Made me look at some puppy pics.
This one has been pretty well behaved for 9 years. She was only 8 weeks, her 2nd day here. Not much mischief. She has a strong "team" drive, but she also has a strong "defender" drive. You can see it in her eyes. "You are my guy." The color changed, but the look is the same.

The backyard sure looked a lot different back then. It was a lot easier to mow, for sure. That was before the garden expansion. Now, those 40 ft tall x16ft wide arbor vitae, right background, are gone. No more raining starling and robin droppings every evening. No more back yard ice to slip on in May. My elbow still throbs at times from slipping while carrying a big outboard from the shed. Asparagus beds where the canoe was. Another garden bed to the right of that. And we were plopped down where the two raised beds are now, looking at the pear tree. That green in the garden is mostly the walking garlic - before I first corralled it. Most of the bulbs were about 3/4" to 1" in big clumps, and if they were in the way in May for tomato planting, I would dig up a huge clump and move it.

Strange to think, but much of my tomato growing and practically all the rest of my gardening life, has been with this girl around, ready to eat anything that hits the ground. Life is sort of compartmentalized that way, I suppose. The dog before this was barking mess, his first week at university. The one after this hasn't seen but a quarter of places we used to hunt - it is really building up around here. The next one won't ever get to greet a lot of people that were important to me.

Reblooming crinum, purple and pink ruellia (pollinator favorite), and a Summer Jewel Red salvia and a torenia, both of which are reseeded from earlier plants.

After a wierd spring blowing hot and cold, our bumblebees seemed to have a setback after the snow June 10 and missed out on the early flowers. Then the perennials blew threw their season and went to seed really quickly in the heat. Just a couple of cooler "normal" days and there's a real autumn feel... The sunflowers unlike everything else are late and just opening... And there I found this morning the torpid boy bees. Looking for a luscious place to hang about and not doing much. So the queens have mated and there are just a few little workers about, working the mother of thyme. Here are the boys.

Ranger on duty in the asparagus.

@JRinPA Wow, i could do with one of those! They are just so cool.

Looking to take down some of my asparagus fronds soon. There are some female plants so there are some seeds getting ripe and as i want to use the spent fronds as mulch on the other beds, i'm gonna need to detach the seeds from them.

Here is a big cigar pupa I found the other day, at my comm garden compost pile next to the tomatoes. It is 2" long and I was wondering if it could be a luna moth, but it is probably more likely it is a big hornworm. I didn't find a single hornworm this year, though.

Unfortunately, I think I shoveled off the tip/tongue end. But I put it in a dish of compost to try to make it anyway. It was wiggling for hours after I dug it up.

It annoys me that I never know who the pupae are. Always end up tossing them for the birds.
I LOVE how that stick insect turns and looks right into the camera. Inspiration for a thousand sci fi movies....

Sweet potato and Cleome, big thanks to whoever had Cleome earlier in this thread, made an eBay order as soon as I saw it and they seem to be fairly happy.

Amateurinawe wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:46 pm @JRinPA Wow, i could do with one of those! They are just so cool.

Looking to take down some of my asparagus fronds soon. There are some female plants so there are some seeds getting ripe and as i want to use the spent fronds as mulch on the other beds, i'm gonna need to detach the seeds from them.

Yeah, I don't know much about this asparagus growing. As a kid, my mom kept a patch that died out when we got a shed next to it, more tree shade, and she went back to work, night shift nurse. That was about my total exposure to it. This stuff was dug up at a friend's house, bed was idle/wild for probably 15 years, and the bank was getting the place, so I dug it out. They were skinny. Some of them didn't make it into the second year. Then a year ago I dug some out from an overgrown but current patch. So I hope next year we have better success. It looks strong now, with the drip tape. There were asparagus beetles this year for the first time, so I guess they came from the second shovel clump transplants. The fence blocks the early spring sun, so I think it is a bit too cold early in the year and not an ideal spot. There are some ferns/fronds/whatever, some plants, that have seeds, and some that don't.

I think that mantis is a male, much skinnier and smaller than the females. There was a big female in the yard last week. When I saw that one yesterday, I told him, "you keep your head on straight buddy, and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Mark_Thompson wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:44 pm Sweet potato and Cleome, big thanks to whoever had Cleome earlier in this thread, made an eBay order as soon as I saw it and they seem to be fairly happy.

I have White Queen, Cherry Queen and Rose Queen if you need or want more colors. Not only are these pollinator friendly but they make a great deer deterrent due to their thorns and funky fragrance that some people say they can smell.

Bower wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:37 pm It annoys me that I never know who the pupae are. Always end up tossing them for the birds.
I LOVE how that stick insect turns and looks right into the camera. Inspiration for a thousand sci fi movies....

There is a sci fi story about tinkering scientists reactivating pupation genes in a human that were dormant since our chordate ancestors. Then they wait to see what will come out...

JRinPA wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:47 pm 01.JPGHere is a big cigar pupa I found the other day, at my comm garden compost pile next to the tomatoes. It is 2" long and I was wondering if it could be a luna moth, but it is probably more likely it is a big hornworm. I didn't find a single hornworm this year, though.

Unfortunately, I think I shoveled off the tip/tongue end. But I put it in a dish of compost to try to make it anyway. It was wiggling for hours after I dug it up.

06.JPG08.JPG10.JPG

No it's not a Luna Moth. They spin cocoons which either are wrapped in a leaf or lie on the ground. It could be a hornworm or another sphinx type of moth. There are several other moths butterfly's that pupate underground.

Some of what is blooming in October...

Passiflora manicata An unknown invasive weed (liked by bees) Blue plumbago bush Pink canna Red Porter Weed in a pot Tradescantia pallida (invasive and bees like) Milkweed bug on milkweed Plumeria started from a cutting last year

Beautiful! I believe your blue invasive weed (liked by bees) is Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis L.). It's in the spiderwort family, is edible, and formerly was used as an art pigment in eastern Asia. Nice article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/nyre ... lower.html

Steven Bends, thank you, my invasive weed does indeed look like Asiatic Dayflower.

Only a few buds left on the passion vine and it's over until next year. This photo shows a flower with a fruit to the right above it.
I've grown plumeria for years and years, but this is the first time I have ever seen what I think is a seed pod.
A late bloom on a crinum.
The shrimp plants do not do well during the worst heat of the summer, but as things cool off just a little bit they thrive.

SpookyShoe wrote: ↑Fri Oct 08, 2021 5:36 pm Steven Bends, thank you, my invasive weed does indeed look like Asiatic Dayflower.

My mother said it was a weed when I picked some seeds to bring home to BC from her Toronto garden. I've had it growing ever since as a weed. I never save seeds but there are always a few plants around. Such a pretty blue.

Thanks for the memory, my mother tried and tried and tried to grow a shrimp plant. They all died on her. Finally on her last one a neighbor said something about loving them. So she handed the neighbor the 2/3s dead plant. A month later the neighbor asked if she wanted it back since it was so beautiful and covered in blooms. Mom said nope she would just come and visit it.

Now here's a sight that's rare (for me). Passionflower blooming this late in the year and attracting bees.

Garden as of November 20th. Feeling hopeful.