African Daisies

At the end of May, when I had planted most of the vegetables in the garden, there was one bed still open.  A hunt in my collection found flower seeds friends had shared with me from the last few years.
I planted 3 or 4 varieties of flower’s seeds, watered, and waited.  And waited.  The bed was still empty.

Finally, a few plants I could not identify came up.  They didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before.  They tasted awful, so probably were not obscure salad greens.

It was September before the first orange flower bloomed.  As we approach October, the end of the growing season, a day closer to the first freeze, this plant decides to “strut its stuff”.
For me, I am happy to see these yellow and orange daisies starting life, as the rest of the garden is fading away.  I can only hope there is still time for these flowers to produce seeds for next year.  Another wait and see period.

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Autumn Joy Sedum

Autumn Joy can show a different hue almost every day.

As the flowers mature, they evolve from the palest pink to a deep maroon.

Very showy and easy care.

Since deer will nibble freely, it lives behind a fence.

It has multiplied and been divided, so now I can share with a friend.

The flowers are not finished, yet.  I was just eager to post and share.

Autumn Wildflower

Along the driveway, where I often walk, I saw a flower I had not noticed before.  We are in the midst of a drought.  The grass is brown and very dry at the end of summer.  These tiny blossoms would be easy to overlook, as the soft yellow blends in with the muted colors of its surroundings.

Since I have been writing this blog, I have become more aware of mother nature at home.  Documenting my observations, I have a record of what time of year a particular flower emerges.  Also, what color of a particular flower will bloom before other colors.  Memory is weak, writing is strong.  I am not the only victim, it is human not to remember all the details one wants to remember.

Delicate Dill

It has taken a number of attempts to get an acceptable photo of these teeny-tiny dill flowers.  The leaves are feathery delicate and lightly aromatic.

This herb is short-lived, but easily reseeds itself.  In the photo above is a late season seedling that emerged in a bed of turnips.

I have tried to preserve the leaves by freezing, but the results were just passable.  Best used fresh, dill is delicious on a fresh (not frozen) salmon, or try it on other light-flavored fish.

Colorful Asters

The original plant is this color, but the camera captures a different color than my eye sees.  I looked at a number of photos I took, and kept seeing the same hue.  In person, these flowers look more purple / blue.  I suppose there is a perfectly logical camera explanation for the color difference :-)* * * * *

I do like this light pink color, perhaps because there are so few plants with flowers this color.  Can you see the purple asters on the far left of the photo?  The camera was fooled into showing those flowers their true color!

I am inundated with aster seedlings in the garden, since it is extremely time-consuming to dead head these plants.  New blossoms open and others die everyday, from the top of branches going down.

My latest plan is to mark the bottom of the plants with pink blooms, so I will know them after the tops have been cut off.
When they are dug up in winter, I can say decisively, what color flower comes from which plant.
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The one plant with white flowers was the last to bloom.

Late Summer Unknown Beauty

I had been watching this unknown plant grow in the midst of my Bee Balm, and almost pulled it out early as an invading weed.
On second thought, I decided to let it live and see what developed.
You just never know 😀

Well, this plant looks so much prettier than my straggly bee balm.
Now, I get to decide who stays and who gets relocated.

Autumn Crocus

Technical name for this beauty is colchicum which is in the lily family
It has no relation to crocus, in the iris family.
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Above, the buds are emerging from the ground in the same hole as their dead leaves did last spring.
There should be 3 to 4 times as many flowers as I see this year, because there were that many leaves a few months ago.  Perhaps this summer was too hot for the bulbs.  I understood these bulbs can take full sun, but apparently, I was mistaken.

Helianthus Has Issues

These beautiful flowers in the sunflower family were planted 5 – 10 years ago, and have had bug problems ever since.
Pictured here are plants that were moved to the south side of my house.
They are doing much better than the original location in sun all day long.

See the flowers here that are missing petals?
Some thing has made these blossoms incomplete.
I do not know the infestation that is devastating these flowers.

At times, I thought I could see the insects eating the petals, now I throw my hands up in confusion.  I cannot figure out what is going on.
I’m sure I will dig out the other batch of flowers, and give these another year to live and redeem themselves.  Only out of sheer frustration.