Last night the Bradster and I attended Ray Serebrin's retirement party, as well as everybody else in the county - or so it seemed. The party was held in the barn at the Olympic Musical Festival site just out of Quilcene and it was a great party with good people, food, and drinks, of course. Ray is leaving our precious library in the very capable hands of Meredith Wagner who has been with the library for about 25 years or so. Knowing Mer like I do, I know that she is going to be great as library director.
Ray has
Okay - let's take a look at the photos.
When I add a plant or shrub to my flowerbeds I'm always thinking about how they will look in the fall after all the crazy gorgeous blooming is over. The dahlias in the veggie garden froze to death last week when we had a 30 degree night but the two out front, which are protected by the house, are still going at it. I love this fall colored yellow beauty with pinkish tips pictured above.
As the weeks go by the sedums just get deeper in color and more beautiful. My sedums came from the Lucia homestead and I have shared them around with my gardening friends. Remember: when your sedums get large and want to flop in the middle, prune in June by a third, and they won't be ugly come fall. Scary idea, I know. Thanks to my daughter-in-law, Miss PeggyRae for this tip.
I'm a lover of barberries - you know those prickly shrubs that you see along highway dividers?? There are several varieties and colors to choose from and they are bullet proof and really add something to the garden. And they have little bright red berries for the birds.
I'm not real sure what to do with this smoke bush. My friend, Miss Cassie, suggested it and I think it is lovely but I'm going to have to do some research on getting the best from it. If anyone has ideas, feel free to let me know.
Remember my giant hostas from Jurassic Park?? In the fall they turn this gorgeous color then melt down into the ground for winter. I clean them up and compost the leftovers and spread mulch over where they used to be. In the spring they rear their little heads and start over again. I douse them really well with Sluggo when they start to peek out of their winter bed because the slugs and snails love them.
I tried to get this shot with the hydrangea in the background so you could see how beautiful the blueberry bushes get in the fall before they drop their leaves.
This was a surprise!! I was looking for DC, the cat, yesterday and spotted these. I had a pot of them on my front porch last spring. When they got all yellow and ugly looking I dug a whole in the back of the flowerbed and threw them in because I didn't want to compost them, and then forgot about them. Who knew that they would come back?? Mrs CutiePie says she has some from her father-in-law's garden that she has had since he passed away and they just keep coming back.
What is it, you ask?? Remember that I had that big sunflower in my garden this year that came from God, or the birds?? When I was cleaning up that bed I cut the stalk about two feet down and hung it in the tree. As you can see the birds have been at it. In the past when I used to grow a lot of these big boys, I would hang the heads in the shed and then feed them out all winter.
And here we are at the end of garden season. This is my old workhorse composter which I just keep piling more on. The pile actually goes down about a half foot every week. My double composter is full on one side and I'm working on the other. I give them a turn every time I empty my inside compost bucket and they make beautiful black gold.
Reminder:
Turn your clocks back tonight before you go to bed or you will be early for your seat down at the Valley for the 1:00 Seahawk game tomorrow.
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