The other day I was sitting in Studio Gardens (the area in front of my art studio) enjoying the early evening and early fall. You wouldn’t know it was fall except it’s very dry. I’m watering more now than all summer it feels like. The temperatures have been pretty higher than normal for this time of year.
I’m enjoying the warm temperatures though. Times like this, listening to my waterfall trickle into the koi pond and the crickets singing always feels almost perfect. The air is not as humid as summer and as the sun goes down, so does the temperatures. The nights are getting chilly and it won’t be long and I’ll be wearing jackets and pants.
I’m behind on getting my greenhouse cleaned out, so my houseplants are still outside. It’s been plenty warm for them to be outside but it’s time to move them in. Their summer vacation is over.
Part of me is ready to slow down with all the watering, which takes me a couple hours, but part of me wishes it lasted all year long. I love gardening and summer allows me to have a jungle in my yard. Fall is more comfortable for outdoor activities except swimming and most of the plants seem to welcome the rest from the harsh late summer sun. Blooms have a little more vibrant color to them and my cooler loving nasturtiums are perking up.
They are looking so healthy right now, but will get really leggy when I put them in the greenhouse because it gets quite warm in there while the sun is out. They are a plant I love to have in the greenhouse.
Talk about healthy, how about these colocasia growing in my koi pond? They absolutely love it in this space. I’ll have to just let them die, as the roots are a tangled mess in with the waterfall rocks.
Another cool loving plant are these snapdragons. They have been doing great actually most of the summer too except the squirrels love to munch them down to nothing. These grew back from stubs left from that varmint!
Fall brings many art shows and Christmas time crunch for me. I’m currently working on a commission of a sea turtle painting. I’m also making big plans for my Halloween Costume this year! My friend is hosting a Halloween Party and I’m helping out. I’ll be searching through all my previous costumes and decide what I’ll create next. Got any good ideas? I love it scary!
See my past costume creations right here.
Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page in the menu at the top. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts and have started created more and more of them. My most favorite thing to try to achieve in my painting is is mystery.
If you would like to keep up with what I’m doing, I have a newsletter e-mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. I’d love for you to add your email to my Friends and Collectors list!
Thanks for sharing the garden photos. I’m also enjoying having the rain back so I can quit watering so much. We had a much drier than normal summer. And I’m enjoying not having to weed as much! Even when the sun is out now, there’s an underlying coolness in the air, and the days are growing much shorter. All signs of nature slowing down and getting ready for sleep. Thanks for the reminder to move pots in!
Thanks Lisa for the nice comment. I love sharing photos of my gardens and plants and can talk plants all day long, haha! In my area, we had a decent amount of rain this past summer so the drier fall is reminding me what it’s like to hold a garden hose. Yes, nature slowing down is a great way to put it. At least the plants are, the squirrels here and busy little buggers!
Squirrels and mice. For the first time in years we have busy mice coming in the house. Found a huge nest under the hood of our stove when we turned the broiler on and caught it on fire. Blah. Wonder what that predicts for the coming winter.
Gah!! A mouse house fire is no good indeed. I fight those little buggers all year long at my house. I have three cats and while they do catch them occasionally, I think the majority of mice are where the cats cannot get into, like my attic and in the walls. Also, the two older cats are quite fat and lazy while the new kitten hasn’t encountered a mouse yet. It will be interesting to see what he does!
Funny that you mention squirrels, I just ran one off the deck a few minutes ago. My fierce studio dog, Zoey, despises them. They devour my plants out there. Just this summer I had the satellite guy over installing a new one and discovered a hole in the attic that they must’ve been using as a doorway to get into our attic! The pink insulation literally had a trail tromped through it where they had been coming in and out. There is an area of my attic that is closed off over our kitchen and a small hole leading to it and that is where they had been living – quite comfy too – for a long time. My son and I heard things in the attic last winter! Little bastards.
I do wonder what this winter will look like. I feel like winters are not as cold or wet as they used to be. Here it is October 6th and I still have my houseplants outside (zone 6b) with not a worry about them at all at least for the next week. Moving everyone back into the greenhouse used to be a mid September ordeal, not so much these last few years. But you never know.
I’m so glad you caught that fire before it got out of hand Lisa. Don’t forget to check the furnace before lighting any pilot lights!
I love gardens that have a very natural look like yours. Mine is the same. Some my neighbors have everything so manicured with not a blade of grass out of place. That feels very unnatural to me. Gardens should have a life of there own and just be slightly guided by our hand. Yours is beautiful.
Thank you Donna! I’ve seen your pretty garden via photos and it is a beautiful little piece of paradise offering refuge for all the little critters, birds, butterflies and insects! I agree with you on not wanting a manicured garden. I love a wild look, closer to what you see when you go for a walk in the woods only I like a lot more flowers! I have so much garden to take care of that I don’t think I could keep it manicured if I wanted to, unless that was all I did, ha ha. Thank you for your kind words, we share so much in common that if only we lived closer to one another I know we’d be fast friends!
Oh we’d be painting up a storm outside in the gardens for sure! Plein Air!
<3 Yes!
I always love getting a peek at your gardens, Jaime. Last night we had our first hard frost and everything is really looking sad. I brought in a LOT of peppers and tomatoes yesterday, squash and flowers, too. I’m going to miss my daily harvests.
As always, I’m jealous of your greenhouse. Bet you can bring pots of herbs to enjoy throughout the winter. I bring in my rosemary, and this year lemon verbena (which is already looking a little sad), but other things (like basil) just don’t do well in the house in the winter. Ah well, someday…
Fun to catch up with your blog. Hope you’re doing well.
Wishing you joy!
Oh Anne, don’t be jealous! It’s a ton of work to have the greenhouse and it never works out quite as planned. After swearing I was going to cut down on the amount of plants to save this year, it’s totally packed again. Sadly, the temperature swings and humidity swings sometimes make it hard to keep things looking very good for long. By winter it seems I’ve got a sick plant ward. They hobble along until spring arrives with temperatures warm enough to set them outside again.
I always have a hard time with rosemary, I have never been able to keep it inside. You must have a gift! Salvias do very well and they also seem herby to me. Lemon verbena would probably do good. Basil might as well. I just don’t typically grow many cooking herbs simply because I really don’t know what to do with them. I’ve got some pretty picky eaters, too. Someday.
I’m so glad you popped by and visited many of my last few posts! Wishing you joy and maybe a little fright just for today 😉 Happy Halloween!