Gardening and Gardens

It's been unseasonably warm the past few weeks and the fall foliage is loving it. Everything is in peak color right now. Here are some of the great looking trees in the neighborhood: As for my pots and containers - not much is blooming anymore, save for a few hardy mums. But the foliage on the hostas and the ferns still look attractive: And this poor container - it was planed with lovely fall colored pansies. But the silly squirrels keep digging in the soil thinking they have buried some food treasure. I had been dutiful about putting down "squirrel-be-gone" repellent, but at this point, I've given up trying to keep them away. Ah well!

Halloween is just around the corner and with a little imagination, everything can look a little spooky these days... An Evil Eye? (or just Rubeckia hirta ) Dried up brains? (or just a fungus) Long, sticky fingers of a witch?  (or just an ornamental pepper) Hairy arms reaching out to strangle? (or just an old vine on a tree trunk) A magic electricity ball? (or just pine needles) Pimpled, decaying flesh? (or fungus on a tree stump) Sweat on the green monster's face? (or morning dew on a leaf)   Bloody fingers? (or just Amaranthus ) Skeletal fingers, reaching out to grab you? Maybe. Mwahahaha! Happy Halloween!

One of the spookiest trees out there, in my humble opinion, is the Black Locust tree ( Robinia pseudoacacia) . It's trunk is covered in thick, deep furrows (grooves) making it look sinister to the touch. In addition, the branches are gnarled and twisted, which can create an eerie silhouette on a leafless, winter evening. The Black Locust tree can grow to a height of 50 feet if given the right amount of space. A tree that large is too big for the inside of my house. So instead, we decided to make our own spooky looking tree, complete with spiders and monsters: I found some twigs in my yard and had my children paint them black. I stuck them into a pumpkin container filled with rocks and covered the base with artificial black leaves. Then we created monster heads - some have five eyes, some only have one! The kids had a great time creating different monster variations. We added a few store bought spiders and cats to the tree as a finishing touch. I think it looks ...

The last stop on the Garden Blogger's Seattle Fling tour was to the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, just east of Seattle, across the Puget Sound. The private and public gardens we visited in Seattle were beautiful but the Bloedel was truly spectacular.   The Reserve's 150 acres were filled with quiet trails through woodlands and landscaped gardens, including a Japanese Garden, a Moss Garden and Reflection Pool.  The Bloedel Reserve was once the home of Prentice Bloedel and his wife, Virginia, who resided on the property from 1951 until 1986. He was deeply interested in the relationship between people and the natural world, and the power of landscape to evoke emotions ranging from tranquility to exhilaration. You can read more about the Bloedel Reserve here .  True to Seattle's reputation, it rained the entire day we were at Bloedel, but somehow the wet and the mist added to the beauty of the landscape. My favorite was the...

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! Here's what's growing and blooming in my garden this month. It's been a rainy past few days here in western Long Island, but at least I got to photograph a few of my plants while the sun was still shining. The Black-eyed Susan's have finally bloomed. I just love their cheery yellow with the dark center. The purple Salvia has really done well in these boxes and their darkness is a nice contrast to the lemon-yellow Zinnias. Every time I look at these impatiens, I am still in awe that these were from cuttings I made. Look how full and lush they are! The Morning Glory vines have really taken off and trying to grab hold of anything they can climb on. I love the shade it provides from inside the house and the way it looks from the outside. I planted a mix of seeds, so the flower colors range from a deep purple to pink to a deep blue. So pretty. The ferns in the shady area of my backya...