A video of the deer fight from yesterday:
Monthly Archives: October 2012
We are without power, have a few trees down and a wet basement after Hurricane Sandy passed through last night into this morning.
But we are safe and the damage is very limited. We were lucky unlike so many others. We have read a lot about the destruction via Twitter and have seen a few pics, but haven’t truly seen all that went down. Our hearts go out to all that were so deeply affected by Sandy’s wrath.
Just now, we were witness to two bucks brawling right in our backyard. Maybe they needed to get out some energy after the storm:
We actually thought that they were fighting to the death and started to approach them only to scream like mad when they both ran right at us in a frothy frenzy.
Hopefully will be back up and running soon.
John
If all of the weather reports are to be believed, we are about to get pounded by Hurricane Sandy. We are expected to get DAYS of rain and gale force winds here in New Jersey, from Sunday through Wednesday of next week.
Apparently, like 98 storms are converging at once and we are looking at a potential “Storm of the Century”. This cute little disaster even has a cute little name – “Frankenstorm”. Yee haw, how f’n fun.
When all is said and done, I’m expecting all of my ornamental grasses to be flattened.
And that sucks.
Yes, the safety of my family and all those affected by this storm is top of mind, but c’mon, no grasses still standing into winter? That a national g-damn tragedy.
So in honor of the hard working, humble and utterly dynamic ornamental grasses, I give you a slide show of their performance this year. I’m tearing up as I type this and I urge you to grab a box of Kleenex before you proceed.
The pics are in reverse chronological order from current day back to earlier in the fall and summer.
MISCANTHUS ‘GRACILLIMUS’
MISCANTHUS ‘PURPURASCENS’
MISCANTHUS ‘MORNING LIGHT’
PANICUM ‘ROTSTRAHLBUSCH’
It’s OK to cry.
We’ll make it through OK.
The spring will be here soon.
John
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| Clethra (Summersweet) ‘Ruby Spice’ |
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| Clethra (Summersweet) ‘Ruby Spice’ |
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| Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’ |
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| Salix (Dappled Willow) ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ |
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| Physocarpus (Ninebark) ‘Diablo’ |
Back in June, I pinched back one of my Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ as a pruning experiment. You can read the original post here.
I then updated the results in early September which you can also read here.
I’m here today to state that I will, without a doubt, be pinching back all of my Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ in June next year. The ultimate size of the plant that was cut back didn’t differ much from the unpruned plants, but the blooms on the pruned plant have persisted longer into fall and that is enough to convince me it is worth it.
Here is a bloom on the pruned Sedum (as of today):
And a bloom on one of the unpruned plants (as of today):
The difference may be subtle, but I’ll take any extended bloom color whenever I can get it.
Maybe I’ll do a double pinch back next year and analyze the results.
Is it June yet?
John
We spent a good part of the weekend in Warwick, NY with my parents and we couldn’t have asked for better autumn weather and foliage.
Before I show you some photos, a deep thank-you to all those who followed, commented or took a peak at my son’s blog. He was thrilled to see all the activity. You truly made a 10 year old’s weekend.
Here are the pics. Enjoy.
A few quick items for today:
- My ten year old son and his friend started a sports and autograph blog (like father like son) and I will be forever indebted to you all if you could give it a quick visit (they follow their traffic very closely), become a follower or even leave a comment. You can access it here.
- On Friday, I was fortunate enough to be on Fine Gardening’s “Photo of the Day” blog as their featured garden of the day. If you want to take a look, you can check it out here. Fortunately, I’m still fooling everyone into believing my garden look great. The beauty of photography.
- Every morning, when I leave for work and walk out of my garage, I stare directly into my Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’. It puts a smile on my face throughout the seasons. Here is what I saw recently as the fog was slowly starting to lift in the early morning behind the Miscanthus:
Good times.
Enjoy the weekend.
John
Does this day exist already? I’m not sure.
If not, nobody steal the idea or I will hunt you down and prosecute.
Consider yourself warned.
I actually remembered on the 15th this month. Of course, there isn’t a whole lot blooming right now so I apologize in advance for any disappointment:
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| Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ |
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| Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ |
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| Helenium autumnale (Sneezeweed) |
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| Caryopteris ‘Sunshine Blue’ |
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| Anemone ‘September Charm’ |
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| Hydrangea ‘Little Lime’ |