Category Archives: General Gardening

More Fall bloomers…

Osmanthus are great Fall blooming shrubs. They produce white to orange blooms depending on the species which are so fragrant they can fill an entire garden with sweetness!

About ten years ago I plant four holly-leaved osmanthus along the area where I park. They have grown to about 15 feet high and are covered in tiny white flowers with a sweet fragrance! I wish I had planted more. They grew so wide I had to trim a few limbs which had grown over the parking and I attempted to root the cuttings but had no success.


The flowers are tiny but extremely fragrant.


One of my favorite Fall bloomers is Blue Mist Flower, also known as Wild Ageratum, Blue Boneset, or perennial ageratum (Conoclinium coelestinum (formerly Eupatorium coelestinum))


It is a tough plant which multiplies by runners to almost the point of becoming weedy but in the October your are rewarded with beautiful flowers. Pollinators love them because not much is blooming at this time.


By this time of the season the Basjoo bananas are rather large and every area of the garden is shady and looks weedy. I will begin to thin out most plants which have finished blooming or have grown too large. It is also a great time to use those cutting to make new plants!

I have discovered English muffins recently. I don’t know why I haven’t purchased them before? They are great with homemade chicken salad and heated for about 20 seconds in the microwave or even to make a homemade egg McMuffin! A nice bite to eat!  

I am enjoying the cooler weather–finally!

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Fall Festivals – SPARKcon

Fall festivals are in full swing. One of my favorites is SPARKcon. It’s a citywide festival of the arts.

Each area of art is named with the suffix “spark” such as fashionSPARK, circusSPARK, artSPARK, and musicSPARK. 

So much to do!

http://www.sparkcon.com

It all culminates in a street festival downtown with stages and blocks of vendors and artist.

I love circusSPARK which includes European-style acrobatics:

     

 
And fashionSPARK:

   
    
 
And artSPARK: street painting

  
And, of course, food trucks!

  
A beautiful clear day became a beautiful and clear night!

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A lazy Labor Day weekend.

I had intentions of some major yard work and cleaning but It has rained off and on all weekend. As a result I have been hanging out a Cup a Joe on Hillsborough Street with all the NC State students and hipsters!


None the less, there are a few Fall bloomers  which are decorating the garden!

Hurricane lilies (lycoris)


  
 They are unusual because the flowers appear in the Fall with no leaves but once the flowers die the leaves appear and persist until Spring than die back. There are several species and now hybrids in colors from red, to yellow,pink, and white.
Also, the colchicums are blooming! They are like a giant Autumn crocus a foot tall!

And, of course, I love ginger lilies!  

So fragrant! And they are enjoying the cooler nights!

The annual perilla has grown into a purple thicket where I have allowed it to reseed.


Spikes of purple flowers will follow.

I will leave you with white beauty berry


I am enjoying the change of seasons!

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