+Oakleaf hydrangea offers beautiful foliage this time of year. +A ginger shows the damage the freeze gave to tender tropicals. +Fred has to escape the wrath of Tom. +Chris harvested some carrots. Just a bit early for them. +The bees play hide and seek, scaring us a few weeks ago into thinking the colony was dead. We had a couple of days of warmer weather and all of a sudden they were all out. Apparently they hide well in their hive. +Alyssum from seeds we sowed last spring. Some made it through the summer, a great surprise for me. +The flowering ‘maple’—aka: Abutilon has weathered the cold and decided to…

The last few weeks I’ve mostly avoided being in the yard or garden. I think I attempted to do a little bit early in the week of Thanksgiving, but for the most part it has been cold and dreary, and too depressing to be outside. Depressing because most items are dormant or have died from the freeze. Well, I hope they didn’t die, at least. Let’s just go with dormant. If there’s anything that is abundant in the garden right now that would be the greens. Greens everywhere. With some radishes, and a carrot Chris attempted to harvest today. The carrot was still a bit early. The crazy thing is…

As the basket of cactus hung from our guest bathroom shower curtain rod, it started blooming. This started late last week, and I made the note that this so-called Christmas cactus was more like a Thanksgiving cactus. I was being smart, joking about it. Little did I know there actually is a Thanksgiving cactus, a separate species from the typically known Christmas cactus….and this is it. I went out to check the tag that is still hanging on the pot and it indeed gives it as Schlumbergera truncata, though they have the common name as Christmas cactus. But my research shows that there is a difference, and they bloom off…

You can see what Zoe thought about harvesting potatoes. Luckily she changed her tune a few potatoes in! Our harvest this year was not nearly what it was last year. I bought slips of ‘Beauregard’ and ‘Purple Passion’ and only the ‘Beauregard’ produced potatoes. It was a big failure for the ‘Purple Passion’, which unfortunately took up probably half the bed. I think my brother was in hog heaven as he assisted Chris in digging up the potatoes. A chance to garden?? Sure! See? Only about half of a five gallon bucket full. Not like last year’s harvest. Oh well. Live and learn—only ‘Beauregard’ from now on. I think Curt,…

Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, is a showstopper in the garden. When it sends its flaming red stalk up to bloom, it’s hard to take your eyes off the plant! Ours is a very recent addition to the garden and has had its share of abuse from our feral cats using the stalks to lean up against, which in turn have left the plant leaning on the ground instead of in an upright position. Nonetheless, the plant continued to live and bloom, though now the blooms are fading into seed pods. Typically this plant is found in moist locations, such as stream edges, ponds, or moist bottomlands. It seemed to do…