Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary

If you have not certified your garden as a Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary, take a look at this site from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/backyard/

It suggests improvements we can make to make our yards more friendly to our native wildlife. It also has a link to the form for applying for certification as a Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary. You probably already have most of the required elements and might only need to make small adjustments, such as adding a birdbath or planting a native shrub.

Certifying through the Department of Fish and Wildlife has a nominal fee of $10. If you certify through the National Wildlife Federation, the fee is $25, although it includes their magazine.

End of summer garden photos

I haven't taken pictures in my garden for awhile and decided I'd better get some before the fall rains and cold weather.

Here is a nice grouping of coleus in my covered patio area:

 Fuchsias are great this time of year. This photo shows Fuchsia magellanica 'Aurea', Fuchsia ‘Dying Ember’ and ‘Pat’s Dream’. You can also see the tops of Scarlet Runner Beans that climbed from the lower garden level. This year the rabbits did not eat my black-eyed Susan plants.

The bed by the spa is my red, white, and blue bed. The blue Agapanthus and white Liatris finished blooming.

 I love my Red Banana, even though I need to bring it into my "shed/potting room" for the winter. In fact, I bought two more this spring! This Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia) is variegated, so looks nice even when not flowering. Of course, all my Brugmansia will also go into my potting room.

 More Brugmansia, a nice dwarf Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica ‘Petite Embers’), Grand Nain Banana, Tropicana Canna:

 I grew 8 or 9 Sureno peppers (a prolific and compact variety of Serrano pepper). Four are in pots and the rest in the driveway bed. They all thrived, so now I wonder what I can do with all the peppers!

 Fuchsia 'Army Nurse' is a strong performer in the garden:

 Fuchsia 'Sunshine' is a sweet little fuchsia plant. I love the color:

New patio area with circular paving pattern

We had pavers installed in an area next to walkway to front porch. This area will now feature plants in containers. It has drip irrigation set up, so they will be easy care.

We are happy with the installation and look forward to trying different arrangements of plants and garden art on the porch and this new area.

Pumpkins and Gourds in my garden

Here are a couple photos of the pumpkins I grew, mostly for the grandkids to watch. This is my second year growing pumpkins, so I am still learning. I can't figure out why some plants produce a great pumpkin and others do not. My approach is to plant several plants and look forward to a couple nice pumpkins.

This year I also grew the miniature pumpkins from seed. Just a few plants made it from the plants I started indoors, but enough to produce a few of the 'Jack Be Little' pumpkins. I also had a few plants from the plants started from the small ornamental gourd seeds. They produced a lot of a variety of ornamental gourds. These were planted in the raised beds along the driveway. This is south-facing with lots of reflected heat and drip irrigation.