This is September last year..this year looks about the same..mid September
{{gwi:357262}}

Here's earlier in the season. Shoulda posted both. Ask me anything about contents.
{{gwi:344766}}

Very Pretty ")
In the first pic what are the red & blue flowers? & also the tall red one in the far right?
jan ")

Blue morning glories on the arbor, also blue ageratum in the bed edge. Tall red is amaranth, Bishop's plume. :0)

http://www.amazon.com/Fallscaping-Extending-Garden-Season-Autumn/dp/1580176801/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I have to get that book Fallscaping.

Your garden look gorgeous!!! I have a lot of flowers going by now, more due to time than weather. It amazes me how many times I go through the gardens to make sure they still look ok. Time! I need more time!!!

Lol.

Wendy! I am so glad you posted that pic again! I could not find it anywhere! I absolutely LOVE that pic! Can I come live with you?...lol....I promise,I wont get in the way and I will stay right there on the other side of the arbor! :)

Wow, Wendy, just gorgeous! Your MGs are beautiful!

:)
Dee

Wendy is making me drool again... Stop it!!

That is a pretty garden....Nice work.... Barb

Wendy, those are gorgeous pictures! How long have you been working on these gardens?

This is what the edge of my yard looked like in spring 05 when I first discovered w/s. I bought a few alyssum seeds and got some perennials from kind exchangers to get me started.
{{gwi:445187}}

Went nuts the next spring..totally widened the bed and made hypertufa rocks to edge it. Bottles that have sprouted are set out where I was planning to plant them. Made lots of mistakes, i.e. shasta daisy and coreopsis way too close to the front..oh well..I'll be moving things around next spring now that so much is established.
{{gwi:359927}}
Basically the bird bath has always been in the same place..got the arbour for Christmas from my kids, so I dug in another lasagna bed to accommodate it, as seen in the shots way above. Mowing the lawn now is an interesting adventure.
Would not, or could not have done all this if I didn't have to find room for w/s sprouts!

Just wanted to say to wendy2shoes that your garden is a work of art! I wish I could stop being so functional sometimes when I see these pictures!

Thanks for all the compliments guys, but the thanks goes to everyone who showed me the "method", and shared seeds. I try to spread the "Trudi way" around. Wintersown.org is the site I recommend to anyone who wants to know how I got my garden to thrive (and to anyone else who doesn't want to know) LOL.
I'm the crazy lady who walks the dog and picks up pop bottles from complete strangers' recycling boxes.
My SIL spends $300-$400 every spring on bedding plants, and her garden is "pooped" (i.e. gone to seed and tired looking) every year by mid august.
This is definitely the way to go.

I don't have pictures, but as of today, the things I have blooming in my MN garden are

dahlias
cosmos
nicotiana
4 oclocks
marigolds
amaranth
verbena bonariensis
sunflowers
standing cypress
calendula
rudbeckia
mums
asters
boltonia
hollyhocks
daylilies
roses
physostegia
coreopsis moonbeam
a few stray sweet william and echinacea
heliopsis
dianthus
strawberries
larkspur
a few phlox blossoms and rose campion
sedum
impatiens
sweet autumn clematis (almost done)
alyssum
lobelia
violas
campanulas
strawflowers
tithonia

Stage Rat,
Here are some pictures of my garden-
I thought it would be neat to see how it has progressed throughout the year-also included are 2006 pics when I started this whole mess!!LOL!!
These are "working pictures", taken so I can remember what went where so they're not as pretty as Tiffy's!
Hers should be in Birds and Blooms!!
2006
{{gwi:351784}}
JUNE
{{gwi:336356}}
JULY
{{gwi:351785}}
OCTOBER
{{gwi:351786}}
2006
{{gwi:351787}}
JUNE
{{gwi:336355}}
JULY
{{gwi:347551}}
OCTOBER
{{gwi:351788}}
2006
{{gwi:351792}}
JUNE
{{gwi:351794}}
JULY
{{gwi:351796}}
OCTOBER
{{gwi:351798}}
2006
{{gwi:351799}}
JULY
{{gwi:351800}}
OCTOBER
{{gwi:351801}}
I did alot of ripping and rearranging in August, so no pics and October pics look rough in some spots!!
Hope you enjoyed!!
-B

Sorry Wendy!!
I was thinking(bad idea!)that it was Tiffy's pics earlier on this thread!!(Tiffy's gardens are picture perfect too!)
I wish my MG looked like that, right now it's mush:-(
-B

Mine look like cooked spinach now too! We had a killing frost last night. Most all the annuals are pooched. Going to let nature happen for another week or so..less clean up if everything is wilted and dried.

Same here! This thread popped up the day after our first hard freeze, and I was wishing I had taken a few more pictures before it happened, but I was so busy, frantically harvesting all of my veggies that I didn't think about it.

I don't have any good long shots like Wendy's, my garden looks better in close ups, so you don't see all of the areas that need work!

Anyway, these are the last photos I could find from this season:

Island bed. Note to self - pinch the mums back more next year, they are swallowing the Physocarpus 'Coppertina'. If you are wondering why it is so lopsided, it's because the deer keep snacking on it!
{{gwi:204352}}

The Solidago 'Fireworks' in the back is short this year because I cut it back when I moved it earlier this summer. Another note to self, move the short yellow mum to the front next year, LOL!
{{gwi:445190}}

This is the last shot I have of the veggie garden
{{gwi:358026}}

This is about HALF of what I harvest the day before the first frost!
{{gwi:22386}}

The herb garden. The juniper and mums were there before I turned it into an herb garden
{{gwi:445191}}

I have to include at least one close up. This Gaillardia 'Oranges & Lemons' started blooming at the beginnig of June, and never stopped until the first frost. Hardest worker in the garden this year!
{{gwi:445192}}

... and finally, because I'm so proud of DH's hard work, and can't wait to grow grape vines over the top, here is a shot of the newly built pergola.
{{gwi:445193}}

Thanks for letting me share,
Bonnie

Brandy..was that gooseneck loosestrife in the first picture? I hope so because I got a few small shoots into the island bed this year. (I understand it likes to spread).

Wendy, I don't have any loosetrife,but now its on my want list, thanks!!LOL!! In the first picture there is a white butterfly bush-I had to move it 'cause it was too close to the sidewalk! Also what plant is the yellow one in the first picture?(on the rightish)
Highalttransplant, "notes to self" I was doing that too! I just wish I had put them down in writing so I could remember what they were!!LOL!!
That pergola is to die for! I would put lots of smelly things on mine(me fantasizing)wisteria,trumpet vine,roses,jasmine....
-B

Gorgeous gardens folks!!! Fantastic! Makes me wish the season was longer...

Wendy,
The Goosekneck is shorter. Mine MIGHT grow to 3 feet but more like 2 to 2.5 feet. I plan on moving it since it is behind some boulders and it's too nice of a plant to stay there. In your rich soil it may grow taller than mine.

This is the the backyard in September. Now I'm working on cleaning it.
{{gwi:445194}}

Brandy..I think it's either a coreopsis or heliopsis. (sp?) One of the first wintersown perennials I have and I don't even know what it is! I have to cut it down in early June or it gets to be 4-5' tall, and it's too close to the front of my bed.

Wendy-did you happen to save seed from it? If so do you wanna trade for something on my list?
-B

Sorry..didn't save any seedheads..in fact, they seem to rot before they mature. I did test out a couple of flower heads as they had dried on the plant, and they just crumbled away to nothing (dust).
:o(

These gardens are all so beautiful!

Cindy : )

Wow, such beautiful pictures.

Mariana, your yard looks like a beautiful park.

Karen

Yes....lovely pics/gardens!!

Here's some taken during the month of September.
Prairie bed...Monarda fistulosa going to seed, Echinacea and Rudbeckia
{{gwi:445196}}
Echinacea in another area
{{gwi:445198}}
Maltese Cross and Aster laevis (Smooth Blue Aster)
{{gwi:443073}}
Marigold
{{gwi:445199}}
Morning Glory 'Star of Yelta' and 'Heavenly Blue'
{{gwi:445200}}
{{gwi:445201}}
Gaillardia aristata (Common Blanket Flower)
{{gwi:445203}}
Venidium
{{gwi:445206}}
Rudbeckia, Coreopsis tinctoria, Feverfew, Gaillardia aristata 'Burgundy', Verbena bonariensis and Cosmic Orange Cosmo
{{gwi:445207}}
Marigold and Morning Glory
{{gwi:445208}}
More Marigold
{{gwi:445209}}
Gaillardia and Marigold
{{gwi:445210}}
Aster laevis, Marigold and Solidago
{{gwi:443071}}
Aster laevis and Tithonia
{{gwi:445211}}
Feverfew 'Flore Alba' and Verbena
{{gwi:445212}}
Cosmic Orange Cosmo, Zinnia and Rudbeckia

Snapdragon

Calendula

Thank you Karen. The stone path is this summer addition to the garden. Gathering and carrying the stones was fun, an opportunity to search the city surroundings, and the whole path I completed in less then 2 months.

{{gwi:445219}}

Wow! Everyone has such beautiful fall gardens! This is the last "peep" out of my garden. It is a mix of snow and rain tonight.

Beautiful gardens, all! I'm in the throes of "space envy" ...

Here's my fall garden; the winds last Saturday broke off quite a few branches, but it's still hanging in.

{{gwi:445220}}

PV

Beautiful gardens everyone! You are all such an inspiration.

Pat

Here's my potting shed today.
{{gwi:445221}}From Chick coop