Bringing the outside in

It is always a sad time when I have to bring the plants inside for the winter. On the other hand, it is nice to enjoy the ‘outside’ plants indoors.

While I didn’t have a plethora of plants this year, there were a few that are already doing quite nicely inside.

I love petunias and I hope I can keep this plant alive long enough to plant it outside again next spring.

In the meantime, I plan to enjoy this pretty purple petunia on my back porch. There are actually a couple of plants that are blooming, so the odds are pretty good that I’ll have petunias next year.

That just makes me happy.

I grew these in a pot on the deck where they did so much better than they ever did in the ground. I need some major soil amendments to be able to grow any flowers in what I hope will one day be a perennial garden.

I’ve always thought the purple coneflower was the perfect flower with its simplistic form and perfect color—my absolute favorite.

I still have a pot of the pink begonias that I dug out of the ground two winters ago. They have been simply thriving in our south-facing sun porch.

I hope to be treated with hot peppers all winter long.
Then last but not least of my noteworthy selections, is the Serrano Pepper plant that is still producing. I wasn’t going to leave that outside to die. So I brought it in as I have done in the past.

Love August Flowers

I often take a walk around the yard, just to see how my plants are doing. Usually there is little to see past late June. But this year was different. It is August and there are plenty of things to see and enjoy. So as a follow up to my recent post, Rain is done; back to watering, where I proclaim the joy of precipitation, here are a couple of the benefits of the wet weather.

I will never forget this time last year when we suffered such severe drought conditions. The ground was hard and cracked. Temperatures hovered over the 100º mark for days and days. The entire landscape was parched. Even weeds didn't grow.

This is so much better.

A Coneflower I didn't think would make it after the deer pruned it severely this Spring

A young crepe myrtle that has never bloomed so profusely before

These petunias' sparse blossoms were spindly and pathetic, but are now blooming profusely

Hanging geraniums are in the forefront of a bed of impatiens and vinca

Roma Tomatoes were near death from being eaten. Heavy rain sparked new life in them. I now anticipate their ripening.