Welcome to the second season! That’s what a lot of Southeners call the late summer/early fall days when the intense heat & humidity finally break. We can venture outside in the middle of the day (!) and not come back inside steamy, drenched in sweat and bug bitten - huzzah! Sitting on the porch becomes a viable option again.
If you’re a gardener, these are exciting days. You are no longer running around every morning and evening watering, watering, watering! And maybe even putting parasols over your more delicate plantings to protect them from the searing sunshine (true). It’s incredibly refreshing. Things go from just trying to survive, to actually growing again.
Then there’s the prospect of actual crisp, fall days in the offing.
I've become much more interested in flower gardening over the last few years. We've always had our herbs and a few vegetables. Fortunately for us, this house came with a beautiful yard full (I mean full to the brim) of daffodils in early spring and irises around Eastertide. We have irises everywhere.
And we've always put out a few pots of flowers in the summer, but I've had a desire to have beds of flowers over the last few years. We're working on a couple of new flower beds right now. Getting them ready and adding in some soil amendments. There are a few things we can plant in the fall to get them settled in before the spring growth starts.
I tend to prefer more old-fashioned flowers, and lately, I've had a huge thing for pansies and violas. My husband bought me this book for my birthday and I've been reading and planning. It's a feast for the eyes as well as being full of practical information.
One of the good things about our planting zone (we're in the "lower south, zone 8a") is we can basically grow pansies year round. The pansies we put out in the fall always make it through to spring and usually peter out in the blazing heat of summer. After reading a bit about them, I'll be trying a couple of tricks next summer to try and keep them from frying to a crisp!
For us, this time of year is just as exciting as spring when it comes to green and growing things.
Do you have a favorite gardening season? A favorite flower?
I'm Robin, the designer behind October House. You've found my journal, where I talk about stitching, sewing and anything else that might catch my fancy!
Make something beautiful today!
"My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read." - Abraham Lincoln
