More seasonal color

Over the weekend Fall really lived up to it's name. The big maple tree above this tableau just let go and there is leaf confetti galore.
While taking the dog for a walk this afternoon I spotted this great variety of autumnal colors. I just loved the way those two "volunteer" trees are peeking through the row of green and have put on their brightest color to make sure they are not overlooked.
And lastly, a few of the chrysanthemums in my front garden. A week or so ago I got really aggressive and pulled out/trimmed back a big lot of the very faded (summertime) black eyed susans and now you can have a much better view of the October flowers in this plot.

Ode to the season

I was away all weekend at a quilt retreat. As I drove out on Friday I thought how magnificent the fall colors were on the trees but that since heavy wind and rain was predicted for Saturday I would not likely get any good photos. But when I arrived home late Sunday afternoon I was lucky enough to have a few minutes of good conditions to take these photos. Look how dramatic the viburnum looks just to the right of the sidewalk in the photo above.
This shows the kousa dogwood tree with it's autumn clothes on. Some of the leaves have turned dry at the edges and curled up and I thought it made for a great image.
And here we are looking further down the street. In the foreground are the seed heads from the black eyed susan blooms that I like to leave up for the birds to feast on.

It's a glorious Fall day

A couple of days ago I looked out my window and thought I should take a photo of the very beginnings of the leaf change color on this big maple tree. But then we had a day of high winds and the leaves looked very windblown indeed. But today is a wonderful day so I did get this photo afterall.
When I first looked out the window this morning the back garden seemed alive with birds. Of course the act of getting my camera, raising the window, removing the screen and then snapping the photo chased some of the birds away. But if you look closely here you can see at least three robins. Before I took the photo three starlings had been in this birdbath at the same time (unusual for the birds to share like that) and they had splashed out a lot of water.

The dogwood is also putting on it's Fall clothes.

The big leaf plant in the left foreground is one of my rhubarb plants. I just picked quite a few stalks yesterday so it is a little smaller now than it was.

Final version of the deck refurbishment

As previously mentioned, the deck refurbishment company did return to apply the stain coating. I am slowly putting some items back in place.

A long, dry spell

Some men in my life have asked why I have not updated my blog. Since the original intention was to show the building project, and that was finally over, I had not really had any incentive to update. However, now that Fall is here and I will be indoors more perhaps it is time to resurrect this blog and just create postings as the mood strikes or the camera captures something worthwhile.

This week we finally had the deck cleaned. The deck is nine years old and had not ever been stained or cleaned. When it was new we liked it in it's natural finish. But nine years of weather and watering pots had taken their toll and it was time for a refurbishment.


Here is a "before" shot of the deck. This was how it looked on August 23. You can see that the wood has greyed and there is staining from where pots have been sitting.And now this is how it looked on September 25 after the cleaning.



I don't want to put anything back on the deck yet because there is meant to be a followup visit by the contractor to apply a semi transparent stain.

And since Fall arrived on this past Tuesday it is likely time to empty out the pots of impatiens that have stopped blooming as well as cut back/pull out the petunias. Neither of these two annuals did very well this summer in terms of blooming.

Landscaping continues

Outside, I'm still beavering away, trying to bring the landscaping back into line and erase the signs of piles of building rubble and more. Above you can see that the planter box is home to some thriving marigolds and blue salvia. The lattice screen fence still awaits staining.
Today we had the landscape team here to work on fixing some longstanding drainage problems along the landscape beds in the rear garden/yard. Additionally, some large boulders were maneuvered into position to hold back the soil and mulch from being washed onto the new patio. Trying to find boulders to buy as been, well, trying! But we did come across some yesterday and have been able to add them to the three that have been there all along. It was not fun heaving those big boulders around as today was very humid and the bugs were out in full force. There is still a vacancy in the front right of the above photo for a fountain!
Rolo of course has to come and inspect what has been done and give everything the sniff test. Surviving plants were dug out and poked in the corner so they can be replanted once we get some more topsoil and mulch tomorrow.
Lastly, here's a photo to show how we have been able to reuse some of the pavers from the old patio. Because the rear yard slopes downhill we have a problem with water runoff. After the very heavy spring rains, mulch is continually washed away from the beds and into the grass. So today the team dry laid the old pavers as an edging along the garden bed in collaboration with laying new drainpipes to carry the downspout water away from the house. Those pavers look so much better laid in a neat line as an edging than they do piled up out in the woods!

As we inch towards completion

I am reminded that it has been many weeks since my last posting. My excuse is that I've been waiting for something else to happen. So last Friday, we had some action on site when the carpet layers arrived to take out the old and the temporary carpet in the family room. In the photo below you can see them working on taking up the old carpet. In the right corner the door to the elevator is open altho the inner door is closed.


And now here we are a few days later. The new carpet is laid - unclear from the photo is that the carpet is now a soft green color with a subtle pattern in it. Please also note that the windows are sparkling clean and that the drapes are once more hanging from the rods (and not lying in repose on a bed downstairs). Geoff is engrossed in a book newly borowed from the library.
The photo above shows my newly planted clematis - this one replaced the vigorous speciman that did not survive being on the building site.
And now a long shot of the arch with a flowering clematis on both sides. The clematis on the right not only survived the building site but this is it's best ever flowering. I wish I could say something good about the grass below but reread the title of this posting...