Pansies!!

I have been looking forward to "Pansy Saturday" for a long time! I headed to my favorite garden center early Saturday morning and filled the back of my SUV full of sweet smelling pansies! Do ya think I bought enough?
I usually plant pansies in front..all along both sides of the front flower beds, grouping them on either side of the entrance.

They always look so sparse when I first plant, but I know in early spring, they will be beautiful.
I bought one flat of cute little violas. A few go in the containers on either side of the porch. The remaining flowers will be planted in an old bucket on the flagstone patio next week some time.
The pansies were on sale, and who can resist a sale..so I bought enough to plant some in back. I thought a few would be pretty around the pond.
On a bleak winter day it will be nice to look out and see a little color around the rocks.
I filled 2 old baskets with a few remaining flowers and proceeded to plant the wheel-
barrow. I hated to take out the coleus and sweet potato vine, but I wanted to get it done before we get our first freeze.

I never cease to be amazed to see the "potato" when I dig up the sweet potato vine. Wonder if I could save these and start a new plant? Anyone know?
I always enjoy planting the wheel-
barrow. It is one of my favorite old
"treasures" in the garden. I mixed in 2 different types of ornamental kale and a birdhouse along with the pansies in this container.
When I plant pansies each fall, I use a combination of bone meal and blood meal as I plant..and I add a small sprinkle of fertilizer as well. Just like to give them a boost.


So I can check planting pansies off my list of things to do.
Next weekend's project: Bulbs!!!

The Wedding is over and The Mexican Marigold Mint is in bloom!

What an absolutely fabulous weekend we had. The weather for the wedding could not have been any better. Everything was decorated for fall...the church, the country club where we had the reception..it was all beautiful! I only have a few pictures right now, but if we get some good family pictures, I will post those later. This is a sweet picture of our Pastor explaining the vows to Jen and Jason.
And a picture of the very happy couple cutting the cake. (and YUM was it good!)




With the exception of the bridal bouquet, all the flowers were fall colors. These are what the bouquets looked like on all the tables at the reception. They were in short round vases with 4 votives surrounding them.(I didn't keep their vases-this is one I had in the garage.) The chocolate brown napkins on the table had a pocket fold with a silk fall leaf and little bag of chocolates tucked inside. I got to bring some of the flowers home. Roses in every fall color filled the vases along with several other things. The florist did an outstanding job.

And, while I was busy with wedding details, my Mexican Marigold Mint started blooming! I bought this as a small plant back in early summer. Just one of those things I wanted to try. I didn't even know it bloomed in fall! It just got taller and taller all summer, and now it has these buttery yellow flowers.
Sorry the close up is so blurry-I wanted you to see the cluster of flowers blooming only at the top.

Mexican Marigold Mint is native to Mexico and Guatemala where its foliage is used for teas, seasoning and medicinal purposes. Herb gardeners in Texas often substitute this plant for French tarragon, which cannot withstand summer heat in Texas.
Although it is a marigold, this plant is not susceptible to spider mites. After becoming established, very little needs to be done to keep Mexican Marigold Mint looking attractive, although growth may be pruned back before June in order to shorten the ultimate height. Mexican Marigold Mint does best in well-drained, sunny locations. The leaves are slender and have notched edges, and the blooms are in clusters of golden-yellow single flowers, appearing from mid-fall till frost. There is a noticeable fragrance of anise associated with the plants.
This plant even survived all the October rain we had! I think this will be one of my fall favorites!

Do you have a favorite fall flower this year?

November

It's November! Can somebody please tell me where October went?? And, while you're at it, can someone please explain what happened to summer!

From time to time I go back and read articles I saved written by the late Jo Northrop who wrote for Country Living magazine many years ago. This is from one of my favorites of her "Simple Country Pleasure" articles about November:

"The exquisite cranberry and chrysanthemum days of November are a gift. We intensely and thankfully absorb them, knowing the inevitability of sudden, bone-chilling cold. Even in clear autumn sunlight, a scarecrow among fallen leaves in a deserted garden looks cold. It is this deepening of the season, the passage toward the end of the year, that gives November a quality that is energy charged."

Jo Northrop was legally blind; however, I think she "saw" the seasons better than anyone else and described them so vividly. Through her writings I can see that scarecrow standing in the now empty garden, and I can feel the sudden chill of the north wind. And the passage toward the end of the year is certainly exciting-(thoughts of spring flowers-whoo-hoo!) And, for us, this November is very "energy charged." Our daughter's wedding is next Saturday--so I will be away from blogging for a week or so getting ready for the big day. (I think it was just yesterday I was driving her to dance lessons! )

Happy November everyone! I wish you all cool and crisp cranberry and chrysanthemum days!