Falling towards Winter

Yes, it has been a while since I found anything to post about. But I was away from home and while I was gone leaves that were green when I left had changed color and fallen off by the time I returned only two weeks later.

This photo, taken November 14, provided my inspiration for a blog post I was going to title "Flying South for the Winter" - but I never did get the posting done.

 In mid October there were a lot of leaves down already but yet, as you see, some bushes still defiantly green.

 Before I left the country on October 23 I thought I should take down this tomato plant for the season. As you can see it was still loaded with tomatoes; I have saved a few to try and harvest the seeds because I don't know what this plant was (it was purchased with a label that clearly did not belong to it). The sweet potato was from a so-called ornamental sweet potato plant I had in a planter on the deck this year. There were two such plants but only one developed a tuber.

By November 7 there was quite the variety of color out front. In the foregound the butterfly bush was still holding on to leaves while behind it the viburnum was a rich Fall red and the ornamental plum tree had a spectacular orange coloration.

 A high shot of the back garden shows trees in varying stages of their Fall wardrobes...and lots of raking needed.

 Around the 20th of October I decided I better harvest the butternut squash that had been the big surprise of the garden year in the front garden bed where I had newly planted shrubs. This one plant grew out of the load of compost I applied before the shrubs were put in. With no other fertilizer or special care you can see the plant really produced good sized squash so it must have been an ideal spot.

 For dinner on November 20 I cut into the first squash and it tasted delicious served alongside pork tenderloin with gravy, gnocchi, broccoli and cauliflower and a pineapple ginger salsa.

 This is not quite as pretty as the August view of the caryopteris but it does have a certain charm don't you think?

 On November 21st I looked out and saw how the sun was slanting through the treed area and wanted to try to capture the moment. As I dashed outside with my camera I grabbed a vase of flowers that are also fading and past their best but they did give a pop of color to the scene.

This morning I could see that this one bush was still holding on to a late display of Fall red although most everything else has let go of the leaves now. And with the temperature today not rising above freezing for the first time this season I'm thinking I have almost seen the last of the color in my garden.

I'll close out with this sunset view from October 8 and hope that it will not be quite so long before inspiration for a new set of photos and thoughts to share with you occurs to me.

Weather Watches and Warnings

This morning when I turned on my computer I discovered the weather service had posted a tornado watch up through 5.00pm. Mindful of how I had a big ceramic pot blown over and broken on a similar day I thought I better go outside and ready things for high winds. The weather gurus are always very conservative and do not want weather (any weather it seems!) to happen without them first having told us "it might".

Not knowing how much wind there might be I started to take photos:

 A big maple tree across the road has started to change colors despite the two 90 degree days we had over the weekend.

My front garden has a Fall look to it with the coneflower seed heads, the big yellow dill seedheads and more although the smaller of the two butternut vines is still hanging in there.

 The big butternut vine has rambled all the way around to the driveway and is still producing flowers. I know I really should cut it back but it is entertaining me with it's prodigious growth and is always a guaranteed conversation starter with anyone who comes to my front door.

Looking up the hill you can see the sky is starting to look like a weather event might be going to happen. Closer to the camera the bigger butternut vine rambles on and off the front walk.

 In the foreground the chrysanthemums are beginning to bloom and some self seeded ageratum are having a big show despite their late appearance (h'mm, there's also a big weed there that I must pull out.) Keep your eye on the sky.

 The viburnum is also beginning to change into it's fall wardrobe.

Are you still watching the sky with me?

 Oh my, this event might almost be here, I better head back inside.

Look at the leaves swirl off that tree previously seen in the first photo.

And down comes the rain! It almost looks as though the house on the right is being toppled in the wind and rain but I guess it was me standing unevenly in my mad dash to get in out of the rain.

They did take down the tornado watch by midday. Heavy rain did not last more than about thirty minutes and has continued on lightly until now.  But it was exciting to watch this storm come in.

On My Morning Walk

Yesterday when I went for my walk I noticed that the sun rising was creating a quite dramatic moment so this morning  I put my camera in my pocket as I left the house.

Yesterday morning there as a little more mist in the air but this still looked interesting to me. I liked the contrast of the crane and wires against the early morning sky and the way the orange road sign echoed the colors of the sun.

On the side street I thought I had again captured that brilliant ball of sun but I see it was a little hidden. But here I liked the contrast of the groundcover greenery with the spider webs showing up along the top of the bank and that gap in the trees with the burst of light and the intrusion of the crane.

 Here is another seasonal flag - that tree (for shame, I can't name it right now) is covered in brilliant fall colored berries and the grass in the foreground is saying "enough already, I can't take this heat!"

As I got closer to home I suddenly noticed I was being watched. Yes, the deer family is still around.

I was having a morning walk but I made them have a morning run!

 Ordinarily I don't get this many wildlife sightings but this morning I did luck out. Turkey vultures perched along the roof ridge of this home. What were they waiting for I wonder? They were likely not there to admire the contrast of the shrubs in the front left.

 This view of the snake is not from this morning but from Saturday afternoon. I checked this morning and that creature is still there in the window well. Let me tell you, I hate snakes; they just creep me out.  This one has been here for a few days now and really, I would rather it packed it's bags and left. 

The last zone of the sprinklers was finishing its morning walk too. The weather forecast is for another hot and humid day with temperatures expected to be in the high 90's F. They say by tomorrow a cool front will come through. I do hope so and I can hear the garden agreeing with me.

Too Soon for Summer to be Over?

Things are a happening outside in my garden and beyond that suggest summer is preparing to be over. Oh please, say it isn't so!

Earlier this season I dug a couple of wheelbarrow loads of compost into this garden. A plant sprouted from that and I decided to give it a chance. Well, let me tell you, if you have never before grown butternut squash, then you are in for a treat! Just give it a lot of space. This is what the vine looked like on August 12.  Keep in mind this is growing on/alongside my front walkway! See that butternut in the front foreground - watch out for it later.

Here you can see what is growing - this photo taken on August 23 just two days ago.

Here's that one from the front foreground. Apparently I am going to have to get ruthless and cut back the vines (confession - I did some pruning this morning) because any squash just beginning to develop now will not have enough time to grow fully before the first frost. Wow, I hate having to cut things back.  But there are at least five almost fully grown butternuts on the vine now so that is a bonus!

Here's a tomato plant of an unknown type. I purchased it marked as a black cherry but it clearly isn't that. The fruits do not seem to ripen to a full clear red and they are a small roma style shape. Yet another of my garden mysteries.

Here's one of my volunteer tomato plants. The fruit on this one are great tasting and a little larger than a cherry tomato but not really a full sized one.

I had company staying for a week and I was not picking tomatoes as often as I should have been. Once I went out to gather ripe ones I found  a number of tomatoes that were over-ripe. Rather than bring them inside I left them on the brick edging thinking the critters could have them. Who knew butterflies liked to eat tomatoes?

Dinner tonight was porkchops in the slo cooker seasoned with rosemary from my garden, green and yellow beans from the farmers market seasoned with basil from my garden and a side salad of tomatoes also from my garden also tossed with basil as above. The sweet potato puree, potatoes and onions were from the supermarket.

The butterflies have been frequent visitors to the summer garden - not as many as in previous years but still plentiful in number.

This might have been a photo of yellow finches feeding on the coneflowers which have gone to seed...but the yellow finches don't like to pose for the camera. But you might want to note the fine dill plants nestled here in the front garden. We enjoyed dill from them with our smoked salmon and scrambled egg lunch today.

Last week we had a lot of hummingbirds fighting over the right to feed from the feeder. But on Thursday - pouff! - they were gone. Flown south for the winter I am left to understand. I thought I might as well leave the feeders out for a few more days and sure enough, this afternoon I saw a couple of hummers visit the feeder again so I guess they don't all fly south on the same day. It has been such fun watching them this summer.

And another place where you might have seen the yellow finches but alas, they did not wait for my camera here either. What you can see if you peer closely is how efficient the rabbit has been pruning down the back row of coneflowers - look in the right front for the stalks.

 

These birds are looking a little bedraggled as they pause on their way south - w a a a y south is where they come from!

 

A couple of weekends ago I was on the Chesapeake Bay and was introduced to Ospreys. And I have been totally captivated by them. I really did not know anything about them so when I got home I went to my friend google to have an introduction. In my googling I came across a livecam that has been set up on a nest that had seen three chicks hatch earlier this season. Here's a screen save of a couple of the chicks on Friday.

I have become very attached to this nest and have my laptop set up downstairs with the livecam left on during the day so I can see what's going on. It took everyone in my house a little while to get adjusted to continually hearing the chirping/squawking coming from the nest but they are fascinating to watch. You might like to join in - go here (that should be a live link but you can only see them in the daylight).
These birds are also about to fly south for the season.

Here's a sunset scene from the Chesapeake on August 10.

The equinox is still some weeks off but it seems to me that there are plenty of signs that the season is coming to an end.

Scenes from my garden today

A gardener can always find something to talk about on the weather topic. And without trying to bore the non-gardeners, this has been a weird weather summer so far. July was really really hot with day after day in the 90's F and loads of humidity. August, by contrast, has been much cooler with many overcast or rainy days. As a result garden items that need sunshine to ripen have been impacted.

 The butterfly bushes around the garden have been successful this year, as usual, in attracting butterflies. Look for the swallowtail in the top right area of the bush. The yellow finch are having a banquet every day as they flit from the black eyed susans to the coneflowers - but they are less enthusiastic about pausing for the camera.

 The tomato plant with the best crop currently is this one - but it is a volunteer so I don't know what it is.

 Next to it is this yellow pear tomato - this is also a volunteer albeit one I would really not bother to keep growing if I could identify it better as a seedling. The fruit splits very easily and it does not have very much of a taste.

 Now this one was a plant I paid money for. But something is not quite right. It says "black cherry" on the label but the fruit is neither a cherry shape nor black. H'mm.

 Usually by the third week in August I am picking this dish full every day. But not this year. I left more plants to grown this year but some of them barely have any fruit on at all. And the ones that do are not exactly loaded or fast to ripen. Guess the weather is to blame.

 The hummingbirds are enjoying my garden however. They seem to have slowed down a little today but in the past ten days it has been a really strong competition to get to the feeder with birds swooping around and driving the others off.

Out front is another of my volunteers from the compost heap. I thought the idea was that the heat buildup in the heap was enough to kill off weeds and seeds. But no. Earlier this season I dug in a few wheelbarrow loads of compost before I planted new bushes in this front garden. I got a number of tomato seedlings which I quickly removed but then there was this one plant that I was intrigued by so I left it alone. At first I thought it was a summer squash - maybe zucchini or yellow squash I hoped. This plant grew like Jacks beanstalk for a while and finally I had to go to google to see what I had growing. And the answer is a butternut squash plant. You can see one in the near foreground and there are three or more that I have been able to easily find and still loads of the big yellow flowers.

Fortunately I don't get a lot of people walking along my front walk. But those who do are quite amused by seeing my garden surprises.