Trick & Treat

I thought I'd share my husband's method for making the perfect roasted pumpkin seeds. Yes, I mean roasted, not toasted. All year, we look forward to eating them, as the store-bought ones just can't compare. We start with an organic pumpkin. The seeds are washed and separated from the pumpkin flesh. Then they are spread out flat on a baking sheet and, while still wet, they are doused with a copious amount of salt. No need for oil. Then it's into the oven on 250F for about an hour, until they look done. Nothing scientific here, it's more of an art and a watchful eye. The lower heat for a longer time allows for full drying, so the seeds aren't burnt, nor are they mushy and prone to rot. Of course ours never last long enough for that anyway.

Happy Halloween!

The Fall Finery of Wildflowers

Cornus alternifolia, the pagoda dogwood

As autumn reaches its color climax here in Northern Illinois, the wildflowers that provided floral beauty earlier in the year have put on their fanciest colors for a farewell performance.

Cercis canadensis, redbud

It's not just the trees and shrubs that provide this show.

Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflower

Some of the coneflowers are still blooming, but others are getting ready for the big sleep. Nearby, the Joe-Pye weed has its final fling.

Eupatorium 'Phantom'

Many of the perennial wildflowers also are show-offs, even in the shade.

Spigelia marilandica and Porteranthus a/k/a Gillenia trifoliata

Geranium maculatum

One wishes it could go on and on, but all too soon, the curtain closes.

This post is part of Wildflower Wednesday and the Fall Color Project 2011.

The Golden Afternoon Garden

Symphyotrichums, the ex-asters, in the Nanoprairie

Come into my garden, right now while the sun is warm. While many of the plants here are the same as those grown at Clay and Limestone, the more northerly latitude of Squirrelhaven renders the midday and afternoon sun's rays lovely rather than harsh, casting a golden glow.

Here, in the afternoon, the butterflies dance on the breeze.

red admiral butterfly, Cosmos 'Rose Bonbon'

Bees fill the air with the sound of their buzzing from bloom to bloom.

bumblebee in Symphyotrichum laeve 'Bluebird'

Please hurry, for it will not last. These fleeting gilded afternoons of autumn slip by too fast, and end all too soon.

Eupatorium 'Phantom'

A Glorious October Bloom Day

Lobularia maritima, Sporabolus heteroleptsis and Symphyotrichums laeve 'Bluebird' and novae angliae

Once again, it's time to showcase what's blooming as part of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens. October is one of my favorite months of the year, and this October hasn't disappointed, with the Nanoprairie in full bloom. Indian summer has come and gone, but the blooms remain. Soon, though, the tender things that have begun blooming with abandon will have to come inside, such as this Fuschia.

It has never bloomed so well during the summer.

Back for a renewed season of bloom are the lavender

Lavandula 'Hidcote' and Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies'

and

Dianthus 'Cranberry Ice'.

Aconitum carmichaelii

Monkshood have beautiful foliage all season, but the blooms are so worth the wait.

This is a new Knautia macedonia, 'Thunder and Lightning'.

I'm so pleased with how the Nanoprairie looks with the addition of a magenta New England ex-Aster from the back garden to set off the smooth blue ex-Aster 'Bluebird'.

The mother plant is a volunteer seedling. The wishy-washy pale pink Symphyotrichum novae angliae 'Harrington's Pink' (seen in the top photo) will be removed next year, to give this beauty more room.

What else is blooming:
Actaea simplex 'James Compton'
Anemone x hybrida 'Andrea Atkinson' and 'Party Dress'
Aster tataricus
Callibrachoa 'Blackberry Punch'
Campanula 'Samantha'
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Ceratotheca triloba alba (South African foxglove)
Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield Pink'
Clematis 'Evipo 031' (Bonanza) and 'Silver Moon'
Cosmos bipinnatus 'Rose Bonbon'
Diascia
Eurybia divaricata
other Fuschias
Geraniums 'Blogold' (Blue Sunrise), 'Bob's Blunder', 'Jolly Bee', Rozanne', nodosum 'Svelte Lilac'
Helleborus x hybridus 'Pink Lady' (just one freaky flower)
Heuchera 'Citronelle', 'Fire Chief', and 'Raspberry Ice'
Knautia macedonia
Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina'
Osteospermum 'Soprano Purple'
Pelargoniums
Petunias
Phlox paniculata 'David' and 'David's Lavender'
Rosa 'Carefree Beauty'
Sanguisorba 'Tanna'
Solidago 'Fireworks'
Symphyotrichum ericoides 'Snow Flurry'
Thalictrum thalictroides (Anemonella)
Tropaeolum majus (nasturtium)
Tricyrtis 'Gilt Edge', 'Gilty Pleasure', and 'Tojen'

Wordless Wednesday: Sunrise Japanese Anemones

Coloring Up

Symphyotrichum novae angliae (the New England ex-aster) in magenta

No, I haven't fallen off the map, nor have I been without power this last week. I've just been insanely busy. No time to sit and watch the bees on the ex-asters in the Nanoprairie, but hopefully I'll have more time next week. I the meantime, I'm enjoying the peak of autumn color here in Chicagoland as I whiz past it driving to and fro.

Anemone 'Andrea Atkinson' stand sentinel over the woodland, with Maianthemum racemosum (Smilacina racemosa) and Polyganatum showing full foliage color

The woodland garden is once again full of blooms and colors after its mid-summer rest. For the first time in memory, the Geranium maculatum foliage is shriveling more than turning its usual brilliant red. It's also doing it earlier, a testament to the extremes of the past summer.
Other things are performing strangely also, such as the Hosta plantaginea, which just finished blooming. It's usually done by mid-September.

Malus 'Prairiefire' in full color with potted blueberries & Hosta plantaginea

It's already turning, too. Makes for a sort of surreal effect.
There's been a whisper of frost on the front lawn earlier this week, today's high is around 80F/27C, and I've had to pull short-sleeved shirts and shorts back out from the nether regions of the closet. I love fall.