Out My Kitchen Window

Looking out my kitchen window I see there is a change in the August garden. It's rather gradual but it's there. The first noticeable visual is the green tones.

Don't get me wrong, the flowers are still blooming brightly, with hydrangeas showing off their stately white blooms. The zinnias are sporting round pallets of color and alyssum is setting on new purple and white blooms.

Petunias seem to have reached their peek bloom and vincas, oh I can't brag enough about the vincas that are bursting with bloom in the heat of summer.

Sitting on the patio and looking over the garden, plans are underway for the fall garden. The marigolds prompt my seasonal change thoughts as they bloom profusely throughout the garden sporting many shades of orange.

It's time to pull a few garden globes from storage that are in rust and gold colored tones and place them among flowers. That should be enough for any gardener, but I constantly think just where could I place a potted mum. I haven't had the best luck with perennial mums in my garden.

My story is that the late winter winds sweep in after the mums emerge and cause what I call a case of heaving. That is where the plant is forced to pop up from the ground by warm days and then a freezing temperature swoops in and causes a freeze to the plant.

There is a way to try and prevent this with mulching the mums. Regardless, I have never had the mums survive.

So it's off to garden centers to shop for fall mums. The potted plants tempt a shopper with their tight buds showing just a bit of color. Colors are endless and some pots even sport combinations of up to three different colors of flowers waiting to burst into bloom.

I enjoy fall in the garden with cool evenings and mornings and a stillness as hubby and I sip cups of coffee or our favorite evening beverage. You can even toss a blanket on if its too cool. In the summer, the difference is you just can't always find a way to cool off when sitting outside.

This is also the time of year to think about what perennials need to be divided. I'm content with the day lilies in the garden, even though I'm waiting for shipment of two new ones to add in the landscape. They were selected as hubby and I toured Harmony Nursery and Daylily Farm at Bradshaw. That was a bright spot to our summer.

It's also a good time to divide hostas. There are two hostas in another spot on the acreage that need to be divided and added to the backyard garden.

At this early date, the hostas will be able to settle in with a bit of root growth before they get a winter sleep.

Not ready to divide but new to my garden, is Heliopolis Sunburst, or fake sunflower. The bright yellow daisy-style beauty sits on veined leaves and was an eye catcher when on a garden tour this summer.

I was fortunate to have a start of the plant in my garden from my Colorado sister.

It wasn't until three months after she gifted me the plant that she shared that it will grow a bit aggressive in the garden. Hmm, thanks sis, I think.

The plant is known for being attractive to butterflies, is good for zones four to nine and is a sun plant. It is happy to be divided every four years and, of course, does have an over abundance of volunteer plants.

The perennial garden can be a mixture of emotions as some plants are aggressive where you don't want them to be, yet others just seem to poke along in their growth.

Then there are the plants that bloom early in the season and then sit with not-so-pretty foliage the rest of the season. It keeps gardening interesting and is probably why I have pots of colorful petunias inserted among the perennials that bloomed early in the garden year.

Yes, I will likely be traveling back to garden centers for the mums in their warm tones of golds, burgundy, yellow and orange. Then, finding just the right spot for them in the garden which, with help from Mother Nature, is taking us into another season.

The view out my kitchen window is changing. I hope you too can enjoy the switch from summer to fall and don't forget to leave room for a pumpkin or two.