As the seasons change

At the end of Summer, we have some of the most luxuriant growth on our plants. So, before the frost, I thought I'd take a few pictures.

I've been trying to grow sunflowers in front of the shop for some time now and something always seemed to get in the way. One year, they were doing well and some creature came along and just chopped them down. It may have been the resident groundhogs or maybe just a bunny with an itchy chin.

I gave up and then this year, my husband and son decided to plant sunflowers on the side of the one bird cage/aviary so the birds would have some nice shade in the heat of the summer.

It worked very well, and while they were planting, they planted some seeds in with the gourds and a few in front of the shop.

This one is a result of that planting. It is a little later blooming than the enormous ones in other places in the yard, but it is also perkier and quite attractive to the bee in the center, who waited while I came inside and grabbed my camera.

Another plant that has challenged me for years is the Rosa Rugosa. I fell in love with this rose and with its juicy hips one autumn, years ago, at the Cape May, NJ. The brilliant color of the rose alone is reason to grow them and I love the texture of the leaves.

My sister and I felt we had to taste the fleshy orange hips. After trespassing across a hotel lawn to acquire a few, we were pleasantly surprised to find them pretty good. They are touted as a good source of vitamin C and, sure enough, there was a hint of citrus fruit in the flavor.

The juicy red things in the second picture are the hips. I have the definite feeling that rose hip jelly is somewhere in our near future!

I have purchased a few of these over the years, but it seems I often make the mistake of planting certain plants in the path of future construction or in a place that is too distant to inspire the babying they sometimes need to get a good start.

Again, this time, my husband (the one with the greenest thumb!) decided to buy a number of these plants and populate a hill with them. He is hardy enough to get out in the bright afternoon sun and weed them! The hillside is doing quite well and if all goes well, they will have taken over so completely by next summer that the weeding will be a thing of the past.

Just as a teaser, I expect to take a few things out of the kiln today worthy of blogging, so, until tomorrow....