Sugar Cane in my Vegetable Garden October 8, 2020

 I have a small plot of sugar cane in my Vegetable Garden.  I grow it for my grandchildren.  It's a fun way to involve them in gardening.  All you have to do is lop off a section of the cane, peel away the hard outer covering and chew on the sweet stalk. If you don't cut the stalk down, roots will sprout from every joint.  You could plant the rooted joints if you wanted to grow more sugar cane, but I'm content with only a few stalks.  Sugar cane has a long growing season, so it needs warm weather.  This has been one of the most fun things I have ever grown. 

Yellow Butterfly Vine Looked Pretty This Morning October 8, 2020

 This vine is an excellent bloomer.  It has an extremely long bloom season.  It will always have a place in my garden.  Look at the center of the second picture.  The seed head looks just like a butterfly.  I've blogged about this before, but it is adorable, worth a second (or third) comment. 

New Gold Lantana October 8, 2020

 New Gold lantana is the first hybrid lantana that I recall.  Now there are many gorgeous varieties.  I remember seeing it growing in barrels as I drove by houses in Westador (the subdivision I lived in some 20 years ago).  I fell in love with it back then.  Now, it seems that it is everywhere - but how could you not love it?  It gets enormous.  Butterflies LOVE it.  This lantana grows by our pool.  I have never watered it, not one time.  It blooms its heart out all summer in 100 degree heat with no irrigation whatsoever.  Amazing.

At the Farm During the Pandemic September 28 - October 6, 2020

 

One of our Airbnb guests painted this picture of our house and left it for us as a gift.  A random act of kindness!  Bert and I were delighted.

• Monday.  A cold morning, fall is in the air.  It's so beautiful right now.
• Before work I hand watered in the Greenhouse Gardens.  
• Many of my Vegetable seedlings have emerged.  As I always write, it gives me a little thrill every time when I see seedlings emerge.  Such a miracle.
• I sowed Tickseed all along the Hot Border amongst the Rudbeckia Maxima, spider lilies, Senna tree and day lilies.  If all goes well, that border will be absolutely beautiful in the spring.  Watered them in with my hand sprinkler.  A few more hand-waterings and they should be good to go all winter.
• After work I prepped a 4x4 bed in the Vegetable garden with humus and manure.  I sowed some lettuces, a row of parsnips, a few carrots, a few Swiss chard and a few Zeolite calendulas.
• Tuesday.  Even cooler than yesterday.  And sunny.  So beautiful.
• Before work I watered my Fortune's Double, Zepherine Drouhin  and Ballerinas by hand.
• I also watered the dry part of the Vegetable Garden and the Hot Border with my watering can.
•  During lunch I seeded Johnny Jump Up seeds in the Orchard and in the front bed.
• After work I drove around the property looking at the wonderful native grasses that are beginning to throw out their seed heads.  I have many varieties, and I am so frustrated that I don't know all their names.  I immediately afterword went to the computer looking for pictures to identify them.  I know one of the varieties is switchgrass (which is a a great native), but the rest - I don't know except for little bluestem.  That one is easy to identify.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I sowed some Zeolite calenduals in one of my black buckets during lunch.
• Pulled up a big zinnia growing under the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.  I will be sowing seeds there soon.
• Watered in the Hot Border.
• Watered in the dry part of the Orchard where I sowed Johnny Jump Ups yesterday.
• Watered some of my new lantanas.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I set out my sprinklers in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden in preparation for being gone for 4 days (Airbnb guests arrive on Friday and exit on Tuesday).
• I watered in the Orchard where I sowed seeds. 
• Watered my new plants.
• Headed back to Houston after work.

More Flowers Blooming Now September 28, 2020

 Below, this is Beverley rose.  This is my best smelling rose.

Below, this is Duchess de Brabant rose.

This is Perle d'Or rose

In the picture below are Autumn Sage, perennial ageratum, various salvias, Philippine Lily going to seed, cannas.

This is an althea, I think it is Strawberry Smoothie.  This is year two for this althea, and it has been an excellent bloomer for me.

Below, Mexican Sage.

Below on the trellis is white coral vine, morning glory and cypress vine.  

Below, Candida rain lilies, zinnias, Hurricane Lilies, sedum and Minerva althea.

Candida rain lilies and sedum.

Minerva althea.

Below, Belinda's Dream rose and salvia - cannas blooming in the background.

Cannas, crinums, and Indigo Spires Salvia.

I can't get enough of my canna blooms.  So pretty.

Below, my garden staples - zinnias.

Beverely rose

Below, a different variety of canna, this is Shenandoah, a very old variety which explains why it is not as showy as the ones above.

Below - butterfly weed, Pringle aster, autumn sage, salvia, coral vine, morning glory vine, ageratum, and zinnia.

Some of My New Lantanas September 28, 2020

 This variety just below is my favorite.  I love the yellow and pink combination.  I don't know why I am having such a love affair with lantana right now.  It's such a common plant that most people will look past it to find something more unusual to enjoy.  But I am loving it right now!

Flowers Blooming Now September 26, 2020

 Fall is better than spring for flowers.  Such a pretty time of year.