Autumn Beauty Sunflower

This stowaway from Goshen finally bloomed this week. I’ve enjoyed the color next to the purple maple tree, as well as the hummingbird I saw yesterday sipping sunflower and cosmos:

Garden Update: Late Summer Colors, Crops, Kundalini and Moldavite

I’ve been waiting for the asters to bloom before putting up a new garden update. Finally, they did this weekend! Last Friday brought such chilly temperatures that I actually needed to turn on the cozy fire while writing in my morning journal:

Those cold temps meant one struggling tomato plant gave up the ghost and got replaced by more chard, spinach and golden beet seeds. The lettuce I planted a couple weeks ago is also enjoying the cooler weather — good thing, too, because all my other lettuce has gone to seed!

Planting Paradise

The first summer we lived here — 2013 — this median facing an ugly view required a date with two batteries worth of weed whackers at least three times per week. We’re talking fast growing, out of control weeds on a strip of land with giant holes and rock hard, uneven soil, and an often flooded driveway. It crushed my soul to see this median as we approached our house.

I can barely believe the difference four years makes! This same strip is now a rain garden, bird and butterfly paradise, with serviceberry trees, Robinhood roses, sunflowers, lilies, milkweed, bachelor’s buttons, love in a mist, cosmos, and more. The fragrance alone is worth the trip. Last year, those roses bloomed from late May through the end of November with barely any care. Birds ate the hips this winter and spring.

Don’t ever doubt that you can change the world, one bright spot at a time:

Leaves and Blooms

I love that the yard just keeps blooming and blooming, but even in a lull of blooms, different colored leaves make things interesting. Below, you can see anise hyssop and purple sand cherry mixing things up beyond the blooms. As I design our new yard, I look to the old, seeing what works, what forms I love, what colors and tastes I simply cannot live without, and which ones fit here but not there — everything in its proper time and place. For now, I thought I’d share some loveliness with you:

Those lime green leaves will eventually sport delicate purple flowers that the bees absolutely love, but even without blooms, I enjoy the anise hyssop pop of color tucked among the yet-to-bloom irises.

These candy cane tulips

Lunaria and Fancy Tulips

This Lunaria comes all the way from Bealtaine Cottage in Ireland! Well, the seeds did. I got them from Colette a few years ago, and the Lunaria has finally found its favorite spot at Faery Hof:

The perennial tulips I fell in love with two years ago at Tulip Fest in Holland, Michigan have begun their show:

Still Blooming!

It was minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit here last week, but on this afternoon’s walk through the yard, I noticed these little beauties still blooming strong:

Faery magic is alive and well in this yard! What’s really weird is that the hot pink hat, flower pin and scarf I felt oddly inspired to wear today match the primrose. Someone’s having a Midwinter giggle, scattering beauty across the frozen ground.

Late Summer in the Garden

The days are getting shorter, and the light has softened, dipping slightly lower in the sky. The blooms of summer have subtly shifted into more of an autumn palette — still bright and yet somehow tinged with more golds, reds and brownish pinks. Here are some photos from today and yesterday.

Zinnias begin to come into their glory as we move into Autumn:

The first of several green striped cushaw squash made an appearance, alongside some marigolds and at least two more winter squash buddies. These cushaw squash grow to the size of toddlers with almost zero effort:

Garlic chives bloom at this time of year instead of in spring like their purple cousins. Here you can see this popular insect spot, alongside purple leaf shiso (great in a hazelnut pesto!), eggplant, tomatoes, parsley, bush basil, zinnias, and cosmos.

The sweet potatoes in the Haus Am See trough are getting ready to bloom alongside lettuce, purple cabbage and zinnias, and some of the perennials are finally starting to take root. The trough further back currently has another white scallop squash plant, lettuce, cosmos and calendula, but I recently seeded it with cold hardy Lucullus chard and giant winter spinach. Once those come in, the squash might go. I can’t keep up with the single one I have growing out back — not sure why I planted a second! The sunflowers all over the yard continue to attract dozens of goldfinches, bees, and silly squirrels and chipmunks who climb the stems.

Blackeyed Susan’s really shine at this time of year:

… and sedum has begun its shift from white to pink to deep reddish brown:

I will leave you with yesterday’s bouquet speedily put together between thunderstorms and carefully delivered to David’s mom. As I stretch the seasons of bloom, I believe she’s up to about 35 weekly bouquets per year — not bad for a former wasteland in zone 5b, but I am determined to do even better!

Blessed Be … and be the blessing.