Garden update: autumn has arrived

I am able to write this because we cancelled door knocking for today – flood warnings everywhere in the area – and because the only other task I might possibly have for today is cleaning up my office.  

And then it turned out I had to partially clean my desk because otherwise I could not connect the camera to upload the photos.  I am incorrigibly messy.

The successes

Mailbox garden: snapdragons, mums,
no-longer-blooming balloon flowers, and
owl art.  Am I partial to owl imagery?  Yes, I am.

The stars of this year’s Common Household Gardens were the snapdragons, the coreopsis, the sedum, and the coleus.  I wish I had photos of them from August.  Curses on you, sciatica and mal de débarquement syndrome and the ensuing therapies!  Curses on you, dental work and election work!  Those are my excuses and I’m sticking to ‘em.

Snapdragons

Back in June I thought the snapdragons were done, but they just kept bursting forth in their crimson glory all summer.  They did well right next to the street, below the mailbox.

The sedum has spread!

The yellow and orange coreopsis reflected the sun’s brilliance for months (no photo), but stopped blooming maybe in mid-September.  The sedum looks flatter than it did in June, but it kept spreading as I was told it would.

Two varieties of coleus,
making friends with the bush,
and trying to shake
your hand, too.

The coleus suffered from wealth inequality.  I had doubts it would do well as a potted plant under my care, so I planted all of the coleus (two different varieties) in one pot. They deserved a better distribution of resources.  Partway through the summer they looked like they would be eaten to death by some bug, but both kinds rallied and bloomed and skyrocketed.  Currently it looks like it is reaching out to knock on voters’ doors.  Go, coleus!

The bee balm was lovely in its time, and I hope it comes back next year.  I don’t know if I should cut back the stems or not.  The yarrow did its duty, but it was not as stunning.  I like it because I have a vague idea it hails from medieval times and is medicinal.

Hanging on

The marigolds and the balloon flowers (Platycodon grandiflorus) did okay.  Halfway through the summer the deerabbits ate a lot of the balloon flowers.  After that there were some blooms but they were a shadow of their former selves.  

Pot with black-eyed susan vine and forget-me-nots.

I started “black-eyed susan vines” in two pots, and then also forget-me-nots with the b-e.s.v. in one, and English thyme in the other.  The thyme never showed its face. The vines grew and started to tangle themselves in the nearby bushes but there was nary a bloom until September, one solitary flower that didn’t look exactly like a black-eyed susan.  And yesterday I saw one b-e.s.v. bloom in the other pot, and a few forget-me-nots.  

This is the black-eyed susan vine bloom.   (Blogger is not cooperating on the photo captions right now.)

A truly terrible photo of the forget-me-nots,
in the same pot with the b-e.s.v.

The geranium, a gift from the church music director, kept on plugging away.  It was almost never without a bloom, and there is a hopeful bud on it today.  

Geranium - the gift that keeps on giving

The lamb’s ear, lantana, and verbena still have foliage, but the lantana and verbena flowers were dessert for the local herbivores.  And now that spot is a hellish mess. I am not sticking my hands in there. 

A stew of lamb's ear, verbena, and lantana

The two bleeding heart plants faded slowly, as they should, and there is no indication of them except the marker I put there.  I really must hope they return in the spring, as they should, because they were the last things I planted before sciatica doom.  They will be my rebuttal to aging.

Shall I attempt to bring the potted plants inside before the first frost? The question will be where to put them.  And will they have bugs?

The disappointments

The biggest disappointment were the black-eyed susans.  I planted one from the garden store, and several more that were gifts from the neighbor.  I have a great fondness for these flowers.  And so did the deer. Eaten and re-eaten.  I finally got some rudimentary fencing and bird netting.  The plants managed to survive and eke out a few flowers.  There was still one bloom yesterday.  Meanwhile, in our area I saw numerous successful b-e susans. 

The astilbe was dead before mid-summer.  Sigh. This was supposed to be a great plant for growing in the shade.  Not our shade.

The salmon-colored impatiens did much better
than the white ones.

Almost all the white impatiens disappeared early in July.  Why?

The snow-in-summer looks like it just heard all the news this week and now can’t get out of bed anymore.  Why?  

Snow-in-summer, not looking so good.

Also disappointing are my photos.  It was too dark last night at 5:30 PM but I took the photos anyway.  I was too lazy to retake them this afternoon.

Soldiering on

We bought two mums for cheer and hope. The yellow one, which I put out by the mailbox (where it will catch the rain) is doing splendidly.  The purple one, which I put close to the house, is not.  Today I moved it.

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PLAN TO VOTE?

Colors of Autumn

 This post is brought to you jointly by the federal government shutdown and the pre-election low that comes for me every time.

The federal shutdown is doubly painful for many in Pennsylvania because we are also without a state budget, due to the State Senate (majority You Know Who) blocking the budget because they don’t want to fund public transit.  School districts and other organizations are having to take out loans.  As far as I know, there are zero negotiations.  

Certain powerful people are just walking away from governing. 

I’m convinced it’s all intentional.  Pro-(cough)- ject (cough) 2025. 

The ones that hold the federal reins of power could end it today

but they would rather make everyone suffer.

The immediate effect on me personally from the federal shutdown is that, although I am not a federal employee, my work hours are cut in half, because half my projects involve summarizing USDA reports.  This change is not completely painful for me – last week I went door knocking 4 times.  But it has caused a severe change in my ability to concentrate, and even to know in my inner being what day of the week it is.  Is this a harbinger of what retirement will be like?  Do only retirees use the word “harbinger”?

And then there’s pre-election mental churning.  For every election, I become overly anxious about 4-5 days before the election.  The best cure for this is to go door knocking but I haven’t had that opportunity so far this week.  Another cure is to go across the country to a wedding, which we did 3 years ago on the weekend before the election, but that was not an option this year. Maybe I should just crash someone’s wedding.  I could bring campaign lit as a gift.

To keep anxiety at bay, I’ve been forcing myself to get outside with my camera, or to do modest yard work.  Here’s the resulting photo essay on autumn colors.

Shades of brown 

Yesterday I forced myself to rake the leaves
off the deck before the rain sauntered in.

Love me some richly-colored coleus.

After pushing the leaves off the deck
into the yard, I then exerted additional
effort and raked the leaves to the 
edge of the street, awaiting
the Second Coming of the Leaf Truck.

Orange to brighten our skies and our stoves

Tree-lined street seen
while door knocking

Suzanne's Sheet Pan Veggie Shawarma,
before cooking.  Hues of orange and white
because I was too lazy / low
to cut up the zucchini.

Impulse purchase for the 
Veggie Shawarma

Red to warm our hearts

Geranium.
This was actually taken at the end of summer,
on a day when I hauled out the "good" camera
and practiced the bokeh effect.

Yellow to cheer our souls

Mums seen while canvassing

Do it!

Pink and peach for sweetness and delight

Chalk drawing for Diwali,
seen while canvassing.
So delightful to see.

Impatiens, curated by the 
Common Household Husband

White and Black and Grey to keep us grounded

To the left, white flowers.
To the left, black (dead) plant, which we
decided to plant anyway, just to see what
happens in the spring.

Those white flowers were gone as of yesterday.

Wild turkeys in the neighborhood.
They refused to pose for a photo.

Green to represent love and life

At the Pre-Halloween-themed Oct 27th rally. 
The person holding this sign was dressed as Mr. Rogers.

It's always good to remember to look up.
Many of our tree leaves are still green, and those that
have turned colors seem less bright than usual.
Autumn 2025 - late and muted.

Blue for tranquility, depth, and sadness

Brilliant blue sky over the county
satellite voting location on Oct 25th

The Common Household Mom subtly exhorting
voters to vote a certain way.

Sadness for and yet resolve to support
the ones forced to be silent.

And coming full circle to the colors at our front door

At our owl's feet are stones I painted
at a Pride Festival.  

Seen while canvassing - art

Seen while canvassing

Part II - Art and decorations

I found it interesting how folks decorate their homes.  We have an owl statue outside our front door.  Other people have other kinds of statues, even fountains.

As canvassing progressed into October, we saw plenty of Halloween decorations.

Part III is here.

Fountain and frog statues

Please click to enlarge.  I found this cross fascinating.

Chicken inside front door

Fountain and angel statue

Pig

Salamander doorbell decor was popular in one neighborhood.

Same neighborhood, different salamander.

Statue of a goddess?

Sculpture on side porch

Clever wreath made of clothes pins

This was an inflatable dragon with moving wings.
Very impressive.

A car drove right up on this lawn, among all the Halloween
decorations.

Gigantic spider at entrance to house.
Thankfully, this house was not on our canvass list.

Friendly Halloween branch.  Or maybe not so friendly-
it kind of blocked the door.

Ghostly girl on swing

Scary red-eyed rat decoration.
This is not pleasant if you
are not expecting to see a rat, and you look
down and suddenly see this.

"Placed for the comfort of politicians on Election Day."
Huh?!  We actually did not see this while canvassing, but
rather while we were at a town building to object to
Daryl Metcalfe's detestable extreme right-wing stance.

My canvassing partner said, "I hope this is not what
they do to canvassers at this house."

Post-Halloween pumpkins

More gruesome decorations

Family of pumpkins

Steps.  Always lots of steps to climb while canvassing.

Uneven walkways - a danger to canvassers.

Click here to go to Part 3.