October

October is foliage month and attention is focused on the turning colors. The blueberry bushes, dogwoods, maples and oak show off their autumn colors. A few plants still hang on with late blooms.

Precipitation: Approximately 0.5 inches
Average precipitation: 3.8 inches  

"My neighbour asked if he could use my lawnmower and I told him of course he could, so long as he didn’t take it out of my garden." – John Eric Bartholomew 

Montauk daisies 10/5/13

Sedum 10/5/13

Pink spirea second blooming 10/5/13

A major mushroom outbreak 10/5/13

 

Mushrooms 10/5/13

Rhododendron readying for next spring 10/5/13

Chinese privet berries turning black 10/5/13

Oaks already turned color 10/5/13

Morning glories still hanging in there 10/5/13

Euonymus still looking great 10/25/13

Solomon's seal beginning to turn 10/25/13

Last gloriosa daisy hanging in there 10/27/13

Pin oak beginning to turn 10/27/13

More pin oak 10/27/13

Praying mantis 10/27/13

Blueberry 10/27/13

Dogwood 10/25/13

September

During the transition from summer to autumn, berries take center stage. September is a good time to divide clumps of overgrown perennials and do lawn repairs.

Precipitation: Approximately 2 inches
Average precipitation: 3.7 inches

"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses." -Abraham Lincoln

American holly 9/2/13

American holly 9/2/13

Winterberry 9/4/13

Winterberry 9/17/13

False Solomon's seal 9/2/13

False Solomon's seal 9/2/13

Chinese privet 9/4/13

Sedum 9/4/13

Sedum 9/17/13

Honesty (money plant) 9/4/13

 

Tree fungus 9/4/13

Lady fern 9/6/13

Hosta 9/6/13

Cotoneaster 9/6/13

Dogwood 9/6/13

 Wild daisy (wildflower) 9/6/13

Rose of Sharon 9/8/13

New England aster 9/18/13

Oak leaves beginning to turn 9/22/13

August

August is usually a sparse month for blooms, but adequate rain kept the garden green this year. The lawn never turned yellow and continued to grow throughout the summer, and it seemed like every shrub and hedge needed lots of cutting back this month.

Precipitation: Approximately 3 inches
Average precipitation: 3.8 inches

"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." -Mahatma Gandhi 

Morning glory (annual) 8/12/13

Rose 8/12/13

Unidentified (wildflower) 8/12/13

Jerusalem artichoke 8/25/13

July

Midsummer is here, and all is well with the world in July. Just as long as we keep up with the mowing and weeding, and weeding, and weeding. The gloriosa daisies begin their long blooming season.

Precipitation: Approximately 1.5 inches
Average precipitation: 3.1 inches

"What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lily 7/1/13

Honesty (money plant) (biennial wildflower) 7/1/13

A visitor 7/1/13

 

Hosta 7/1/13

False Solomon's seal 7/1/13

Ladybells (wildflower) 7/1/13

Daylily 7/3/13

Aster 7/3/13

Spiderwort 7/6/13

Trumpet vine 7/3/13

Gloriosa daisy 7/3/13

Gloriosa daisy 7/6/13

Rose 7/10/13

Buddelia (butterfly bush) 7/21/13

Tigerlily 7/24/13

Tigerlily 7/19/13