Super Moon Eclipse, In a Vase on Monday October 3, 2015

Today I am linking with-

Skywatch Friday hosted by Sylvia, Yogi, and Sandy

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

Wildlife Wednesday hosted by Tina of My Garden Says

Of course I have to have a Super Moon shot this week for Skywatch Friday.  Last year  I got some photos of the beginning half of the October eclipse, but this time I just got a few of the end-

 I noticed that the shadow on the moon selectively enhances some of the craters so they seem to look different.  While focusing on the moon, a face started appearing there, I'll show you, aha!  I was looking back at you and you were looking back at me-

Well back to familiar territory, some plants that are blooming now are two of the heathers on my ramp, which gets little water and is elevated so it drains very fast, Daboecia cantabrica 'Atropurpurea'-

And a pink Calluna that blooms at the same time-

A new plant purchase from Bird's English Garden Nursery,  Coreopsis verticillata 'Route 66'-

Like the other plants I bought recently, it was quite root-bound-

I was feeling like taking a chance so I cut the root ball in half with a serrated knife-

So I was able to plant 2, to balance my 2 Carex oshimensis 'Evergold' plants-

I hope they make it to bloom again next year.

I finally drove to the nearby Ridgefield Wildlife Preserve with my husband to see what birds were there.  I can tell I rarely do this, I got there and the camera battery was dead.  So all I got were some cell phone photos, not very good.  No wonderful zoom.   I did see a few Sandhill Cranes-

There were also some Egrets, and I even saw a Grebe, so frustrating not to be able to zoom in.
But we were walking along some water and were surprised by an albino Nutria that seemed quite unaware of people, and was actually eating a blackberry vine, I guess I could use a few.  They are not a native animal, and are related to Guinea pigs or cavies, and like to swim in water-

And now for In a Vase on Monday, which is a meme hosted by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden, who challenges us gardeners to find something to plonk in a vase to decorate our houses.

I could not resist using my poor Aster laevis, blooming for the first time, that had the stalk broken off by a deer.  I brought the stalk in and put it in water, and the few buds were opening.   Here in a glass jar in a shallow bowl-

 I picked several houseplant flowers to go with them- Streptocarpus 'Texas Hot Chili', which is blooming up a storm, a peachy geranium that blooms continually on my windowsill, and an African Violet that is blooming heavily at the moment, a plant that was my Swedish Mother-In-Law Martha's. I never succeeded with one before but put it by the sliding glass door and it loves it there.  The vase is another of my ceramic creations, made from a poured mold, and decorated with a runny crystal glaze and flowers that were also poured in a mold and afixed to the bulb forcing vase.

Perhaps some of you will be inspired to plonk some flowers in a vase as well.    Hannah

Casa de Luna Israeli couple's folk dance, one of my favorites-

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.

I had a comment about problems with leaving a comment here.  If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, you can send me an email at  z8hannah8z@gmail.com to comment and let me know of your difficulties.  Thanks!  I looked up solutions on Blogger and apparently Wordpress has not updated their Open ID servers, so to comment on Blogspot blogs, you must select OpenID then enter your address, changing it to plain http://address  instead of https://address.

Plant Evaluations In a Vase on Monday September 26, 2015

Today I am linking with-

Skywatch Friday hosted by Yogi, Sandy, and Sylvia

Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

In A Vase On Monday hosted by Cathy

Now that it is fall, it is time to evaluate how various plants I grew this year have done and also make decisions about what I want to grow next year.

A small plant I'm really impressed with is Dianthus Barbarini red Sweet Williams.  Usually Sweet Williams I have grown have been around 18" / .5m or more tall, but the Barbarini variety is a very low growing plant, and what is amazing to me is that it sends out a runner or side branch that makes another  nice little clump of a plant to the side.  It also is day length neutral unlike most Sweet Williams so has been blooming pretty much continuously since June 20.  This is actually just 3 plants, the original plant with a cluster of flowers on top of the former clusters-

The camera can't seem to capture the darker tones in the flowers, but pretty anyway-

I would like to start more of them this winter and have them cover a bigger area.

The Ageratums I started bloom continually, but don't make the big heads that I've seen in the nursery-

Ursinia has been long-blooming but is a tiny wispy plant with tiny flowers so doesn't really make enough impact, I want to try direct-sowing to see if it will do better, shown with Browallia, under deer fence-

Salvia 'Lady in Red' took a very long time to bloom but is pretty, I think I would like it better in a pot so I could bring it indoors in winter and keep it for another year-

Tropical milkweed, which is called an annual here, did not bloom the first year but I did have it in pots so could bring it indoors for the winter, and it has bloomed nearly continuously this spring and summer-

I haven't grown sunflowers before, and 'Red Velvet' was not red or velvety, but did get 4-5' / 1.5m tall and blooms a lot.  I read that sunflowers can make hedges at heights of 2' / 600cm  all the way to 12' / 4m so I'm interested in using several next year to try to fill up some areas that tend to get weedy.

Gaillardia 'Tokajer' has been a good bloomer this year, but is rather tall and I was hoping for a low mound of flowers, but Goblin that I also started either didn't bloom or disappeared.  I will try other low varieties for next year.

I took in a couple more chickens from my daughter-in-law who lives in the city, a surprise rooster from her spring chickens, an enormous Dark Brahma with feathered legs and feet, and companion little Red Yokohama joining Cocoa the Blue Maran hen.

Who's the boss?

This is my entry for In a Vase on Monday this week, take hostess Cathy's challenge to find materials in your garden to plonk in a vase, and decorate your house.

This is the last of the pinched vases I made, it is only 4"/ 10cm tall, the flowers are some aged Endless Summer Hydrangea blooms, Japanese Anemones, the wonderful old garden rose Clotilde Soupert yet again, and a Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus, which is one of the flowers I remember from my South Carolina grandma's garden.  I grew it from a cutting and it is a 10'+ / 3m+  tree now.

I decorated the vase with another of the pendants I made with a broken piece of a Mt. St. Helens ash ball and copper foiling,

With the pendant and moved to a different setting to try different lighting, the Rose of Sharon looks wildly lopsided here-

And with my birthstone, Turquoise-

And for latest garden delicacy, a Delicata squash, delightful to eat and even the skin is edible-

I'm still getting lots of beans, tomatoes, here with a pumpkin and Delicata squash-

In the right back is my 8' tall deer fence enclosing the garden, I had to put plastic sheeting on the outside to keep the deer from eating the bean vines I'm growing on the fence-

 my eggplants are doing the best ever probably thanks to the hot weather, long Japanese eggplant Ping Tung-

Short Japanese eggplant Dewako, both from the Kitazawa Seed Co.-

and the fall greens are growing and great eating.   I'm looking forward to perhaps being able to photograph the next lunar eclipse coming up Sunday evening for the feast of Sukkot.   Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.

I had a comment about problems with leaving a comment here.  If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, you can send me an email at  z8hannah8z@gmail.com to comment and let me know of your difficulties.  Thanks!  I looked up solutions on Blogger and apparently Wordpress has not updated their Open ID servers, so to comment on Blogspot blogs, you must select OpenID then enter your address, changing it to plain http://address  instead of https://address.

Wildflower Wednesday Vignette September 23, 2015

Welcome to my Wildflower Wednesday post, celebrating wildflowers with hostess Gail of Clay and Limestone.  I'm also linking to Wednesday Vignette, hosted by Anna of Flutter and Hum.

Today I am featuring the survivors from my Goldenrod purchases of a couple of years ago.  The ones that didn't survive were the dwarf varieties Laurin and Little Lemon, and the herbal scented variety, Solidago odora.  They grew their first season, but didn't return the next year.  But the survivors are doing well, sending out rhizomes and blooming happily again.

Solidago sphacelata 'Golden Fleece', which has a basal clump of larger leaves-

Solidago shortii 'Solar Cascade', which is taller with a long cascading stems, which means they flop a lot, the internet photos showed wonderful clumps with flower sprays shooting off, maybe that will take a few years.  I also read that it is on the endangered species list, so you might consider growing it, nexyt year I will have to try cutting it back early in the season to see if it will do some branching and be shorter-

Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks', named for flowers which seem to shoot off in many directions, it might also benefit from cutting it back early in the season-

I'm enjoying watching them increase by rhizomes but it seems like it will take a few more years to have a big clump.  I would like to think the pollinators would like them but don't see many in action.  The Solidago odora would have been good for making tea, I think the others could be used but might not be as tasty.  My Native American Medicinal Plants book by Daniel E. Moerman tells of uses for various goldenrods by Native American tribes, for complaints such as diarrhea, colds, liver problems, as a sedative, and so forth.  These varieties are not native in my area but the few natives are not available commercially as far as I know, they are short rhizomatous plants with small inflorescences.  They look charming, perhaps someday I can find some.

What native plants are blooming now for you?    Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.

I had a comment about problems with leaving a comment here.  If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, you can send me an email at  z8hannah8z@gmail.com to comment and let me know of your difficulties.  Thanks!  I looked up solutions on Blogger and apparently Wordpress has not updated their Open ID servers, so to comment on Blogspot blogs, you must select OpenID then enter your address, changing it to plain http://address  instead of https://address.