berries and seed pods

Cooler and drier - what a lovely autumn-like day we had here in the Twin Cities. My gardens received a much-needed inch and a half of rain last night. I put mulch down on another garden section this afternoon AND mowed the lawn. Roasted two more batches of tomatoes - I'm caught up now until I go out and pick again. Yup, pretty productive day.
(In Minnesota, we say cooler and drier and mean less humidity - the inch plus of rain has nothing to do with the drier part! Likewise, I would describe this summer as extremely hot and dry - which has nothing to do with the very, very humid conditions each and every day. Everyone here would know exactly what I'm talking about.) :)

Yesterday it was hot and super windy. I noticed that the ornamental grasses were really pretty blowing in all that wind. So went out and took a video. Here's the good news - my voice actually sounded like me - this is old-hat now! LOL The bad news is there was so much wind noise you can only hear about half of what I was saying. Also found out my camera shuts off after 3 minutes. I was standing out there talking away for at least 5 minutes AFTER it had shut off. (you can go ahead and be relieved that I only get to do 3 mins at a time - imagine sitting through 8 minutes of me yakking away and showing you grass blowing in the wind!!) Anyway, I'll try again on a less windy day - it is kind of fun to do.

Today: plants are thinking about next year already. Here's a collection of berries and seed pods in the garden today.

Solomon's Seal
false Solomon's Seal

Jack-in-the-pulpit
(yes, Kobie & Tess, please do explain why it's laying on the ground instead of standing up???)
(oh, and look at some of the ZILLIONS of acorns that have fallen this year - do you think maybe we're going to have a horrible winter??)
The cool part of this photo is that you have to have both female and male plants to get seed heads or berries. I adore the bright red color - and the fact that I'll probably have some baby plants next spring!

false indigo
I love how these rattle in the wind.
Has anyone had any luck growing plants from these seeds? I have several people who would like seeds, but people who have taken them in the past have had no luck with the seeds growing.

sun lovers

The tall bearded iris are blooming. This white one is one of my favorites - it has the sweetest scent.

I think the yellow ones are very pretty also. The purples aren't far behind.

Wild geranium again.

Another geranium - Johnson Blue. These get a little more leggy than the pinky wild geranium (which just seem to form big clumps), but I love the color.

A close up of mountain bluet - centaurea. These are the coolest blooms!

Chives are blooming nicely. My French teacher told me she takes the flowers and sprinkles them on salads - they have a wonderful oniony flavor. I had never done that before, but she's right - they're yummy!

False indigo - I love this bushy plant.

And this is probably the last shot of my tulips for this year - they are fading fast! This is "Sorbet" again - I really like the coloring of this one.

weed, plant, mulch, weed, plant, mulch...

This is "Sorbet" - I showed it a few days ago when it had first opened - light pink and creamy white. Now it's stunning! I like it a lot. Okay, not quite as much as I LOVE "Carnival de Nice," but I think it's really pretty.

See how nicely it works with "Carnival de Nice"? These groups by the lake are totally cool. I done good!! (Ouch - just hurt myself - it's really not that easy to pat yourself on the back)

This little white daff is "Thalia" - I thought it would be cute with "Couleur Cardinal" - but the red is almost done and this is just starting - so not a great pairing.

A couple years ago, a neighbor gave me a clump of this columbine. It has spread everywhere, and I love it. It's so delicate looking.

This is my false indigo - just starting to open. I have never taken a good photo of it open, so I'm showing you this! I love this plant - the flowers are great, the leaf color throughout the summer is a great blue-green, the black seed pods are totally cool. Yup, one of my favorites.

Arb sale stuff is all in the ground now. Today I did dahlias and mini glads. Still need to get to containers - and have caladium and begonia root thingies too (are these all corms? tubers? whatever!) It's been really hot and really windy and no rain - so watered for the first time today. I need to get all the gardens weeded and mulched ASAP.

I was really hot when I finished up today, so was thinking seriously of going for my first swim this year - seriously, that is, until I put my feet in the water - still pretty cold in there!