Saturday, October 23, 2021

The October Garden, Part II

The big task in the garden now is to clean things up for the winter.  And as of today Mrs. F.G. and our gardener are pretty well finished.  Don't know what we'd do without kind, supportive (and very hard-working) Andrew, and he appreciates the money.  But there are a couple of things I still want to share.

Our strange and wonderful vine, Mina lobata, or Firecracker Vine, is flowering like mad in the absence of frost.  Strange how the lighting conditions change the colours of the two photos.

The flowers themselves range from white to red along the stem, and usually two stems of flowers are held together parallel to each other.  You can see the stamens reaching out of the lower blooms here.

Our Zebra Grass has been doing magical things too, growing 8' tall right outside the window and tasseling.  It's been trimmed back now for the winter (so that I can see the bird feeder), but it was growing like it lived in the jungle.

This is the magical part, all the tiny pollen-bearing anthers dangling from the flower stems, perfect for being pollinated by the wind.  Grass flowers are not showy but for a few days they certainly are magical.

We also had one Dahlia that amounted to something with its rich yellow blooms.  I think it's the only one being saved for next year.

Our son and daughter-in-law visited for Thanksgiving, with their 'little puppy, Zombie, a Great Dane.  Big but very well behaved.  I noted the license plate on her new jeep as they drove away too.

I rode over to the window where I usually do my morning exercises and looked out - what a change, all the Hostas were trimmed away.  Yes, Mrs. F.G. is serious about garden tidy-up!






16 comments:

  1. Tomorrow is my day to clean out my garden. The cold last night hit a lot of them.
    Every Great Dane I have known has been nice. I guess they have nothing to prove so they can just relax.

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  2. Years ago when I was employed at Rotorua Hospital, a Holden station wagon drove up for some supplies. The Great Dane was in the rear, his tail hung out the back wind up window, his body draped over the rear bench seat, and his nose was up by the steering wheel. I am guess this beautiful fellow will also get to a great height and length. Down here, I saw the first emerging hosta leaves this morning , time for some of Hugh's macrocarpa sawdust to keep those slugs and snails away.The Zebra grass is stunning.

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  3. I loved seeing this magnificent display of grasses and sheared hostas. Nice! I hope the wind to come (tonight and tomorrow) will not be too awful. Most of the leaves will be gone from the trees, I expect.

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  4. I haven't heard of the firecracker vine. Very interesting the way it flowers. I see it's hardy into zone 8. Not sure what zone you are in, we're zone 7 here.
    I like big dogs and Zombie definitely is one big dog. Nice that he's well behaved.

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  5. I love that firecracker vine. Your gardening crew have done a fine job.

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  6. Very interesting vine, I've neither seen it nor any reference to it. Nice looking "little" puppy.

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  7. Great vine! I'm so happy for you and your new garden!
    I don't have to trim my hostas. The deer do that for me!

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  8. Interesting vine and the grasses are fun too. My neighbour has a couple and I keep I should add some to my yard but I probably won't.

    Zombie is quite the puppy. Take care, stay well.

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  9. Wished I had some of Mrs FG's tidy up energy and spirit in the flower garden. I guess that is why your gardens always look so nice. Everything here just kind of grows into everything else.

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  10. My hostas looked like that, but because of deer. We do not trim our hostas down here.

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  11. That dahlia is magnificent. We still have tidying to do.

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  12. I love that vine and the decorative grasses.
    My hostas are all snipped too and dahlias dug up. What a beautiful colour yours is!

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  13. Nice plant photos. I like the "little puppy" and license tag.

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  14. Tomorrow is my day to clean out my garden.

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  15. Wow that is a big dog! That Firecracker Vine is very pretty!

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