The Garden in October

There is a hush going over the yard and garden.  Plant and insect life are quieting down while the animal life is scurrying about like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.  I got one, rare day in the garden undisturbed today.  I began at 6:30 a.m., as soon as it was light enough to see outdoors.  It was 38 degrees and it couldn't have felt any better, to be out in the smell and feel of wet, cold, earthy nature, without thought or sound, and only with what was in front of me.  The sun had yet to rise enough to lighten the backyard.  It was bliss.  With full-time classes, home schooling and a home and family, these hours are the golden hours that I cherish. 

I'm very much in love with the unique toad lily

and her orchid like appearance, without the orchid like temperament. 

Sunny Calendula

A blue beauty whose name I've lost

And another flower whose name is buried in past records but whose fiery orange fall show is much appreciated.

Never one to disappoint, the foxgloves have reseeded astoundingly well this year.  Because it is a bi-annual, letting it seed is absolutely necessary to seeing it again.

And my favorite, alien looking flower, Monkshood.  This is pre-flowering.  Soon there will be an impressive purple show. 

Lastly, rosa rugosa rose hips.  They were on the list to dry but went rather quickly before I could get to the them.  I did manage to get some horehound in for cough syrup however. 

Hope ~ Mother Nature Prevails

However strong one's need for tidiness in the garden, nothing should outweigh the importance of supporting your local ecosystems.  Due to pesticide use and loss of its critical and only food source, the milkweed plant, the monarch butterfly has been experiencing shocking declines in the last decades.  Where once millions made their annual migration to Mexico, those numbers have reduced enough to cause scientists some alarm.  So every year, any milkweed plants that sprout in my yard or garden stay exactly where they are, and they are left to go to seed each fall. 

Every year since my boys were toddlers (they are now 13 and 16) we have sought out and hoped to find one monarch caterpillar which we bring in, supply with daily fresh milkweed leaves, and then watch the most magical and wonder-filled transformation from striped caterpillar to a chrysalis that rivals the crown jewels, and then the grand finale, a beautiful butterfly.  

The transformation really is amazing and we happily and joyfully release the butterfly the day he or she emerges and wings are dry. 

This year, we found not one, but four and one came inside quite by accident!  He was so tiny I didn't see him.  I also found one empty chrysalis which means one happy butterfly is already on his or her way to start the cycle anew. 

The increased numbers this year give me hope.  

I'll never forget the first time as a child I found one of these chrysalis creations.

Chrysalis Photo Credit: Joyful Butterfly 

To say I was awestruck is an understatement.  I had never seen anything quite so beautiful.  As an adult it creates just as much of a sense of wonder in me today as it did then, and only cements my belief in the magic of God's creation.  After all, the gold specs are hardly necessary and not part of the butterfly's finished form.  It seems to me pure delight and whimsy on the part of our creator. 

We have four assorted size caterpillars this year and I couldn't be happier.  A fitting way to end a busy summer and welcome the oncoming autumn.

Early Summer Blooms

The showiest among them have peaked already, and as the solstice clock now begins winding downward toward darker days, I can't believe we're already half-way through the year.  Gone are the peonies, irises, daffodils, tulips, lily-of-the-valley, the hyacinths and the early roses.  There are things to be pruned back, and a few remaining new plants to go in, where I've focused on native plants and hopefully, hardy perennials that in the future won't require too much attention from me. 

An apothecary rose, the last to bloom and the slowest to grow.  Its rosa rugosa mates are more than triple its size.

Foxglove

Clematis

Lupine

Clematis

Clematis

Spiky sea holly (ouch!)

Yarrow

How to Do it All and Not Lose Your Sanity

Step number one:  Realize you cannot possibly do it all. 

The lack of a post since January can give you an idea of the grueling semester I underwent this past Spring, and just finished yesterday.  Despite some classes being on-line, I have news for those who think on-line classes are easier.  They are not.  At least not if you're doing the work.  They usually have far more reading and writing requirements, discussion posts in which you must be active and papers to write.  I also had my last in-person class for the next three semesters and it was my second semester of my four credit Anatomy and Physiology class that met every Saturday.  Every Saturday since last September, bright and early at 8 a.m. I've been in class.  It was unusually challenging for me as I had no Biology or Chemistry background.  But I passed the final semester with an 86.  Lest you think me an outlier, out of 16 original students in September, only two of us finished the class this spring.  Out of about 8 students starting this Spring, only one finished, and he was taking it a second time, so there you go.

I also had an introductory statistics class that was rather challenging, and a psychology class.  I have a brief, ecstatic two weeks off before my summer classes begin and then only three remaining semesters until completing my Bachelor's. 

In the meantime, I have been itching like crazy to get out in the garden, to do a monumental spring cleaning (which is normally done in March), and settle into a somewhat normal routine.  At least for a little while.  In the next two weeks I should have some garden pictures to share and some more appropriately themed posts related to the original intent of this blog. 

However, here is a little cross-over post I shared on my Facebook page, that pretty sums up my concerns for the upcoming summer:

"So, I once read somewhere on the Interweb that in order to make dry and unexciting reading material more interesting, simply add 'Harry Potter and ...' at the beginning of your texts. So, for your enjoyment, my summer reading list:

Harry Potter and the Principles of Sociological Inquiry, Harry Potter and Research Methods in Psychology and last but not least, the cliff-hanger ending of the trilogy: Harry Potter and Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience.

I will then continue the series with my own ad hoc novels: Harry Potter and My Overgrown Garden, Harry Potter and The Sentient Dust Bunnies, and last but not least Harry Potter and Dumbledore Tackle the Filing Pile Cyclops. Gonna be a great summer, jam packed with unexpected thrills and excitement. "

The Late Summer Garden and the First of the Harvest

I did not keep a big vegetable garden this year.  Mostly greens, nasturtiums and some baby pumpkins for my son.  Two tomato plants in pots that have already given what they produced.  But the flowers and herbs were exceptional this year. 

I planted a number of new herbs and I have some sassafras trees coming in the fall, which I'm told are persnickety.  I may try to over winter one or two indoors in case the fall transplants don't make it. I have a black walnut tree a squirrel planted for me which I saved in a pot, he will attempt to over winter as well.  I also have a witch hazel bush that will spend the winter indoors because we missed the transplant deadline.  I've never had much luck with things keeping well inside over the winter, but I'm going to give it a go.  

My Chicago hardy figs I planted last year were not hardy and didn't make it.  Oh well.  A chipmunk got the two figs they produced.  

We managed to keep one sunflower from the chipmunks and rabbits.  They either dig up the seeds or eat the tender shoots.  It never works well for my son and I. 

It's hard to believe but summer is already coming to a close.  

The ever cheerful sunflower.

Skullcap

 Some decorative flowers for pollinators.  A purple salvia and orange daisy.

Hops which will be gathered and dried for tea.

Rosa Rugosa ~ Rose Hips which will be harvested for tea

These have already sat for six weeks and been strained, Elder Flower brandy and Lavender Flower in Vodka.  

Good winter medicine.

Flowers are the Handmaidens of Romance

'The clever woman enhances her charm by wearing fresh flowers and by so doing takes unto herself their fragrance and beauty, for flowers are the handmaidens of romance.'  

The Secrets of Charm ~ Josephine Huddleston ~ 1929

And the garden flowers are now beginning to show their best work.  Although not shown, the peonies are in full bloom, along with the yellow iris and a slowly creeping sea of blue and purple and pink shades.

A last bit of surprise, our first ever blueberries.  Granted our bushes are only in their second year and we will maybe get six, if the chipmunks and birds don't beat us to them but here they are!

Milk Glass and Hydrangeas

How can it be July already?

Peonies and Ants ~ A Symbiotic Relationship

They say it is only a legend that the peonies need the ants to open, and that the reason for the ants visiting is that the peonies emit a sticky sap and nectar which the ants feed off of for a short time before and during opening.

I believe the two were designed to work together.  As long as a legend does no harm, 

I'll always choose the legend over reality because a good story is food for the soul.

Either way, 

once a year I am blessed to be able to enjoy an entire row of these luscious, creamy, sweet smelling flowers, indoors and out.

An Ode to Sweet Cicely

Myrrhis Odorata along the western side of my home thrives in this rocky soil next to the foundation.

I first became fascinated with it when I read about it Sylvia Jorrin's book 'Sylvia's Farm.'

Her book came into my life at a time when I needed it most.  It inspired me to take my own farm journey, one which gave me some of the happiest moments of my life before I had to leave it.

  I have since planted this lovely plant in three different homes.  I heard the new owner of one of those homes ripped it all out because she hated the smell.  It has a scent that smells to me like Anise, although Mrs. Grieve's Modern Herbal describes it as a smell similar to Lovage, I think Lovage smells like Curry, so I disagree.

There is also an American version which I found to my surprise already growing here, quite prolifically from under my porch.  

As with all plants of similar flower and design, be careful in your identification.  I can see where the novice might confuse it with Hemlock which is poisonous.  

The black clusters which were difficult to clearly photograph as it was windy are ants busily farming aphids.  

Scenes From The Garden ~ More Plants You Ought to Know

Common Sage in flower (Salvia Officinalis)

Winter Savory (Satureja Montana) 

Catmint (Napeta x Faassenni

Bayberry (Myrica)

Fox Glove (Digitalis Purpurea)

False Indigo (Baptisia Australis)