September front garden.

I can't believe we're already almost half way through September.  This has been such a busy month.  Both girls are back to school - there's now an 8th grader and a Pre-K'r in this house.  Now that the routines of school, cross country and ballet are started I finally had a little time to do some work in the yard this morning.
We've had a lot of warm weather lately and today it cooled down quite a bit and was perfect for gardening.  I had planned to do one job, but ended up cleaning up the aphid infested Nasturtiums and mildewy pumpkinless pumpkin vines in the side yard.  After pulling up the vines and cutting back the fig tree some I was happy how much better it all looked.  I know everyone has a spot in their yard that gets neglected and the side yard is mine.

 Finally some Cosmos are blooming.  I've never seen them start this late.

 Cosmos 'Cranberries' (Select Seeds)

 Cosmos 'Picotee', the only one that came up.

 This is the strange Sunflower that I've shown in some recent posts.  I think some birds have already started eating it.

 This shows it's weird proportions, it's growing next to Basil plants.

 Columbine that has been blooming all spring and summer.

 'Iceberg' Rose and Cleome.

 Asters and Coneflowers are doing great.

 Gracie and the neighbor cat hanging out in the flowers.

 Agastache 'Raspberry Summer' from Bluestone Perennials.

 Seedlings that need to get planted, but where to squeeze them in?

 Another bed (the driveway bed) I've been working on.  I ripped out all of the Phlox.  It had just taken over the bed and it had such a short bloom time it didn't look very good.  I just planted the Ninebark 'Little Devil'.  It's supposed to just get 3-4 feet wide and tall.  I plan to get a couple more grasses - Feather Reed Grass 'Karl Foerster'.

 David Austin rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton' has really pretty colored foliage.  It has been very disease free and even handles afternoon shade, it has a great scent too.  This is growing in the driveway bed that I showed above.

We also just celebrated a very special day here yesterday - the Littlest Gardener turned 5!   She celebrated with a few of her best girl friends at Build a Bear.  5 little girls making stuffed animals is about as cute as it gets and they all had lots of fun. 

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

Flowers, food and fun!

Forget what I said in my previous post about the feel of fall in the air.  Summer has decided to stick around for a bit longer.  It's been hot!  Daily watering has become a must to keep the vegetable garden going.  Many plants in the backyard that compete with big trees have needed frequent watering too. 
With school starting back up for the kids I hope to have some more time to do some garden work that needs doing.  There are perennials that badly need to be cut back and lots of weeds that seem to popping up everywhere.

 This is the gigantic Sunflower that was only supposed to get to about 18 inches high.  I'm not sure what happened, but the leaves and flower are just huge.  It's probably about 3 feet tall, but I don't think I've ever seen such big leaves or flowers on such a small plant.  The birds will be feasting on it.

 Rose 'Honey Perfume' has started another round of blooms.

 I started all different types of Nicotianas this year, and had terrible luck with most.  Since they have gotten mixed up in my planting I'm guessing that this is Nicotiana sylvestris.  This is the third year I've tried growing it and glad to finally have at least one plant bloom.

 Rose 'Iceberg' hasn't looked as good as usual this summer, but this last flush of blooms has been much better.

 Rose 'Harlow Carr' and Geranium 'Rozanne' look so pretty together.  I keep missing a good time to get more of this flower bed.  There is a hardy fuchsia and Heuchera 'Crimson Curls' blooming with these two and it looks so pretty.

 Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is absolutely covered in Honeybees.

 Look at this forecast!  The last several days have been up in mid to high 80's too.  This has been the weirdest summer weather.  Now it decides to get hot (but I'm not complaining).

 I'm hoping that upcoming heat starts to turn these guys red!

 Hope the heat helps the Butternut Squash grow a bit bigger.  These were started from seed this year.

 Also started from seed were the Pattypan Squash.  We've been eating lots of these and they're really good!

 Found this cute sign over the weekend.  I'm not sure where it'll go, but I thought it was so cute.

 The Littlest Gardener (who is about to turn 5) loves to help water.  She has been enjoying helping me water and look for vegetables to pick in the front yard.

 Some of the fun I've been having has been redoing a couple of beds.  This bed I rarely have shown pictures of because it's sort of been a bit of a mess.  I kept trying to grow full sun plants here, but they just leaned and looked floppy.  So I took almost everything out and started over.  One little spot gets lots of sun, so I planted a Chocolate Eupatorium there.  I also added Heucheras, Astrania and a hardy fuchsia.  I left the Hydrangea 'Pinky Winky' which was new last year, Clematis 'Jackmanni' (which loves it here) and Daphne 'Summer Ice'.  My goal is to keep this bed a bit more orderly than the rest of the yard since I need to get in to water the window boxes and put a ladder in here when we clean the gutters (something that we need to do frequently since there are several large trees that drop leaves, needles and cones year round).

I've also been working some on the driveway bed which isn't quite as much fun since it's in the full hot sun.  I've been starting a few more greens that will hopefully last through the fall and into winter. 
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

September, already?

How can it already be September?  This felt like the shortest summer ever.  Since we really didn't have a whole lot of summer weather it doesn't feel as if it's already time for the kids to go back to school.  In the last few days I've begun to feel fall in the air.  It feels like it's time to start lighting the pumpkin spice candles and put a blanket back on the bed (although I don't think it was off for more than a month or so).  Luckily there are still more flowers coming so at least it doesn't look like summer is over.

 Abutilon thompsonii which I just purchased after seeing some Abutilon growing in Ciscoe's garden.  Apparently they are very easy to take cuttings and root - he said just put the cutting in water and wait for it to root.  So, that will be my challenge this year.

 I bought a start of a Morning Glory earlier in the summer has really just started blooming and growing.  I love how they seem to glow in pictures.

Golden Feverfew - I have growing in a container.  I'm not sure whether this will over winter or not, but they are so cheerful to look out at.

 Zinnia 'Persian Jewels' - The Zinnias are so short this year and just starting to bloom, very late for them.

 The Littlest Gardener and I have noticed that Daddy Longlegs (that's what we call these guys) seem to be on every Sunflower plant, blooming or not.  One day we watched one of them along with an ant and a wasp.  They were all on the same leaf and I couldn't figure out if the wasp was going after the ant or the Daddy Longlegs.  Anyway, now I wonder why they like Sunflowers so much?

 Another Sunflower starting to bloom.  The petals remind me of long blonde bangs blowing around someone's face.

 This is the bud of the gigantic leaved Sunflower that was only supposed to get to 18 inches tall.  I can't wait to see how big it is.

 A really pretty Dahlia with dark foliage.

A new rose from this summer is David Austin rose 'Harlow Carr'.  It has such a good smell and the flowers are on the small side, I love it!

Today is the first day of 8th grade for Sweet Pea!  Next week the Littlest Gardener starts Pre-K.  Time goes by quickly and there are days I wish they wouldn't grow so fast.
Is fall in the air where you are?
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.