Wednesday morning I did this little watercolor of an arava leaf (you might recognize it as a willow leaf, its name in English). It is one of the many natural symbols in the upcoming holiday of Sukkot, which starts on Monday night, Oct. 13. I actually was only looking at one leaf, which I painted a few times on the same piece of watercolor paper. My son planted a little willow branch in the backyard this year, and I was afraid if I took off more than one leaf off the little “tree”, there wouldn’t be much tree left. My other son agreed that I should put some compost around the edges of the little plant. It certainly has been getting enough water, as we’ve had rain on and off lately. Maybe I’ll photograph our little willow for another post.
Because my white mums are growing right next to a tomato plant (I didn’t plant the tomato plant there; it grew in my flower garden, and I just let it be), I decided to call this post “Summer meets Fall”, with the tomato symbolizing summer the mums symbolizing fall.
A close-up of the same tomato
Here’s a red dianthus, which I bought in the middle of August when it was on sale and I wanted something red in my garden. Wouldn’t it be nice if it survives the New Jersey winter? It was considered an annual, but one never knows.
To participate in Ruby Tuesday, post a photo (or more) with a little red or a LOT of red. Then visit Mary the Teach at http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/ to submit your link.
I took some photos of my oak leaf hydrangea on Friday.
I bought this plant several years ago. At the time I really had in mind the type of hydrangea that has the blue or pink clusters of flowers. But the plant nursery did not have any of those, and the man recommended this one. The truth is, I find the flowers, which show up in the spring, not as exciting as the ones on the other types of hydrangea. The real beauty of this plant is the leaves. And now with autumn they are exhibiting lovely shades of red.
We are fortunate in our wonderful crop of raspberries that grow in our backyard. The bottom photo shows a bowl of these delightful berries that my husband picked. Truth is, these berries rarely make it into our kitchen, as we love to eat them in our backyard, right off the branch. No need for recipes. We get crop #1 in early July on old canes and #2 in late August on the new, green canes. One trick for maintaining these berry bushes is be sure to prune the old canes.
To participate in Ruby Tuesday, post a photo (or more) with a little red or a LOT of red. Then visit Mary the Teach at http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/ to submit your link.
Here is a portulaca in bloom. In the upper right corner, one can see white alyssum. More portulacas blooming by the sidewalk.portulaca bud
Portulaca or moss rose, which I grow in front of my house bordering the sidewalk, is one of my favorite flowers. I love watching the little buds grow. I love looking at the flowers in the middle of the day to see which one is in full bloom. They don’t need a lot of care, just weeding around them and sunlight.
Today’s Flowers is hosted by Luiz Santilli Jr. Thank you, Luiz!
I hate shopping for school supplies. I hate picking out all the notebooks. I hate it, I do, I do.
For the past few years, I’ve taken my sons. They hate it, too. This year, I left my eldest home, and my middle son was traveling on a bus home from camp (he’s now back), so I took my daughter. She didn’t seem to mind it that much, though when I asked if she wanted to look at skirts, she clearly just wanted to get out of the store.
Since we were close to my favorite plant nursery, Livingston Park Nursery on How Lane near Livingston Avenue in North Brunswick, we rewarded ourselves by going plant shopping. And taking photographs.
One of the reasons my daughter is happy is I bought her that purple costume she is wearing, a belated birthday present. Among my plant purchases were two of those little evergreen bushes behind her. Hopefully, we’ll have something green in our backyard in the dead of winter.
This is how the nursery looks:
I could have held unto this one until next Tuesday, so I could post it for Ruby Tuesday, a fun photography meme in which you post a photo that has red, but I like it too much to wait:
Finally, one good purpose for going to nurseries is that you find out the names of the plants that you already own. I don’t think I will forget Andromeda now:
On the other hand, I’ve already forgotten the name of the tall purple perennial I planted in my backyard. Is it loosestrife? lobelia? salvia? penstemmon? If it lives through September, I’ll take a photo of it and post it with a “please identify”.
Even though this is almost definitely NOT the flower referred to by Song of Songs, it is a beautiful flower to have growing in one’s backyard. Mine grew “by accident”, a cast-off from one of my neighbors’ plants. It grows like a weed. I just have to trim what’s growing around the little flowering tree.
This is my first submission to Today’s Flowers, which appear every Monday.
A while back when I planted my nasturtium seeds, I posted a watercolor of nasturtium, because I had no pictures of one. Now my garden is full of these pretty orange or yellow edible flowers, so I spent some time Friday afternoon photographing one in particular. The shooting mode of this chosen photo is called “Aperture Priority.” Setting a lower aperture value blurs a bit the background behind the subject.
See 
