Post frosty morning

While watering the plants this AM, temperature was in 50's, I noticed that the salvias suffered frost "burn".  It had to be the frost that I took pictures of the previous morning. There was no frost on plants.

The Country Girl mums don't seem to have any burn.  They are not pretty (photographer wise, but still a joy).

While I was out watering this morning, I spotted a black butterfly. I have no idea what it was. The odd thing about it was it had something attached to the lower wings. When I disturbed it, it flew and the wing had some sort of bug attached. I have no idea if it was a spider or what.  This is a good time for a SLR camera. What ever it was was not normal.

New Mexico magic

Since I don't have face book, this is my photo collection of Aspens in Colorado, Oct.2012.
Our son lives in the four corners area and these drives weren't far from there.  I was concerned that some of these areas had been burned off this past summer.
We took 3 different scenic routes and even though the colors and subjects are the same, the locations are quite different: the first 4 are the Mancos area

I need to make a calender just for this one!

I love the black branches!

There was no wind and perfect for mirror image!

 

 

 

On the way to Silverton

Taken from a moving car with my Canon Power Shot;10 pixels

 

 

Our son wanted to visit a place called Box Canyon in Ouray, Colorado.  A side trip sort of on the way to Silverton. There is a lot of information about this area on the Web. I had never heard of it.  He did a lot of climbing around and I am sure, took wonderful pictures.  Here are a few of mine.

Not too shabby for my little Canon. 

 We were at an elevation of around 9000 feet and climbed down some spooky stairs to this. Wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Try to enlarge this, very interesting

On a scary terrace overlooking loud, rushing water

And then, all good things must end and we took a different route home to Texas.The highway is 64 from Farmington to Chama and on from there to Taos and points east.  I highly recommend it.  Beautiful road and scenery. And more aspens!!!

These plants were fascinating, the tall spiky ones are some sort of Mullein and the gray Rabbit Brush

 

 

Have you ever seen such a sky?

While taking these picture, a British couple stopped and the woman said it was almost a waste of time taking pictures as the camera cannot do the scenery justice.  I agree, the vistas are so large, the camera cannot capture that.

Fall, I hope

Oct 29, 2012

The temperature is 32 degrees and reminds me I failed to finish my early morning thoughts of yesterday.

Yesterday, the temp was officially 30 degrees. As I have done for more years than I care to admit, I panicked and had to cover my lovely mum bushes (just in case).  The theory in my mind? Frost hit by sunlight can burn the leaves and petals.  Well, not the case.

Salvias are hardy enough to stand a frost. The leaves and flowers are more beautiful than my picture, but you can see the frost.

My precious mum (Country Girl) was covered with frost as well.  The petals and leaves are more "tender" than the saliva and I wanted to save a few blossoms.

As it turns out, they weren't bothered at all. If I remember correctly, last year the petals were frozen and very papery feeling. (snapped and broke in two when bent) Some burned and died, some did not.






This pot holds snap dragons, a cone flower and a verbena.  All were covered with frost. They are fine as well.

My lovely lavender glowed in the sunlight with frost. She is fine.   The lesson being, I never learn!!
I purposely choose perennials for this area (North Texas) because they can stand a good bit of temperature extremes.
It will reach 60 today and 80"s by Wed.

This lavender prefers the "poor" soil I set her in.  Unfortunately, The plants I attempted 2 years ago, gave up this summer.  I think I over watered.  So, trying again.  This Provence (Latin name,Lavandula  x intermedia )makes a lovely bush, 18 to 36" tall.  Part of my problem was I planted the two bushes too close together.

No frost in the near future, so I can relax (heh, heh)  The weather will be perfect for weeding and perhaps taking down the rabbit fence?

Get on with it girl!!

October 28, 2012
Time's a wastin' and I'm keepin' up!! (NOT!!) It is 30 degrees this morning!

I guess when the summer heat finally started to fade into memory, I took a siesta.
This is my favorite time of year.  This is a picture of last fall.

The heat and struggles are done, I have more energy (no, really I do) to get out and dream of "next" year.  That is what gardeners do.  When it is too hot to "do".....we look at magazines and catalogs and even garden shows (if we can find them anymore) on TV.
My new love for viewing?  Garden blogs of every stripe and interest.  There are more gardeners blogging out there than I could ever follow.  Some are so professional looking (obviously with a better camera than mine) and written (obviously with a better brain than mine) it makes me wonder at my nerve to ever begin this journey.

I feel as if I can breath and not be in a panic mode of must get out before the temp rises.  I can eat a leisurely breakfast, have that second cup of coffee and amble through the garden, instead of feeling driven to pull that weed and "where are the rabbits?" and what needs to be watered . Just slow down and enjoy the fruits of my labors.

This is also the time of year hawks are migrating through.  The birds are not on the feeder much in the mornings and skittish in the evenings.  I saw one of the reasons in my ambling the garden yesterday.  I am pretty sure it is a Broad-winged Hawk.  However, it might have been a bit larger..............

Fall!! Yeah!!

Friday Oct 19
The temperature is 45 this morning.  Chilly and a good sign .  The nights have been cool enough for the most part and slow to rise through out the day .  This keeps the soil from drying out so badly.

Sort of catching up; the bunny invasion has calmed down.  Have only seen 1 or 2 lately.  One individual sees me and runs like mad to hide :)
However, the pest issue is not gone.  We have an armadillo (I thought it was the resident skunk) digging holes EVERYWHERE.
Between the mole tunnels and the holes, we'd better keep our home owners insurance up to date in case a visitor steps in one and breaks something!!

On top of the digging pests, the bumper crop of acorns has made the yard a huge mess.  Still haven't cut down the tree closest to the house. That one is going for sure.  I am too old to climb the step ladder numerous times a year to clear the rain gutters!!!

Things have slowed down and not as frantic feeling.  There is really a lot of work just maintaining a garden of this size.  

I have purchased a few flowers and plants that are settling in and will add pictures later

Fall officially here?

I'm going to assume that the weather will be cooler from now on.  In the 40's this morning and a high of 50.  Since it has been overcast for the whole day, my kind of weather.

The main focus today was tilling in the compost and getting beds ready for some fall plantings.  Have to visit the nurseries and see what is available.   So far, all I have seen is potted mums; large expensive pots, mid sized pots and 4 inchers.............

Mums are not really my favorite, but if that is all that is available right now, thats what it will be.

It is  amazing the amount of energy I have had today.  I guess the heat is not really my friend.

The things I potted a week or so ago survived our being gone for 7 days.  The first day we were gone, there was a nice soaking rain and then more the second day.   So, being cooler and rainy, the potted plants look like they are taking hold.

One pleasant surprise was the lavender bush I thought was dead.  When I started pruning back the branches, I found some sprouting green!  I salvaged what I could of these gifts and stuck them in pots.  It would be so great if they sprout roots!

There is one plant that is missing from my summer/fall garden. It is the orange Zexmenia. This is one I have usually had somewhere in my plantings.

 The other plant that has been missing is the Blackfoot daisy. Both of these plants are drouth hardy and perennial if kept in a southern exposure.  They will be in next years' gardens.  They both thrive in pots or tucked away in a forgotten area. They both have  "leggy" branching stems and drape over the sides of a pot.
The daisy more so than the Zexmenia. This is a "stock" photo.

So, I think the best thing I can do is make a plant list for spring.  This is a good habit to get into.  I have been lax in the past year or so since I was caught up in the physical work of keeping things alive and weeding, and watering.

Speaking of watering, I think the main problem with my mums is the fact I may have over watered.  Some of the stems are brown with the tops green leaves and buds.  Probably won't be as showy this year, but I did make cuttings of them as well.  In searching for a good 'stock" photo, I did find that these plants need to be pinched back just like the other mums.  That information too, will be on my spring shopping list.

ALL THREE OF THESE PLANTS ARE ATTRACTIVE TO BUTTERFLIES, BEES AND HUMMINGBIRDS.

Just a note

October 5,
 I am back from a trip to New Mexico to visit our son.  I try to time my visits for the Aspen "show".  This year was THE year.  It couldn't have been more perfect.  The "haze" that usually hides fine detailing of the wonderful mountains was not there.  It was very noticeable.

My "eyes" are still full.  It is hard to describe.  We were at an overlook parking area and visited with a British couple.  The woman said it best: why take pictures? They cannot capture this.
We, with camera in hand, try though.

My son (who lives in New Mexico) gave me a Bloggie (Sony) camera. So, I trudged behind him with my 2 light weight cameras, compared to his high falootin SLRdigital cameras, and took pictures like a person with a mission.

 A lot of the photos are not super good, just for memory sake.  His, on the other hand, are the things calenders  are made of.  So beautiful it takes your breath away.  I am so pleased with the majority of photos I took and will share some when I figure out which I want to keep and which not.

So, with cooler in the offing, I will get back to gardening and blogging.

"tune in" later for more................................