Castor Bean: a final look

I've been showing you my castor bean plants a lot in the last few months, with good reason -- they're really amazing this year! Today we'll have one final look at these, as I don't see them growing much more.

I've never had this wall of foliage at deck level before, and I have to say that I really love it!

Finally, pond work

It's been a few months since I noticed the tears in the pond liner, keeping the water level so much lower than normal. I've been putting off doing something about it because I knew it was going to be a terrible task not so much because of the repair, but because of the maintenance needed on the pond itself -- the water quality was terrible this summer.

I jumped into the project yesterday.

So before we start, here's a look at the pond as it was in the afternoon yesterday.

Wednesday Vignette: bamboo and fall

Fall is a great time for my garden, as the tree-shed leaves enhance the shorter bamboos that I grow.

I love the combination of the greens and browns, and I didn't have to do any work to get it!

Looking up, things are?

I've been having trouble coming up with post topics lately. I don't want to repeat myself too much, so showing you the bamboo or the castor beans or the bananas or the vines, well, it just doesn't seem right.

Then I thought: why not show you all of them from a different perspective, one that you might get if you were standing here with me? So today's photos are all taken looking straight up! (Or pretty much so.)

Three Mantises and more

Fall is the time for the large insects in the garden: spiders of course, but in my garden mantises are the star attraction. (Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolina) Yesterday I photographed a few of them, starting with this odd-colored one in the front garden:

I believe this is a male, and its color was strange... sort of a brown mustard?

WWTT - Grass

My friend Loree over at Danger Garden does a lot of walking, driving, traveling. Well, a lot compared to me. During these excursions she keeps a look out for interesting gardens and landscapes. Some are noteworthy because they are cool or beautiful, but others fall into the "what were they thinking?" category.

These Miscanthus planted near intersections near my house fit into that WWTT bucket. Sure Miscanthus is a fairly wide grass, graceful and arching. Not appropriate for this space? Just prune them!

Pachpodium keeps providing

The Pacypodium lamerei just keeps going. Blooming for months, providing shelter for a growing mantis (since moved on), and now, well...

...more of the same. With a little surprise.

Another flashback to more animals

Things have been busy lately, so not only have I had very little time out in the garden (hence nothing much to write about), there's no time to write.

Luckily I have a pretty extensive backlog of old photos -- don't we all? -- that I can pull from as needed. So no baby turtles today, but how about a coyote?

Hyacinth Bean Vine

Late summer is vine time in my garden, and today I want to show you the hyacinth bean vines (Lablab purpureus). There are two plantings of this vine growing in my garden this year, both near the southeast corner of the house.

The first has climbed the deck (as intended) and is now blooming. Love these fragrant flowers!

Flashback: baby turtle

When I posted about the turtles mating in my garden last week, I was asked if I'd ever seen baby turtles in my garden. My response was "no", but I've found photographic evidence that I was mistaken.

To be clear though, back in July 2000 when these photos were taken I did not have a garden, just a regular suburban yard with lawn, trees, and a couple of shrubs. I still saw turtles even back then -- I suppose it was much easier to spot them without all of the pesky plants getting in the way.