Turn the Page ...

The sun is setting notably earlier these days.  I'm enraptured by the way blooms look in the early evening.

I have a better appreciation for Rudibeckia this year
(They have fleshed out in sweeps of late-season color)

I don't remember Labor Day weekend feeling so much like 'the pivot point for a seasonal change', but for some reason this year, it did.  It could have to do with the fact that it was 96 degrees and humid Friday (09/02/11) and 67 degrees and breezy on Monday (09/05/11)??!  I'm in a quarterback 'fall back' position on gardening right now.  Taking a step back, walking around - looking at what has done well, what is getting established and what is struggling.  And, timing is everything...

Camping out in my 3-Season room Labor Day weekend 2011

After 7 years of 'garden' journal-ling, my "Quad-rule Mead Composition Book" is full --- to the brim, if you look at it on the left.  It's jammed with notes, sketches, plant tags, post-its - you name it (there were 'lean' years where not much was written).  This weekend, I had to break down an buy a new one.  I splurged!  Instead of spending $0.99 on the traditional black variety, I bought a glossy-finished, cosmic-colored composition book for $2.00, though I did have to sacrifice the "quad-rule" for 'wide-rule'.

A peek at the "Sun Garden" through the window
(Pink Guara is bursting everywhere - LOVE this for a cottage-style garden)

So I've 'turned the page' - quite a few actually - in my new 'Garden Journal II'.  I'm making notes for "Wishlist 2012".  On the top of this list - more 'orange' perennials, to mix in with purple and pink - big, random splashes of color.  Just because.  More gardens in 'full sun'.  Exploit the west side of the house - where there is +5 hours of sun.  'Blow out' the Cottage Garden to include larger patches of 'sunny' space.  (Jim, at Jim & Pat's Gardening Adventure, suggested making the garden bigger from the start.)

"Sweet Autumn Clematis" in bloom recently

It's time to get 'the nerve' (like Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz), and cut in more garden in the front yard - where it's sunny most of the day.  I was thinking of making an island of just Illinois natives?  Just a thought...

It's not the most crisp photo I've taken,
but I just love the slender grace of the Pink Guara bloom

In the new journal, I made a list of the plants I added to the gardens this year in 2011.  It didn't seem like a bunch, until I looked back in review.  I checked off a bunch of 'wishlist' plants:  perennial Hollyhock (Alcea Mars Magic), Bluestar (Amsonia Hubruchtii), 'Morning Light' Maiden Grass, variegated Jacob's Ladder, Bugbane (Actaea ramosa "Brunette"), "Petite Snow" Butterfly Bush, Asiatic Lily (Lillium "New Wave"), Candytuft ('Snowflake') and Japanese Anemone (Anemone sylvestris).   Spring / Summer 2012 will be an interesting 'growth' season - I'm anxious already!

Bounty from a farmers' market at a recent event
(My friend's keen sense of style & me with a camera...)

Next season, I have to make a note to appreciate local gardeners more.  A friend of mine explores local farmers' markets frequently.  Nothing says beauty like fresh cut flowers, but my gardens are small and I'm a bit selfish - wanting to see perennial blooms in the garden as long as possible.  Farmers market, ho!

So now - it's on to Garden Mums, Petunias Pansies (Thanks for the correction, Lizz: Garden Mensa) and cleaning up the gardens for next Spring.

Mums & Petunias
(Orange & purple - bold n daring from one of my garden mensas!)

Hope your gardens are all the delight you imagine.. and more, as we turn the page to a new season.