Container Mania Continued!

I'm continuing my ramble about containers, but have now moved from the front porch to the back patio, which held a collection of several more!

This 'Amethyst' Ivy Geranium and 'Safari plum' Nemesia fruticans made a very appealing combination.

I added a 'Blackie' Sweet Potato vine (Ipomoea) and 'Silver Falls' Dichondra. This is a combination that I'll be sure to use again.

Here's another Diascia - 'Little Charmer'. It bloomed all the way from spring through fall, and looked so pretty with the 'Marguerite' Sweet Potato vine. Also in this container was 'Icicles' Helichrysum thianschanicum which you can see in the upper right hand corner, and an ivy geranium which doesn't show in this photo. 'Pink Morn' Petunias were tucked in there too.

The delicate faces of the Diascia (AKA Twinspur) a little closer.

Here's a better view of 'Icicles'. I love the silvery foliage! This is one of the plants I'm trying to over-winter and so far it's doing very well. The purple plant in the background is Persian Shield, another plant I've been happy with in containers.

I found this 'Soprano Lilac Spoon' Osteospermum at my favorite nursery last spring and fell in love with its rather alien shape. I combined it with purple Verbena, English Ivy, 'Easter Bonnet Deep Pink' Alyssum....

.....'Blue' Bacopa with it's tiny, delicate flowers, and another Osteospermum - 'Astra Rose'.

This Osteo is 'Soprano Purple'.

It combined nicely with 'Silver Shield' and Heliotrope. I was disappointed with the blooms of the Heliotrope, but have since learned (again from Marie) that it shouldn't be allowed to dry out because this causes the flower clusters to go brown, like mine did. The other 2 plants are heavy drinkers (a bad habit even for a plant!) and it was hard to keep up with their water needs during the hot weather. The Silver Shield grows quite large and needs to be pinched back.

Here's a noon-day sun shot taken in late September. The chartreuse trailing plant on the right is Lysimachia (Creeping Jenny), which I planted in a garden to over-winter.

This lovely white Bacopa combined nicely with a soft lilac pink Nemesia. There were also purple, pink and white Petunias and an Ivy geranium in this container, not visible in this photo. The little calico kitten was adorable but sadly, she disappeared, along with a little orange kitten, some time before Christmas. I suspect one of the mother cats took them hunting and lost them. It's frustrating when that happens but it's something barn cats occasionally do, and there's nothing we can do to stop them.

Here's the Purple Shield, combined with the daisy flowered pink Argyranthemum (Marguerite), a dainty pink Bacopa, and 'Pink Morn' Petunias. This is another bright sun picture.

The same plant photographed around 5:00 PM, and 2 months later (late August). The leaves of the Purple Shield look much greener.

As you can see, I spent a lot of time planting containers last spring! Two weeks into June I had this many finished......

.....and 2 weeks later (fitting the planting in when time allowed) I was finally done! Then I moved them around to their permanent summer homes.

We just have February, March and April to get through before it'll be time to go plant shopping again. It's only 3 months, but it will seem like forever!

Wandering through glorious greenhouses filled with beautiful blooms and wonderful scents is my idea of Heaven.....

.......I can't wait!

Happy Halloween!

It's October 31st, and you know what that means.......

Dead leaves, seaweed, rotten eggs too

Stir them in my wiches' brew

I got magic, Alakazamakazoo!

Spider web, moldy bread, mucky mud too

Stir them in my witches' brew

I got magic, Alakazamakazoo!

Boo!

(we sang this at school today)

Happy Halloween everyone! :)

Pumkins, Newts & Kittens

A week and a half has passed since Columbus weekend (Monday October 8th was Columbus Day, and a holiday for the US) when we were blessed with a visit from our son's family. Time sure flies when you're having fun :) Last week was a busy one and I didn't find time to post, so now I'm playing catch-up.

Soon after they arrived the boys headed for Grandpa's pumpkin patch to see what treasures they could find.

We took a few of the biggest pumpkins to them when we visited in September, but there are still plenty left. My husband planted several varieties of squash, pumpkins and gourds (123 hills to be exact...I think perhaps he got a little carried away :), and ended up with a very large harvest. Plenty to share!

If you click the photo to enlarge, you'll see the little one's expression here. I don't remember what made him giggle, but he was apparently tickled about something pretty funny.

A bit of pullin' and tuggin' was necessary to free this pumpkin.

Hmmm, I think this one is just right!

Here's one hiding under the grass!

I'd like this one please.

O.K., now what's next?

A trip to the woods is always fun, especially sitting on bales of hay in the back of the wagon pulled behind the little John Deer.

There's always plenty of interesting things to find, but the most exciting discovery was 3 little bright orange newts.

They look like tiny lizards, but are members of the same family as salamanders, which makes them ambhibians, like frogs and toads. They like the moist dampness of the woods.

There's not enough fall color in the trees to label this a spectacular fall foliage year, which is a bit disappointing, but the surrounding countryside is still very beautiful.

Coming out of the woods we have a wonderful view of our farm and the pretty valley we live in.

Fields of corn and oats

On Sunday afternoon this young man spied some previously undiscovered kittens hiding in a pile of cement blocks! Their mommy, or perhaps another mommy cat, had apparently just moved them there. We already had one batch of 4 in the barn, apparently belonging to Sheba (they all look like her and have extra toes on their front feet)......recently discovered in the hay mow.... that are approximately 5 weeks old.

Here's a cute little orange baby.

This latest batch appear to belong to Sophie, our long-haired gray calico mommy. She always hides them for at least the first 4 weeks and then may bring them into the barn if we're lucky.

This sweet little girl looks just like Sophie

You can well imagine the excitement of the boys......

..........having all these kittens to play with!

Here are 3 of Sheba's.

But sweet Phoebe has taken over a good share of the mothering duties it seems.

You might think the story ends there, but not so. That night, after the kids had gone home, Ross and I found this little lady outside the back door when we arrived home from church....obviously the 4th of Sophie's litter. She's a very shy little kitten but we're working on changing that.

Along with Riley, Max and Ruby (the little long-haired calico), we now have 11 kittens, and a couple left from Sheba's spring litter. We have a few prospective homes, but will need to find more.

Today our weather is beautiful with temperatures around 70ºF (21ºC), but for the most part the past 2 weeks have been overcast, showery, and chilly, putting an end to our unusually warm fall, but giving us some much-needed rain.

We still have some flowers blooming in the gardens and containers, and tomatoes and squash being harvested in the veggie garden, but a frost is sure to hit before much longer. It's not often we go past the half-way mark in October without a frost. We've been very lucky to avoid one so long into the fall.....a blessing indeed, but sad to say, I know the cold must eventually come as the seasons change. Then I'll look forward to another spring!

Susan of Patchwork Reflections has very sweetly passed along another "Nice Matters" award to me. Thank you! Susan is the personification of nice and a wonderful writer. She never fails to make me smile. Speaking of which.....

I must also send a heartfelt thank you to dear Motherkitty for this "You Make Me Smile" award.

The feeling is mutual MK :)

What a pleasure it is to share daily life with these dear blog friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!