Happy Halloween!

Well, I promised a few people I would show some Halloween decorations, so here they are. First we have the doorway that the kids approach to get their candy:



My "Harry Potter" sign doesn't show, nor my blinking pumpkin lights (they happened to blink off when I snapped the photo). What you do see is our two carved pumpkins, Frankie and Froggy, and the fake pumpkin lamp on top of the table.

When the kids come to the door, they have to pass a motion-detecting plaque (not shown) that has a green-skinned vampire on it who wakes up and sings "Wild Thing". It is very funny for the older kids, but the little ones sometimes get scared.

Here are close-ups of Frankie and Froggy (Frankie has a blue light in him, while Froggy has a regular candle):





We bought a pumpkin carving kit that included the cut-out patterns, and the stick-in plastic eyes. If you would like an idea of what the eyes look like when they are not in the pumpkin, here they are being modelled by a willing participant:


All photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com. If you want to use them, you must credit this web site.

Webster's Falls

This morning (early!) my photography class went on a field trip to Webster's Falls, which is part of the Bruce Trail.



It was a beautiful place to take photographs. I stuck to my determination to take all my photos with manual settings. It was frustrating, but ultimately rewarding. Although I missed a lot of shots (about one-quarter) because of silly mistakes, it meant that the shots that did turn out were more valuable to me.

I like this picture of an iron gate with a stone pillar. It was the lantern that originally attracted me.



And here is more of my fascination with wrought iron.



This one has a fence, but is also a portrait. (Yes, you've seen him before and he belongs to me.)



(He was soaking wet because he had walked down to the base of the falls.)

The weather was very strange. Always cold, but one minute bright and sunny, the next it would snow, and then it would clear up though with big white clouds in the blue sky. It was very awkward weather for photography. On the way home we were driving out of sunny clear weather towards a storm. Not a great destination, but it made an interesting photo through the windshield of the car.


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

Gardening is for the Birds

The garden is fighting the good fight, but it cannot avoid the inevitable. Everything is dying as winter approaches rapidly.

I should have known yesterday when I saw the first slate-backed juncoes near the birdfeeder that winter is nearly upon us. Yes, it seems they brought a blast of cold air with them and we have had snow and sleet as well as rain.

I didn't get any good photos of juncoes yet, but I have a couple of funny ones of mourning doves.

A Peaceful Mourning Dove



They Like to Sit on the Arbour Bench



And Here Too, It Seems



So yesterday we went to our local place that sells birdseed in huge bulk bags. It's hard to describe this store. I guess it is a farm and feed store. Here we can buy dried corncobs for the squirrels, and peanuts in the shell for our peanut feeder.

A Feeder that Holds Peanuts in the Shell



This is the feeder that holds peanuts in the shell. This photo was taken at around 4:00 in the afternoon. Earlier in the day the feeder was FULL of peanuts. Mostly the squirrels get them, but we have also seen a blue jay and the downy woodpecker take notice of these at different times.

We are also trying a couple of different mixes of seed. A mixture of nyjer seed and chopped, shelled sunflower seed for the small birds. (We got a new feeder for this, since our existing one is past its prime.) You can sort of see the new feeder at the far right of this photo.

Trying New Birdseed



The wooden feeder contains a mix of "low waste" seeds in place of black oil sunflower. We decided to try this to see how the birds like it. So far, so good. Lots of little birds, but not so many large ones.

And speaking of large birds, "our" downy woodpecker seems to find our yard a welcoming place. As we had hoped, he found the suet basket that we put on the willow tree. He has now returned enough times to earn a name. May I introduce you to "Wally Woodpecker"?

Wally Woodpecker Is Now a Frequent Visitor


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

My New Home Business

My New Home Business
Originally uploaded by Philosophical Karen.

Hey everybody! I wanted to share my new home business with you. Do you need your magic wand repaired?

(Just kidding! Of course it is only my new Halloween decoration. I am a Harry Potter fanatic, so I could not resist this sign.)

I took this photo with my new camera phone. I think it turned out okay.

The Front Garden

We had bright sunny weather today, so I was able to get the last of my bulbs planted. I hadn’t meant to buy any more bulbs, but when I saw a planting kit of 40 mixed pink daffodils (they came in a canvas bag with a trowel and some fertilizer), I couldn’t resist.

So today I planted 20 in our front garden and as a gift to my mother I planted the other 20 in hers. The great advantage of actually planting the bulbs as part of the gift is that now she does not have to worry about doing it herself in the ever-shorter time we have before the ground starts to freeze.

Front Garden with Autumn Colours



In the photo above, most notably missing now are the corkscrew hazel bushes. They fell prey to Eastern Filbert Blight. Because the spores of that disease are in the air now, we will not be replacing the corkscrew hazels, even though we have never had a garden without them as long as we have had a garden to call our own (almost 15 years).

Eastern Filbert Blight on Corkscrew Hazel



Once you see the lesions, the spores are already spreading. It’s difficult to eradicate without destroying the whole plant (so that’s what we did). Here is a picture of one of the corkscrew hazels from early June.

Corkscrew Hazel in Better Days



I neglected to mention that the evening class I am taking is a photography course at the local community college. (In Canada, a community college confers two-year diplomas, while a university confers undergraduate and post-graduate degrees.)

My class is just a personal interest course, but it is taught by the same man who does some of the diploma courses in photography. I took this photo of echinacea for class. (I was able to take this photo using manual settings, without letting the camera do the work. That is new for me. This course has been very useful!)

Echinacea Two Weeks Ago



Here is that same flower today. There is a little worm on top of it but it doesn't show up very well.

Echinacea Today



Other autumn photos of the front garden today include this close up of creeping jenny and English ivy.

Creeping Jenny and English Ivy



Also, this close up of the burning bush euonymous, showing a couple of red berries.

Burning Bush Euonymous


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

More "Mellow Yellow" Autumn Photos

The appearance of "rusty" needles on evergreen trees is a natural fall phenomenon, I have learned, and not anything to worry about. We are accustomed to thinking that evergreens are always green, but they do shed some needles in preparation for winter.



Above the climbing hydrangea we have placed a squirrelproof feeder with shelled peanuts. This afternoon when I was photographing the yellow in the garden, I saw the woodpecker land on it briefly. We have put some suet in a wire cage hanging in the willow tree. I think the suet would be less work for the woodpecker than trying to extract peanuts from the feeder.



You can't see the suet in the photo below, but if the willow loses enough of its leaves, it will be more visible. The maidenhair gingko tree is another plant whose leaves recently turned yellow. Gingkos are naturally slow growers, so that burst of growth to the east is a bit of a surprise. The tree looks windblown (that is the predominant direction of the wind), but I am not sure what is causing the tree to grow in that direction.



The heuchera can be relied on to retain their natural colour throughout the winter, and combined with the fallen yellow leaves from the Deborah maple, they make a nice mosaic of colour.


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

Mellow Yellow

Climbing Hydrangea
Originally uploaded by Philosophical Karen.

The whole garden, it seems, is turning yellow. The climbing hydrangea is particularly striking against the drab fence. I will post more "mellow yellow" photos later. I just wanted to get this one up quickly.

Now It's Easy Being Green

The city brought us our green wheelie bins today.


Inside there was a kitchen bin.


And beneath that, lots of paper bags.

Summer Bloom, Autumn Colours

I found this photo buried on Flickr. It's my 'Frans Hals' daylily, taken back on August 2.

Wild About Gardening

The Canadian Wildlife Federation, of which I am a member, is promoting native plants in its Fall Bulletin. The cover story features a native plant garden created by the Canadian Wildlife Federation in Montreal's Old Port. In another story entitled "Greening Suburbia" the newsletter talks about CWF's Backyard Habitat Certification program, and profiles the small (12 metres by 12 metres, or approximately 40 ft. by 40 ft.) suburban garden of Rosemary Pauer.

View of My Garden, Looking West (Summer)



Wide Garden View in Autumn



As soon as I read this I thought about the diversity of wildlife that visits our small (12 metres by 19 metres, or approximately 40 ft. by 60 ft.) suburban garden, most of which I have shown here in this blog. I thought of all the things we do--some purposely, and some not--that attract wildlife to the garden. So I decided to look into the Backyard Habitat Certification program.

Jackrabbit in the Garden



We could do this! The hardest part about the whole application process, from what I saw on the form, is cataloguing the native plants in the garden. Since we don't consciously "plant native", anything in our garden that is a native plant is there by coincidence. So going through the huge list of native plants and picking out the few I have here and there is a tedious activity. However, this is not something we have to do right away.

Campsis Radicans is a Native Plant



So Is Columbine



Next spring, we are considering putting in a pond. Although our birdbath meets the criteria for certification, ponds seem to be more favoured. The web site also lists resources for acquiring native plants. (There used to be a place in our area which I always wanted to go to, but it seems it was a "fly by night" operation. When we finally went there, it turned out to be an old run-down farm.) Once I find a reliable source of plants, I will be able to add more native plants to the garden, and do it consciously.

A Birdbath Meets the Criteria for Certification



A couple of things worry me though. We actually discourage skunks from stopping to stay (although we don't mind if they pass through). I hope the CWF understands! And please don't tell them about the mousetraps I set out for the voles. I wouldn't mind so much if they stayed in the garden, but they make a big mess in the shed and we put the traps in there for them so they won't get in and chew my garden gloves to bits and make nests in the cushions.

Skunks: It's Okay to Visit, Just Don't Stay Too Long



We'd Like to See More of the Downy Woodpecker


All photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

If you would like to learn more about attracting birds and wildlife to your garden, visit the CWF gardening web site, www.wildaboutgardening.org.

Tubers

You really know you are a gardener when you start to get excited about finding a big fat Ipomoea tuber when you clean out the last patio container.

Big Fat Ipomoea Tuber



Unfortunately, there's nothing to show scale in this photo, but it's a big fat tuber. I might just be able to close my fist around it. (I do have small hands though.)

I'm trying to guess if there is any relationship between size of plant and size of tubers. I don't know. The Sweet Caroline Ipomoea didn't get big tubers, and some got none at all. However, the "old regulars" seem to have given me a couple of decent tubers, which I will now save in a paper bag in the garage and see what happens if I plant them. I hope I will remember to start them early enough.

This is the container that yielded the nice big tuber.

This Container (Seen Here in Better Days)
Gave Me the Tuber Above



From this container, I got nothin'.

Nothing From This Container


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be borrowed without attribution.

Weather

It's just hitting me, what this snow means.

Since I had to go to class last night, I didn't really have the presence of mind to think about the plants. They could have been covered with sheets. The remaining containers could move inside. The echeveria and Lewisia Cotyledon that I've been meaning to transplant and move to storage -- it hasn't been done. I figured there was still a couple of weeks left to take care of it.

We haven't even really had a frost. A few days ago we were wearing T-shirts (and some people were still wearing shorts). Snow was not up there on the list of things to worry about where the garden was concerned.

Today the temperature is below freezing.

It's really been a strange autumn for weather.

Here are some photos I took yesterday morning, when snow was the furthest thing from my mind.

Bike Path Trees Through the Upstairs Window



Backyard from Above (After the Rain)



Cutleaf Sumac



Delphinium Rebloom



Trellis Leaves

Snow!!!

Can you believe we got snow today? It's not even the middle of October yet.

The Wind Whips Through the Willow



It Gathered on the Furniture



Squirrel in the Snow



Luckily our weather is so strange that a short time later the sun came out and now we just have little puddles everywhere.

EDIT:

I spoke too soon about the "little puddles". The snow came back and this time... it stuck.

I drove through a snow squall on my way to my evening class, and this is what greeted me after class when I got home: