Autumn Joy

What a perfect name for this perennial. It's such an easy plant to grow and looks so pretty in the fall. I love the color.

Fickle Fall

'Tis the season for fickle weather. One day it's downright cold and windy (ok, cold meaning in the mid-50s) and the next day it's 84 and humid. I've gone from running the furnace at night to cranking the A/C back on in the afternoon. There's a cold front heading our way again, so hopefully the cool weather will stick around a bit longer this week. I'm not ready for snow, but I sure wouldn't mind a nice, long month of mild temps.

Camera Shy

You wouldn't believe the time and effort it took to get a decent picture of this darned bird! He's practically become part of the family, he's here so often. However, he's very camera shy; dashing off the moment I reach for my camera, yet lingering for long stretches of time if he realizes the camera was accidentally left inside.

Of course, Rod (who names everything: cars, ficus plants, wild birds, stray cats) has made it official. Please meet "Wally."

Last Rose

'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.

- Thomas Moore

The Monarchs Have Arrived!

I've seen dozens of Monarch butterflies this past week. The asters are full of them (as well as honey bees), in spite of the strong, gusty winds we've had. We even had a tornado warning in Lancaster County last night. First time in a long time I've heard the sirens go off in Lincoln!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Autumn...

Blue Sky

After three days of rain and overcast, I was thrilled to see such a gorgeous blue sky this afternoon. It's currently 70 degrees with a very slight breeze and simply lovely outside. Just got back from an invigorating walk along the bike trail where I saw a sugar maple with a few red leaves! I'll take my camera this evening when I walk with my hubby.

I love autumn!!

Hostas

I need to plant more of these.

Fall Aster

The Return of the Wasp

Wasp

Country Road

September

SEPTEMBER

by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

HE golden-rod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down.




The gentian's bluest fringes

Are curling in the sun;

In dusty pods the milkweed

Its hidden silk has spun.




The sedges flaunt their harvest,

In every meadow nook;

And asters by the brook-side

Make asters in the brook.




From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odors rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.




By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.




But none of all this beauty

Which floods the earth and air

Is unto me the secret

Which makes September fair.




'T is a thing which I remember;

To name it thrills me yet:

One day of one September

I never can forget.

Field Trip

This past week I've noticed an abundance of sunflowers in the empty fields and ditches on my way work. I decided to take a field trip one afternoon and see what I could see. In spite of the bees, wasps and ticks (no, I didn't see any ticks, but I KNOW they're out there!) I managed to take several decent pictures. I love the contrast between the brilliant blue sky and the yellow flowers. Makes me smile.

Garden Angel

I should have this garden angel dressed in a rain slicker! It's been so unseasonably cool and rainy for the past few days. A mild 63 degrees with gray skies. Feels more like Seattle than Lincoln in August. Sure hope this doesn't mean we're in for a brutal winter. I'm not quite ready for fall!

Summer Wind

The summer heat is back with a vengeance. The cooler, damper days of early August are all but a faded memory. It's 95, windy (when is it not windy in Nebraska?) with thunderstorms brewing on the horizon. Too hot & humid to go for our pre-dinner walk. Guess we'll just have to suffer and have a cold drink out on the deck.

*This photo is not from our property, but rather from my brother & sister-in-law's backyard. Looks like something out a Willa Cather novel.

Within My Garden

Within my Garden, rides a Bird
Upon a single Wheel—
Whose spokes a dizzy Music make
As 'twere a travelling Mill—

He never stops, but slackens
Above the Ripest Rose—
Partakes without alighting
And praises as he goes,

Till every spice is tasted—
And then his Fairy Gig
Reels in remoter atmospheres—
And I rejoin my Dog,

And He and I, perplex us
If positive, 'twere we—
Or bore the Garden in the Brain
This Curiosity—

But He, the best Logician,
Refers my clumsy eye—
To just vibrating Blossoms!
An Exquisite Reply!

Emily Dickinson

Butterfly

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly.

"One must have sunshine, freedom,

and a little flower."

Hans Christian Andersen

Photo courtesy of Rod Scher

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The dandelions and buttercups
gild all the lawn; the drowsy bee
stumbles among the clover tops,
and summer sweetens all to me.
J.R. Lowell

Couldn't find any dandelions or buttercups, so this'll have to do.

Endless Summer

It's pretty hard to get excited about my garden these days. The grass has patches of brown that I'm trying to ignore. Most of the perennials are finished blooming, leaving the annuals and shrub roses to carry the burden of pleasing the neighbors. Fall seems so far off, although a few bulb catalogs arrived last week tempting me with their glossy pictures, and I can almost imagine the scent of burning leaves (does anyone do that anymore??) and the grumbles of my husband as he hangs Christmas lights before the first snowstorm of the season (which has occurred as early as Halloween). I've been trying to decide what might improve my spring beds, scratching notes about possibilities and dreams for that area next to the garage, and jotting down ideas for hostas in the shade bed alongside the house.

During this lull (when I know should be weeding, deadheading, and watering), I find myself flipping through Flower Gardening in the Hot Midwest: USDA Zone 5 & Lower Zone 4. The author (for whom I worked very briefly in her independent bookstore here in Lincoln) has some marvelous ideas and thoughts on gardening specifically in our area. I especially like what I read this morning, feeling as if she'd been eavesdropping on my recent thoughts:

Gardens are easiest in spring and early summer - young, tender, sweet, moist, and effortless. Weeds are mere seedlings, rain is adequate, diseases haven't yet gotten a foothold. This, too, is when many of the most beautiful flowers bloom - delicate, profuse and fragrant... The garden is a delicate fairyland. It seems a paradise and you are in love with it. This is passionate young love when happily-ever-after seems not only attainable, but a lead pipe cinch.

Phase two - reality - hits around the end of June. "I've sort of lost interest in my garden," I heard someone say in July. Well, no wonder. It isn't all roses anymore. The weeds are up, the leaf miner has ravaged the Aquilegia (columbine), and mildew has overtaken the Phlox divaricata (woodland phlox or wild sweet William). Summer heat has struck the Midwest with its full blast, requiring endless watering. A gap in bloom between the spring flowers and the late season ones has made the garden seem a wasteland. This is midlife crisis with a vengeance. The strong light of a summer day reveals the garden's every flaw. Autumn will roll around with cooler temperatures, renewed rain, truer colors shown under the sun's angled rays, and mature love will reap its reward. Staying power is the key in the midseason garden. Staying power means keeping on top of routine tasks like watering, weeding, and deadheading to see the garden through the heat of the summer.

OK, I can do this. Staying power. How hard can it be? Water, weed, deadhead. Water, weed, deadhead. With rainfall exceeding the normal monthly totals and more precipitation predicted for the next three days, I'm in pretty good shape. At least I don't have to worry about mowing. I have my own personal yardboy!