Well, things sure do seem to happen right on time. This year, as my (gulp) mid-forties comes into focus, I spent a lot of time outside working on our outdoor space. Those of you that have followed along for a few years know that I started some very modest outdoor and pollinator garden projects a few years ago and this year I redoubled my efforts. I am not much of a vegetable gardener- I find this kind of gardening just adds to the daily task list as after you have gardened, now you have to cook something with your gardening bounty. I have been more interested in planting and cultivating perennial pollinator plants that bring bugs, butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds to our garden. My ultimate goal has been to attract a lot of hummingbirds to our outdoor area and this year I definitely succeeded! At times there were enough hummingbirds out back that we felt we needed to run in and out the door and shut it quickly behind us for fear the speedy little scoundrels would accidentally follow us inside! We had at least several families and multiple different species nesting in the trees around our yard and it was really fun to see them buzzing around from dawn until dusk every day. Just this week, I think they have all moved on and I feel like I am missing some tiny little friends out back. The summer's inspiration started off with my acquiring a few really big, colorful, ceramic pots from some clients who had moved to Europe. I placed them outside, built some planter boxes too, and started acquiring plants. |
I planted some wildflower mixes in some of the planters (some coreopsis plants really took off), planted some zinnias, hollyhocks, yarrow, dianthus and more. I planted several orange hummingbird vine plants a couple years ago and they are quite large now and between the neighbor's house and ours we have many large sunflower plants that self seed year after year. We have a patch of Russian sage that is out of control but the bees really like it! I also am experimenting with some ice plants and some other little succulents for ground cover because I do not want to weed! I mean- who does?? Wins were had and losses, too. I planted lupine that isn't doing well, clematis that got eaten by bunnies, morning glory vines that have been too slow so they won't make it, and some of the hollyhocks broke- we can't win them all, right?? |
Coreopsis in one of the large ceramic planters. In addition to my plants, I had two hummingbird feeders up, 3 regular bird feeders, and two bird baths. Now that I write it all out- it really was a lot to manage! But we had a lot of neat wildlife in the yard and we still have a lot of plants that look nice and continue to feed the birds and bees as we go into fall. All in all, it was a fun summer of experimentation. I liked scouting out plants at the Garden Bin and McGuckins, I picked up a chiminea from the Lafayette Flea Market, and felt a lot of gratification from the work I did back there. |
Another shot of a little friend from out back. Ken has a neat birding camera and he got this shot, along with the shot at the top of this newsletter. I am glad that I mostly planted perennials so with some luck they will come back next year. I will definitely continue my project next summer and I already have some notes for things I want to try. What have you been working on lately? I'd love to hear about it and see pics, too. What projects and hobbies have taken up residence in your brain this year? Until next time! Allison and Ken |
