Autumn Garden

My big, ongoing project for this year has been my patio garden. We live on the second floor of a two story building, just our apartment up here, and five single car garages below us. Part of our place includes a 12' x 12' patio, and this Spring I decided to start my own patio container garden up here.

In the spring I grew a few edible veggies, mostly leaf lettuces and also some heirloom carrots. Everything else has been flowers. I chose my plants to draw in native bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. I also have a bird feeding station out there that is frequented by the neighborhood Goldfinches, Scrub Jays, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, Oak Titmouse, and the occasional California Towhee.

Now that Autumn is upon us, I know my garden will start to fade a bit. I have made sure to include plants that will be beautiful year round, but the splendor of Summer's blooms will fall prey to the wind and rain that will start soon enough. I'm OK with that. I love the seasons, and all that they bring. I enjoy watching the changes that happen, I find beauty in the dried blooms, the seed heads, and the fading leaves. I also look forward to the renewed growth that will follow next Spring.

For now, here's my tribute to my Autumn Garden. I created it with the Blustery Day Collection from Aimee Harrison. It's a beautiful kit full of natural elements that fit perfectly along side my garden!

 

Things I Grow

When my mom moved in to our place, she started a plant collection on our patio. She has always had a green thumb, and having all of the plants out there made me so happy. When she moved to her new place, she took a lot of the plants with her, and left some with me. I was a bit worried. In the past, my thumbs have not proven to be very green.

Apparently, my thumbs are getting a bit more green these days. Here's a bit of what's growing on my patio at the moment.

 African Cape Daisy. I pruned this plant back to just stumps a couple of months ago. The leaves are growing back beautifully, and just this one flower popped up in all of the new growth.

 Coleus.

 This flower and the one below it are on the same plant, and unknown succulent. The hummingbirds love it!

 Yellow and orange chrysanthemum

 Alaska Nasturtium. One of the most beautiful blooms I've ever seen on a nasturtium.

 My big red geranium that was gifted to me by my friend and previous neighbor Kristi. It's full of flowers this Fall!

 I have a squirrel who hunts my succulents by my front door and eats them. She dug this one up and ate the roots, then started on the leaves! I replanted it just to see what it would do, then relocated it to the patio. The squirrel seems to stay off of the patio, probably because of the cats.

 Another mystery succulent that is currently in bloom. These flowers smell so sweet! The hummingbirds also love this one.

 I don't know the name of this plant either. It's another one that I recently cut back because it was getting too big! When it was all huge and crazy I decided to name her Tina, in honor of Tina Turner and her crazy hair!

 Last but not least. These little things appeared in the same planter as the African Cape Daisy. At first they were masses of these teeeeeeeny tiny little "balls". I figured it was some kind of fungus ( I may have been over watering the plant) and dug up as much of them as I could. I thought that was all they were going to do. That was about two months ago. Today, I went out and saw these sprouting. Turns out, they are Yellow Houseplant Mushrooms. Not safe to eat, but as long as you leave them alone they are neat to watch grow! I'm looking forward to checking them out tomorrow!

I guess it's official. I have a green thumb now. I really enjoy tending to these plants and watching them grow on my patio. There's also several frogs living out there...but I'll save that for another time.

Have a safe weekend!

Blessings.
Peace.
Joy