Happy Halloween!

Oh my gosh, his face has caved in!! We had some fun with the 'tickle trunk' this evening ;)

Happy Halloween!

Beautiful Day with Frost.

+16 with frost today. It is a beautiful day although the birds are snowed in. They are saying now that by end of the week this snow will be gone and November is going to be warm. Here's to hoping they are right!

My New Best Friend

A skunk has moved into the yard somewhere. Penny was sprayed yesterday and today it was Wile E and Tuk. It's awful!!

Oddity of Instant Winter

Normally, all these leaves would be long gone before we had this much snow. Instant winter has made the yard edges quite pretty for winter.

Amaryllis

I can't believe it but it's true. Both my Amaryllis are coming back! Now to see if they bloom...

...and just in time!

Winter arrives in my garden.

Closing Up for the Season

Got the roof put on the Love Bus today and most of the black plastic pots organized. Aside from a few final fading blooms, Fall foliage is all that is left to look at. We have snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow. I hope not too much because I still have things to get into the shop for the winter like chairs and a wheelbarrow.

Found My Frog!

He is gettiing really beat up after all these years but every time I misplace him, he always finds his way back :)

Days are getting shorter....

This is 6:30 p.m. today.

Judy's Rose Garden

We have finished moving Judy's roses and there is nothing left to do in her Rose Garden this season except to cover a couple of the more tender roses but that has to wait because it is still too warm to cover roses. There are also things to do that are best left until Spring so for now, they are moved and composted. Everything else will wait until next season.

Getting Ready for Winter

The box under Sol is full of books as well. Starting to haul in winter supplies and one of Judy's contributions to fight the boredom was books! Between you and her, I should be set for reading which is awesome :)

Statistic

Not the greatest photograph for the day but I have been reading this over and over. The article does not say where the statistic comes from but it is Canadian. Hmmmm.

Three More Glads for Judy

Her's really did last so much longer than mine. She had three more blooming stalks today :)

Lift in Fall is Lifted!

Easy record notes today... it's done! Whoo Hoo!! Everything lift in fall is inside. All that is left is a few Iris and Lily to get in and a couple things to move if I don't run out of time. Then, of course, general clean up and the garden is put to bed for the Winter.

More Fall Garden Record Notes

Another busy day in my garden. Fall chores seem endless but it was a beautiful day for gardening again and forecast is for a few more of those yet. Good thing too because despite getting a ton of work done today out there, I probably have twice as much to go before I can say the garden is put to bed for the winter.

Lifted Dahlia 'Parkland Glory', 'Ferncliff Cameo', 'Hy Cutter', 'Taratahi Ruby', 'Yvonne' and 'Wine & Roses'. My Spring map was good but not quite good enough. I have two Dahlia tubers of which, one is 'Taratahi Ruby' and one is 'Hy Cutter' but I don't know which is which. Good thing 'Hy Cutter' is white so it will go with anything and I will figure it out next year when they bloom.

Lifted Gladiolus 'Passos', Border Gladiolus, Calla 'Picasso' and all the Freesia. Potted up two more Geranium cuttings. Planted Speedwell from Judy which is different than the one I have here already. I put the Speedwell beside the two patches of German Purple Iris at the rock edge towards the Knautia. Planted Bouncing Bet in two spots: beside the Stargazer Lily in the Bird Sanctuary (to the house side) and right off the front deck beside the trellis where the Euphorbia was planted this year. Planted Monkshood beside (lawn side), the Knautia that went in the Bird Sanctuary. Moved the 'Angelique' Tulips marked in Summer to two places: in front of the furthest Delphinium in the Front House Garden and immediately right of the sidewalk where the bushline was taken down. Dark came too soon today. I was on a roll.

Nesting Again

Baby Hammy is still trying to build a little log house in the bird feeder. We keep trying to discourage it, he keeps rebuilding. I really hope he has built an alternate winter house somewhere because there is no way this is going to keep him warm enough in -50!

Garden Record Notes

It would seem that between my notebook, my maps and my blog journals, I have once again lost complete track of my garden. No time to figure it out now though. Still things to lift and plant. Was a busy day in my garden despite the cool weather and wind today. I planted the Knautia 'Mars Midget' in the Bird Sanctuary at the start of the rock edge behind the chiminea. Planted another patch of German Purple Iris beside the first that went in that same garden next to the new 'Henry Hudson' Rose. Planted the last patch of German Purple Iris left to go in at the Saxifraga 'Purple Robe' in the Sun Gardens. Put four of the Geranium cuttings into pots to root. Lifted 'Kari Fruit Salad', 'Babylon Purple', 'Baron Katie' (all dahlia), the yellow Calla 'Flame' and several of the Calla 'Crystal Blush'. I would have got them all but it appears I have lost track of a couple for the moment. Time to read my notebook. Planted my new Explorer Shrub Rose 'J.P. Connell' which is a yellow climber from Judy, in the Bird Sanctuary top level towards the house from the yellow/purple Columbine. It needs something to climb. I need to remember that.

Cerastium in the Sun

If I recall it was Linda who told me that I should move my Cerastium that was here when moved in, into the sun. Wow! Was she right or what? I can't believe that I saved a little piece back in its' original shady spot just in case it didn't survive the move. I'd say it more than survived. I guess I'll move that little saved back piece out into the sun in the Spring.

Woodpeckers Return

Not sure where they go for the Summer but they are back in droves for the winter. So many of them, the birds are sharing the suet and one little guy had to wait in the hanging bird bath for a turn to eat!

I have been waiting for this all day...

My back is sore, my legs are sore, it was cool and windy today and even colder tonight. The best part about the photograph above is what you can't see. It smells like grapefruit and the mirror is all steamy. Hot bubble bath... here I come!

At it until dusk...

Helped Judy with roses today and when I dug her yellow climbing rose to move it, it was two separate roots. I have a yellow climbing rose now. I wrote down the name but then left it on her table. When I got home, I stayed outside until dusk when Jake came along to scream at me in an attempt to remind me it was getting dark. It was another beautiful day. Forecast is for rain on Sunday.

Aster Blooming

The Aster is blooming at Judy's today. They are really pretty. I have to get the divisions she gave me into the ground tomorrow. I also got some Bouncing Bet she was going to compost for the new front garden that will need to go in tomorrow as well. There were Clematis blooming in her sideyard, Sweet Pea on the back fence and Geranium everywhere! She has a lot more blooming that I have out here. More about that on intwogardens.com later tonight.

Everything Darkens in Fall

The Dropmore and Catmint are still blooming. Along with Sweet Pea in the front, Hope for Humanity Rose and Viola, of course. I have noticed from these that everything seems to get darker and deeper in colour in the Fall. Must be the cold. I managed to get a lot done yesterday... planted 'Dragon's Blood' sedum inside the little hole in the cement block with the 'Kabitan' Hosta in it, planted half of the German Purple Iris from Judy in the front towards the house from the 'Henry Hudson' Rose, separated the Geranium cuttings and hope to get them in soil tonight. I also lifted the 'Gerrie Hoek' Dahlia which has probably tripled in number from what I planted originally. Then general clean up like moving branches to the firepit and other maintenance things that are not very exciting. Today was a different story because I had to go into town and give Judy a hand with errands. It is supposed to get warmer again though and be +20 by Thursday so it looks like I might be able to get another weekend to garden this Fall. Good thing too because just over half of what I have to lift is still in the ground or pots!

Nerine Opening

My Nerine Bowdenii is opening and there are two!

Happy Birthday, Sean!

Hope you have a good one :)

Sunday, Fun Day

Today was an awesome day. The weather was beautiful as we seem to be getting our long awaited Summer this Fall. Better than +30 today but I wasn't keeping track so I don't know how much better. We went into the city for my Dad's Birthday Bash. A good time was had by all and I got great photos of smiling faces. Then we popped over to Gordon's and took photo's of Herb for him. Sean was there so we visited for a bit before heading home. I did manage to get the Henry Hudson Rose cutting in the ground, watered and mulched so now it is just cross my fingers until Spring on that one. Still drying Dahlia, Calla, Begonia and Ranunculus. Still more to dig. If we have many more days like this, it will be no problem. It has been absolutely perfect gardening weather for more than a week now. I am lovin' it!

Fall Work Begins

Well, I finally got started in my garden today with the Fall work. I got about half of the dahlia in pots lifted as well as the 'Raeann's Torch', 'Hot Lips', 'Ferncliff Fuego' and all of the gladiolus in the front garden and bird sanctuary. I planted the Lamb's Ears in Benedict's upper level where the Coleus 'Coco Loco' was pulled out. I also pulled out the Diascia that was with the Japanese Painted Fern and covered both Benedict's upper level and the Painted Fern with leaves. I started covering the lower level boardwalk garden with leaves as well and when it gets a little colder, I will put mulch bags on the Painted Fern and on the Boardwalk lower level Coral Bells.Tomorrow we have a brunch in town for my Dad's birthday which is the same as Sean's birthday so it will be a dual celebration. Sean is working all weekend so it will be our only chance to get together with him.

Heliopsis helianthoides 'Loraine Sunshine'

Heliopsis helianthoides 'Loraine Sunshine', 30" X 30", full sun, Z2

In Judy's sideyard. From Leona.

Pushing the Deadline

See, this is exactly what happens to me. I give myself a Wednesday deadline and by Tuesday at bedtime, I have not even started and I have to go into the City tomorrow. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Guess I'll have to push that self imposed deadline back. Watch, I will be digging in snow again, trying to save something I forgot because it all came down to a rush!

Garden Schedule Reminder

By Wednesday, all my lift in Fall tubers and bulbs need to be lifted. Not that I need a reminder but at this time of year, I tend to try hard to deny Winter is coming and have been caught digging in the snow in a previous Fall or two. This is to keep reminding me that there is a deadline that is not mine to set. I need to dig potatoes as well. Today was beautiful. +26, sunny and hard to imagine snow.

Survivor Nicaragua

Everyone knows that I am a huge Survivor fan. I have seen every single second of the show as it first aired and I have purchased every season that they have put up for sale and watched them over and over. There has been a season or two that have almost made me stop watching. Mostly because they were boring. For example, I had to look up who Danni Boat-something-or-other was the other week and she won a season apparently! Guess that one sucked.

Over the seasons, I have been ticked off. Like when Tom won. Other things have gone my way. Like when Sandra won. Twice!! Go Sandra. Always, it has been entertaining.

But there have been things that have been bugging me and more so than ever with Survivor Nicaragua. Here they are so I can get them off my chest, so to speak.

1. Why are they feeding them already??!? Gone are the days when they had to actually survive. Remember Australia? Borneo? More importantly, I think the fact that they get so much food has changed the psychological dynamics of the game. When it started, people could hate each other but they were still forced to bond because they needed each other to stay alive. Build shelter lasts awhile but getting food was an everyday thing. They had to work together whether they hated each other or not. It was a more interesting dynamic in my opinion.

2. I hate immunity idols. I don't think the drama around the clues to its' whereabouts make the show any more interesting and I don't think there should be an escape from being voted out if the tribe has spoken. I have learned to live with them though. Not my choice and I still like the show. What I hate more is a "Medallion of Power". Even the name sounds stupid. They really need to get rid of the thing. It is putting me in danger of not liking the show and I can't even imagine that.

3. Stop with the dividing the tribes into some sort of 'subgroup' of what it is supposed to be; a group of Americans. Mixing it up was what made it interesting. Segregating them is making it way less interesting.

4. What is this double challenge crap? Don't like that at all.

5. Why are they feeding them already? Seriously, why?

So all these litte irritants had me browsing the web to see if any other hard core fans were feeling the same way. Apparently not. Just me. Except for a couple of posts about not liking the double challenges, most seem to be enjoying this season. So maybe it is just that I hate NaOnka so much, and Marty, and Jimmy T, and Jud, and Chase, and...and....and... maybe I will recover next season. I really wish they would go back to the original format.

The upside of the websearch was that I found Jeff Probst's Suvivor blog and it was an interesting read.