Signs of Fall just beginning

I'm starting to see signs of fall. A few leaves falling. The large black eyed susans are starting to fade. The sun is starting to show its face a little bit later. It's back to school time too.

Red Berries in the morning.

These beautiful berries are sitting right outside my house. Love the look of the sun shining thru the leaves. They almost glow.

Big Hostas with white Flowers

My big hostas -- I call them elephant ears -- are starting to bloom. They are just gorgeous. But when I get up close, almost every large leaf has a little bite out of it. Wonder what is eating them? I still love how big and majestic the leaves are and how dainty the flowers!

Maize Valley in Hartville: What a Delight!!

Talk about mixing business with pleasure... Look at the view during my business meeting yesterday morning!

Every few weeks I get together with two of my business advisors who help me with strategic planning for my marketing business. Instead of meeting in the usual conference room, yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with them in a wonderful garden setting: Maize Valley in Hartville, Ohio. What a delight! Giant hanging baskets of petunias. Casual outdoor dining. Charming shopping with those appealing hard-to-find items. And believe it or not, we got a lot of work done during the planning session!

Don't be mislead by the look of their winery website link. It makes it look more like some fancy, highfalutin winery out in California than the hard-working, wholesome Northeast Ohio midwest"strong family values" type of operation that I experienced.

This place goes onto my definitely recommend list. Think I'll have to check it out this fall to see the beautiful change in seasons too!


What a treat. Wonder how they got these annual petunias to grow so huge in just one season!?!

Purple Tassels on a Spikey Leaf Plant

These spikey plants have beautiful purple tassels. They shoot up in mid June but don't start to blossom until mid July. It was August before I really saw any of the purple cluster.

I tried growing them inside in a container but it just didn't work. They definitely like the heat and weather outdoors. Maybe they need the bumblebees too. The first year I had them, They were on the southern exposure, but covered by some of the other plants. Now they have western exposure but are in the front of the garden and doing well. They are tall so I wanted to have them in the back.

Garden Photos

I used to be disappointed in gardening in August. It was so hot! Not much to plant, just some weeding to do.

Now I find I really love August in the garden. I decided photography is what makes August the best month of gardens. This week my husband surrounded the blueberry bushes so the rabbits couldn't chew them anymore. The bunnies have been hanging around the bushes trying to figure out how to get in. Now Kitty is hanging around the bunnies trying to figure out her next prey. I'm enjoying getting photos of her in action too.

Maybe because I discovered Digital Photography School and their posts on Flickr. All their great free hints make it an adventure to take pictures of my garden. If you have a digital camera... or just like photos, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

My Garden Helper -- Kitty

Hard to believe that we've had her almost 13 years. Kitty (aka Hot Wheels) is my constant companion as I'm pulling weeds in the front, the side and the back. I'm always worrying that she'll get hit by a car, but after all these years of running free, she must be smarter than that.

Kitty showed up during the funeral of Tum Tum, a yellow cat that managed to get hit by a car just a few hours after we invested some major money at the vet getting him neutered. It was very strange. We'd never seen her before, but she showed up meowing, circled Tum Tum's grave once and then follow us back to the house from the woods. Since we had plenty of cat food available, it made sense to give her a little something.

That was in November of 1993. She's been a fixture here since.

Bee on a Daisy

Who doesn't love a daisy? I think it's one of my most favorite flowers.

And with seven beehives in the backyard, is it any wonder I found a bee on the daisy?

Maybe it's my journalistic photography background, but somehow I feel like manipulating the photo isn't really "fair"... so I have to come clean. Only "untricky" part: The poor bee was dead, so it gave me plenty of time to snap away and compose this photo.

Looking forward to gardening on Saturday morning!

I'm hoping the weather is as nice tomorrow as it is today. Can't wait to get out in the garden. Pull a few weeds. Split a few perrenials. Move a few flowers around. All before the sun gets really hot and forces me back into the air conditioning.

Hot Humid Summer

We've had 90 degree heat and tons of rain. The tropical humidity makes the garden explode in color.