This is somewhat of a depressing time of year for me. My Echinacea and Rudbeckia are looking ragged and have gone to seed. The Blackberry Lily (Belamcanda chinensis) seedpods have split open, and while the berries are fascinating, there aren’t any more beautiful leopard-spotted flowers left. Part of me wants to attack the garden with the pruning shears and deadhead everything. BAM!
But, as the song says, to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose…
Finches are in LOVE with our Echinacea. We’ve had several American Goldfinch visitors in the last couple of weeks – two males and a female this afternoon. They seem to prefer the Echinacea seed heads over the feeder with the fancy seed.
I spotted a hummingbird in the Agastache ‘Apricot Sprite’ this afternoon. At first I only caught it out of the corner of my eye, but it kept coming back for more. I think they like the Zinnia too, which is great because the Zinnia just keep blooming their heads off. I imagine that’s why the butterflies keep hanging around.
Maybe instead of worrying about what the plants look like, I should accept what is, and revel in the beauty of the birds and other wildlife that have chosen to grace our yard. I can also think ahead to planting more plants for the birds next year, and to planting more fall-blooming plants. To everything, there is a season!
It snowed like mad on Saturday, but I’d been waiting all year for the seed exchange, and I was determined to go. I was rewarded well for my determination – great talks by local experts, and LOTS of seeds.
Here’s my list of booty:
Wildflowers +
Artichoke ‘Imperial Star’
Carrot ‘Short n’ Sweet’ packet says “Grows in heavy soils”!
Lettuce ‘Salad Bowl’
Garlic ‘Inchelium Red’
Convulvulus ‘Star of Yalta’
Russian Tarragon*
Container lettuce ‘Garden Babies Butterhead’+
Cosmos (orange)
Lobelia cardinalis
Papever somniferum ‘Laurens Grape’ +
Parsley
Nierembergia ‘White Robe’
Sorghum vulgare
Saponaria officinalis (Soapwort)
Linarea pupurea (purple toadflax)
Lilium ‘Star Gazer’
Consolida ajacis
Salvia ‘Hotline Blue’ *
Malva ‘Mystic Merlin’
Pennyroyal
Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’ *
Seeds from WinterSown Educational. (You can go to the website to get your own!)
Tomato ‘Hong Yuen’*
Tomato ‘Huang Se Chieh’*
Tomato ‘Green Zebra’*
Tomato ‘Early Kus Ali’*
Tomato ‘Roma’*
Tomato ‘Gilbertie’*
Rudbeckia ‘Irish Eyes’+
Convulvulus ‘Star of Yalta’+
Zucchini ‘Little Tree of Sarzana’+
Tomato ‘Large Red Cherry’+
Tomato ‘Tondina Maremmano’+
Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)+
+ I received this in my event goody bag
* I received this from the “free” table
I also won a Neomarica gracillis (Walking Iris) as a door prize, and for filling out a survey form, a fern. All in all a fun and plant-filled day!
My office is lucky to have a special guest this fall.
A beautiful jade house with gold and black trim. It’s amazing how much the gold looks like real gold.
