Fall Color....Southern Style

In South Alabama we don't get to see the leaves change during the fall. Well, actually I do get to see some leaves change..only because my next door neighbor has a Japanese Maple in their front yard. We do have some slight change in leaves here....but not as bold as the northern regions. Our trees usually go from green to brown. We have to get Fall color from other places. So today...you will see Fall colors.....Southern Style. These pictures are from my garden as well as The Hydrangea Queen's (Ramona). Taken @ Ramona's garden Mexican flame vine from Ramona's garden. I have one of these....it never bloomed. Clearly it isn't getting enough sun. It is on my list of 20+ things to move this weekend!

Ramona's Pagoda Plant...isn't it awesome. Hers is a few years old, so it is much bigger than mine...but I LOVE it! It is such a neat plant.

The bloom is pretty large....and very unique.

I love to see the changes in the colors on hydrangeas......

Ramona had this plant at here house, but my mom also used to have it at her old house. Ramona called it an October Flower, but mom called it a Swamp Sunflower. They used to grow wild up at my grandparents, and that's what everyone called them...Swamp Sunflower. I kinda like that name.....so that's what I am going to call it!

It gets really tall.....over 10+ feet. Mom said it grows aggressively...similar to mexican Petunia. I can deal with that. I just pull my un-wanted Mexican Petunia up whenever I see it somewhere I don't want it to grow. Now this time next year....I may hate this Swamp Flower, and dig every bit of it up....but that's why this blog is named Trials & Tribulations of a Southern Gardener.

It is a really pretty flower though

Hydrangea...changing

This is one of my hydrangeas...and I thought this was really odd. While the rest of the plant is changing, one little bud decided it didn't want to change...it still wants to flourish!

Coleus

Coleus with Vinca in the background

Prairie Coneflowers

Zinnia

I loved the coloration on this zinnia

Mums

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing the fall colors...Southern Style ;-). I can't wait to see everyone's fall foliage photos!

What's That Smell???

That would be the smell of rotting pumpkins! The pumpkins only lasted one whole week! Can you believe that! If you have never smelled rotting pumpkins...take it from me...you are not missing out on a THING! My mom found some foam pumpkins at Old Time Pottery and picked them up for me. I trashed the others last night...and it was a MESS!Here are the foam pumpkins. I used a black magic marker to draw on them. I did draw my "M" on the other side, so after Halloween I can flip them around to where you only see the "M"

I have been working away in the yard. Saturday I FINALLY cut the grass...I know my neighbors must be overjoyed! I pulled weeds and sprayed round up on all the tough spots. Then I decided it was time to work on the irises. I have 100's of irises, and if you are a regular follower you know that I only had 3 of them bloom. I wasn't happy about this. I made sure not to plant them to deep....but apparently that was still too deep. I pulled all the ones in the front yard up, divided them and then replanted them. Well, I wouldn't call it replanting....I stuck the roots in the dirt and left the tuber on top...so lets see how that works out.

Much to my surprise, I have a lot going on in the garden right now....so here are a few:

Butterfly Bush

Pagoda Plant...it is finally beginning to bloom :-). I will show you a really big one tomorrow.

Butterfly Bush

I have had tons of hummingbirds and butterflies dropping by...but I never can catch them long enough to get a picture.

I will have much more for ya'll tomorrow!

Bilbo on The Move

It's that time again....time for Bilbo to head out to his next big adventure.....you can see his final visit with Darla here (click on photo):

He is heading out west......watch out Texas because here come Bilbo! He will be visting Carla @ A Mellow Life Is A Good Life. I will be on the lookout for him, and will let you know when he arrives! I know some of you are patiently awaiting him to come and visit you....just keep on trying....he will eventually make it to your place!

Where In the World is Bilbo: Tallahassee, Florida

Bilbo is back state side, and he has finally, made his way to the sunshine state. Bless Darla's heart, she has followed Bilbo around the world.....and now he is finally visiting with her. Bilbo had her email me a sweet little message.....maybe he is a little homesick?

Darla was clearly over joyed with excitement, as was the rest of her family about Bilbo's arrival. So be sure to go check out More Family & Flowers and see what all Bilbo gets into over the weekend in Tallahassee! Be sure to leave a comment on each post...she will be doing several (I have already been warned...LOL!). She will draw names on Monday to see where he will travel to next!

Goodluck!

Multiplying and Dividing

I know I have been MIA for a week or so....sorry. I am trying to get back on schedule. I stay busy all day long at my new job...it is non-stop and I love it! So I have to make time when I get home to blog. So here I am :-) It has rained everyday here for nearly a month. My yard is a swamp! The grass is so high, but the ground is way to wet to cut it. When you walk through it, it sloshes...and it is really gross. I haven't been able to get hardly anything done in the yard....but Saturday and Sunday...I decided to tackle some major issues.... ISSUE #1....the neighbors weeds that are taking over my yard. My neighbors have these flowers/weeds/whatever they are, growing in their yard. I hate them. The roots run under my fence and sprout up every where! With all the rain we have had recently, they are out of control.

I cranked up the hedge trimmers and went to town on them! I just new I was going to see a snake up in that mess....but luckily there were no snakes. After I cut them down, I pulled up as many roots as I could. I did 95% of this in the rain. I was not happy....part of me wanted to throw the plants back over the fence for my neighbor.....but then the logical part of my brain decided against it. I really don't know how to tackle this problem. Round-up will not kill them. If you do kill them, new ones are popping up. It is like a vicious cycle....and I am at a loss.

ISSUE #2 Time to Divide

I feel like I just divided amaryllis.....I know I divided some last year....and here we are again...dividing. I divided the daylilies and amaryllis.....in the rain. I would love to know what my neighbors thought of me while I was in the front mud bog (formerly known as grass) shoveling mud (formerly known as dirt) out of the beds to get to the bulbs. It was so wet, when I pulled the clumps out of the ground it made a suction sound, and then the hole would fill up with water. My feet sank into the ground, and left impressions in the flower beds.....but what can you do? It was raining, and it had to be done.

Some of the daylilies

Amaryllis

By the end of the day Sunday...I looked like Swamp Thing. I was covered in mud. I sat out on the grass, and separated the bulbs and let the rain wash me and the bulbs off. I ended up with 198 amaryllis bulbs. Now what am I going to do with all of those bulbs? I thought about setting up a bulb stand in my front yard and selling them....or heck...just give them away. I did manage to weed, trim the hedges and a few other piddly little things.

We had an extremely dry July, so I suppose Mother Nature is trying to compensate for that now. I complained then that we needed rain, and now I am complaining because the rain needs to stop for a few days. My grass is dying from being water logged, and I do not live in a low area. Some of the flowers are dong the same. I just need it to stop long enough for my lawn to dry out, so I can cut it before my neighbors report me to the city. I drove across the lawn the other day (The Hunter had the driveway blocked), and I made HUGE ruts in the grass because it was so wet.

When I came home from work today I noticed my pumpkin topiary was slightly leaning. When I walked up to it to straighten it....I could smell it! PHEW!!! In one week those dang pumpkins have rotted!!! That is how hot and humid it is here. Does it normally take pumpkins a week to rot? I am not happy about this...I had big plans for those pumpkins....stupid me was hoping they would make it to Halloween! LOL!!! Are you kidding....they didn't make it 7 days. UGH! So now I am on a mission to find 3 foam pumpkins......they won't rot!

I will be back tomorrow...I promise. I feel so behind on everything, and I really do miss ya'll. My mom has been telling me about some of the blogs....and she doesn't blog! She does read some of them though. She will call me and say "Did you see what so & so did", that's terrible...I am so behind. I did notice I lost 5 followers over the past week. Oh well.....you win some and you lose some. Sorry I was enthralling enough. As for the other 120+ of you that stayed...thank you. I do try to keep up with each and every one of the blogs I follow, as well as my followers....but sometimes life gets hectic, and you just can't do it everyday. Besides that....all I have to blog about it mud....and who wants to hear about that?

My precious Bilbo will be arriving in Florida very soon......keep an eye on Darla @ More Family & Flowers

Getting Ready for Fall

I have been decorating for Fall for the past few days. I made an easy little pumpkin topiary for the front door. I bought 3 pumpkins...small, medium and large.... I put the largest one at the bottom and drilled a hole into the top.... Then I ran a wooden dowel through it, and then drilled holes in the other 2 pumpkins so that they would stack on top.

I painted an "M" on the middle pumpkin. I hope that they don't rot before October. It has been so humid here, I don't think they will make it to Halloween. BUT if they do, I am going to turn them around and paint some bats and a spooky tree on them.

The front porch all decorated....you can see that it hasn't stopped raining...everything is so wet.

My 'Ol rusty cart is decorated.....

The doorway from the living area into the kitchen.....

I used some of the greenery left over from my brothers wedding to make a big arrangement for my fireplace....The fireplace and mantle all decorated....

This chest was my great-grandmothers. I have had it in the guest bedroom for a while. I moved it into the foyer, because it needed something there....

It also got overhauled for Fall!!!!

' Ol rusty cart again

The built in China cabinet

I haven't finished my table yet, so when I do I will get a picture of it as well.

I started my new job yesterday! I love it. However, someone hit my car yesterday while it was parked in the parking lot!!! We exchanged info, and everything is fine. It will be fixed soon.

I will be working for a local non-profit organization that works with the public school system here. I am helping with a training program for high school seniors that do not have enough credits to graduate. They will attend the program after school to acquire the credits they need, and be able to receive a diploma versus and GED. I will be working Monday - Thursday from 1pm-8pm. I will be helping with the creative end of things. I like the hours, it gives me the whole first part of my day to do whatever I need to do. I am excited about it. It is not a permanent job, only temporary, but it is great for the time being. It still gives me time to look for jobs in my field.

Hope ya'll are having a wonderful week. I hope to get around later to visit all of ya'll...I have missed ya'll!