I did that today. Puzzlement, an odd and wonderful seedling I germinated last year, frequently expresses something new about itself. I love the coloring of the plant parts. This was sun setting through the prickles on the new basals. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Puzzlement

Last week I worked several late nights and did not spend many daylight hours outside, which is one thing I dread about this time of year - the disappearing sun. On Saturday morning I fed the hens and then drank my cup of coffee on the patio before heading to work. And this is what I saw:

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Gruss an Aachen, the first rose I ordered back in April along with Grandmother's Hat, had finally bloomed!

It was pretty great, even with Loretta bawking the "Egg Song" (at 7 a.m., on the weekend) in the background.

In my part of southeast Texas, the fall season is very short, followed by a mild, short, winter, but the end of summer is always brought to me courtesy of hummingbirds swarming my feeders during their migration.....a delight every year.
Molly

molly, your hummingbirds made me smile. thanks

Jardinera!! What a darling picture. I'm always envious of those of you who live in the hummingbird migration paths. Those little guys are some of the most magical creatures on Earth, they make me so happy. We still have quite a few immature males and females here in North Carolina but their numbers are dwindling. I miss them when they go. Thanks so much :)

Those thorns are lovely, Kim, and so is Brenda's rose. This is a nice topic, Kippy. There is something poignant about these moments of end-of-summer/fall beauty.

I have an Abraham Darby that I moved last summer. I didn't do a very good job and I've been nursing it along this year. But it's been a struggle. Her new growth was munched two or three times by deer. Then the Japanese Beetles came. She ended up coming down with a case of blackspot. Through it all AD kept trying to bloom and I kept pinching the buds. Finally I gave in and let her do her thing.

What made me smile is my Leonie Lamesch (polyantha, Lambert 1899), which has leaned out of its pot and is now using the tomato cage for support - old roses are so creative!

Jackie

Love that hummer shot, and Puzzlement, and the other beautiful roses. And Loretta and her egg song, how about a picture of her?

I'm thrilled that my volunteer seedling of Renae is already repeat blooming, all 3" of her. Wheeee!

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I am enjoying all these photos so much--ethereal pink prickles, beautiful rose blooms that surprise one in early morning, the gorgeous persistence of Abraham Darby, not to mention another kind of persistence by a lovely Leonie. But, Molly, I am still wondering why your peaceful hummers aren't fighting over the feeder like ours, which must a warlike breed, I guess. Diane

Diane, the hummers do fight over the feeder, but when the numbers swell, they give up and just want to get a little nourishment, lol.
Molly

With the exception of a few, IâÂÂm new to OGRs. I was so excited to see some of my new babies (just got them a couple of weeks ago) start to bloom this past week. I know I should be disbudding, but just have to see them bloom once. They are making me so happy already that IâÂÂm starting to think about which moderns I can live without to make room for more.

HereâÂÂs Madame Lombard just starting to open up

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Perle dâÂÂOrâ¦isnâÂÂt she perfect!

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A bloom on Spice thatâÂÂs several days old here and still holding on to a bit of her pink and still smelling extremely spicy

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IâÂÂve had two Gruss an Aachens (I guess technically a modern, but IâÂÂm not that technicalâ¦lol) for a while now, and they give me several flushes a year even though they are in way too much shade these days. Their ever changing colors still make me melt. HereâÂÂs a bloom just starting to open this weekend

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Loretta is the most difficult to photograph but I tried my best. She is a bit wacky and serenades the neighborhood with the egg song whenever ANY of the hens lay an egg. Here she is running away from Emmylou with a tomato.
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This is Emmylou. She is the runt and hasn't started laying yet but was making a ruckus all morning. I think her time is near.
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Dolly and Patsy mowing the lawn
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Your hens are so fat and beautiful. I had chickens until the coyotes took them all away. Before I had chickens, I thought a chicken was a chicken, but they each have their own distinct personality. I had one that followed me everywhere I went, and I pretended she was attached to me but, really, she just knew I'd scare up bugs when I was weeding. I really miss them and their delicious eggs.

That makes sense, Molly. I've heard Texas is a huge migratory path for birds. We just don't have that many hummers.
Pat, your roses are so crisp and lovely with their subtle colors.
I love those hens--as floridarose says "your hens are so fat and beautiful". Makes me want a few, but I've got my quail to take care of (the semi-pests). Diane

My garden is looking pretty drab right now. The roses have buds coming for a fall flush but nothing much is open yet. The rest of the stuff is rather tired looking from a long summer of blooming.

The one thing that has been delighting me though is my Moon Flower Vine! The seeds were sent to me by an online gardening friend from another forum a few years ago. I've planted them for three years running but the first two season I never saw a bloom. This year the vine really took off and grew huge and is blooming it's head off!
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These pictures are great: Pat's first old roses, the hummingbirds, the chickens, the hummingbirds, the moonflowers, hoovb's teeny tiny little seedling, the hummingbirds.

What a magical, wonderful world.

I really have nothing to show, and that's why I'm enjoying this potpourri of the gardening life, complete with birds of varying kinds (after all those plump and beautiful chickens are birds too), all the more. A very uplifting thread!

Ingrid

Good thread! Love the hummers, the hens, the moonflowers and, naturally, the roses etc...

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These two things make me really happy right now. One is a snail vine going crazy in my sideyard for the second year in a row. I could clean up the vines, but I find them kinda charming and they aren't in the way, so whatever.
The second is my jackmannii clematis growing in the shade of my James Galway CL. Both are super happy. Joy.

I put this up and forgot it was sideways. Sorry.

This is a yellow version of Fragrant Masterpiece or Magnificent Perfume. I always get the names mixed up. Its the shorter one that smells like damask-lemon, not the tall myrrh scented one. Anyway, I saw it yesterday and checked it to see where it was coming from. Very strange from a rose that rarely blooms.

Only Austin's Charlotte is blooming well right now. I have some waiting to do for my roses to grow up a little. One young chicken laid her first egg today and I know the laying song all too well.

Green egg in my 5 year old's grubby little hands.

My 1st bloom of Eden 'Pierre Ronsard' climbing up the shed pillar.
It was a teeny tiny band last year.

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This post was edited by mauvegirl8 on Sun, Sep 22, 13 at 1:16

I am really enjoying these photos.
Some things I am happy about at the moment are,
my Miscanthus sinensis Morning Light...

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...and Jatropa integerrima, I have two of this shrub and they have been flowering profusely since May.

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...and one of my favourites.. Aster x frikartii Monch. Another plant that has been flowering since May.

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Of course, it is always covered with butterflies and bees, until I want to photograph it!

It must be getting a little cooler as the Aponogetum distachyos (water hawthorn) is starting to grow again.
It disappears during the heat of the summer, but is now reappearing.

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It smells absolutely delicious.

A calico kitten, who's mother died when she was about four weeks old, is a new addition to the household.
She loves "helping" me sweep up the bouganvillea blossoms.

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Daisy

This post was edited by daisyincrete on Wed, Sep 18, 13 at 5:13

Daisy,

I love your photos! Love the kitty in the leaves.

I had big plans of getting up early and enjoying the fog and taking some garden photos on Saturday. Of course today I would up to sun.

But here is my "fall" photo

I've raised many a pumpkin, but I've never had one pop up with a face! Is this real? Not that I think you would play a trick on us, kippy--heheh. Diane

Nana, it is a gourd, crown of thorns I think. Did not notice the face though....lol

I love all the pictures, everybody. First day of fall already, hard to believe.

I saw this pair of pileated woodpeckers going around and around the base of this large tree this afternoon, looking for bugs. They eat a lot of ants and other insects. Occasionally I have seen one of these try to land on the bird feeder outside my kitchen window; they are amazing looking. He's too big to fit so squawks loudly and flies off.

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Things here are still blooming, but the maple leaves are dropping so summer's end is coming soon.

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Beautiful photos, harborrose. I love the woodpeckers, and the second photo looks like a something cottagy from English Gardens magazine, only more luscious. I wish my flower beds could have that lush, green look.
We have some wondrous moons out here in the hills, and a couple of days ago, my fifteen year old granddaughter, Clare, shot this photo from our front yard, just as the last rays of the sun were hitting the hills, and the moon was rising. Happy autumn, everyone. Diane

What a moon. They can be difficult to take a picture of, your granddaughter did a beautiful job, Diane.
Gean, it's so hard to get to this point in the year and still have a garden that looks pretty. And your garden looks so pretty! We have one pileated woodpecker but he is really shy. When he calls it makes the Woods sound so primeval.
I always look forward to Daisy's photos -- the kitty cat in the flower petals stole my heart.
Kippy, I am always trying to find different climbing plant supports and I'm trying to figure out what you used here. I think I've seen stakes that are squiggly like that but nothing with the horizontal twisty things. Is this something you made, purchased?

Sidos

The twisty wire is a small section of antique garden fencing, the kind with the loops on top. I had some short tree stakes I pounded and attached the bits of fencing to it. Just enough to get the gourds to grow up rather than out since they are close to my new citrus hedge row.

I love the antique fencing and had a small hoard of it (have a gate I need to install too.

Every fall I get an enormous fungi at the foot of this oak tree. Each year it is different (tho I presume the same species). Posing for size comparison is Alistair.

This is a great thread.

Here are a few pictures of what's still blooming in my yard.

La Reine
Mrs. John Lang

La Reine

Unknown Austin

Distant Drums (Griffith Buck)

Very pretty!!! Gry

And wow what a fungi!

No photos, but we painted the chicken coop interior today, a nasty job. But it is now a purple poultry palace...lol

Abe Darby had a few nice blooms this morning. I only got one picture unfortunately. I also picked up a Cecile Brunner (not the climbing or spray form) this weekend for 8 bucks, which was an exciting find. It should do quite well here from what I understand

Storms passed through Friday night into Saturday and left us with the most perfect weather for the first weekend of fallâ¦much lower temps and a humidity level that is now bearable. The sweet perfume of the tea olives, my all-time favorite scent, is wafting through the air. The beautyberries are looking lovely. I always threaten to dig them up while IâÂÂm yanking their zillion seedlings, but how could I deny the birds this:

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The return of zipper spiders, which for some reason have been MIA in my garden all summer. Thankful they are back to help with bug control.

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The first bloom on my new Mrs. BR Cant

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And AlabamaâÂÂs first home game of the seasonâ¦Roll Tide Roll!

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Overall, a really nice start of the fall season

Beautiful photos, all! I am feeling too lazy to go out with my camera but I have been enjoying vistas from my windows, and now I have windows into your lovely gardens.

Rosefolly

Not much going on in my garden the past couple weeks, but I did manage to find two photo-worthy shots of a couple of my favorite roses.

Lady of Shalott (Austin)
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William Shakespeare 2000 (Austin)
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A few of my mums are beginning to put out tentative blooms in preparation for their big autumn display. Other than that, my garden right now is boring, boring, boring! : (

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Kate

This post was edited by dublinbay on Wed, Sep 25, 13 at 13:42

Wait a minute--I found two more interesting rose blooms--forgot to look on the other side of my driveway!

Mrs. John Laing (hybrid perpetual)--not really good on the rebloom, but when she does bloom, she sure puts out the big, fat, gorgeous blooms!
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Sweet Diana (mini)--recently transplanted and starting to bloom again. Good little mini.
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I really enjoyed looking at everyone's fall photos--and the beauties blooming in some of the photos. But those hens are exceptionally nice.

Kate

Thanks Kippy! I think... what fungi???
Here's a picture of Polka

Here's a bloom of Madame Isaac

The Fairy...

And a mixed cast iron pot.

Enjoy!
K

Love your Fairy, gryhwk. Wonder how long it will take mine to go wild with blooms also.

That is a nice porch garden also.

Kate

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A wee bit fuzzy, via iPhone.

Kate,
Your photo makes me wish I had Lady of Shalott ordered for the fall instead of the spring. Gorgeous!

One thing I am enjoying is the color that Ebb Tide gets in the cooler weather.
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Karolina, if your Lady of Shalott is as eager to grow and bloom next spring as mine was the first year I grew it, you don't need to worry--it'll be blooming in no time. What an eager rose it is!

Are you going to plant it anywhere near Ebb Tide? That color combination would be terrific!

Kate

Thanks Dublinbay for your compliment on the Fairy. Mine pretty much blooms non stop from early Spring until frost. It's a great rose. Just give yours a couple of years to get established.

Thanks also for your compliment on the porch garden! What you can't see is what is behind the fence to the right of the picture... the pond, the waterfall, the roses, the pot getto, the ... You get the idea.

Karolina11 - Relax! Your Lady of Shallott will spend a year adjusting and then, take off big time! The adage that roses sleep their first year, creep their second year and leap the third holds true for the Lady. The first year mine just sat there. It produced a couple of small, off colored blooms and had me worried that I'd even received the right rose. This year (creep year) it's bloomed like crazy even through temps in the upper 90's. Height is about 3.5 feet. Next year? Yikes! I think a severe pruning is in my future! LOL

And Ebb Tide? Geez. All I can say is that I really, really want one! LOL You're such an enabler!

K