I think Fall has arrived!

Beautiful, Iris43. Just beautiful. I am so glad the dahlias came for you. I just love the colour of the Peach Brandy ( 3rd one )

-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown

Those are great pictures.Do you agree with the old wife’s tale about the colchicums flowering six weeks before the first snow??

Simply stunning Iris. I hope that Pam and I get to visit one day – your property looks so nice and so well maintained.

-- Pam grows 'em - I cook 'em...... Melbourne, Fl

Jroot, thank you again for the beautiful dahlias. I think they look so pretty in my garden. They have been blooming for several weeks but only recently the bloom got ahead of the grasshoppers gnawing, so the blooms look really nice. Do you have problems with grasshoppers spoiling your flowers?

Horsetail, I have never heard that partcular old wives’ tale about colchicums. LOL I am going to mark their first bloom on the calendar and see if it’s true.

Hi Harold. I hope you come up here to Canada to visit someday too…...maybe next year for the GardenTender/LumberJocks/Homerefurbers get-together in Sept.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

What a great show of flowers, Iris!. Dahlia is going to be my first priority in my garden. I had geraniums in my garden when I was new to gardening. They are so nice. Is it true that their leaves are edible? They have a peculiar perfume, if I remember correctly. If they thrive in cooler temperatures I must get them now. Sweet Autumn clematis looks fantastic on the fence. Here the fences are decorated by various colors of Bougainvillea.
Alysium and Colchicums are also so good.

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

Iris, your yard is always so lovely, every season. I really like the Clematis covering the fence. The flowers are beautiful as a mass and so delicate individually. Fall is one of my favorite times of year here. I don’t know what kind of music everyone likes, but I find myself listening to this Cheryl Wheeler song every fall. It is about New England, but I think the lyrics could easily apply to much of northern North America.

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

just GORGEOUS .. ok, more than “just”—

my fall clematis has almost covered my clothesline stand this year. It’s looking so wonderful.
and the aroma .. mmm

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Iris, The grasshoppers seem to be leaving the dahlias alone. I have a pot of tobacco and they really seem to prefer to knaw on the tobacco than the other plants. I think they are addicted to “chewing tobacco”. LOL My plan was to have a sacrificial plant available so they leave the others alone. The flowers and foliage of the tobacco was interesting however, so it wasn’t a total visual loss. I’ve saved a few seeds for next year. I trust the stem and remaining leaves will make good compost.

Like RFG, I love the clematis on the fence. I had one like that a few years ago, but it didn’t make it one winter. I should investigate getting another. I really like its appearance.

-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown

Love those dahlias;they are such showy flowers.That clematis is really showy also.Oh what am I saying.I love them all. LOL

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Sharad, I have not heard that you can eat geraniums…....from the smell of them, I don’t think I’m brave enough to taste them. :) I have seen fences covered with bouganvillea, in Florida. It is such a wonderful plant, the jewel-tone colours!

I’m glad you liked the pics…..you know how much I enjoy showing them off.

RFG, I listened to your Cheryl Wheeler recording and loved it! LOL I think I could easily substitute ‘On-tar-io’ for ‘New England’ in the song and it would fit perfectly. LOL While I get anxious about winter’s arrival with the onset of Fall, that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the cooler temps and wonderful colours and taste of Fall. Time to visit the apple farm again….can hardly wait for the first crisp, juicy crunch of the newly picked apples.

Haha! MsDeb, I knew you would have wonderful success with the Sweet Autumn clematis. And you’re right, they have a wonderful fragrance.

Jroot, I heard of another flower gardener that grew tobacco this year and loves it bc the Japanese beetles prefer it to his flowers. He said the same thing about the flowers. He grew it in a hedge with castor bean plants so it did not over-shadow other plants.

Here’s a pic of one of the dahlias that ‘Lurk” (Marj) recieved from you at our GT get-together. It’s beautiful!

Glad you enjoyed the pics, Bon.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Iris, my statement above about geranium being edible and has perfume has I think come from the confusion that geranium is also the common name of members of the genus Pelargonium (commonly known as ‘storksbill’ in distinction from ‘cranesbill’ for geranium). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelargonium I found that “Other than being grown for their beauty, species of Pelargonium such as P. graveolens are important in the perfume industry and are cultivated and distilled for its scent.———-The edible leaves and flowers are also used as a flavouring in desserts, cakes, jellies and teas.” The link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium states that ” Gardeners and the horticultural trade often refer to true geraniums as “hardy geraniums”, to distinguish them from the less hardy pelargoniums (generally grown as annuals in temperate climes), and most garden “geraniums” (without the ‘hardy’ appellation) are in fact pelargoniums (storksbills), as opposed to true geraniums (cranesbills).” I hope you will find this information very interesting.
Thanks for sending one more picture of Dahlia. It is so nice.

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

Yes, I like that dahlia also. It’s a beauty. Nice shot of it. I don’t have too many of that one. :(

Sharad, I can’t imagine eating pelargonium leaves, but that is what wikipedia says. I just can’t imagine getting past the strong odour, and I imagine taste. Mind you, wikipedia sources of information must be questioned as they are merely posted by folk not necessarily experts in the field. Personally, I am not a willing subject in the taste test category. :)

-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown

Thanks Jroot, I will be careful with wikipedia.
A fragrant geranium is a grassy plant, with a lot of branches and leaves. It has fine leaves with a strong smell. Often this smell resembles a lemon, but there are fragrant geraniums with a smell of a rose, mint or nutmeg and even with a smell of an apple and an orange. The flowers of this kind of a geranium are fine, pink or lilac, collected in umbrellas. This plant is usually chosen not for its colors, but because of odorous leaves. They can be used instead of fragrant leaves in any fragrant small pillows and as spices. This is from the link
http://www.thehouseplants.com/pelargonium/

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

Iris, your flowers are gorgeous. The way I know it’s fall in my yard is the camellias start to bloom. And….they have.

-- The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet