Fall's First Freeze

Yep, woke up this morning to this beautiful sight!

We knew it was coming, it always does!    Time to dig out the bird bath heater for our feathered friends who come to the feeders and greet our "boys" as they perch on their climber by the window!

So glad we finished getting our garden bed perennial plants cut back and annuals pulled out last week.  The local compost site has been busy!  We were realizing how effective my downsizing of garden beds to low maintenance with size and plant varieties has helped reduce the winter prep labor!  Now to wait until the crop of hosta leaves die back and dry out a bit to reduce that labor project!  At that point just 30 minutes to reach down and pick up the leaves of 100 hostas, stuff them in bags and head to the compost site!  

Thrift Store Shopping!

Denny was looking for a TV converter box to convert a old TV to receive digital signals so we managed to visit three different thrift stores in our fair city before he found one!

So, while he was looking for his quest, I was snooping for pots to hold house plants in my indoor garden beds, of course!  I did find a few coasters that work well for some Kokedoma creations and Denny discovered a metal hanging basket for me to check out!  ( Yea, he's a good guy to tag along with!)

Yep, it is larger than the one I purchased earlier this summer with plans to use it for an outdoor winter arrangement.  I have just the spot to hang it!  He agreed to give it a fresh coat of black paint and for $3 it came home with us!  Not impressive as it is, but I see it filled with greens, etc.  

I am looking forward to having outdoor winter décor beyond December this year!  So, I will increase the amount of my artistic expression for sure!  Love working with greens with lights outside!  I've seen some new lanterns with flickering candles that really are becoming very attractive to me!  Thinking I can use one during different seasons, etc.  

Also I am looking forward to using my winter holiday set of dishes in Jan. and Feb. this year.  And also glad I kept my collection of "Winter" (not Christmas) indoor décor touches  (primarily snowmen) tucked away while we were snowbirding the last 13 years!  So I am looking forward to winter...(but not the snow and cold)!  

Here is my new hanging basket I will be filling with greens, etc.

    

A touch of Fall from across the Atlantic!

This week I received this photo and message from a dear gardening friend who shared her wonderful friendship while we were snowbirding in Mesa, AZ. these last 13 years!

She is touring Europe again right now!   

This was her message with the picture:  "I saw this fall flower arrangement at Saint Karl’s Catholic Church in Saint Moritz, Switzerland and I thought of you !"

Thanks for thinking of me and reminding us it is Fall other places besides in Minnesota right now!

Some new homes for Karl!

After arriving home Sat. AM with our trailer full of "Karl" we made quick work of splitting the rescued plants into smaller plants to get them ready for planting in their new homes.  We ended up with 33 plants for our neighbors across the street to enjoy!

Our neighbors back yards, across the street, are fenced in but just beyond the fences is an open field, which belongs to a church on that property!  Two neighbors are going to be lining the outside of their fences with "Karl Foerster", which will be such an attractive backdrop for their garden beds!  I can't wait to see it grow into a spectacular sight in just a few years!

I can't help but wonder if they will be shared on along the other neighboring fences as times passes!  What a spectacular sight that would become!

Rescuing Karl

Sat. AM we were part of the plant rescue crew at the Veterans Memorial Garden Beds thinning out our planting of Karl Foerster Grass to preserve its beautiful display!  Our local Garden Club plants and maintains some garden bed areas that are part of our awesome Veterans Memorial in Rochester! One of our community projects we've been involved with since the memorial was built!

It was time once again to tackle what would be a huge job for one or two people, but many hands, forks and shovels made quick work of this job in only 45 minutes!  We removed about 45 plants that were split into about 100 pieces for new plants to be replanted in new homes!  Some of the plants are being potted up and held in a garden bed until mid May 2020 for inventory for our annual fund raising Plant Sale!  Way more than we need for that, but homes were quickly found for the remaining popular perennial grass so none ended up in the compost site!  

This grass does not have deep roots and is not aggressive so is easily dug up if the ground is at least damp and conditions were right to make quick work of this project!  Great bunch of gardeners to do a project with, led by our Plant Sale Chairs, Barb S. and Deb R.! 

This will allow the remaining 45 plants more space to expand into and we will be back again in several more years to repeat this process!  

Our "Rescue Karl" Team with leaders Deb in purple by the trailer &  Barb is in the gold jacket!

Completed section of the project!

 

Turtles!

Or, rather, Turtlehead a great fall perennial!

At last I am enjoying some Turtlehead blooms!  I've had a problem in the past with this plant not growing for me.  Maybe I found it's happy spot this time!  It is definitely part shade along the fence in back of the house!  It gets a bit of sun maybe early morning from the East and then again in  the afternoon  from the west. It snuggles up near a favorite climetis so maybe it likes its neighbor?  Whatever, I've really enjoyed the gentle pink blooms now for about 4 weeks in Sept. when most of my perennials have made their annual visit and said "goodbye until next year".  This one is just outside the bedroom window so I get to visit it twice a day when I am opening or closing the blinds!

I recall picking this one up at our annual garden club plant sale in the spring and it was only marked "pink turtlehead" so I do not know the variety.  I am hoping the same person donates a few more plants of it this coming spring so I can get a few more to sprinkle in along that fence.

For more information about Turtlehead CLICK HERE!

A Day of Gardening Enrichment!

Yep, one this fall even!  Our garden club arranged one and it was a lovely Saturday spent networking and learning some new gardening tricks and information!  Although I am not "into Herbs" the keynote speaker was inspiring and the most interesting speaker I've experienced on this topic!

Then three breakout sessions followed with lunch tucked in there and time to visit the vendors that were there!  One of the speakers shared some exciting tips on creating outdoor planters for the fall season which can extend to Thanksgiving!  So, that's 2 1/2 months to change up our tired summer displays out there!  I was scheduled to help Ginni do a "make and take" Kokedama breakout session, which we did two sessions of!  That was  fun adventure!  Ginni is such a talented artist so her creative arrangement and planters are so inspiring!  Oh, I also won a nice door prize, a full grown Purple Fountain Grass, perfect to pop into a planter that was holding some tired looking petunias!

Yep, I ended up getting reinspired to do Kokedama gardening so have several gift ones to put together now to share the fun with friends, etc!  I guess the 5 I made ahead to display ideas at the class will find homes in my indoor garden beds, etc. Some I designed to hang so they won't take up much space!   But, I couldn't resist buying myself a lovely new fern to "ball up"!  (more about that one later)