Why I Oughta...

The star of our early Fall garden?  It is clearly the Lucky Charm Anemone in the 'kitchen curved' bed in the backyard.  I've posted about this same 'early Fall' or 'late Summer' flower show over the years including last year when I showed it in late August .  Or in 2023 when I posted (again) in Late August .   I posted a month ago when this first started blooming in late August of this year.   This photo below is posted on the very last day of September, so more than a month later than the past two years.  I'd describe this as being 'peak bloom' right now with the top of the long flower stems being FULL of pink petals with yellow centers.  I've been using cuts of this flower in arrangements for the past few months and as the petals drop, what is left behind is a sort-of chartreuse 'ball' on top of the thin, wire-y stem that I can also use in the final few Dahlia arrangements in the next few weeks.  This is another 'garden win'...

The calendar may say September, but the elves over at Menards have been busy building out their annual Enchanted Forest.  "Merry Christmas. Merry, Merry Christmas."   The setup is full of lights, outdoor decor, ornaments, inflatables and indoor decorations (so far) and features two end-caps full of merchandise from Mr. Christmas.  Mr. Christmas has a site that shows off tons of their products .  And...includes some "Mr. Halloween" items, too.   Most of this stuff is vintage-adjacent, but almost all of it is 'mechanical' in some way and most of them are also 'musical'.  

We went down to see the Big Noon Kickoff show out in Grange Grove.  It was an interesting experience, but I'd be lying if I said that we were able to see much of anything.  Between the big crowd and all the signs up front, we mostly were watching the action on the video boards vs. seeing the crew on stage.  Still...was a a lot of fun to be a part of the energy down in Champaign in Grange Grove.  Never hurts to come away with the W, either. 

This was a birthday bouquet for a friend that includes a variety of dahlia blooms, a spray of Autumn Fern, some rosemary, Lucky Charm anemone and Artemesia Garden ghost for the upright white colors. The colors of some of the dahlias are changing as the season grows on: half of the Wizard of Oz have gotten much whiter.  The Melina Fleurs are darkening and the Ivanettis are doing what they do best:  showing off.

Two days ago, I posted a photo of a number of Pooh Collarette Dahlias in a bud vase that I had cut and brought in from the garden.  Today...there's another small vase that is full of even more Pooh Dahlias.  They are below in the photo.  About a week ago, I posted another photo of even more Pooh Dahlias in an arrangement and talked about how I'm cutting seven-to-ten(ish) blooms at a time (off of the two plants).   Some of the stems in this set are longer and some shorter: In that same post from a week ago , I showed a few other Collarette Dahlia varieties that I might try to buy (the tubers) this off season.  I'd like to have some that *work better* with the colors of the decorative and ball dahlias that I grow (purples, pinks, salmons, peaches).  

Back in May, I planted three small quart-sized containers of a new (to me) Nepeta named Chartreuse on the Loose .  I put them in near the timbers of the retaining wall for the pizza oven that is a part-sun spot.  It gets shade all morning, then full sun from late morning (as the sun comes over our house) until mid-afternoon (when the sun hides behind the canopy of the large trees in our backyard).   When they were planted, the three plants looked small.  And far apart from each other .   Now, four-plus-months later, here is what those same three small plug-like plants look like (below):  a colony of Nepeta. Back in the original post , I included this plant description from Walter's Garden on this variety of Nepeta: 'Chartreuse on the Loose' is a perennial with season long interest perfect for lining the front of the border. The foliage allows for a full three seasons of interest with bright chartreuse yellow leaves. Clusters of lavender blue flow...

With the weather-proofing complete on the oven (enclosure and roof structure/sheathing in place), I'm thinking I can start to use it a bit more regularly than I've been able to this Summer.  No need to look at the forecast and find windows where theres no rain in the next few days.  I had to peel off the tarp, install the chimney, fire-up the oven and use it.  Then, wait for it to cool down before I could remove the chimney and then re-cover with the tarp.   Now, the oven is ready to roll when I am ready to bake.  My priority #2 for this year - making the oven function - is completed .  I've learned over the past six months that if I am planning to fire-it-up on a specific day, it is best to light a small fire the night before.  That helps get the oven up to temp and makes the second-day pre-heating go faster/better/easier/quicker. That's what I did this past weekend.  I ran a 4-log fire on one evening.  The next day, I started the pre-h...