Baskets of Flowers

Sharon works part-time at the site, mostly outdoors, keeping the walks and porches swept, the pond clean, cutting out invasive plants in the woods. Whenever she has a spare moment, she pulls out her needle and thread. Curious, I asked her what she was making and she said she would bring it in. Here it is, partially finished.

I was nonplussed by the beauty of her work. This partially finished quilt is all hand stitched. The stitches are tiny and perfect. Her color selection is gorgeous. Look at how perfect the little hexagons are.

Here is a closer shot of one of the sections. This flowers in this basket are from material that I gave her from my mother's stash. I'm sure my mother would have been pleased to see how her material was used.

Miscellany with a frog theme

There was a little red frog in a bucket in the basement of the cabin this week. I think the bucket was catching drips from the water before it entered the water softener. We released the frog into Singing Waters aka The Frog Pond. Why was it red? Because of the iron in the water. There was one happy fella in the Pond that day.

I am working hard to get the garden ready for winter--digging tender bulbs, planting spring bulbs, removing spent foliage, collecting seeds, raking leaves, digging up wild onions and Star of Bethlehem bulbs. Volunteers are needed desperately since we are down to one part-time seasonal gardener (moi). Call the site for details. I have several faithful volunteers that are a Godsend. Could you be one also?

Speaking of frogs, one of the faithful volunteers, Lisa, adopted the herb beds and was working in them this week when she called me over. "Look at the frog that is colored like a toad or is a toad that is shaped like a frog?" She then spotted his big suction-cup toes and it was a large tree frog enjoying the santolina.

Unusual Fall Bloom

Yes, that is a dogwood blooming its little heart out in late October.

Walking into work

It was a beautiful fall morning and I drank in the beauty of the lake, the light, the leaves as I walked into work today. How did I ever spend 30 years working in an office?

Summer's End

Recently I sat at the picnic table at the north entry to the garden to make some garden notes and glanced up to see the grass and snapdragons in Bed 8 framed by the arbor and Tara Vine.






















We have quite a selection of Arisaema or Jack-in-the-Pulpits (or is the plural Jacks-in-the-Pulpit?). The fruits are a cheerful cluster of bright red shiny berries. I collected one seed pod and planted the seeds in the nursery bed behind the Garden Shed to see how easy they are to cultivate. I've read that it will take 3 to 5 years to bloom.

















The Jerusalem artichoke soars above all other plants, but this stately amaranthus is trying to hold its own.























We turned the compost and the bin in the foreground of the picture will be ready to use next spring. The middle bin is heating up nicely and may also be ready for spring. In the large bin at the end, we are accumulating the detritus from fall clean-up and waiting for the massive amount of leaves that will soon be available.