Fall flower bed

This weekend was a beautiful for moving the garden to the next stage.  The last week has taken out the last of the Zinnias in the front of the garden.  Dale spent a lot of time cleaning leaves from the lawns that he takes care of in the summertime.  He had a trailer full of leaves to go to the dump tomorrow.  It only made sense to add the dried sections onto it. 

Zinnias are done

I carefully picked a couple dozen dried flower heads of different shapes and sizes from different sections of the garden.  Hopefully the seeds inside will germinate next spring.  Then I pulled the plants carefully knocking the dirt from the roots. Some may judge the garden for what looks like weeds.  After all, what survives green in a garden at this time of year. 

Time for fall clean up

There is a variety of Black-eyed Suzie's still blooming.  I also realized that an early summer flower, Dianthus, is still blooming. You will notice some dried stems of flowers laying over the plants.  I leave them for a few purposes.  One way is to allow the seeds to fall and self plant in the earth for another year. These dried up stems will break apart more over the winter and in the springtime the birds will pick them up and use them for their nests.  

Perennials getting ready for next year

As I pull weeds, I must be very careful.  Sometimes it takes 2-3 years for the seeds to germinate.  So this tiny little lupine surprised me. (The star-shaped leaves in the picture below.)  I will need to plant more lupine next year.  I really enjoy them.

A tiny Lupine ready for next spring (on the right)

You will very rarely see my flower gardens pristine, without weeds or dried stems.  When working a fully functioning perennial garden, you must allow the plants to re-seed themselves with some guidance of plants where the seeds drift out of place. (Remember, a weed is just a flower out of place.)