What's happening in your early fall garden?

The plumbago and I think a salvia.

Thanks for the correction DP! : - )
I just had to share the good times and the photos. You got to give me credit, at least this time I took some people photos! At the RU I totally focused on the plants.
Another photo of the plant I think might be a salvia. I'm working my way around that median planter still.
I am very impressed with your planting philosophy DP, and couldn't resist showing everyone what you are up to!
BTW, DH and DP said that a hummer came to visit the cannas, but I missed it! Star!

Red canna with the yellow cannas in the background on the right.

That's a Cleopatra SW.

DP and I like the variegated leaves.

I knew you'd know and my memory is awful, which is why I take so many photos. : - )
I really like what you did with this flowering wandering jew.

Yeah.....and the SNAILS appreciate that I planted it too!!!

Overview of the last corner of the triangle median planter. I am truly impressed with the variety of fruit, veggies, and flowers. I really did spend a lot of time on this planter because it's just beautiful. I love the way DP mixes things up. That's gardening, not landscaping! : - )

DP, only the Creator is perfect, and the snails are part of the great circle. They got to eat too.
Sometimes I think the flaws make the photo even more beautiful, maybe because it's real?
Low growing ground cover with small white flowers.

Lots of these guys around! : - )

Different view of same b.fly.

BTW, this is a different median planter. At least I think it is?

Dang, he sure is cute!

Parrots beak being used as a groundcover!

I tried to get a view of the two planters in this photo, and I caught a bit of DP too. Look at all those cannas!

Praetoria canna?

View of second median planter looking towards the first one.

This is the third median planter. I believe it was recently redone.
Directly behind it is a wall. That wall used to have something growing there, but DP ripped it out (hedges?), and he has a new planting plan for that area. I ain't stealing your thunder DP. You can tell everyone what you plan to do there. : - )
I'll come back and take photos when you are done. I can't wait to see it!

DP, I know you told me what these flowers are, and I forgot. : - (
They certainly are the show offs in this flower bed. ; - )

My DH correctly identified this as some type of melon. Don't remember which one. DP is wearing the shorts. And they say guys don't talk! LOL!

Flower, hairy stems, and a baby melon.

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? I love it's seed pods!

The last bed you showed is actually the fourth. I know, they kinda run together. The white flower you liked so much in the last one is Cosmos. I have one more empty island that I plan to use as a DG bed. I'm only gonna plant things (plants, seeds, rhizomes etc) that I get from DG. I already have a couple of things, some Irises from BookerC1 (thanks Angie) and some Gladiolus from someone I can't recall at the moment. I'll transfer some of those into that bed. I'm sure I'll get something at tomorrows RU. I've been promised some Lemon Verbena from KaperC. Once it's planted I'll post photos.

SW, the blank wall beyond the STOP sign you were talking about is where I plan to start my Day Lily bed. It's about 3 1/2 feet wide by 100 feet long. It'll be dazzling if I can fill it!!!

Sorry I've been a thread hog this morning. I really wanted to share the great things DP is accomplishing at his job. So now you know what DP does. He's a gardener! : - )
We truly had a great time visiting with DP, but we had to let him get back to work. He is so excited about the RU.
I saved this photo for last. I love the colorful exuberance of the Bird of Paradise blooms.
Thanks for your taking the time to give us a tour, DP. It was great to see you again. : - )
I expect photos from the RU.
Oh, and DP took photos of me wearing my rig that keeps the camera from swinging forward when I bend over to pull a weed. Make him show you. LOL!
We also compared cameras. I really like his, but it is heavier than mine. Sigh . . .
Was a great day, and thank all of you for letting me share it with you!
WIB,
SW

Told you I wasn't going to steal your thunder, DP. I know that you'd planned to plant day lilies there and they will be stunning to view when they are all planted. : - )
Remember that now you have a before photo of that bed in front of the wall. : - )
Thanks for the clarification on the beds, DP, I didn't document it with photos like I should have. I also skipped a bunch, 'cause I took sooo many!
Took longer to post the photos than it did for our visit. Sigh.
Thanks for the name of the Cosmos. You'd think I'd remember that one.
If by chance the two day lilies I had survived DH's weed whacking, I'll donate them to you so they will quit being abused! LOL!
You all have any spare day lilies, I know where they will get a good home! LOL! Can't wait to see it when it is done. : - )
You all have a great time tomorrow, at the RU! I'll be thinking of you, and missing you!
WIB,
SW

I thoroughly enjoyed your visit Julie. One more blank to fill in, that melon is a Sugar Baby watermelon. I don't know for sure if it'll produce a mature melon or not this late in the year, but it started in the Spring out in the community garden. It was neglected as it had to be hand watered and I don't have time to do that on a consistent basis. It was only a foot long after two and a half months so I transplanted it to the front island planter that is irrigated. The vine runner immediately shriveled and died. Within a month there was a new vine growing. As you can see it has a couple of babies on it now. What a surprise.

This is a shot of Julie modeling her waist strap that keeps her camera from bumping into things when she's gardening.

This message was edited Sep 25, 2009 1:32 PM

Here's another showing how effective it is.

Oops! Guess I should have rotated that one. Here's one more with that bright smile to go along with it!

You didn't show the one with me bending over! It's okay. The thing is, it's easy to keep the camera from banging up against something and that strap around my waist is adjustable, which is good 'cause DH is trying to fatten me up.
I am now drooling over those pecan rolls I don't get to eat!
Bummer! : - )
WIB!
SW

I'll make sure I have a few left when you two come by for your Canna etc.

I take it back since we cross posted. It really is useful.
Last time I was sideways like that was when my Youngest Brother and I were goofing around on the Space Shuttle Training Simulator. Dad took the photo of us pretending to be in zero gee. We had so much fun that day!
Gosh, what a great memory!
Thanks for the sideways photo, DP, it was a good memory! Am smiling bright smiles just thinking about it. : - )
WIB!
SW

Yes, and that hair brings back memories, too, SW! LOL
Enjoyed your photos.

Did anyone identify the edible ornamental for Jules? That is Natal Plum, Carissa macrocarpa. They used to grow 'em at short hedges where I used to work but I never did try one for eating.

~'spin!~

Cool, we get to see Jules! Nice camera strap!
Didn't snag me a cutting of that fuchsia, did you? Ha, ha! It is not one I have in my collection. Yet!
The purple flower in post 7103452 is an Osteospermum. One of the many daisy type flowers called African Daisies, but from totally different families. Up here, they also call it the "Freeway Daisy," because you usually find one of three plants along the freeway, this flower in purple or white, iceplant in lots of colors, and Oliander in lots of colors, boring!!!! There are some cool new Osteospermum hybrids that even have each petal rolled and flared in a way you just have to see. Hard to describe. But it is cool because the underside of each petal on these flowers is always a shade of purple even if the top is white or almost white. These are a hardy perennial that grows quickly from cuttings SW!
And I see that DP identified the white Cosmos.
Here are three shots from my garden.
First up, California Blueberries. Not a variety, just grown here ;-)
This is my baby!! A big 10 year old bush. I love blueberries.

My Romano beans are still blooming and I am still picking them! I love a big pot of the beans with a chunk of smoked ham hock. You have to cook them longer than regular string beans. Especially if you let them fatten up so that the beans inside are like peas. If they get reallly fat, I shell them and throw the green beans in and then they are like butter when they are done. The best is when all three stages get into the stew!

And this is my big old fig, teasing me with the promise of figs later this fall. There are always a few here and there, but it is in the fall that allot of them all ripen at once.

If anyone would like to try growing some Romanos next year, I've been growing this strain for 20 years and I always have more dried beans in the end than I can ever use. So I soak 'em and cook 'em up just like other varieties of dried beans. Anyway, I'd be happy to send you some!
Hey Jules, are you going to ad your photo to the membership photo album here?
If you do, I will, ha, ha!

PC, I think I might like to try some of those beans.
Maybe we should have a mini-mini-RU!

Sure! As soon as it gets a bit colder and the days a bit shorter and I can at least try to relax. They say we don't have seasons out here, but don't we look forward to a bit of rest every winter just like places where it snows!?
I grow allot of my own seed and always have plenty to share. Beans, leeks, onions, carrots, parsnips, broccoli, celery, radishes, beets, swiss chard.... I must be forgetting something here. Oh yeah, the herbs!
Yes, I know celery, onions, and carrots are cheap. But why drive all the way into town when I only need a bit of this and a chunk of that? So I grow my own potatoes too! Tomatoes, squash, garlic, chives, parsley, basil, bell peppers.
Hmm, I'm getting hungry now....

I just have a small veggie bed and tomatoes in pots. This is the veggie garden's first year after I had landscapers in last summer to finally turn my yard into the garden it's been trying to become for the past 20 years. Amazing how much difference a proper watering system can make...oh, and I suspect my being retired now has helped, too...LOL!

Last spring I decided to let my lettuce go to seed so I could save it, and the weedy darn things have spent all summer getting ripe---finally just about ready to harvest them. They've taken up a lot of space and made the bed look like the dickens.
But I've had lovely lettuce-leaf basil and Italian parsley, some bush beans and good tomatoes. I'm still experimenting with 'maters to see which ones will do well in containers. I don't have room to move them to a new spot in the garden every couple of years!