Yellow

My garden has a lot of yellow. I need more red and orange next year.

Sunny Knockout is reblooming after being sheared back a few months ago prior to a move.



Stella D'Oro is also blooming.



The Maples in the wild are very yellow this year.



After work yesterday, I used the leaf blower/vac to shred all the leaves along my side of the street, in the driveway, and the front yard. They became mulch for the Neighbor's corner.



It's 55 degrees and threatening rain. Weather.com says we have a 75% chance all day and night. I hope it comes. We've been teased too much with cloudy, damp weather and very little rainfall for months. I'd like to see it rain 24 hours nonstop.

This afternoon, after work, I'll stay inside and clean the house. I've got bits of leaves, straw, and dirt all over the place. I've been thinking about returning to the kitchen, but I've just about decided to wait until it's too cold this winter to work outside. I've got paint to scrape, walls to repaint, a little more beadboard to finish, and countertops to install. I still managed to pickle and can 5 pints of green beans (purchased) and 2 pints of cucumbers using a recipe I found online. In three weeks, I'll find out if it's any good.

Yellow

It seems only proper that I cover yellow today. In yesterday's mail, I received a generous gift from a fellow NC gardener. Jim sent me cuttings of Celine Forestier. You can read his blog entry about this fantastic rose here. Thank you, again. I hope they root and I do right by her.



In another moment of serendipity, KnockOut roses went on sale yesterday at the store. $5 for a one gallon container. I bought the last two "Sunny" in the store. Now I know, true rose fanatics consider the KnockOut to be trash and not worthy of space in their gardens. But for a beginning gardener like myself, KnockOuts are the next best thing to sliced bread. Jim says my attitude will change once I've grown some of these older roses like what he has sent me. I have a plan for all this yellow. You'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I have plenty of yellow already in the yard.

Rudbeckia hirta - aka, Black Eyed Susan


Coreopsis


Nasturtiums


Cucumbers


Butternut Squash


Coreopsis "Full Moon"


Coreopsis "Moonbeam"


Rudbeckia and Shasta Daisy "Alaska"


Yarrow


It would be wrong of me to post today without showing you the melampodium seedlings from Carrie.


It's 66 and cloudy. Rain most of the night. Rain most of the day today. It's my day off and I was hoping to paint some more of the trim outside. I might just take a nap this afternoon instead.

2:56pm - sunny, rainy, and cloudy...all at the same time. Muggy and sticky. Nasty day to be outside. 75 degrees feels much warmer.

Went to Carrie's this morning to pick up more plants she offered me. You never say no to FREE plants. You've got to try them just once. I took her a few things too. More yellow added to the garden in the process.

Melampodiums to fill in more blank spaces.


The rudbeckia triloba I got the last time I went to see her was finally transplanted. It should bloom in a few more weeks. Huge roots at the bottom of the pot it was sitting in.


And a new rudbeckia showed up today. My first bi-color. Carrie has some beautiful brown, reds, and oranges.


Got some cuttings from her garden as well, a hydrangea (monk? something?) and some Silver Berry (Elaeagnus unsure of the species). I put those in the chamber with the rose cuttings I received yesterday. The other cuttings I did last week are still looking good. One rose cutting has lost several leaves, but new growth is already replacing them.

Doing little to nothing else today. I might do some dishes, fold some laundry, or play Rollercoaster Tycoon until bed.