I’ve noticed one remaining hummingbird that has been buzzing around the last few days and so I made it my mission to capture one last photo of him or her before he or she heads south. This hummingbird has been attracted to a batch of pink obedient plant (Physostegia ‘Vivid’) so I set up camp nearby on my deck. After an hour of failed surveillance and a lot of sitting and waiting, I finally got something as the hummer lingered in a nearby crabapple tree for only a few seconds.
Not too bad of a shot I guess. At least I walked away with something. My guess is that the hummingbird has since packed a bag and is off to greener and warmer pastures.
I did try killing time by snapping a few shots of other birds coming and going from the river birch tree also near my deck.
And shocker, a few photos of the garden as she quickly descends into hell autumn mode:
Joe Pye, Bee Balm and Karl Foerster grass
The blooms of Indian grass.
And moving from back to front: Boltonia, Panicum ‘Rotstrahlbusch’, Baptisia and Joe Pye Weed.
QOTD: What did you do in your garden this past weekend?
Life was taken in the garden this weekend: a rangy forsythia and a nutrient-and-water-sucking ancient lilac bush were cut down. Digging the stumps is the hardest work I’ve ever done in a garden. There is now a gentler kinder population in their place – a Japanese maple, a blue juniper, a Little Lime hydrangea, and a columnar holly set into the dust that is Massachusetts drought-stricken soil. (The other thing I did this weekend is carry watering-cans hither and yon.) They have seen the carnage and know the results if they don’t grow in a restrained yet verdant manner.
Nice Kate! Some times life has to be taken and if it is a forsythia, so be it. Sorry, too soon?
Mowed the lawn, cut back blackened clematis vines, mowed the lawn, weeded, mowed the lawn. Seems the grass out grows the weeds this time of year. Made some notes of overgrown plants to dig out.
I am sure I have less thistle this year using the method of cutting them off at the ground instead of digging them out. Plus it is a lot easier to pick up the thistle with the scissors instead of your hand. Thank you for that tip.
My favorite time in the garden is after dinner and that is slowly coming to an end as October approaches.
Nice picture of the hummer, it was worth the wait.
Alice – so you have evidence that the thistle plan works? Fantastic! I’m still going through hell with it.
I did an early cutting back of a certain sprawling type of euphorbia and totally removed an old fashioned even more sprawling chrysanthemum that grew amongst the euporphia. This combo along a stretch of our driveway was in its location from the very beginning of when we bought our property 20 years ago. It felt good to tidy up the edges, really really weed and line things with a tumble of river slicks. It felt very cleansing. Congrats on the hummingbird pic…they are such a favorite.
Micahele – do you think Euphorbia would work in my wet soil? I’m chomping at the bit to give it a try.
Most euphorbias seem to be very picky about having good drainage esp. through the winter. I have failed with my fair share…esp. with some of the newish ones that have cool colored stems and nifty names. However, I have 3 that are more forgiving and tolerant. Here’s a link to a pinterest page that I have and I put pictures of the 3 surviving one right at the front. The one described with feathery foliage is very forgiving and seems to survive and spread regardless of the soil. The other two die and reseed so they keep a presence in my garden. Here’s the link. https://www.pinterest.com/meander1/michaela-gardens/