Folks, we'd like to invite you all to join us Mid Atlantic folks in wishing Critter well with her surgery on Friday. Pink flowers are welcomed!

http://cubits.org/MidAtlanticM...

thanks Stormy.

You're welcome Terese.

back to those giant Sensation Cosmos.... The one in Wisc never did bloom for me,
and i just got back home to Illinois today, and the giant one i had here never bloomed either.
I had staked it to a trellis and saw it today it was brown and had blown over.

I did find a lot of things still blooming though....

Neal -- i believe somewhere we were discussing the Hybrid Mesa Purple Salvia
mine is blooming and it is just gorgeous...


that is Bonfire behind it.

Folks I'm just stopping back to thank everyone for accepting our invitation and posting such beautiful photos and wishes on Critter's thread. It really meant so much to her and to those of us who love her!! You all are the absolute best!

Terese, That Salvia is gorgeous! I need to do better with Salvias. I planted a bunch last year and none of them overwintered or reseeded.

stormy -- thanks for posting that link. Jill is a very special lady.

She surely is Terese!

Terese, I LOVE that Mesa Purple Salvia! I've never seen that one before. Is it winter hardy?

No -- I think in my notes it says zone9-11
I got them from Danita. I'm hoping to get some seeds, but we shall see.

It must have been a very late bloomer for me.... though i was gone most of the season -- when i checked about 2 months ago, 3rd week of Aug, they were not blooming -- just got home yesterday and they are blooming their heads off.... just beautifully!!

This is what Danita had to say about it....

Your purple Salvia is from seeds of the Salvia hybrid 'Mesa Purple.' My guess is that 'Mesa Purple' is some sort of hybrid between greggii, micropyhlla and lycioides. I'm happy to know that the seedlings seem to be favoring their mama.

Hey Terese! I had one of these cuties show up late in the summer too! I've been bad about maintaining stuff in the side bed, but it managed to survive without me.

For some reason my notes say z8 on that one. Not sure why, it's not listed here:
http://www.riverbendnursery.co...

But I'll hope anyway... some years I can get by with Z8 stuff

Kelly - I often find hardiness a zone off.... but 8 or 9, it's not hardy for me.
Some Agastaches will be hardy for me where it says it wasn't. so YAY for me.

I was just out gathering seeds... now i have to sort thru them all. Most of the Agastaches are unidentifiable now, so they are going into a "Mix" for anyone that wants them.

Cut 1/2 of the siberian iris foliage yesterday. I will wait until Sat. to work on the other side of the bed when the weather is supposed to be better.

I am cutting lilies and Salvias etc.
Any plant thar heavily reseeds goes out.

John cut the pink peonies foliage in front of the house. Only one side next to the porch got powdery mildo. On the south it is alos blocked by a large rhododendron so I guess not enough air circulation.

It's bone dry here and everything is turning brown and crispy. I really hate to see all that stress among the plants going into winter, and the fall leaf colors aren't vibrant- makes coming winter seem all the more bleak.

So, I've been painting the interior of the house. At least I'll have vibrantly colored walls to look at now, LOL.

We are in the midst of the first big rain of the season. Getting much needed moisture, but I dallied more than I should and did not get as much of the remaining potted plants into the ground. Hoping for a few days of sunshine next week to dry up the ground a little to finish planting for the season.

Neal - I have mostly all white walls. A little interior color does sound nice.

Wish I could send you all some of our rain, but at least it is warm today.

Neal, did you get the lupine seeds planted?

Kathleen, I sure haven't- still waiting for rain. It's so dry I don't think they would have germinated in the dust like soil. It did rain a little bit a couple of nights ago, but was warm and windy yesterday and any moisture we got looks to have quickly evaporated. I believe I'll direct sow them in late winter or early spring- seems that's about the only time moisture is reliable around here these days.

Dianne, the color on the walls has made the most wonderful change in the whole feel of the space- so much more welcoming. Before, I found I never really liked spending time in the living room, but I've noticed the whole household is spending more time in there lately. I've ended up using colors I've been drawn to in the garden, like fuchsia, carrot orange, and lately a deep, rich red. The last couple of walls will be amethyst purple. The red has been a real pain, it has taken at least 3 coats for good coverage- I'll be so happy to be finished with this phase!

this morning i pretty much finished up my fall clean up.

probably still have some seeds to grab, but i still have a lot of stuff blooming, surprisingly.

Took me 3 or 4 days of works to pull all the 5-6' weeds that grew this summer -- but i'm pretty much ready for Spring... though i believe I still have a bit of Yarrow to pull. Still thinking about whacking the Chocolate Mint back A LOT. holy cow is that stuff getting out of control... and i do believe it would keep other plants from growing -- I did notice i did not have a lot of weeds in that bed....