In The Garden

September came on suddenly, the way it often does, with a change in the weather. Oddly enough, it appeared as if the very first day of September meant an abrupt shift to Fall Weather. The weeks of hot, sweltering summer vanished in an instant.

Now we have cool days and almost cold nights.

Fortunately, I still have hummingbirds.

Fly to me, my love, and sip the nectar from my depths.

I still have several of them zipping around the yard and fighting for the right to drink all of the nectar from the deck plants.

Mmm! Agastache 'Heather Queen'. A 2007 vintage. Lovely!

Here he is, finally at rest.

Taking a breather.

He keeps the interlopers on their...errr...wings.

In the front yard (Also hummingbird territory.), the container plant has filled in and the millet is putting up flowering stalks.

Flowering stalks that smell remarkably like cumin or curry. Yum!

The bed I created earlier this summer has gone nuts.

Beneath the cherry tree, flowers bloom and bees buzz.

As I was weeding, I found a casualty: one of my toads lay dead. I don't know what did it in, but I was saddened at its passing. (No photos of that one because...ew!)

Close up of the flowers. Click to enlarge for detail.

I'm looking forward to trying new flowers under there next year. Still haven't decided what I want to put in there permanently, but I could be a wild woman and leave it a bed of mostly annuals I suppose. I shall have to think on it. I do think the river of red flowers that curls around the tree has worked out very well indeed and the night scented Jasmine Alata was wonderful. Next year I hope to get plants for this bedstarted even sooner. This fall I'll mulch the bed and clean out all of the annuals once they are killed off by frost.

Death undoes us all.

Soon the gardening season will wrap up again for another year. I feel like I have a lot to show for it and yet not enough. It's never enough for me. Other people call it a "hobby". For me it is an obsession.

A beautiful obsession.