One fine October day, my friend and I were cutting down an extensive perennial garden that followed a picket fence around the borders of the lawn in. . .
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to autumn
on Oct 12, 2007, 9:11AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to autumn on 2007-10-12, 18:06:00
Journaling blog that records my garden seasons, along with gardening tips, assorted articles, and the occasional photo. The fact that I've been a. . . .
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to blogs
on Oct 11, 2007, 8:10AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to blogs on 2007-10-12, 18:04:56
The sighting of this critter -- at least two inches long and stretched to full capacity -- incited a "whoa!" moment in the yard, followed by relief that I hadn't planted my foot slightly further forward with the result of...
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to pests
Posted by Beth Reblogged by Old Roses to pests on 2007-10-12, 18:01:40
Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) on a cold, cloudy afternoon, the first tree in my garden to lose its leaves.
Thoughts turn to trees when it finally feels like fall.
Monday, we set an all-time October record with a high temperature of 91 degrees. Yesterday (Wednesday), the high temperature was 62 degrees.
Suddenly we need jackets and sweaters. Suddenly, it’s time to turn the compost and clear out the bins so they can be filled again. It’s time put away the delicate garden ornaments that won’t last long in an Indiana winter. It’s time to finish cleaning up the garden and it’s time to get out the leaf rakes.
It’s time to think about trees!. . .
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to trees
Posted by Carol Reblogged by Old Roses to trees on 2007-10-12, 18:00:45
Here's my tiny little pumpkin. Its even smaller than it looks. I'm leaving it on the vine to make sure its fully ripe. The stem is starting to turn brown, but there's still some green on the fruit. No frost in the forecast, so I think its fine to leave it to ripen longer.
They have a nice photo of a lophophora in bloom over at Cactus Lover, plus they include lots of care information, taken from the davesgarden website. Now this information is only for those who live in countries where peyote is not illegal, like the UK and Russia (unconfirmed), or those who are legally allowed to grow the plant, like native-americans, and government-scientists. The rest of you should just turn away and ignore this. Pretend I never even mentioned it.
In the UK, they crown National Champions in vegetables. Here is the tale of the National Champion Cactus, as told by the Evesham Journal, from the Vale of Evesham, of southern Worcestershire, England, along the valley of the River Avon.
Allen Young, of Wick, Pershore, [from the Vale of Evesham,] won the championship with his tomatoes in the National Vegetable Society championships....
In the flower classes, Sheila Townley, of Evesham, did particularly well in the cacti and succulents classes, picking up two firsts, a second and two thirds.
I really don't understand any of this.
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to cacti succulents
on Dec 31, 1969, 6:59PM
A fellow new mum introduced me to soap nuts as a greener way to do your clothes washing. I got a sample from the delightfully named In a Soapnut Shell site and tried them out - you put them in a drawstring bag or knotted sock in place of detergent and softener and chuck that in with the wash. They're the shell of a fruit (or drupe, strictly speaking) of a tree that grows in Nepal and India, containing the natural detergent saponin. I've used them a few times and so far so good - they're fine for delicates, cost...
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to fruit
on Oct 12, 2007, 7:27AM
Posted by Jane Perrone Reblogged by Old Roses to fruit on 2007-10-12, 17:57:57
Last night we had the first really good soaking rain that we've had in a long time--a few months at least. Walking around the back yard this morning, I couldn't help but notice how perky everything looked. Even the end-of-season, on-its-last-gasp stuff like the tomatoes and the pumpkin vine seemed to have a bit of renewed vigor and it brought me to a sudden and what should have been obvious conclusion: I haven't been watering deeply enough. . . .
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to watering
Posted by Claire Splan Reblogged by Old Roses to watering on 2007-10-12, 17:56:51
This started out as one of those deals where the client had no good idea of what they wanted; besides some patio space, some seating, and some fire. Typical client request on a residence of this size.
Now how all this goes together is completely up to me, and the layout for the space is wide open.
[Final rendering that was sent to the client.]
After a lot of back and forth about a big, I mean really big pergola arbor that covered over half the patio . . . the idea was completely scrapped. It was not working to fit the scene, the scale, or the house itself. . . .
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to design
on Oct 12, 2007, 2:24AM
Posted by Rick Anderson Reblogged by Old Roses to design on 2007-10-12, 17:56:26
It seems as if fall has arrived! I am enjoying the mums and pumpkins, I wish I could say that I had grown these mums, but they were purchased. My grandsons will be around the next two weekends so we will be pumpkin craving and painting.
I bought 10 seeds of the Naga Jolokia (Bhut Jolokia, Ghost Chili, Naga Morich) which cost me a small fortune of 70 cents per seed including shipping from the Chili Pepper Institute of NMSU which is the only source for the seeds. . . .
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to peppers
Posted by Ki Reblogged by Old Roses to peppers on 2007-10-12, 17:55:13
The weatherman forecast the start of several wet days and thus far, today has escaped much of the prediction. Just 5 PM now and 53 degrees and as darkness sets in, the air has the feel of a storm en route for breakfast. If the way the birds are feeding is any indication, the rain will be heavy when it gets here. First the juncos, then the chickadees, then the mourning doves, now the young blue jays, never any crows. Crows don't eat bird seed from a feeder but they will eat cracked corn from the ground. If you want to count crows it has to be in the morning, but the other birds are here off and on most of the day. . . .
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to autumn
Posted by George Africa Reblogged by Old Roses to autumn on 2007-10-12, 17:52:30
Alice Waters, often called " The Mother of American Cooking " was in Chicago to promote her new book THE ART OF SIMPLE FOOD, a subject I know a lot about since I grew up doing what the book advocates : Eat seasonally, eat local and sustainable, shop farmers markets, conserve, compost and recycle, cook simply; cook together, eat together and remember that food is precious. She's also the Vice President of Slow Food International which was started in Italy in 1986. Apparently the Italians, like the French, enjoy cooking and eating fresh, local produce instead of fast food. The slow food movement is catching on in major cities in the U.S. There's a Slow Food Chicago organization that lists restaurants that feature dishes from local sources. . . .
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to books
Posted by Carolyn gail Reblogged by Old Roses to books on 2007-10-12, 06:15:07
A new addition to the Sweet Home and Garden Chicago Fall bed, courtesy of my daughter Cathy who ordered an amazing reblooming Iris Germanica ' Orange Popsicle ' for me. What arrived, instead, was a substitute labeled 'Thai Orange. . . .
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to iris
Posted by Carolyn gail Reblogged by Old Roses to iris on 2007-10-12, 06:14:47
Welcome to "Show & Tell" Friday hosted by Kelli at "There's no place like home!"Let me start sharing a picture that I took yesterday, here it is:
I finally finished this heart made of my own hydrangeas! I already cut the blossoms the other day and they were already dry by now. No, don't worry! I won't leave it outside in the garden. . .
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to pumpkins
Posted by Anita Reblogged by Old Roses to pumpkins on 2007-10-12, 06:14:23
How do you prefer to remove the leaves from your lawn: with rakes or leaf blowers? I guess I'm somewhat old-fashioned in preferring the good ol' rake: it's quiet, enviro-friendly...
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to tools
on Oct 11, 2007, 7:09AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to tools on 2007-10-12, 06:13:33
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly....way back in July, Colleen had a fun post about the merits of imperfection in the garden. At long last, I have come up with my own contribution. First, the good: pollinators! Everywhere, all summer, and a wider variety than ever this year. Like this one-nice pattern, and unlike any bee I can recall seeing in the past. Also good is my hosta/woodland plant garden. And although it's only the size of a city-dweller's "hell strip", it contains both my ladyslipper orchids, four hostas, two types of trillium, a jack-in-the-pulpit, trailing arbitus, hepatica, and two ferns! I have plans to re-vamp this next spring with a better assortment of hostas, too. . . .
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to gardens
Posted by lisa Reblogged by Old Roses to Gardens on 2007-10-12, 06:13:14
As it is such a glorious autumn day with clear blue skies, we're going for another walk today. I hope you're wearing comfortable shoes as it's going to be a long trek today and we're going to do some climbing too. . . .
Yes, apparently the rainy season is here. Real rain, not just some introductory, courtesy warning, remember-rain-is coming-soon rain. Real, soaking, drenching all night long rain. Noooo, I'm not complaining. Just not this weekend, please. Not this weekend.
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to roses weather
Posted by LisaBee Reblogged by Old Roses to roses, weather on 2007-10-12, 06:10:29
Tomatoes kill brain cells. How else to explain the fact that I started this post at the end of August, and now can't remember most of what I intended to write? We've been eating a lot of tomatoes - that must be it.
So then, this is an abbreviated summary of the tomatoes I grew this year, in order of size. . .
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to tomatoes
Posted by Entangled Reblogged by Old Roses to tomatoes on 2007-10-12, 06:09:56
Today was a nice cool fall day - a perfect day to heat up the kitchen by canning.
First slice up the apples - I do this over several days and store in the fridge. I don't know exactly how many I cut up - I just keep cutting - if I end up with too many I can always throw them in the dehydrator. When I first starting playing with this recipe, it said to cut up 16 cups of apples and it would yield 4 quarts of apple pie filling - well, what I ended up with was more filling than apples and they would float to the top - the apples shrink as they cook and different varieties of apples cook up differently - so you really just have to experiment for yourself. I probably had 4 two and three quart bowls full of sliced apples when I started this morning.
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to fruit recipes
Posted by Kathi Reblogged by Old Roses to fruit, recipes on 2007-10-12, 06:09:34
A glimmering on the hilltop beyond the freeway is all that the morning can muster in the way of sunshine, and a ruby glow has begun to seep from the tangle of tree canopies, wisteria and grape vines. The neighbor's fig tree is shedding great flaps of yellow leaves upon the exhausted annuals below, and drips of rain cling to the ragged edges of the oak leaves outside my window. A bruised blue sky is puffed with storm clouds. A...
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to weather
on Oct 10, 2007, 1:49PM
Posted by briggs Reblogged by Old Roses to weather on 2007-10-12, 06:09:02
I have two varieties of green beans that have done great this year. Haricots Verts "Maxibel" and Provider, both of which I planted in the middle of May and never replanted. They keep on producing more. Once a week or so I pick all the beans and they always have another crop when I look again. They are saving me many trips to the supermarket.
How is that for a scientific identification? Heh, heh.
I tried to identify this little tree and originally thought it might be this Melastoma racemosa, but my friend Mary in Panama pointed out that the shape of the leaves is not right. I started this article more than a year ago and after spending most of the day again today, I think it is time to give up. (La Gringa doesn't like to give up. . . .
reBlogged
to trees
on Oct 10, 2007, 8:33PM
Posted by La Gringa Reblogged by Old Roses to trees on 2007-10-12, 06:08:04
I'm like a kid at Christmas time when I get an order from a mail-order nursery! Yesterday my order arrived from Chamblee's Rose Nursery. This is one of my favorite sources for own-root roses and their prices are the best. And best of all, I don't think they have ever made an error on my orders. I now have limited space for roses and my sunny areas are rapidly dimishing so I should be kicked for ordering more. In my defense, I have spots already selected for these and I did limit myself to 4 - that is saying a lot!
Here is what I ordered. . .
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to roses
Posted by Phillip Reblogged by Old Roses to roses on 2007-10-12, 06:07:35
via Cactus Blog on 1969-12-31, 19:00:00
~ Gill's Pier Vineyard & Winery
