The entire rear field is full of it too, along with native bergamot which should start blooming soon. Totally different look from one side of the fence to the other.

Love the golden rod, though.

Looks like an Indiana jungle.

Karen

chelle said:The entire rear field is full of it too, along with native bergamot which should start blooming soon. Totally different look from one side of the fence to the other.

Tree leaves still pretty green.

Our trees are just starting.The ashes are going yellow at the tops. No really great color yet.

Chelle - love the golden rods. I was able to finally get "one" plant to bloom this year. What does a native Bergamot in your area look like? Can you take a photo of the whole plant when it blooms? I love the smell of bergamot and like the tea bags with a touch of bergamot in it.

Awhile back, there were some posts on crape myrtles and how big they can get. There were several in my front yard when we bought the house 24 years ago, and we have trimmed just sporadically. They can get HUGE. Most people really hack them way back, and since only the new spurs grow that year, they tend to keep them small that way. I prefer that they be left to grow more naturally. I will have to trim some of the larger limbs soon. And since this is a thread on observing changes in the garden from year to year, here are some photos of the last three year as I embarked on my "Lawn no more" project.
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Late July 2009, August 2010, August 2011

Lovely, Dianne. Good job replacing the lawn. I gardened in Redding for 17 years and grew many of the things I see in your pictures. Thanks for posting.

Great front lawn.

Lovely yard, Dianne!

Here's a couple of pics I took last year of the native bergamot.





This photo has some leaves in it, but I didn't take one of the stalk; there's not really much more to it than just a dried out-looking stick.


This one decided to grow in the tended garden beds, and of course I let it!

Sometimes plants have good ideas. The goldenrod is overdoing it.

My camera battery is charging. It seems that I used it all up out in the back field.

Missed the bergamot this year; all that's left are the seed heads. Took some, (hopefully), neat shots of fall colors while I was out there. I'm impatient to look at them. Come on battery charger!

thanks, all. It was a fun project, and I am so glad that the lawn is gone. Using about 40% less water now, and didn't have to buy vegetables for the last three months.

on not having to buy veggies! Growing your own sure does help with the yearly outlay for good healthy food. Here, we even have cucumbers and melons growing in with the roses!

Here is the present *look* the back meadow is wearing.



It looks rather bland until....
......you get a little bit closer.






Fall colors are on the way....

That is so beautiful!! I do love all the goldenrod ... and then when you explore further you find the other things there. What fun!

We have woods behind our house and I used to do some exploring there. Then the neighbors put up a fence to contain their dog and I can't get back there anymore.

Luckily, some of it is coming forward and encroaching into my yard! Orange Jewelweed, white swamp milkweed, Indian Pink, and a few other things. Unfortunately, poison ivy too, but we won't count that.

Yep, we have a bunch of poison ivy too. Some years it's hard to keep up with the bird given seedlings in the garden beds. I use two sticks pinched together like chopsticks for their removal! I'm not leery of many things, but I give that particular plant special, and very careful ministrations!

I want to grow the white swamp milkweed here too - we have the pink already, but not the white. It's so pretty!

Yes, that's one thing I handle with extreme caution too. I've had poison ivy rash about 5 times this year. NO fun at all.

I'll save you some of the white milkweed seed, Chelle.

Thank you so much!

I already gathered some of the c. spicata seeds for you, just wanted to make sure I had some; you just never know....
.....sometimes our Fall will be nothing but solid back-to-back rains.

I think I'm giving up on Moonflowers. I've grown them for at least the last five years, and in all of that time I've probably seen 10 opened blooms. They always wait 'til mere days before frost to do anything!

Do you talk to your plants? Or maybe I should say, do you threaten them? I did today. As I was walking away I muttered, "fine then,......I'm not covering you up this year. Open or not, I no longer care."