Stats
Gardening Zone: 7a
August High Temperature: 82 degrees F
August Low Temperature: 39 degrees F
Precipitation: 9.08 inches
We had a litte rain in October, but Superstorm Sandy dropped about six inches of rain in just a few days. We were very lucky to have had minimal damage from the storm. I hope all of you are safe and did not suffer much damage. My thoughts are with those that have lost so much because of this storm.
Wildlife
This was my last sighting of a hummingbird about a week or so ago. They have probably migrated south by now.
And this must have been the last Monarch to visit the garden because I have not seen any since.
One day this week I walked into the garden and heard this loud rustling of leaves. It took me a while to locate the direction of the sound, but I noticed a squirrel hurriedly and with great determination building a nest in the crook of this tree. It would scamper up the tree, grab a small branch of leaves, and run back down to noisily knit it into the nest.
The pollinators are still at it. These two carpenter bees seemed to be happy to share this purple basil plant.
Superstorm Sandy has blown all the webs away, but there were lots of them in the garden in October.
This grasshopper was eating some basil before he hopped to these lemon grass leaves.
A few butterflies are still around, such as this skipper.
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| Sachem Skipper |
what's blooming, sprouting
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| Moonflower - Ipomoea alba |
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| Chrysanthemum - Red Regal Mist |
The leaves are falling and adorning the ground with color.
I let some of my basil plants go to seed, and the result are these beautiful and long seedheads.
I pulled out all of the pepper and tomato plants and harvested the tomatoes and peppers. The tomatoes will ripen in the basement.
Here is a basket of them a few weeks later, about 3/4 of what you see above. I blanched the tomatoes to peel them and then froze them for sauces and soups this winter.
As I was removing one of the tomato plants, I found this tomato hornworm.
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| Tomato hornworm infested with braconid wasps |
The long yard beans are still producing as we have not had a frost yet.
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| Asparagus Long Yard Beans |
Swiss chard is a staple in my garden. It lasts practically all year long and is versatile enough to use in soups and salads.
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| Swiss Chard - Bright Lights |
completed chores
harvested herbs for drying and freezing
sowed lettuce
cleaned and stored front fountain
removed remaining tomatoes and peppers
cleared away remaining annuals in planters
trimmed boxwoods
chores for November
clear away mandevilla, cypress vine, moonflower vine
clear away annual herbs
clear away green bean plants
inspirations
This is my Thanksgiving cactus that is just now beginning to set buds.
notes
This year, I decided to create a calendar of photographs from the garden. Most of the photographs are from my garden, and I tried to select ones that were appropriate for the season. I have entered a discount for the calendar for those reading this. It will be in effect for a short time and is automatic by going to the site. I hope you will enjoy it.
2013 Garden Photography Calendar
I am joining in the following:
Helen of The Patient Gardener hosts End of Month View. This monthly meme is where garden bloggers share their garden views for the end of the month.
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A charitable project...My photography and a poem are included in the book How We See It...more views of our worlds, a book for charity. This is a book compiled by an artist/photographer friend of mine that includes many photographs and writings by women. Approximately 75 female photographers and writers have donated their work for this project. All of the proceeds from this book go to the charity, NOW Love Your Body Foundation. Many girls and women suffer from body image issues all over the wold, sometimes suffering great illness or death. This book makes a great gift and supports a worthy cause. The book is available in:
e-book
10 x 8 hardcover, softcover
13 x 11 coffee table hardcover
Below is a preview of the book:
© copyright 2012 Michelle A. Potter
Beautiful photography! We've already had a hard freeze here and are expecting temps in the 20's Sat. and Sunday night. I have just a few things left to deal with and have to get at it today. Including a seven foot tall sanchezia that somehow survived the first freeze.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Deanne. You have much colder temperatures now than we do. There is a prediction for frost tomorrow night which would be our first for the season. I still must rid the garden of some annuals.
DeleteLovely photos. I saw a butterfly last week, unusual for this time of year in the UK. Also found a bee walking around, but it succumbed to the cold.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Crystal. The pollinators are still around but are decreasing. I will miss that buzzing and flitting around.
DeletePięknie jest jeszcze w Twoim ogrodzie. Są kwiaty, motyle, konik polny, pszczoły i wiewiórka. Ślicznie to na zdjęciach pokazałaś. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeleteIt is beautiful to have in your garden. There are flowers, butterflies, grasshopper, bee and squirrel. This lovely pictures you showed. Yours.
Thank you, Giga. I love the wildlife in the garden, too.
DeleteYour pics are inspiring. The butterflies are almost faded from views here as well. But the hummers are still around reminding me to fill up the feeders:) If I don't, they hover in front of my window to give me the eye:)
ReplyDeleteI had to smile at your hummingbird story. I have never had them do that, but they do fly around me and the feeders if I am a bit late.
DeleteWhat a beautiful pictures!!! I loved the grasshopper and the grey squirrel and not to forget the hummingbird, so unusual to see in our country. Our last butterflies have gone in the meantime, it is getting colder now.
ReplyDeleteWe are a bit slower to get cold, but it is coming soon. I think the squirrel was preparing for the cold winter.
DeleteOh I wish I were so disciplined to do this month in review. It is such a great way to capture all that goes on in a neat and tidy (and pretty) package! Maybe that will be a project for the new year? The basil gone to seed is just gorgeous! I haven't the heart to cut mine back as I see the bees still at the flowers and the finches eating the seed. It makes me happy that they're happy! There are butterflies everywhere right now but I haven't seen any hummingbirds. Sometimes I'll see the stragglers in December. If we have a mild winter the pineapple sage blooms always attract them.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first year I have let some of the basil go to seed, and it is gorgeous. I know what you mean about being happy if the garden creatures are happy. I feel the same. When the hummingbirds are hear they seem to love the pineapple sage.
DeleteYou really have a variety of critters at this time in your garden, nice captures. Nothing is moving in my garden as temps have dropped to the thirties (F). Also you have quite the harvest, much to be proud. I really liked the book even though it was too small to preview. I tried clicking to go to Blurb, but it did not take me there.
ReplyDeleteYour temperatures are much colder than ours at the moment. They are predicting some frost tomorrow night. I will have to cover some of my vegetables. I am sorry you were not able to view the book so you could enjoy it. If you click at the bottom on the right of the preview, it is enlarged to a full screen. And all of the links I placed in the paragraph about the book take you to the Blurb site.
DeleteLove that moonflower. Mine are long gone. It's so nice to see yours, along with other blooms, colors, edibles and creatures from your gardens.
ReplyDeleteI love the moonflower in the garden, and they are so fragrant. Thank you, Joene, and I am so glad you enjoyed your visit. Hope is all well with you.
DeleteI realise I have a moonflower but didn't know it was called that, mine's still in its pot so I need to decide a place for it; it did produce one beautiful flower. I'm almost exhausted reading all that you've done this month. thank you for sharing the wonderful wildlife images. Christina
ReplyDeleteI just love moonflower's blooms and scent. Glad you have one. You will enjoy it.
Deleteas usual you have been busy Michelle, I'm glad Sandy didn't give you much damage, I have been thinking of bloggers I know who are or maybe in it's path, I feel so sad for all those people who have lost relatives and/or their home both in north America and the Caribean,
ReplyDeleteI love the sepia toned photo of the humming bird, beautiful, you have a good harvest of beans, tomates and peppers, interesting seeing the squirrel make its home for winter, feel sorry for the tomato hornworm, I have heard there are wasps that inject some creatures with their eggs........makes me shudder.....
good luck with all you plan for November, Frances
Thank you very much, Frances. I am glad we did not suffer from the storm, but I feel very sad for those who have lost so much. It was not until recently that I discovered that the tomato hornworm becomes the hummingbird moth which is a pollinator.
DeleteYour garden is oh so bountiful. I look forward to your month-in-review post. Lovely photos, as always.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary. I am very happy to hear that you like the monthly garden review. It keeps me a bit organized.
DeleteYour close-up photos of the insects are spectacular! There's still so much going on in your garden, everything here is gone except for the chickadees and other birds that brave the winter temps. I loved the unusual colouring of the maple leaf, red and black, how very Halloween of it :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rosemary. Those maple leaves did offer some holiday interest. The garden is winding down now although I am trying to keep a few veggies alive in the garden.
DeleteHi I am glad you and yours got through the storm OK. It seems to have been quiet in the blogasphere over the last week with so many US bloggers presumably being busy or with no power. It is sad about the spiders webs, I presume they willbe OK, just having to start again like the humans. The colours are wonderful in your garden. Thanks for joining in again
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. I hope all those who did suffer from the storm can find their lives very soon.
DeleteI love the shot of your carpenter bees, with both of their faces looking upward. As for the hornworm, they always give me the shivers. For some reason here along the coast we don't see them, and for that I'm grateful! I still need to pull our tomato and pepper plants. We had quite an extended growing season this year, but next week it's on my chore list. You had quite a bounty of green tomatoes! Glad to read that Sandy left you relatively unscathed.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Clare. That was a terrible storm. I don't know how we escaped the worst of it but I am very glad we did. I am still using fresh tomatoes from the harvest this year. The rest I froze for soups and chili.
DeleteI'm glad that some of your pictures are shown in a book. Your photos are stunning time after time! You've got a lot of harvest. We've already had some snow, but it has melt now.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sadun. That must be nice to have snow. I am looking forward to some this year...cross my fingers. We did not have much last year.
DeleteFabulous book...really enjoyed your photos as always and the poem was amazing. I had a late monarch too before the storm. Doubt it made it south. We had a tenth of an inch of rain from Sandy and lots of wind...wonderful blooms and critters this Oct., but oh the tomatoes. What a harvest.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly, Donna. I really appreciate that. I am glad to hear that you were spared the wrath of SuperStorm Sandy.
DeleteLove love love that photograph of the hummingbird. What a wonderful shot catching him sitting there. Most of our insects have disappeared here too, the weather is just too cold now. Another season is coming.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marguerite. We have had a colder autumn than normal, so that may mean that winter will actually arrive this year. I hope so.
DeleteSage - I like your 'Garden Notebook' concept; it's great documentation. The photos are wonderful, but I'm really a wuss - and the big harry spider made me shiver.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shyrlene. I like spiders, but I, too, get a bit squeamish if I stare at them too long.
DeleteYour photographs are beautiful as always, Michelle! I love the hummingbird photo; it makes you wonder just what he is thinking. It was a delight to see all the insects, too, as well as the bounty of your garden. We've had so many frosty nights that even the grasshoppers have left town.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rose. We have had some frosty nights as well. I have been covering the veggie garden. I have not seen as many insects since.
DeleteYour wildlife photos are exquisite!!!! I just love them! I love how your post-processed the one of the hummingbird.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cindy. I always miss the hummingbirds during winter, but then I suppose I would not be as excited to see them in the spring.
DeleteYou are so observant and so talented, Michelle! I'm catching up on my blog visits--a couple of major projects have kept me away for a few days. I'm so glad I caught this post because it's one of the best I've seen for a while. Your harvest is incredible! And your image of Swiss Chard reinforces my love for it as an ornamental. The taste (IMHO) is kind of blah, but the foliage is stunning. I keep thinking I want to try adding it to a floral arrangement sometime. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of using Swiss Chard as an ornamental. I may try that, but I think the rabbits would have a feast available to them. What is in the garden is fenced in. I would like to try it in a floral arrangement...sounds like a beautiful idea.
Deleteyour wildlife photos are wonderful Michelle. My favourites are the squirrel and the hummer because we don't have them here. I had to laugh, a yukky worm infested with even yukkier wasps becomes a superb photo opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I suppose that hornworm photo was more of a photo to document the garden. I still turn away when I see it.
DeleteSuch great photos! Even your worm was good, but gross! Lots of nice macro insects and flowers, too.
ReplyDeleteI try to see the garden as a place to find beauty and some unpleasant things. I am getting better at accepting that.
DeleteGlad to know that you are free from Sandy's wrath. The photographs are out of this world! I mean those in your blog post and the book. I'm sure the calendar will have lovely pics too.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Autumn Belle. I really appreciate that. We feel very lucky to have escaped any damage from the storm.
DeleteYour photography is stunning! It's been a while since I've seen a butterfly or hummer but still still have bees in the mums and salvia. I'm glad you came through Sandy ok. We ended up with over 6 inches of rain, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tammy. I am glad you fared well with the storm. I think our area got lucky this time.
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