Fall 2010

September Charm Anemone ( my favorite fall flower!)

Mums

September Charm Anemone ~ again :)

Golden Rod (with a Summer Azure)

Iron weed

Peaches sneaking a sip of water from the birdbath!

Asters

Bluebeard

Autumn Joy Sedum

(this bee isn't very friendly ~ caught him trying to sting my butterflies)

It was a long, hot, and dry summer.  I spent alot of the summer evenings, watering my gardens just to keep my plants alive.  Some things had a shorter bloom season than they normally have ~ my Black-eyed Susans, Shasta daisies, and even my Purple coneflower wilted quickly.  My fall flowers have all started shining though.  Right now, I have September Charm Anemone, Golden Rod, Asters and Mums are blooming like crazy.  Even my Shasta daisies made a come-back!  I spent alot of the summer trying out my new camera also.  I bought a Nikon D3000 in August and haven't put it down since!  I'm still learning how to use it but like anything else, it just takes practice! I started a second blog called "Wings in my garden".  Check it out at: wingsinmygarden.blogspot.com .  I have taken a special interest in Monarchs ~ to the point that I started a Monarch habitat in two of my gardens.  I mentioned in a previous post that I planted 20 milkweed plants and I planted 4 Butterfly weed plants back in the summer.  Those butterfly weed plants are what really got me hooked on the Monarchs.  I found 7 Monarch caterpillars chowing down on my plants, although only 4 of them grew big enough to turn into butterflies.  I think the other 3 became lunch for a mole that was making a home out of an old stump near the plants.  Any caterpillars I find in the future will be reared indoors, just to protect them from preditors.  I also want to plant more host plants for some of the other butterflies in my garden. I guess I better start looking up what they are because there is only a small window of time left to get things in the ground before the frost comes.  Enjoy all the beauty that autumn brings~