Fall Blooms

Sarah (my 13 yr old) took this through her glasses

 It is a beautiful time of year. The air is cooling off but the sun is still warm. The summer blooms are disappearing and the last bit of color with the fall flowers are providing the last good show before winter.  I love this time of year because when I go out to walk through the garden the hummingbirds buzz by and the butterflies and bees are busy getting that last big pollination.

Even the frogs are preparing to hibernate deep down in the pond. It is actually a funny story. I left this pond to it's own devices. I stopped cleaning it and took out the pump and figured I would clean it out this winter. However, I started seeing these cute BIG frogs everywhere. They sit on the rocks and sun themselves and when you walk by the screech and jump in. There must be 10 frogs in this little pond.

....and the honey bees are in full swing with what I am convinced is their favorite flower group, the salvias. I wonder where all that honey is?

giant celosia with a giant wasp

the honeybees go crazy for this stuff

the bloom are 8-10 inches

 Other salvia's:

hot lips: looks like ducks?

hot pink

 I also find the bold yellow flowers so inviting this time of year:

sarah took this: beach sunflowers

they get to be about 12 ft tall and need staking

tarragon

beautiful dainty flower and perennial

melampodium

We can't forget the cools season crops for fall:

buttercrunch lettuce and romaine

brussel sprouts

broccoli

 I also found these morning glory vines. The most interesting thing is that I planted the seed in Purple years ago and each year it comes back (invasively) in different colors...plant genetics in real form:

Here are a few other interesting and beautiful fall bloomers in zone 8b

snowball viburnum

fire spike, hummingbirds love it!

lantana

old blooms from the garlic chives

look at those seed heads on garlic chives

We can't forget the butterflies and moths, busy at work before winter:

Fall gardening comes with good weather, amending your beds, pulling all the weeds from summer and pinestrawing for winter.  I find it amazing when God grants us the gift to care for his land, he provides the season to coincide with the tasks...beautiful weather, blooms and insects to surround the ardous work...the beauty is the distraction.

Happy Gardening!

Nicki