A Late Mish Mash Monday!

It has been a busy couple of weeks here at Dragonfly Corner-as evidenced by my lack of posting! Hopefully things are slowing down some and I can get back to the important business of reading garden blogs. :)

My Dad had a kidney removed last week. He had a large cancerous tumor on it that had started to spread into the renal artery. The Doctors at the Veteran's Hospital in Indianapolis are confident that they got it all and that he will make a complete recovery. I can't say enough good things about the staff there. They were all extremely helpful, very dedicated and kind, caring people.

He is at home now recuperating with the help of an old friend. At the age of almost 85, he is doing remarkably well. I think his recovery has to do with his determination to not let this get him down and the fact that he is extremely stubborn. Way to go Dad!

Summer is coming to an end-the grandgirls all go back to school this week. The angle of the sun has changed and casts a different light, the days are getting shorter and the sun is just starting to rise as I leave for work. Sigh..... But this field of sunflowers close to work starts my day with a smile.

A new color of seashell cosmos is making me smile also. :)

This is the bud of my newest delight. I do not remember planting this -I have 2 plants in fact. I have no tags for them-they just appeared! Thanks be to the Gardening Gods. I am in love with ....

....Datura! Pardon the hand, but I wanted you to see just how big these blooms are. They only bloom at night and last just a short while after daybreak. So to see them, I resort to taking a flashlight out into the gardens at night. Or check them out as I am leaving for work.

Raindrops glisten like diamonds on their snow white blooms.

If you want a glorious-exotic-easy to grow plant, this is it. I am in LOVE!

The raindrops on these caladiums caught my attention as well as...

on the nasturtiums.

I seem to have a lot of blue in the gardens now. I didn't plan it this way(maybe I should say I did!), but the of sight blues in the garden provides a cooling effect in the hot days of August. This morning glory was supposed to have been Heavenly Blue-one I started from seed this spring. Oh well, a few surprises make life interesting. It does look good on the new arch we put in just off the patio.

This annual, salvia Victoria Blue, has been an outstanding addition to my garden. I have it planted in several places and in several containers. I will use this again next year and will not go back to the perennial salvia This never needs deadheading and seems to do well no matter where it is planted.

Bachelor Button is blooming again after a short rest. This was a pass along plant last year and has more than doubled in size this year. Another easy to grow addition to the garden.

The color seems to fade a bit in this photo of one of my containers, but I can assure you it is glorious in person. I call this my 'blue' pot and it has Victoria Blue salvia, Beth's Blue laurentia, and a 'blue' petunia from Walmart. Hey, I liked the color. :)


And now.... dragonflies seen at the small pond where I work. I often use my lunch hour to walk around with my camera. Yes, my co-workers think I'm a little odd. :)

Aren't they beautiful!?

Remember I said summer was coming to an end??? I know because a mum has started blooming in the garden.

Have a great gardening week and enjoy the last few days of summer!

Fall Is In The Air!

This will be a note sort of post-not a lot new here at Dragonfly Corner. But I am getting tired of looking at my last post, so I am sure you are! I have worked some extra days this week, had a couple of doctor appointments, (more on that another time) and have been trying to get a little fall cleaning done. In other words, time has been in short supply for enjoying the garden, taking pictures or writing posts. I did want to share a few things with you and writing gives me a good excuse to sit for a while. I did manage to finally put a picture in my header. Wendy suggested I use the moonflower-aka 'heavenly blue' morning glory. It is still blooming and I see no end to the buds.

Fall is here. Or at least these butterscotch mums think so. The temperature dropped to 48 degrees last night so it is on it's way. This is one of my favorite colors for this time of year. Makes you think of football and pumpkins doesn't it?

There are very few cone flowers left. This one is still attracting moths and butterflies. I'm not sure, and this is not a great picture, but I think this is called a wolf moth. Most have gone to seed like the one on the right. I had thought about cutting the heads off to save the seed and cleaning up some of the stalks, but one of the bloggers(can't remember who-sorry) has suggested leaving them for the finches and other birds to enjoy. Sounds like a great idea to me!

The 'teddy bear' sunflowers, courtesy of Cheryl, are still blooming. These have been a delightful flower. They have bloomed all summer long, the blooms last for weeks at a time and the butterflies and bees have loved them. I am going to save some of these seeds for myself.

Speaking of butterflies-the zinnias are still blooming and attracting more than their share of butterflies. The 'painted ladies' have been thicker in the gardens this year than I can ever remember. It could be because of the zinnias. I have really enjoyed them this year and plan on planting more next year. Maybe I will even use some for cut flowers. This year, I couldn't bring myself to cut any of them.

I was a little disappointed at this picture. The caladium leaves are a much deeper red than shows. I have the container sitting in front of the morning glory and the contrast is striking. In the past, I have neglected to dig my bulbs up for the winter thinking it was just as easy to buy new the next spring. This year, I plan on at least trying to save them. (and still buying more next year!)

You may have seen a spider like this on Gail's blog a while back. It's a Argiope aurantia-female. In the comments, several different names were mentioned. It seems this species covers a wide area and there were lots of local names for it. My grandmother always called it and 'educated' spider I think because of the z's it makes in the middle of it's web. What ever you call it, I call it yucky! There are several of them around the house and in the gardens. Now, having been converted by some of you bloggers, I let them stay and do their thing as long as they do it outside. Now if they try to come into the house....

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Fall will be a busy time for all. The gardener has much to do to get the garden ready for it's long winters nap. Have I started yet-no. Have you?

Enjoy your gardens!

A Little Whimsy, A Little Gardening!

I have been reading in others' posts about 'Whimsy' in their gardens. Gardening Gone Wild's designer workshop this month in Whimsy in the Garden. I have loved all the art work, fanciful and playful creatures, and downright silliness. I don't have much, as I just can't seem to find things that jump out at me and say 'take me to your garden'. But I decided to show you what I do have. What would Dragonfly Corner be without a dragonfly?

And you may remember the antique lightning rods rescued from the roof when we put on new shingles. I have 3 of these-only 2 have the glass balls. This one has a morning glory growing up it that is the same color blue as the ball. Another one is covered ball and all with a moon plant.

I have always loved yard or garden flags(I think that is what they are called). This is my first year to have one. Notice the Kobold liatris beside it that is just starting to bloom. I found these bulbs at Aldi's (discount grocery) this spring for a really good price. My first time for these, too.

And that is my little bit of whimsy. I have been thinking of adding more, but probably not til next spring. Maybe I just need to loosen up a little and let whimsy take hold.

This is a container with my yellow impatiens that I paid a fortune for. I am not very happy with them as they are much more a peachy color. Maybe they are getting too much sun. But what I really wanted to show you were the Bells of Ireland! I started these from seed and was so pleased to see them actually bloom. They would have looked great with a yellow to contrast or compliment the pale green. Oh well, they are still pretty.

I just had to show Silver Mound Artemisia, another first for me. Planted this spring from an 8" pot, it has more than doubled in size! I think I will have to get some more of this next year. What a great plant. Above and beside it are some pass along plants. Yarrow from Rose and I'm not sure now about the top one.

A small mass of zinnias started from seed indoors.

This was the first day lily I ever planted. I have had it about 5 years now and divided it 3 times. It is a prolific bloomer and a fast grower. Wish I knew the name! (sigh)

Yellow glads planted to try and get some other colors in my garden besides pink and purples. I did plant some purple ones thinking the combination of colors would be pleasing. As it turns out the purples were more lilac with white throats and they bloomed a lot earlier than the yellows. Not all plans work out the way you want.

My coral bells are blooming, although they are puny little flower stalks. I have seen some with blooms that really show. I shouldn't complain as the foliage is exceptionally nice this year.

My first delphinium! This is one of those plants I bought a little later in the spring. It is supposed to be Magic Fountain Lavender. Even taking into account the camera's penchant for turning purples into blues, this is not lavender. So, I'm not sure what the actual name is. But being as it is purple-it can stay!

Some of the caladium bulbs I planted have really grown large leaves. This one is cupped and holding rain drops from the light showers we had the night before. The red doesn't exactly go with the pink and purple wave petunias, but does look good next to the sweet potato vine. As large as this vine has gotten, next year I am thinking of doing a container of just them and a couple of tall plants-maybe the dark red spikes they have now.

And lastly, Sum and Substance is blooming. I love the big snow white flowers almost as much as I do the hosta's leaves. If you look really closely or enlarge this picture, you will see..... did you guess? A Japanese Beetle! I couldn't believe they were going after another kind of plant. They are really being obnoxious this year, sampling just about every plant and bloom in my garden.

This is probably it from Dragonfly Corner for this week. We have the 'big move' on Saturday. I am going to my Dad's Tuesday to help (do) with the packing. He will be staying with us for a couple of weeks while waiting for his new apartment to become empty. Luckily, we can store all of his things in the garage of the new place.

I hope all enjoy their gardens this week!