Yesterday's Walk in the Garden

I went outside Friday morning to fill the bird feeders and take a walk around the yard. Of course I had my camera with me! A couple of the Japanese anemone buds had opened! This is my first year to have this flower in the garden.

The hummingbirds are still here. I'm seeing quite a bit of activity at the feeders. They must be fattening up in preparation for their flight south.

I saw the neighbor's cat prowling around in the yard heading toward the bird feeders. I stepped into the garden to get closer to the sunflowers and just as I was taking a step I noticed the preying mantis peeking up over the lamb's ear.




While the butterflies have been scarce, I've had bees in abundance this year. For that I'm grateful!



I love to see the pollen covered bees!

We had a lot of rain yesterday, so the ground should be nice and soft, (hopefully not too wet). I hope to be able to do some much needed edging and weeding in the garden today. I did quite a bit last weekend but I have so much more to do.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Goldfinches on Sunflowers

I planted a lot of sunflower seeds this spring hoping to harvest them and use them this winter in bird feeder wreaths. The goldfinches are feasting on them now and if they continue eating at this pace, there won't be any left for winter! The sunflower in this picture was huge, I was shocked when I saw that it had been stripped clean.

Summer Flowers and an Update

There hasn't been much time these past few weeks for me to blog or for reading your blogs. My mother-in-law had her shoulder surgery and I've been sitting with her pretty much day and night since then. She was so frail at 86 pounds, we were not even sure she would make it through the surgery, but she did. We were also concerned that she might starve to death before she could recover, but that hasn't been a problem either. She is eating and drinking and doing very well. She is tiny, but she is one feisty lady. Three years ago she was put on hospice for failure to thrive and I was told that she was dying and would never come off hospice care. I didn't believe them. We started feeding her at meal time as often as we could and she started gaining weight. She gained to 101 pounds and was removed from hospice. It was a huge victory for us! We are once again feeding her for every meal and she is doing great. It is time consuming and for right now it is my life. Seeing her happy and laughing tonight makes it all worthwhile.



I've still been able to make it to my photography class but I've not had much time for taking pictures. Last week I didn't have time to do my assignment and so far I haven't had time this week either. I love the class and have learned so much about my camera. I've been using the time in the nursing home to read photography books and even read my camera manual!



The yard is a mess and I need to do some serious gardening, but there is no time or energy for that right now. I sometimes make it home right before it gets dark and I have just enough time to grab my camera and get a few pictures. Some of my favorite summer flowers are in bloom right now and every once in a while I catch the hummingbirds at the feeders.

I'll be very glad when things return to normal, I miss being home, and I miss visiting you all!

Sunflower Heads

I'm still enjoying the sunflowers that I planted this summer. No, unfortunately they don't look like this anymore.


Instead, they look like this. I attached several dried sunflower seed heads to a tree with a bungee cord. It's been fun watching the birds land on the seed heads and eat the seeds. This picture was taken very quickly several days ago through the kitchen window.



This picture was taken shortly after I had attached them to the tree. It was a thrill to see the bluebird sitting on it.



Next summer I will definitely be planting more sunflowers for the birds to enjoy. I'll have to plant a lot more than I did this year especially since the goldfinches ate the seeds as soon as they were developed, so there weren't many sunflower heads left for the winter birds.

On this icy, wintry day the picture of the sunflower sure brightens my day. I hope it brightens yours too!

September Garden Blogger Bloom Day

Welcome to Robin's Nesting Place for September Garden Blogger Bloom Day hosted by Carol, from May Dreams Gardens.

I don't really have many new blooms for September. I'm really surprised at the repeat bloomers and those that have hung on through the unusual dry and hot summer. The new bloomers for this month are the sunflower and the Wine and Roses weigela that I planted in the spring, I wasn't expecting fall blooms but I checked and they do have a repeat fall bloom.

The hummers just discovered the weigela today.
My gerbera daisies are still blooming. This morning they were wet from the dew or either still wet from my watering last night.

I am really enjoying the zinnias at the birdbath border garden.

I love this combination of Russian sage, lamb's ear, and dusty miller. The Russian sage has been a great performer for me this year. Many of my plants that I thought were about finished blooming have rebounded now that it's a bit cooler.

The miniature carpet rose is still blooming and needs some deadheading attention.

The salvia and verbena are thankfully still in bloom, they have been the key attractors for the hummingbirds and butterflies.

The front flowerbed is really overgrown with coleus, they are crowding the impatiens.

The front flowerbed has impatiens, coleus, spirea and sage that are still in bloom.

The black-eyed Susan is just about finished blooming and today it and the coneflowers were covered with finches.

I hadn't planted sunflowers in many years. I'm not sure why, because I've really enjoyed them this summer. Not only do they look pretty but they are fun to photograph and the butterflies, bees and even the hummingbirds enjoy them.

I have mums that are blooming. Most of them are this color or either a burgundy color.

Here is my list of flowers that are in bloom:

Weigela
Moonflower Giant White Calonyction

Gerbera Daisies
Mums
Coleus
Purple Wave Petunia

Salvia
Impatiens
Zinnia

Cosmos

Sunflower

Portulaca

Verbena bonariensis

Carpet Rose

Lantana (some are doing well and others aren't)

Russian Sage

Lavender

Grasses

Queen Annes Lace (only because I haven't weeded in a while)

Plants that are still in bloom but barely:

Coreopsis

New Guinea Impatiens

Superbells

Lantana

Balloon Flower

Anise Hyssop 'Golden Jubilee'

Dianthus

Spirea

Black-eyed Susans