Blue aster

I found that a bit of Windex does alot for my pictures. I got to the point where I couldn't focus most of the time. And when I could focus, the pictures were washed out and over-exposed. I was pretty surprised when I looked closely at the lens. Arrggh. After cleaning it, I brought it in to my local camera store and asked if it should have any internal maintanence. Its just a little point-and-shoot (Pentax Optio 5 Mp Waterproof - a great little camera). They said no, but don't use Windex and don't spray the cleaner directly on the lens. I bought their mini lens cleaner package. ANYWAY ... this is a wild lilac-blue New England aster (Aster novae-angliae). They are blooming like crazy along the paths Skippy and I walk on.

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Awesome fall Monarch migration

I had to take a million pictures of the spectacular Monarchs on Wednesday. A field of New England asters in Cambridge MA was just covered with the butterflies. There must have been a hundred! This is the middle of the fall Monarch migration. Check out the website http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/index.html. "A spectacular migration is moving down the Atlantic Coast right now, from Maine to Virginia. On Monday, over 13,000 rested on the Massachusetts Coast. On Wednesday, a clear wave traveled over New York City and delighted those who saw butterflies fill the sky." From the Monarch counts at Cape May Point in NJ, it sounds like this year might be a record migration (see http://home.earthlink.net/%7Erkwalton/mmp02.html).

Fresh Pond

Skippy

Skippy has gained weight and is now 50.5 pounds! Yippee Skippy! But I weighed him at the vet's office yesterday when I took him there for another ear infection - poor Skip. Its his second ear infection. He doesn't like them and shakes his head alot. He got some good medicine for it and is doing better already. We're trying to figure out why he gets these infections. I plan to do less frequent baths, clean his ears differently and have his groomer not do anything to his ears. And are trying to make his stomach feel better (his vet says he has celiac's - he can't eat any grain at all - or beef or pork) with some pet flora to improve his digestive system. He is very happy today. I think he may feel better with the pet flora and ear drops. He played keep away with me when I tried to get him in the car today and he obviously thought it was really fun.

Late September backyard

Our grass has greened-up again with the cooler weather. And Skippy has learned to pee in the bushes most of the time, so we don't have as many brown spots on the lawn. Its a nice place for evening dinners on the patio and for wandering around in the morning and taking pictures.


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Canada geese

The geese seem to be finished with their family care and are gathering into fall flocks. Though you can only see two here, 10-20 more are to the right, hidden by the leaves. They are honking to each other. Often this week I have seen them flying overhead in V-formation. Most of our geese migrate south, so these are their preparations, I suppose.

Milkweed seeds

The seedpods of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) have opened and their silky seed parachutes are escaping. I am hoping to collect and grow some of these in my garden next year. I already have some Joe Pye weed and tansy seeds to grow with them.

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Fall color

These are probably swamp maple (Acer rubrum) leaves starting to show color.

Playing doggie tag

Skippy got “tagged” by the dogs at Dogs-With-Blogs, so I’m supposed to write 5 things that make a good doggie friend. Since I’m not real sure what this means, I made two lists. One list is this: training, attention, exercise, support and good breeding. My other list is this: How he wags his whole body with total glee every time one of us comes home. How he generally stays right next to me (usually within a few feet) and pays very close attention to what I say and do. How strong and fast he is and that he barks and growls to protect the house when he hears a noise. How smart he is - he knows many words and knows what routines to expect. And finally how cute and cuddly he is with his velvet fur, his big nose and his dark black eyes. Woof!

Robin's egg blue

Not really a fall topic, but my dad and I were wondering about the color of robin and catbird eggs. We were reminded of these when looking at the porcelain berries the other day. So here is a photo of mine of catbird eggs (right) and robins eggs from a web source. Also a color palette from Wikipedia. Catbird eggs are greener and darker. The berries in my picture are alot like the robin eggs, though as I remember, the plant also had darker berries the shade of the catbird eggs.

Stop and smell the flowers ...

Skippy likes to lick any rain or sprinkler water from the leaves, flowers or rocks in the garden. He seems to like the flavor of water on different surfaces.

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Honey bees on fall asters

Aster oblongifolius, one of the last flowers to bloom in my garden. My plants have been covered with bumble bees and honey bees. I am wondering where these honey bees are storing their fall honey. They are so intent on gathering their nectar that they pay no attention to my camera.

Porcelain berry

On a recent walk around a local pond we spotted a lovely area with sweet autumn clematis and porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata -try that one three times fast!). Porcelain berry has unusual multi-color berries that look like miniture birds eggs. In reading about it, I found that this vine is also amazingly aggressive. Its one of the more rare wetland invasives around New England. Most common are: multiflora rose, Japanese Honeysuckle, autumn olive and asiatic bittersweet. The sweet autumn clematis is described as a good vine that is not invasive.

Clematis in full bloom

My sweet autumn clematis is in full bloom today. I have noticed that its first day of full bloom is always September 19th. It has been very reliable.

Happy Birthday!

Purple aster

This is a purple aster that has been in my garden for many years now. Yesterday this flower was a bud closed up tight.

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Mail ordered bulbs and ferns!

My bulbs arrived yesterday! A great big brown box. In it: a daffodil collection (The Works - 100 bulbs that I will share with my mom), a few tulips and a fern collection. The ferns were packed in moist shredded newspaper with descriptive tags and planting instructions. All looked very healthy and interesting. One is a 72 inch tall vase shaped fern, a couple of 24-36 inch feathery ferns and some small ones too. I put them right into the ground. I look forward to seeing them next year in the shady areas of my backyard.

planting&planning

Yellow wildflowers

I noticed that many of the flowers are yellow now in the fields Skippy and I walk through. I'll try to identify them all. For now, from upper left: evening primrose, goldenrod, like a very small yellow hawk weed, a tall plant with a marigold-like flower, bittersweet berries, leaves similar to the plant above but no petals on the flowers.

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Another Skippy comment

One of the guys at doggie-day-care: "He's a cool dog."
Skippy always seems to know when I drive up to bring him home. When I walk in the door, he's there and ready. None of the people can hear the cars, but Skippy knows.

Sedum telephium 'Autumn Joy'

As close as my camera can get.

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Skippy pictures

Skippy was very nice about posing for these pictures. He still dislikes that silly camera. Especially when it points at him.

Elephant ears

This giant colacasia is doing a good job of hiding my air conditioner (and dog) this year. I think its the third year I've planted these bulbs. The leaves get bigger every year. I lift the bulbs in fall after the leaves die and store them in a paper bag in the basement over the winter. In the spring it usually takes me a few days of searching to find where I put them. Anyway, its a fun plant.

(Thanks for the correction on the colacasia!)

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Kale leaves

Another picture of my new ornamental
kale.

Ornamental kale and mum

The past two years I have put in a few ornamental kale in the fall. They look nice all winter and they sprout little yellow flowers in the spring. Last weekend I planted this one next to an orange mum by my front door.

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Things people say about Skippy

I thought I'd post a few of the things people say about my great dog.
"His fur looks like velvet."
"Is he a labradoodle?" "What kind of dog is he."
"He looks like a person in a dog suit!"
"He's FAST!"
"His fur looks like velvet. He's sooo soft."
"I'd like a coat like that. You'd better look out for him."
"A nice strong dog, but what's with the girly tail?"
His groomer: "He's a GOOD dog."
At doggie-day-care: "He's the best groomed dog here. Always so clean."
"His fur looks like velvet."
The day BEFORE a haircut: "Looks like someone just got a haircut."
"Yippee Skippy, the velveteen rabbit dog."
The wiffle ball players who hit the ball in the pond and 5 other dogs tried but couldn't get their mouths on the ball (it sinks when you try to bite it) and Skippy retrived it no problem: "Thank you!" (He wasn't sure he wanted to give it up though, but finally decided to trade it for a treat.)

Mums

Its mum time! I bought these on Labor Day. The garden center had just gotten their first shipment in. Small ones, he said. The big ones will come later. I am lucky this year - I have many mums in my garden that have come back from previous years, but they are still tightly budded.

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Fall-blooming clematis

One of my favorite plants. Sweet Autumn Clematis (C. terniflora). It climbs up onto the upper porch by my bedroom window. It always blooms in the middle of September. Its just starting to bloom now and only a few buds are open today.

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Holly berries

I have an enormous pair of hollies in the backyard (Blue Prince and Blue Princess). I planted them about 12 years ago and they are now about 6x6 ft bushes. This week the berries turned bright red. The waxy blue holly leaves look nice next to the corrugated blue leaves of Hosta sieboldii 'Elegans'.

What's Skippy up to?

Skippy got a short haircut on Thursday. His groomer was trying out a new clipper that didn't work very well for Skip. He has all kinds of tracks in his fur. He still gets lots of comments on how nice he looks ("Ohh, he looks like velvet! What kind of dog is he?"), but it not the best haircut I've seen. I wish she'd tried it out on some other dog.

The good news is that Skippy has a new diet this week that is great! I won't go into details, but he has been very regular. The trick was no grain at all. Especially no rice. I was giving him half EVO dog food and half homemade chicken and rice. Now he gets about 3/4 EVO (a grain-free dogfood) and 1/4 chicken. Maybe he'll gain some weight. I keep hoping. He's been holding real steady at 49.5 pounds. He's very active (the fastest dog around! and the cutest!) and eats alot of food. We're still trying to get him to about 55 pounds.

Skippy's window seat

This is Skippy's favorite spot to sit. Up on the cushion-topped chest by the window in the dining room. Centrally located so he can see everyone coming and going. And he can look out the window and see what's going on in the backyard. He rests his head on the granite sill and relaxes. (How about all those elbows and knees!)

Orange dahlia

Many of my plants are unusually tall this year. This is a dahlia my Dad gave me about 10 years ago. Its several feet taller than usual this year. About 10 feet tall now and growing. The bloom is 8 inches in diameter. It started blooming last week.

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Hydrangea tree

The hyrangea (H. paniculata 'Grandiflora', PeeGee) next to my patio is in full bloom this week.

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Purple coneflower

The purple petals of echinacea are fading but the centers are a great mix of orange and red pins in a greenish cushion.

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Skippy bath

Skippy got a bath tonight. He's a very good puppy in the tub, even though he really doesn't like it. He jumps in when I tell him to, then he stays still while I suds his fur, rinse and towel dry. Then he gets blow-dried with a drier that's more like a jet engine. (Oh-my-goodness!) Today he even sat nicely while I trimmed his wiskers. Such a good puppy! And a clean one too!

Sedum "Autumn Joy"

An enormous sedum telephium 'Autumn Joy' is just starting to brighten up in my parents' perennial garden. Behind it are the bright colors of a gloriosa daisy, black-eyed susan and magenta phlox. Their plant gets full sun and, unlike mine which tends to topple in part shade, is a tall mounding clump almost like pink broccoli.

Dark at seven thirty

This is the backyard today at 7:30 pm. Quite dark. Sunrise today was at 6:12. Sunset at 7:16. 13 hours and 4 minutes of daylight. Tonight we have a waxing gibbous moon with 77% of the moon's visible disk illuminated, though its pretty well covered by clouds tonight.

Late summer sunlight

The late summer sun is tricky. Dark shadows and bright flowers. The light glitters and glares in my eyes, but fades quickly under the trees leaving deep shade and shadows. My photos are either over exposed or under exposed. Sometimes I look out the window think its warm, but then its cold. Sometimes it seems cold, then its warm. The air is a little thinner. The sky bluer. I am realizing I miss the spring and mid-summer. The weather when you know its hot and the air holds the heat. When the garden is new and growing. My son looks forward the winter snow and Christmas and cold weather sports. I guess I'm already looking forward to next year's garden.