Gosh. It is so hard to believe we are into a week of October already. Retired and nothing to do is a phrase that I can honestly say I don’t relate to. I am still catching up from company last week, which I loved but there is so much needing my time in the garden. The dog is looking neglected with mats in her undercoat and I have not done any jam or jelly making. Apple pies and cakes, yes and I did make some individual pumpkin pies for our extra early Canadian Thanksgiving when the family was here. Canadian Thanksgiving is this coming weekend and I hope it will be my catch up time to be spent in the garden.
I did get out all day this Sunday and was amazed by the flowers I found. It has been such a strange year and I must have said so many times that these temperatures are not normal, too cold, too hot, cold and now very warm again. We had a -1C frost a couple of weeks ago, which put the end to the Zinnias but temperatures have rebounded yet again and today it reach 20C with a borderline frost morning. Normally, by now a real killing frost has zapped the garden. Today, for IAVOM I was able to glean Cosmos and Snapdragons which are a very hardy annual. So here they are cottage style in an enameled pot.
October Bonus
I was also shocked to find these Gazanias in a sheltered corner. They are sitting on the window sill in full light with a window pane between them and the patio. Gazanias close without full sunlight so this is a good spot for them. This morning I added some Nepeta I found blooming in my front garden and you can see the flowers have not opened fully just yet.
Gazanias Unadorned and Adorned
It will be interesting to see how long I will be able to find flowers. I always used to aim for flowers March though to sometime in October so the garden is doing very well this year after such a slow start. The nights are quite cool now so that and hours of light will guide the plants.
I will look forward to seeing the creations of those in warmer climes on Cathy’s ‘Rambling In The Garden’ and continue to hope the crazy hurricane season spares those in their paths. Do go look at IAVOM on:-
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