AND THE WINNER IS:
Pincushion Flowers!
Wish I could muster this fighter attitude that my flowers seem to have. I've been sad lately - and a little worried about the coming winter.
Normally, I'm in good spirits during this time of year.
It's non-stop action while I schlep the skis over to the ski tune-up place, hand off the snowboard to those snowboarder tune-up people, and drop the snowshoes off at the snowshoe place where God only knows what they do to those things...
This year is different.
Snows came in the pesky way they do sometimes.
It snowed too early! Chopping an entire month off gardening, horseback riding, all sorts of things, and I'm mad about that.
During this 'early winter' Curlicue Sage (right) has grown an entire foot, though it is wilting as I've never seen before. Years like this I never know what's up. It snows, next morning it melts, that night it snows again, so on, so forth.
We're like little piglets wallowing in the mud out here until Mother Nature makes up her mind.
After bloom: Seed balls of Purple Coneflowers turn red in the winter. Autumn Pruning: Some experts are big into this and so I always obeyed. This year I didn't. Not so much because I'm a rebel. More so, because I'm lazy. Anyway... I did not lop the heads off any of my perennials this year and it's providing a really pretty late autumn garden.
Granted it's a fairly spooky garden, but it's still kind of cool...
Yellow Heliopsis (perennial sunflowers) turn bright white after fading.
* That very long, skinny photo is of the winning heirloom Hollyhock. She topped out at 15.5 feet (and if you asked for Holly seeds from me, expect some big, i.e. very tall, things next summer!)
Scabiosa (Lavender) Pincushion flower is often sold in gallon pots at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. A fantastic staple for the garden.
* Pincushions: I have at least 20 of the Lavender variety. Mixed in with that: blue, black, deep purple and hot pink. The hot pink is my absolute favorite. She is particularly happy in my desert zone 5 environment, puts on a spectacular 2-month show of flowers. Best guess is Mr. Lavender-colored Scabiosa thinks Hot Pink is a show off. That's why he blooms for the umpteenth time after she succumbs to the weather. Most Scabiosas are USDA zone 5.
Pincushion Flowers!
Take a bow, Scabiosa. This is no small feat. You began blooming in late June. Here it is, November 12 th, and you're still at it. (Defying more than a month of freezing nights.) Lord knows we can't credit the gardener for this one. She was so dang lazy she never even fertilized you.
Normally, I'm in good spirits during this time of year.
It's non-stop action while I schlep the skis over to the ski tune-up place, hand off the snowboard to those snowboarder tune-up people, and drop the snowshoes off at the snowshoe place where God only knows what they do to those things...
It snowed too early! Chopping an entire month off gardening, horseback riding, all sorts of things, and I'm mad about that.
During this 'early winter' Curlicue Sage (right) has grown an entire foot, though it is wilting as I've never seen before.
Years like this I never know what's up. It snows, next morning it melts, that night it snows again, so on, so forth.
We're like little piglets wallowing in the mud out here until Mother Nature makes up her mind.
Autumn Pruning: Some experts are big into this and so I always obeyed. This year I didn't. Not so much because I'm a rebel. More so, because I'm lazy. Anyway... I did not lop the heads off any of my perennials this year and it's providing a really pretty late autumn garden.
Granted it's a fairly spooky garden, but it's still kind of cool...
* That very long, skinny photo is of the winning heirloom Hollyhock. She topped out at 15.5 feet (and if you asked for Holly seeds from me, expect some big, i.e. very tall, things next summer!)
* Pincushions: I have at least 20 of the Lavender variety. Mixed in with that: blue, black, deep purple and hot pink. The hot pink is my absolute favorite. She is particularly happy in my desert zone 5 environment, puts on a spectacular 2-month show of flowers. Best guess is Mr. Lavender-colored Scabiosa thinks Hot Pink is a show off. That's why he blooms for the umpteenth time after she succumbs to the weather. Most Scabiosas are USDA zone 5.