Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Fall Garden Walk

Came home this evening to find my beautiful new bird house is up!
When I left for work this morning it was still in the garage with the other
birdhouse we picked up for my friend at work. Thanks to Frankie, I couldn't
leave with just the one for my friend, I had to have this one for our garden
too. This makes number three for us from Frankie and number eight, if you
are counting all of the birdhouses on our property. I better stop buying them
because if I don't, the birds may end up with more square footage than me!
Now, Frankie's husband Darrell builds beautiful, heirloom-quality birdhouses;
however, we're not in Monterey any more... We have four seasons here, and our
weather can be extreme, brutal even. Therefore, I like to take out a little extra
insurance with Army Dad to ensure our birdhouses stay beautiful and last a very
long time. What kind of insurance? Well, it's a little thing he does called caulk
and heavy-duty paint! Before they go up in the yard, every seam and joint is
caulked, and then the whole thing gets a fresh coat of exterior house paint!
You can't tell... But I know it's there!
So let's stroll the gardens. Because it's Fall, and because the mosquitos are gone
and we can! Just look at that Japanese Maple tree in the front yard. Another
three to four weeks and it'll be bright yellow, red and orange... And, on fire!
Speaking of on-fire... Someone went to the Farmer's Market and picked up a few
of my favorite pumpkins for the porch. I love Cinderella Pumpkins, don't you?
The leaves over here on the trees in the
woodline are already beginning to turn...
And, all of the dogwood trees are full of the bright red berries the birds love!
And, around here it's all about what the birds love!
On the back deck, the pots are already on fire... Just take a look at
this Coleus! It comes in so many colors, but this one is my favorite!
Another fav is snapdragons and here on the
deck railing they are looking especially happy!
Fall weather really agrees with everything in the garden... The rain and cooler
temperatures make the trees turn colors and the lawn revert to Spring-green!
I do love the green!
And red, and orange, and pink and purple...
And, so it goes...
Another terrific summer draws to a colorful close. By the end of the week the pool
will be winterized and covered... And, the jacuzzi on the deck will take its place
We're not using the pool any more, but the critters are! We rescued these baby
snappers on Monday night, and it kinda freaked me out. Why? Because this means
that huge, ugly, prehistoric monster-looking thing we know lives in the creek must
have at some point had company... Which also means there's more than the one I
already fear. Plus, it means that she laid eggs close enough to my pool so that her
offspring could pop over for a swim. What ever happened to healthy boundaries?
Seems the azalea doesn't have any either because it  is not letting
the fence stand in its way from visiting me here on the other side!
But late-blooming azaleas poking through the fence are
welcome... Snapping turtles in my pool... Not so much!

So that's all for this evening's garden walk. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I do hope you're having a fabulous Fall like we are! 

As they say here in the South, Happy Fall, 'yall!

2 comments:

  1. What a wonderful place. Lovely in every season.

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  2. I thorougly enjoyed our garden walk (even the snapping baby turtles). Thank you for a taking us along. I enjoyed spotting the family of little bears under one of your trees and seeing that your tree face is still *guarding* the property. It is beautiful and if Fall could stay like your property is right now, I wouldn't mind saying good-bye to Summer so much.

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