Saturday, September 20, 2008

Fall cleanup in the front garden

This morning I decided it was time to prepare the front garden for the coming winter.
This honeysuckle looks like it was a mistake for this location. I might regret it later because it is growing very fast and overpowering its corner of the garden.
Ground orchids, on the pathway to the front door.
The powderpuff tree looks recovered after I performed surgery last week when it suffered a branch tear from Hurricane Ike's winds.
Other pictures of the front garden.
In this picture you see my FIU Golden Panthers football flag. Florida International University is my college alma mater. My wife and youngest daughter are both alumni as well. This afternoon, the entire family will attend the football game against the University of South Florida, exciting because it will be our first home game this season and the inaugural game in our brand new on-campus stadium. “Go Panthers!”
The bougainvillea plant has been a disappointment this year with very few flowers and mostly green. This year I am planning on removing the front wooden gate and installing an iron gate. That just may be the end of my red bougainvillea plant!

8 comments:

CanadianGardenJoy said...

It is a great contrast to see your Fall cleanup compared to a zone 5b in Ontario .. yours looks like summer still .. but ours will be "downed" leaves all over the place .. frost hit plants that look scary .. the whole severe change of weather clean up ..
Your gardens are gorgeous and such a pretty home : )

My Little Family: said...

That bouganvilla is huge! In the photos of the big bromeliads in a little "island" garden, is that a rabbit under the plant?

Anonymous said...

Hi Rusty, your garden looks great. Out with the honeysuckle I say! An iron gate will really dress up that corner. Do bougs need pruning to make them bloom more, or more sun perhaps? So glad you are safe and sound. We have a football tradition here at the Fairegarden too, the Financier's an alum of Penn State. So even though we live in TN, we have the flag and make it an occasion when we watch on TV.
Frances at Fairegarden
new url
http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Everything looks really lovely.
i must get my garden ready for winter as well.
I wanted to share with you that Martha is having a blog contest. Perhaps you'd like to join in!

You can read about it HEREand post a comment.
Have fun!
~~Becky

Brenda Maas said...

Looks great.

Anonymous said...

Looks good to me also. But sometimes we must trim to make it look better.

Unknown said...

Rusty, so nice to pop in for a visit and see what's happening in your corner of the world. I've started cleanup too, but mostly because (ahem)...I never finished spring cleanup, the weeds got ahead of me due to the fog, and now the wind has started. So I just sigh and say, 'there's always next year!'

Barbarapc said...

Your garden is as neat as a pin - so pretty. I'm a Canadian gardener and so much of what I have needs to be whacked right out before fall - hosta & peonies turn to slime over winter....and then there are the leaves. By the way - hope your team won!