Once the Day Lilies die down the garden has passed its peak and is headed toward fall. Harvest begins if you've planted some veggies and dedicated gardeners like Mrs. F.G. begin seed collecting from various flowers and planning for next year! The flowers change too, but other plants like Echinacea pick up the lead role and provide colour right into fall.
But first the potato harvest. This is the first bag of early new potatoes that Mrs. F.G. dumped out and she was thrilled, lots of potatoes and all unblemished. You may remember that she planted six cloth bags of potatoes as an experiment. This is about half the harvest from the first bag.
This is the rest of them.
And the second bag. We've had a few for dinner now and they're all delicious!
The garlic is harvested or purchased too (far less than she used to grow), here lying out in the sun drying. That will take a couple of weeks. Some of this was purchased at Achy Back Farm. Our crop used to fill our entire garage while it dried!
So the colour has switched to the Echinacea or Coneflowers, in shades of yellow, red and orange.
Some beautiful light mauve ones too.
Out front we have one lonely orange-coloured Crocosmia which particularly appeals to me.
These will probably be the last variety of Day Lilies to bloom, a two-tone colour combination I really like.
And astonishingly the Cast Iron Plant is blooming. It's at least 50 years old, and may be considerably older for this came from Mrs. F.G.'s mother. It's an indoor tropical plant, but comes out to get a bit more light for the summer. It has flourished this summer, but we've never seen it bloom before.
And these are the blooms, two small purple-centred flowers that almost look like strange mushrooms, just emerging from the soil.
Oh, and the Monarch is still fluttering around every day. That's it for now.
Beautiful shots, FG.
ReplyDeleteYes, now that the day lilies are nearly finished blooming I can notice the slight changes in our gardens taking place. The once lush June ferns are taking on a harder edge and the Hostas are beginning to show signs of ageing deterioration. The bouncy lite greens and breezy yellows of Spring have aged through summer and are now heralding the coming golden glow of Autumn Ahhhh, tis a nice land we live in here.
ReplyDeleteYou got a great harvest of potatoes. As a farm kid we raised potatoes by the hundreds to fee of family of six all winter. Your flowers are looking great. I too see the last of the day lilies going away. I like your owning such an old plant. That is a strong willed plant.
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest! We didn't plant potatoes again this year as the pile of firewood is still on top of the garden. :( The Garlic did very well here too
ReplyDeleteYou have quite a beautiful garden, and not just of flowers! What a treat to enjoy newly dug potatoes.
ReplyDeleteSummer in the garden is so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI think by the look of your bountiful harvest, bags for spuds will be the way to grow them here too. Love the flower shades, as your autumn nears. Here, in so many places both North and South, lots of snow, roads closed, traffic stuck on hills for hours, and where we are a frigid wind.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Cast Iron plants bloomed. And what strange flowers they are!! The plant must really appreciate being put outside for summer.
ReplyDeleteYour potatoes did very well. Potatoes straight from the garden, boiled just until tender then covered with lovely butter. They just need some salt and pepper and they become a feast.
Ah freshly caught potatoes! So tasty. Well done Mrs FG.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the "potato experiment" was an unqualified success! The flowers are looking wonderful too.
ReplyDeleteI bet those potatoes are delicious. We tried garlic a couple of times, but never with great success. Will have to give it another shot.
ReplyDeleteIn the land of the spud, I don’t grow them. That might change. You have an excellent crop! Bet they are tasty.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of garden produce, a friend gave of some tomatoes, including an heirloom (or heritage). It looked suspicious but was delicious (he said unintentionally rhymingly -- which I think he just did again, also unintentionally).
ReplyDeleteThe gardening group I belong to on FB has been talking about growing potatoes in bags - it's wonderful to know it really works, that's quite the harvest.
ReplyDeleteI love echinacea but haven't had any luck growing it here - it simply didn't overwinter. My favorite is the purple but the yellow is pretty too.
Hooray for a successful potato harvest! I love coneflowers, such brilliant colors.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers. Enjoy your spuds, or should I say Mrs. F.G.'s spuds?
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful pictures! You just reminded me it's about time to harvest my potatoes. I've snuck a few from the ground and cooked them up. They are indeed delicious! Great pictures and thanks for the cast iron plant blooms! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe potatoes look wonderful. Maybe that is something I should try. Haven't had much luck with gardening this year.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that Mrs FG's mom's plant is still going strong after so many years. It must have liked that time outside!!
Really well done! You must be enjoying your garden so much! I think I have that same blue pot, but mine is broken so I use it for a toad house.
ReplyDeleteYour harvest of potatoes and garlic are sure bountiful! Great job, Mrs. F.G. :)
ReplyDeleteThe cone flowers (Echinacea)are so pretty, plenty of blooms here too.
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ReplyDeleteoooooh those potatoes, i am so happy for you guys!! i have tried to grow potatoes and i failed miserably!! all of the flowers are so beautiful, only mother nature could produce a flower so perfect as the cone flower!!
ReplyDeleteLovely flowers! The potatoes look good.
ReplyDeleteOh oh oh. I didn't know cast iron plants bloomed! I will have to watch for that. As I am so much farther to the south, it's probably over now, if it happened at all. Ten years ago when I moved into this house, I saw some cast iron plants next to a little house that was being redone, along with the plantings around it. I begged some. And they truly are cast iron. They were growing in 2011 when I got them, a drought year here in TX. And they have flourished outside, with supplemental watering and not in full sun. When we had zero degrees here this February, admittedly not for long, I thought they would be goners. But nope. late in the spring, new leaves appeared. And they flourish. They've done 100 degrees and zero degrees in the ground. I think they are beautiful plants. And now I know they bloom!! So I will have to clear out the ivy and asian jasmine that would like to choke them. Thanks!
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