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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

More This and That from the Garden...

My garden is winding down here...I see leaves turning yellow at the bases of some of them, indicating that autumn is well on its way.

Today, I am posting some photos of the last of the garden's blushing blooms for you.



First, this is one of my wild hollyhock garden:


A close-up of a purple Phlox:




A pink Musk Mallow, after a rain shower, up close:




Believe it or not, some of our tomato plants are just NOW blooming!
Here is one in bloom:




I have no idea what this little purple wildflower is. I found it growing alongside our tiny vegetable garden:







This is one of the pink hollyhock blooms:







A grouping of purple phlox. They were growing in our lot when we built our house, so we saved them by digging them and moving them over from their original spot:









Yellow hollyhock blossoms:









We only had one or two white phlox on our lot, so we saved them too:





A close-up of some Seedum heads:





A white Musk Mallow, right after the rain:


I will be posting autumn colors photographs, before we know it!!

34 comments:

DJan said...

What a wonderful array of flowers! I am so happy to see them, and your pictures are (what's a better word than awesome?)... inspired!

Lynn Kellan said...

How did summer pass so quickly?

Sandi McBride said...

Jack in the Pulpit is your lovely wildflower in the garden! I love them all...
Sandi

Joanie said...

You photos calm me. Thanks.

The Retired One said...

DJan: Thanks! I am sad to know that I won't have much more time this summer to capture pretty flowers...oh well, on to the gorgeous autumn colors soon!

Lynn: It was such a cold summer here this year, it seems like we only had a short spring and we are going right into autumn.

Sandi: I wondered if they were Jack in the Pulpits, but mine are so much smaller than other's pictures of them.

Joanie: That is quite the compliment knowing the turmoil you have been experiencing..so I am so happy they helped you feel better. {{hugs}}

Jenn Jilks said...

Thank you for sharing your hollyhocks. Mine were eaten by my friendly little muskrat, who seem to have dug a large hole in my garden. It must have paid off the cats, as they are quite busy looking after their property. If I need hollyhock fix I know where to go!

I have been working on a fall colours video. So many photos, so much fun!

Brian Miller said...

beautiful even in their last blush...

Sue said...

I just love your hollyhocks. Any chance you'd want to share a few seeds with a fellow gardener? I always like to get seeds or cuttings from friends and people I've met. It's a good reminder of them.

The Retired One said...

Jenn: I am lucky that we don't have any animals eating our garden, even though we live on the lake.

Brian: Yes, that's how I feel too.

Sue: If you tell me when/how to harvest the seeds, and send me your email address, I'd be happy to put some in an envelope and send them to you. I'd like RED ones if you have any too!

Alan Burnett said...

The tomato plant blossom is wonderful, it looks so exotic. Great photos as always.

rainfield61 said...

Your garden is wonderful, it will look very differently in the autumn.

grannyann said...

Those are gorgeous flowers. I love Hollyhocks. The seedum heads are so pretty

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

What pretty flowers, love the hollyhocks. Ours are done and falling over. It's sad to see that signs of fall are coming, although I do love fall too.
You had absolutely perfect lighting for your pictures!

lotusleaf said...

Phlox flower at ground level here, and they are annuals. Your flowers are very pretty. Thanks for sharing them.

Mitzi said...

Love viewing your photos. You have a photography gift! The sedam was gorgeous.

Rick (Ratty) said...

Great photos of all of the flowers. I am dreading fall, so I hope summer stays for an unexpectedly long time.

Bernie said...

Beautiful flowers my friend, and I am impressed how you know the names of each flower...no end to your talent my dear.
My tomatoes are in bloom as well and I do have one plant with many green tomatoes on it. I'm afraid that is all I could save since going away on vacation, I still feel sad when I think of how beautiful they were growing then to be neglected as they were....not right my friend, not right.
Have a great day.....:-) Hugs

Jientje said...

What a great idea for a post, I love it! You have such a beautiful garden, and the macro's are stunning. The Phlox seem to like it in your garden, even though you moved them! That little wildflower looks sp delicate and pretty. It looks a lot like what we call "dovenetels".

Anonymous said...

You've got such a beautiful garden. The only thing I can grow in a garden is tired. Enjoy them while you can!!

Loree said...

One amazing thing about blogging is that you get to realise how different the seasons and the weather are in different parts of the world. It's crazy that autumn will be starting soon in your part of the world and here it' still sweltering summer. And t hanks for posting pictures of the hollyhocks. We get them here in June and I dod not know their name. (BTW, by early July they are bone dry and dea, for the most part - I guess they don't like the heat).

My name is Riet said...

beautiful flowers and beautiful pictures. Have a nice day
Riet

Kearsie said...

Once again, I sit here in awe of the beauty of nature and your photo abilities.

I love those sedum heads!

The Retired One said...

Alan: I really like some of the vegetable blossoms, they are all pretty.

Rainfield: Here, as soon as autumn comes, we get a hard frost and only a few Mums look nice. Everything else dies down and turns brown!

Grannyann: I am lucky in that ever since I planted the hollyhocks, they have grown tall and looked great. They don't blow over because I have a huge arc of large stones behind them.

Catherine: It was a cloudy day when I took most of those photos..I find the sunshine "washes out" a lot of my flower's colors in pictures, especially if they are pastel to begin with. I have a huge arc of large boulders behind where the hollyhocks are, so luckily, they don't usually blow over.

Lotusleaf: There are two kinds of phlox here. The"creeping phlox" I have in my rock garden is the kind that is very short and a ground cover..but the other pictures in this blogpost is regular tall phlox. The flowers look very similar to the creeping phlox, only they are bigger and grow on that stalk.

Mitzi: Thanks! Did I misspell Sedam? Is it Seedum, Sedum or Sedam??? I got it from my sister-in-law so I don't know the spelling..but it sure grows wherever I put it!

Ratty: I LOVE fall, but not the cold that comes with it. But the leaves get so breathtakingly beautiful, it is perfect for taking photographs. But what follows fall (winter) is my dreaded season. Again, when we get large, fluffy snow, it is beautiful, but it is a struggle to get from Point A to Point B up here...and SOOOOO cold!

Bernie: We have some green tomatoes coming too, and still some blossoms. It will be a race against frost to see if we get any to ripen on the vine before I have to pick all the green ones off and bring them inside!

Jientje: Thanks for the possible name for the little purple wildflower...I sure don't know the names of the many, many wildflowers up here. I should study my pictures alongside a wildflower book of Michigan this winter so I can get to know them by winter. My husband said I should publish my own book with my pictures and some education on what they are and sell it locally. Its an idea, because I sure took a lot of wildflower pictures out in the woods this year!

Cathy: Oh, I grow a LOT of that, too. ha

Loree: Our weather is crazy here this time of year. For instance, it was in the 80's and sunny on Monday and barely got above 63 degrees yesterday with cloudy, windy weather. Our nights are getting cooler and cooler. I suspect we will get a hard frost by the middle of Sept. which will kill alot of the garden flowers and vegetable produce.

Riet: Haven't heard from you in a while...so glad you stopped by! Thanks for the nice compliments on my flowers, it means a lot!

Insanitykim said...

Beautimus as always Joan!

The Retired One said...

Insanity: Thanks so much!

Judy said...

Fall is in the air here, too. I posted about it today and then see that you did the same thing yesterday. I hate to see summer end but love fall. I am not a fan of winter though. My flowers are looking scraggly. I love your photos of your flowers. They are beautiful.

mygarden said...

Love the pictures. I just planted some "Knock Out" and "Julia Child" roses in my front yard. I hope they look as good as your plants next year.

I'm also developing a website for sharing garden plans online. It's called eGardenHome.com. So far the site contains simple landscape design software and a plant database with about 500 plants. I'd appreciate if you stopped by to take a look and provide some feedback. Keep in mind that I just released it last week and there's lots of bugs to work out. But at least it should give you an idea of how it can help fellow gardeners.

L. D. said...

Wow, Nikon sniper puts out so many photos that he buries all of the blogs that I really want to see. I found this blog way back on the list. Your flowers look fantastic. Your phlox photo makes mine look pretty pathetic. Ours are almost gone. Your hollyhocks look great too. I may have to buy a yellow hollyhock. I don't think I have ever had that color. I will have to start digging through my blog lists so I don't miss out. What a wonderful looking blog.

The Retired One said...

Judy: Thanks so much! yes, even when we went on the boat tour (see my blog post today) I could see hints of color changes in the leaves on the cliffs. There is beauty in winter but the flowers and summer sunsets are the things I love the most.

Mygarden: I will stop by that website over the next few days and give you some comments..what a neat idea! I sure don't have the expertise that you do though!

L.D.: you are always so nice and encouraging about both my garden and my photos! thanks so much.

Jientje said...

I think I saw one this afternoon, like your little wild flower? I took a picture too! Maybe I'll post it one of these days!

The Retired One said...

Jientje: Good, another person has seen them! I still am not sure what their name is!

Far Side of Fifty said...

Wonderful Photos! It is always fun to see what is blooming over there in Michigan! :)

The Retired One said...

Far Side: Thanks...I like to see other's blogs too to see what they are growing and to see their local scenery!

Anonymous said...

The little purple flower you couldn't Identify is called "Dead Nettle". I have been Identifying wildflowers on my facebook and it is fustrating when you can't figure out what it is. I still have a few I'm working on. :)

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I retired in June 2008 and started my blog in November 2008. I worked at several jobs as a Registered Nurse prior to retirement. I LOVE being retired! Blogging has offered me a whole new venue to start writing again and to share new hobbies such as gardening, birdwatching and sharing my nature photography. If you like my blog, PLEASE click on "follow this blog". Having a lot of followers reading my blog gives me incentive to continue to do photography and to continue to write. I also LOVE comments, so I encourage you to leave me a comment after you read my posts. Thanks everyone, for taking the time to read me!!

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