Still Enjoying The Roses While They Last

This is the one I think is JFK - it has a wonderful smell
and looks great over with the white and pink azaleas.
Won't be long before the white camellias bloom.

I'm really enjoying the Cinco De Mayo rose. It
had quite a few buds on it that have opened
today.

The sunflower is slowing opening.

I've never seen this color zinnia before in my garden.
I had planted a packet of white with red
stripes, but not yellow with red. It is
very pretty though.

Bell peppers are growing really well with the cooler weather.
I like the red color.

Cinco De Mayo Rose

My hubby gave this to me today as
an early Christmas present. This is
Cinco De Mayo. It's a floribunda
that is a chocolate or rust red with a hint
of lavender and is suppose to smell
really good. I planted it over by
the yellow Graham Thomas English rose.

The front yard got pretty neglected during our extreme
drought, so now that it has been cooler, I've been
in the mood to try and make a flower bed
around the rocks that previously
had pampas grass growing around them. I
started with this large clump of
Mystic Spires salvia. The
heat didn't bother this plant.

I transplanted a few of the zinnia's that
were a pretty pinkish red and also purple. I'm
hoping that they will go to seed
and come back next summer the same color.

In this bed I also transplanted
some lambs ear, coneflowers, alyssum, 
Frankly Scarlet daylily,
 which is a maroon red and 3 different iris.
There is a shady spot
along the underside
 of the rock, here
I transplanted some pink flowered
 wood sorrel/oxalis.

I just transplanted, so everything
looks a little wilted.

I transplanted another kind of salvia (Blue Bedder)  in front of this red knockout.

This is the crepe myrtle that I
tried to cut down last spring, but
it came back with a vengeance and looked beautiful
this past summer. Now it
has gorgeous reddish golden leaves.

Zinnia patch that came back from seed from the
summer ones.

I transplanted this rose at the
beginning of summer. It struggled
along and now has it's first bloom. It
is one that was here when we bought the
house and I didn't like where the previous
owner had it planted. I think it might be
a John F Kennedy rose.

A sunflower that has come back from seed.

Newly planted shrub bought for me by my sister
as a gift. It's a dwarf holly. I love the berries on it.

Quilt I'm making for my granddaughter. Lots
of flower fabric. I call it my
flower garden bow-tie quilt.

First Bloom On Canna

I stepped outside this morning and saw the first bloom for this canna.
I received it as a small cutting this
past spring.

A Few Roses

This a bud on Abraham Darby David Austin English rose.
I bought it last spring as a 1 gallon rose from
Chamblee's Rose Nursery. Since we had such an
extraordinary hot and dry summer, it
struggled with maybe one rose per cycle. I
am happy to report that since it has been cool and we've
had some rain, it now has 3 at one time!

Another shot Abraham Darby's other 2.

The double Pink Knockout looked really
pretty today. This is the "cornerstone" of the living
fence.

Another shot of knockout.

A Few Fall Chores

My granddaughter came for a visit and we spent the day outside doing a few fall
chores. She raked up quite a few of the sweet gum balls, which we
later in the evening burned in our chimanea, while having hot chocolate.
She also helped me dig all the holes to plant these
tulips.  I told her - hopefully we will see their
pretty heads at Easter time. 

We also planted Red Devon daffodils and some
 "Snake Head" iris. I've never
tried either of these.

We always cook a large breakfast when she comes to stay
and she helps with this also. She especially enjoys
setting the table with flowers from the garden.

This And That

Red rose that came with the house. It smells wonderful!!
It's about 6 ft high. I think it might be a Mr Lincoln.

Bell peppers are loving this cooler weather.

Blue Bedder Salvia that I started in spring from
seed.

Mystic Spires Salvia. Bumblebees won't let me
get near to take a cutting. 

Queen Elizabeth

Hosta is looking good. I've moved it three
times and found it likes being under
this tree and I discovered - don't plant them
too deeply.

I cut down all the old and dying zinnias in
late August. This is the second wave from seed left
on the ground.

Believe it or not - there is a rose growing under this jar
from a cutting.

Encore Azalea - Autumn Moonlight

Encore Azalea - Autumn Sangria. I'm really
happy with these azaleas. I was
skeptical about them blooming 3
times during the year here in Texas -
they lived up to the claim. 

Double Red Knockout

Another shot of the unknown rose (it might be
a Mr Lincoln)

Little Bit Of Fall Color At The Cottage Dome

I'm determined to have a wonderful garden despite

the many setbacks of this season, one of which I

haven't mentioned before is MOLES. I have two

cats that have managed to catch only one. I don't really

want to put out poison, so I just watch daily has

they shred the grass and garden. 

The okra is starting to wind down. Still harvesting a few.

Okra flower

I thought this Dianthus had died - guess not- looks pretty now.

Coleus

I know cantaloupe is getting bad press right now - but I thought
this was neat how it is growing up the fence - it grew from seed
out of the compost pile. I will probably feed it
to the rabbit on the other side of the fence.

Abraham Darby has survived the extreme heat and drought.

This photo doesn't do justice to this canna. It
looks really beautiful today. I started this from a piece
given to me by my father-in-law early in the year.

I'm extending flower garden - part of  this is
a newly dug area. I also took a couple of dying
Elaeagnus shrubs from the front yard and
transplanted them here. See the twiggy shrub in
background on the right?

I put the potted Fireworks purple fountain grass in the ground. I
also transplanted a few of the Firehouse nandina here also.

I've been dividing iris and daylilies also.

The Graham Thomas rose has survived the drought and heat. It
has almost doubled in size.

Firehouse Nandina