Fall Garden Log 2013

The first cold nights have appeared and the temps are now reaching into the upper 40s at night.

I've watched the butterfly and skipper dance that lasts all day.  The following are what I have seen so far.

1.  Large Yellow - love the hummingbird vine & honey suckle.
2.  Rusty orange large - like the orange zinnias that match their color.  They tend to come to the garden later and leave earlier.
3.  Cabbage moths - Love to lay eggs on just about anything but like to drink from the pink oxalis flowers.
4.  Brown skippers - visits the zinnias.

At Lowe's the other day the flowering plants were swarming with long-bodied honey bees.  There must have been a hive somewhere.  I thought of putting a hive or two on the flat roof of my shop.  One thing that worries me is that they spray the railroad right of way near here.  I haven't seen very many bees here since the black berries have been pulled up and the clover in the lawn has disappeared.  I guess I could plant some this fall  if I could find the seed.  My beekeeping friend said he has been loosing hives due to disease.  I sure do miss them.

Bridge across miniature stream

I took my granddaughter to Linnaeus Teaching Gardens at the Tulsa Garden Center. She just loved it. The coy ponds was her favorite.  One of the volunteers let her feed them and she squealed like a little piglet with joy.

Sloan feed coy

My favorite part of the garden was the cuke arbor and the Sickle Pod plant.  I took a botanical sample of the sickle pod to find out what it was.  I kept the seed and plan on sowing it in the spring. 7/21/2020 I did plant it the next year and it did real well.....maybe too well.  I decided that the Sickle Pod plant was a noxious weed and had to go.  As of this date I noticed a sickle pod seedling come up after 6 years of lying dormant.  Just shows the viability of this plant.  The flowers were not that showy also. 

cuke arbor

sickle pod

Sloanie and the scarecrow

They have an heirloom veggie section with raised beds and the beets looked great in pots.  Although its not a veggie they had cotton growing in a pot also.  I made sure I got some seeds. From one raised bed to another they installed a trellis connecting the two and grew cukes on it.  

In my own garden I just discovered a heavy infestation of aphids on my turnip plants.  I may have let them get too crowded.