Some late Summer garden pix

[DP]

As we've been talking about all Summer, it's been a weird one. Also, we've been busy with the new property so I haven't been visiting the flower garden as much as I've wanted. I have to get some fertilizer on the Cleveland pears that I should have done two weeks ago, e.g.
But I have noticed the lack of critters at the garden; specifically, butterflies. We know about the dearth of the winged beauties and I have seen maybe three Monarchs all Summer and only a handful of others such as Swallowtails, Viceroys, Mourning Cloaks, et al.
The garden itself is going nuts. We need to thin out some plants and we have lost some others.
Bumble-and other bees we've got. Here is a shot of one on a beautiful plant. I don't know the name-my wife isn't here to tell me but I'm sure someone here knows. I love how tiny the flowers are:



The sedum is really late to bloom and even tho it is a late Summer bloomer, this is surprising. You can see just a hint of the color of the flowers:



And a closer view with some bees. Some of them seem to love the sedum-they look like they'll just be chilling and not move for awhile.



And the Chinese hibiscus. Again, it usually has three or more blooms open at a time but they're only opening one at a time. Cool bug on the blossom, too:



Thx for looking.

[OWC Jamie]

No pics from me.
Despite some of the worst powdery mildew I'm still getting a couple of summer squashes although the zucchinis are done. No one watered while I was away and it was rather dry here in August.

I went a little heavier than usual with the nitrogen ( blood meal) and I have very green peppers and romas but flowers and fruit are sparce. Oops.
My usual three feet tall romas are approaching 6 feet. :-)

Didn't have much luck with grafted tomatoes. I think they need drip irrigation.
I got tomatoes from them, just not any more than their non-grafted cousins - which was the purpose of grafting.

Did get about 30 jars of tomato sauce though - a little thin but a small jar of paste fixes that.


The flower gardens around my house took a beating from my amateur roofing style ( and neglect )
The weeds have done well though.



Nice pics, bugs and all.

[samintx]

beautiful. I'm envious with our hot tx weather where nothing I'm used to seems to survive. Thanks for sharing.

[haikuman]

As usual very nice DP. Thanks for sharing ~!~

[WHiiP]

miley-signs154:

[DP]

Thx, all. I need to catch up on shooting more pix. We are going to block out some time to relax this holiday weekend...

[mrbigstuff]

billb wrote:
Despite some of the worst powdery mildew I'm still getting a couple of summer squashes although the zucchinis are done.

ack! powdery mildew for many consecutive years (in different houses) made me give up on squash altogether. they're fairly cheap anyway.

when did yours start? mine would begin right after the first blossoms; I would get a squash or two and then nothing.

[OWC Jamie]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=billb]
Despite some of the worst powdery mildew I'm still getting a couple of summer squashes although the zucchinis are done.

ack! powdery mildew for many consecutive years (in different houses) made me give up on squash altogether. they're fairly cheap anyway.

when did yours start? mine would begin right after the first blossoms; I would get a squash or two and then nothing.
While I was gone on vacation.
While it was supposedly hot and dry.
My sister said she set up a sprinkler to try to water everything after it was too late and I doubt one watering was enough to get it going
It was awful dry here during August ( until just recently ) , conditions that aren't supposed to support powdery mildew.
Maybe there was not enough wind, we usually get a pretty good SW breeze here, at least by 3 in the afternoon.


edit: ( I thought the zucchinis were done, I just found a green monster hiding under a plant/leaf. )

[freeradical]

Do any of you gardeners keep bees?

[OWC Jamie]

freeradical wrote:
Do any of you gardeners keep bees?

I'm considering it, btu I really don't have the time.

There's an apple orchard a half mile from me which should suffice but I didn't see too many bees last Spring.