Tuesday Night's Storm

Tuesday night our area was hit pretty hard by a storm.  We lost power at our house for about 36 hours, but there are still people without power today (Friday) as I write this.  We did not have any storm damage at our house.  We thought a big branch broke off of our tree, but it turned out it was a branch from a neighbor's tree who lives two houses away.  It was eventually confirmed that 5 tornadoes came through our area that night.  Thankfully their were no fatalities from the storm.  I can honestly say I have never seen lightning like it before in my life.  It was continuous, like a flashbulb just kept going off over and over again.

What's still blooming Nov. 17th

Fall is in Full Force

Noisy Blue Jay

Saturday afternoon I was sitting in the house when I heard a very loud bird in the backyard.  It sounded like a hawk, so I went to the window expecting to see a hawk chasing down one of our chipmunks.  Many of my neighbors were standing in their backyards looking to the sky, so the bird definitely had garnered much attention.  When it finally flew down to take a drink out of the bird bath I realized it was not a hawk but a blue jay.  I didn't realize it, but blue jays often mimic hawks.  My friend, Rob, told me they have even been known to mimic cell phones.

Plants that rocked this summer's weather

As labor day is coming to a close I am looking back on summer.  The weather was so incredibly hot and the lack of rain was scary.  Then I saw that the topic on Gardenchat this week was "survival of the fittest" what plants survived this summer.  So I had to take a look out in the garden to see what plants rocked through this summer's weather.  Here are the plants that seemed to thrive:

Heliopsis

Phlox

Brown-eyed Susans

Hydrangea (my woody stemmed varieties)

Pulmonaria

Anemone

Asters and Mums

Goldenrod

Visit to my friend Jill's garden

I finally got around to visiting my friend Jill's garden.  It is amazing - AMAZING!  It makes me wonder just how many more wonderful gardens there are hiding out in Wisconsin.  I might just have to find out next summer!  But for now here is a photo journey through Jill's gardens:

Cheesehead Gardens 8/7/2012

It's been a rough summer with the lack of rain, cutworm damage, and high temperatures, but here is a peak at my garden right now.

Hosta 'Ginsu Knife'

Hosta 'Ventricosa' sport

Hosta 'Velvet Moon' & 'Borsch #1'

Hosta 'Gumdrop' & 'Liberty'

Hosta 'Night Before Christmas'

Hosta 'Pilgrim'

Hosta 'Golden Gate'

Hosta 'Striptease'

Hosta 'Satisfaction'

Hosta 'nigrescens'

Hosta 'Sum it Up' my largest leaf hosta

hosta 'nigrescens'

Hosta 'Dream Queen'

Hosta 'Lakeside Surf Rider'

Hosta 'Parhelion'