I talk about our weather fairly often in my blog.  I guess that's what people bring up when they are having a hard time trying to start up a conversation.  Aside from the rain today, there really isn't much happening garden related.  I tried to be creative and take pictures by standing on the porch and showing views from our front door, but realized that this is the day before garbage day and the background would be full of garbage cans and parked cars.  So that topic was out.  Then I thought I'd take some nice raindrop pictures, but the wind kept blowing as I tried to focus the camera.  The thought of taking the end of month view pictures came up, but after looking at the dying Japanese Maple I decided it was too depressing to show the tree even worse looking than last month (click here to see last month's end of month view).
One new thing I noticed was that the magnolia tree seems to have flower buds forming.  It never bloomed this spring... is it normal to bloom in the fall?  Other than that, not much is happening today.
So instead I just took pictures with no real topic behind this post other than I thought they looked pretty.

Fuchsia 'Pat's Dream'

Rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton' is finally trying to bloom.   Her last buds were all broken off by a basketball mishap.  I guess the rain will prevent anyone from playing sports in the driveway.

The unknown pink rose.

Pink Flower Carpet rose

Juicy looking pears!  I'm trying to figure out when to pick them, any suggestions?

Salvia on it's second bloom after being cut all the way back a month ago.

Black-eyed Susans

This Salvia is just now blooming for the first time this "summer".

How do you come up with topics, especially on days that there doesn't seem to be something going on but have some pictures to share?  Do you like the topic to be thought provoking or educational?  Do you talk about your weather?  I know some people may find weather topics uninteresting, but I honestly like hearing what it's doing in other parts of the world and how it affects the garden.  

So, how is your weather today?