It's My Birthday! It's My Birthday!/PHS Fall Garden Festival Weekend

Actually yesterday was my birthday. A regular day at work followed by the best part, going to look at what the garden center has. I planned to stop at 2 garden centers but was tired and the first one had to do although the second one is more reasonable priced. Of course I treated myself for my birthday but I behaved. Who behaves in a garden center? It was amazing to see lots of new, fresh out of season plants. Could it possibly be that nurseries over grew and had lots of annuals left in their warehouses? There were lots of hanging baskets of dragon wing begonias, calibrachoas, and many I don't remember. It was strange seeing so many this time of year when temps at night are in the 50's. Snapdragons were beautiful and are actually cool season annual and can be perennial in my region. They usually are for me if I plant them one year they come back in the spring. I expected to see pumpkins and gourds by now but didn't. There were plenty of pansies and mums. I plan to wait until October and hopefully there will be fresh shipments of pansies that aren't overgrown and elongated due to the heat. Almost time to pull the annuals for fall arrangements.

It's wonderful to have to close my windows at night because it's just to cold. Looking forward to lighting my first fire. Still plenty of wood from last fall and more coming for this winter. I went out into the yard after work to see what's going on. Tons of seeds from the Norway maples to be raked. Only one tall stalk of my elephant ear standing. Time to dig her up and store it for next spring. Would love it to survive until then. I plan to put it in a paper bag and probably store it in my shed along with caladium tubers that also need digging up. They are still pretty and I don't want to cut off the plants yet to save the bulbs. I have 5 bell peppers and plenty of chard. Worms have eaten the broccoli plants. The garlic is acting like it's spring. 

This weekend is the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's annual Fall Garden Festival. The festival runs from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. I'm unsure of whether I'll go. It's at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. If you're in Philly on Saturday come out and support the Horticultural Society. No they don't pay me to say that. You can look back here at a previous blog post and see some types of things the show offered last year. If you love flowers and feeling like you're in the country for a day you should enjoy it. Usually they have the awards for the garden contest at the show. This year is different. I'll have to wait for the ceremony in October and letter to let me know if I won a blue ribbon. This year they told me winners will also receive a plaque. One of my favorite things was the contest where people who grew their own fruit/vegetables made an arrangement from their harvest.

My favorite card this year. Family knows I love cats and look at her. The hat is blue. I guess I should assume it's a boy but for me it's a girl. It was even better when I opened it and the cat sang happy birthday. How adorable! My second favorite said, "you don't have that old person smell yet." Someone is going to get it!

I refer to flowers as eye candy and liquid sunshine. That's what they are to me. Just beautiful.

Nothing like waking up to fresh flowers in the bedroom.

This one was my favorite. The colors are beautiful. Can you imagine growing everything in this arrangement?

New aglaonema (Chinese evergreen) I've been looking for this type for a while. Low light requirements.

No, I didn't eat it all. I shared.