Well, saw that there was a cold front drifting up on the mountains this morning, and there was an extremely thin scum of frost on the windshield. I'm guessing that Summer's winding down in a hurry, took it's sweet time to get here though. Roses are happier that it's cooler and I've gotten some impressive growth out of some. Too bad it's all going to die soon.

Speaking of impressive growth, Oranges and Lemons has put on about 18" in the past month.


It's so hard to not deadhead, but have to refrain from doing so.


Mardi Gras, though, my old stand by, is just going and going. Some perfect buds here.


I have at least 5 Sterling Silvers all blooming. I only took pics of the best ones I could find.


Summer Sunshine plugged along so diligently. I'm so surprised this poor thing has survived, and bloomed!


Shockwave turned green this late in the year. Weird.


Only now is Ch-Ching! starting to blossom. Too little, too late. Oh well, it'll be buried along with everyone else.


Barbara Streisand has never been generous with blooms. But got this beautiful one here.


Imagine my surprise when I found buried in some folliage a Shocking Blue?


And Kordes Brilliance is giving me another bloom for my camera.


I'm not too impressed with Sir John Betjeman. It's not exactly what I expected. Oh well, maybe next year it'll grow a little bigger?


Singin' the Blues.. ahhh.. I love it. :)


And, of course, Rhapsody in Blue is blooming again.


Escapade is blooming again. I think it's growing on me. Smells VERY sweet.


Now, these don't have any blooms, but you can see just how tall Medallion has gotten this year. I'm guessing about 4'6.


And Blue Girl is over 5' tall. Please ignore the buckets in the background.. moving rocks!


I planted these pink mums last year, and then ringed them with the red/yellow ones this year. Only problem is I don't remember buying pink mums. Pink mums are not my thing. ? Do they change color?


And the Bluebeards are still blooming like crazy. I love these guys, as do the bees.


And speaking of bees, this one is in love with one of my Blanketflowers.


And you can definitely tell it's getting cooler.. one of my Staghorn sumacs is starting to change colors.


And one of my Purple Autumn Ash trees is starting to change, too.

Two more, from my phone this morning.

Scentsational has 2 new buds. I didn't even see this one opening up a few days ago, and there's already a spent bloom on it.


And I do like Circus. I wasn't sure if I was going to.

Someone in the Ella's Garden cubit had pink mums that changed to yellow while growing in a pot. I guess they can change. I wonder if it could be temperature or pH dependent? Do you think the growers add dye to increase sales? My mums simply disappear.

Your roses look so healthy. I have been trying to companion plant instead of mulching, but I am fighting weeds. (I am also playing the is it a weed/is it a plant game.)

Yes, the weeding problem is what has caused me to give up on companion planting. I either let weeds grow out of control thinking they are something I planted or yank out flowers. Hopeless!

I have a couple of spots that I like. Also, I have some groundcover roses.

I start lots of things from seed. I have learned to let the plant get bigger before putting it in the garden. I am also getting better about labeling. Direct sowing doesn't work well for me because of the weed/plant issue. As I get accustomed to the plants, it is less of an issue. This is my first garden, so I am new to this game.

As far as labelling, I just put in over 100 labels on my roses today. I labeled those that I knew of and the ones that I was able to get down deep enough to find the tag. Or, if I'd taken a picture earlier and put it on one of my parades, I was able to get it that way. I used the "T" labels this year for $$ considerations.. I want to get these really pretty nice copper ones, but at like $30 for way too few, it would cost an arm and a leg. Plus I'm grateful that I did put a few posts here that explained who was where.. there was like 2-3 roses I couldn't remember what they were at all, but I found based on what I'd written a few months ago I knew what was where. There's still one extremely "mystery" rose in the front that I have NO idea what it is.. I believe that it's a rose that I bought locally and not one that I got shipped (all of those are labelled I think.. there's 2-5 roses from RU that I couldn't find the tag because I buried it too deeply and I'm not going to be digging that deep this late in the season). I'm thinking it may be Paradise Found, but it's not dark like Paradise and it's supposed to be a kissing cousin.

Andi - You & me both, sister! I've been working in my yard now for 4 years and still can't get it just right!!! I don't start anything from seed other than birdfood accidentally.. I got a whole bunch of seeds last year & started them inside. I had a great idea on starting seeds.. I got the starter pots & the seed potting soil, planted the seeds (petunias have the most pathetically small seeds!!!), and then put the pots inside of a 10gal aquarium. Controllable light, controllable water, controllable everything.

Everything molded because just as I was going to put everything out, we got a late snow, so they were stuck in the aquarium for an extra 2 weeks. Oops. Bleh.

Don't have the patience for that again. LOL!!!

Read a bit about wintersowing. I think you will like it because it is so much easier than starting things inside. Last year was my first year, but I am trying it again.