How Does Your Garden Grow? 3 of 3

This will be my last post about gardening for the season, as the weather is cooling off and the weekend mornings aren't so bright and dry for digging around in the dirt. I have been putting the finishing touches on my beds: 42 holes and some mulch later, I hope to have hidden crocus and allium bulbs where the squirrels can't find them. The crocuses (croci?) should come up first thing next spring. I'll look for their purple and yellow heads when I take the compost back to the pile behind the shed. The purple allium mix won't bloom until late in the spring, when they will hopefully add color and depth to my lily and hosta beds.

To the left you can see the only annuals I will buy every year: marigolds, because they have such a cheery color. Plus, they're really easy, ::cough:: if you wait until after the last frost and remember to water them after putting them in the ground.... This is the second batch of twelve, now in its second bloom.

Next year's project will be the sad, sad bed around the side and back of the garage, which is currently host to a bedeviling mix of rocks, sticks, and spiky sweet gum seed pods. There is already the lilac bush I planted earlier this fall, and some purple tulips that a previous owner stuck right at the edge by the driveway. There used to be three hydrangea bushes, but alternating drought and harsh winter plus a fungus have killed them dead. I dug up the remaining two carcasses this morning and replaced them with pinkish sedums. In the spring I hope to start and transfer some sea shell cosmos seeds I got from church for helping with the children's ministries. I am thinking I would also like to get some black-eyed susan plants--they remind me of home--but I know they tend to overtake everything growing around them. Not sure if that is a positive or a negative. Nevertheless, if all goes according to plan, those beds should be a riot of color from spring through fall next year!