It was an interesting fall. The color wasn’t as brilliant as some years, but there were pockets of real beauty. The weather was mild which was delightful. We also traveled a bit (S. Dakota Black Hills and Badlands.) I transplanted some daylilies and thinned out some other plants. There will be more to do in the spring, but I made a good start.

These photos are through the end of October.

It rained. And then it rained some more. And then it was hot and humid. I didn’t get much gardening done other than a bit of weeding and cutting back daylily scapes. Hurricane Lee is passing well east of us as I write, cooler air coming, and hopefully I can get out and do some fall transplanting. On the bright side, at least I didn’t have to haul hoses and sprinklers around.

That’s all for now. Fall foliage should be starting soon….

I have been lax in my postings. Lots of rain, busy with grandchildren, visitors, and other things. The gardens have benefitted from the rain this summer, and I have loved not having to drag hoses around all the time. The daylilies were spectacular with many still blooming, and the meadow is now full of goldenrod, phlox, bee balm and Queen Anne’s lace. Its a lazy time of year. I will move some things around this fall, but for now I am just enjoying the view.

I made a mistake on the name of one of the Iris Ensatas. This one is Silent Thunder not Rolling Thunder.

The Ensata (Japanese Iris) are spectacular this year.

I think I have the names right. If any readers grow these, feel free to correct me.

New daylilies coming soon.

The crevice garden is coming along. Lots of friends have stopped by to view it and that has been fun. We had some very hot dry days so I watered the garden daily for awhile. Lately we have had rain so I haven’t had to water. Little weeds are beginning to grow and I am trying to be vigilant about removing them. I took some photos June 10th and am posting them now. I am hoping the gentians will bloom this year.

I will update again if some other plants bloom.

May and early June weather has been a roller coaster of highs and lows. 92 degrees one day and 52 degrees the next. Dry and hot and then wet and cool. The iris seem to love it however, and so do the lupine.

There is much more blooming, but I thought I would focus on these. We also have deer, a pair of red foxes hunting daily, wrens, bluebirds, hummingbirds and orioles nesting and feeding. Its just wonderful right now.

May has been a roller coaster so far. It has been hot – in the 80’s and tonight we are going to have a freeze. It has been a very active season in the garden. Bluebirds are nesting in their houses, robins in the cedar outside my window, and Carolina wrens in a plant on the porch. The orioles have returned for their grape jelly treats and hummingbirds entertain us all day long. A fox has been hunting daily (she has 5 kits nearby).

There is so much to see in the garden right now. I will try to take more photos and share them soon.

Happy Spring. The tulips and daffodils are blooming, bluebirds are nesting, bloodroots are blossoming and trillium and epimediums are budding. It is an early spring this year. After reading Kenton Seth and Paul Spriggs book “The Crevice Garden” this winter, I decided I needed to build one. A garden club friend had lots of rocks he wanted to get rid of so I went to his house and loaded up the SUV. I had 3 yards of screened topsoil delivered. I went to a local landscaping business and bought chipped stone for the top dressing. The next task was to dig out the plants that were in the space. I had astilbe, perennial mums, siberian iris, thread-leaf coreopsis, dianthus, and betony in the area. All had become overgrown and too large so I dug them, split them and potted them up for my garden club’s plant sale in May.

I need some more plants but it is a start. Stay tuned….

Greetings from the garden and Happy New Year. January has been a topsy turvy weather month in the Northeast. Rain, cold, warm, snow, rain again, snow again. It is either very pretty outside or darn ugly. Let’s go with the pretty pictures shall we?

The garden continues to rest of course. However, the gardener is heading south for a couple of months and will be back in April to begin a new gardening year. I hope these photos provide a pleasant diversion for my many friends who are battling illness this winter.