End of Growing Season

I have now been a Master Gardener for over one year and I believe my gardens and landscape show some improvement!  My husband is now in the middle of his Master Gardener Course and will be done before the next growing season.  Can you imagine how much more we will grow by this time next year?  What an ideal place for Intuitive Value to flourish!

The Cleome is self-seeding and very showy late in the season!

New Perennial and Native Plant Garden - Cleome, Blue Flax, Spider Wort, Old Iris, Lambs Ear

New Perennial and Native Plant Garden - Yuccas on the upper left, Cleome, Blue Flax, Spider Wort, Old Iris', Lambs Ear, Shasta Daisies.  The sloped area between the new garden and the street is mostly weeds but is slowly changing to selected weeds and native plants.  All excess Day Lilies, Old Iris', and soon-to-be-seeded Milk Weed go in this area.

New Hammock Area under the Redbud Trees we started from 6" saplings many years ago.  Location is in view of new perennial/native plant garden.  More work will be done in this area adding shade plants and comfort features next year.

New Fruit Trees planted last spring; 2 cherries and 2 pears.  The yard is edged in Stella D'Oro Lilies and Liriope.   

New sidewalk with newly transplanted Liriope along the grass edge.  The area between the sidewalk and the patio on the left is in process of burying a water line to the gardens and will also eventually have garden boxes built all along that side.

View of Back Yard taken from Carport

Most of the vegetable gardens have been cleaned up after a highly productive growing season!  Remaining for several more weeks are Kale, Swiss Chard, Peppers and the Marigold & Zinnia flowers.  Likely to go after the first freeze (about Oct 15th) is the Basil, Rosemary, and Tomatoes.  The Butternut Squash had just been harvested with 35 picked and stored in the basement.  The red container was not successful in growing exotic pumpkins this year for the first time.  I got three little pumpkins only.  It was an experiment using a new-to-me dirt medium known as "gin-trash."  It came from SE Missouri along the Mississippi River where cotton is grown.  It was given to me by someone whose husband hauls the stuff in his truck as part of his living.  This product is a by-product of the industry and includes what is left from the cleaning process after cotton goes through the gin machine. 

From my limited experience with gin trash, I cannot recommend it, as it packs hard and dries out easy.  I will throw it all out in the ditch and hope it will be useful for the weeds or native plants.

Silver Lace Vine growing over the Steps Arbor which is in between our lower driveway and the gardens in the backyard.  This is the 3rd year for this perennial vine that is highly scented and beautiful in late summer/fall.

Backyard view from the bottom of the Steps Arbor.  The curved wall on the left is our compost bin which drops down about 7' and is accessible from the bottom of the first tiered garden.  Easy to dump scraps from the bottom of the steps.

Backyard view from deck shows new gate which leads to burn area surrounded by Russian Olive bushes in a graveled steep slope.  Much of the Liriope around the oak tree needs to be transplanted.  Much of it will go around the hammock and new fruit trees eventually.

New Tropical Cannas just below the carport.  Needs to be dug up each fall and next year will likely be in another location; maybe the soon-to-be-built flower boxes along the new sidewalk in the backyard.  Lots of perennial mint on the left and exotic lilies and hollyhocks on the right.

View of terraced gardens from lower end of backyard near the shed.  House and driveway are in upper left corner.  Cut Flower garden is in lower right corner.

Cut Flowers - Zinnias with a background of Wild Poke Weed.

Cut Flowers - Zinnias!

Cut Flowers - Zinnias come on mid-summer and last long into the fall.  So many colors and variations!

Mailbox Area next to driveway has one Zinnia plant that has been especially beautiful this year.  The Calla lilies behind it are done blooming in July but the foliage is still lovely.  Up front are various succulents and Sedums in with an evergreen.  The yellow plant is a Lantana which did very well as a new annual this season.

Newly transplanted succulents below the mailbox.  They had been in pots under the front window all season and now have a permanent home.

This Sedum is very old and has been divided several times.  Wonderful fall color!

Front Yard View shows Ornamental Sweet Potato Vines in two colors.  They have overgrown the purple and yellow Petunias that shared the same bed.  

Front Patio has 3rd-year Creeping Thyme perennial growing short and tight between the dry-set bricks.  Started with a teaspoon of seed and now seeds itself.  Highly scented thyme is very durable to step on and the purple flowers are lovely in the early summer.

This old stump is covered in Castor Bean Vine and English Ivy with Blackberry Iris' around the base.

Castor Bean blooms in the fall and the seeds are harvested and replanted next summer.

Mums came back from last year.  Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't and I replant with new colors.

Behind the Bluebird House is a group of Blackberry Lilies after they went to seed.  The neighbor's cat got in the habit of climbing the fence and jumping onto the bluebird house to disturb the baby bluebirds.  We usually have 4 broods each year and enjoy watching them very much.  I solved the cat problem by nailing a coiled barb-wire along the top of the fence and also used it for vine climbing.  I planted a new Clematis perennial and a Mandevilla annual.

The Cactus Garden in front of the fence now includes several other succulent plants which will come back every year.   The Marigolds just add some color this time of year.

Blackberry Lilies gone to seed - that's why they have that name!

Blackberry Lilies mid-summer blooms -  Native Missouri Plant comes back every year!