I've been eyeballing the box of Roma tomatoes at my local farm stand :) Nick's Nonnie taught me how to make homemade sauce and I thought it might be fun.

I'll have to show my heptacodium what it should strive to grow up and be!

Great pictures. Nice to see Phoebe's visit...funny, she looks as if her feet barely touch the ground, as if she's always prancing :)

Saucy

I think your garden is looking lovely and quite lush. I think we are all too critical of our own gardens ;o) I have tons of romas this year. I made an oven full of dried tomatoes on Sat. and a huge bowl full of fresh salsa last night.

Michelle

I was hoping to have a show of blooms on my Sweet Autumn Clem, but something completely defoliated it !!! It is on the old chicken house, and...because of chiggers, I didn't venture out there very often this summer.

Most of my roses suffered the same fate.

No canning for me. I used to do all those things...but no more.

Now you have made me desire a Heptacodium. :-)

I like all your pics. Poor Mysty...taking refuge under the table. :-)

Marian

Phoebe is a fortunate fuzzy to be in your care, Woody. I love that Misty has found security from too much commotion, but something tells me she probably takes full advantage of it, too! You would have understood my unflinching stance on enforcement when Rex had a tantrum this morning. He was on leash and next to me. The oil delivery truck arrived. He wanted to run and greet and had a tantrum when I enforced the "sit/stay". I didn't back down and "give in". He walked "politely" with me to say a POLITE hello. The helpmeet is not nearly as demanding as I am about those things and I've been too lax of late, it would appear... . Why don't you, Jerri, or Cynthia live next door?! :)

Your yard and gardens are so pretty and so lush! Heptacodium was one of the plants we considered when we bought the bigger evergreens in the shots I've posted of the shrub border. I admired Les. and Monique's which is about as large as your's. It's a handsome plant; lovely bark and the late season flowers are real treat. Saucy, you have something to look forward to.

No cookin', no kids, no cannin'. I clean up the trail and savor the fruits of the labor, never failing to remark on how delicious it all is! :) (one day, no doubt, I'll have to set myself to culinary tasks, but until that time... I'll focus on the dishes and laundry, thank you!).

Tell me again why you don't live next door?

It still looks like early summer by your house Woody. Did you get any of those mums in the background at the market? The marina picture is beautiful, what a great place to walk the dogs. I like Misty's little "house."

I have two heptacodiums, but they're still young and waiting to grow up to look like yours.

The photos of the garden very definitely involved a lot of carefully selected shots to avoid the messy stuff - and I took about 4x as many as I posted, in order to weed out the worst ones!

Surprisingly, this is actually the first year we made tomato sauce. We usually just make a couple of batches of tomato chutney (the first batch is cooking as I type this - it smells great in here!) We have Randy's mother's old tomato grinder so we decided to give making sauce a shot. We froze three big tubs of just plain sauce for use later and Randy made a meat sauce with the rest - it was excellent.

Chelone - you'd be appalled at Misty's manners if you lived next door! Actually, she'd probably behave herself with you. She has so many personality kinks from her abused younger years that it's too late to totally eradicate the bad habits. But she's much more civilixed than when she first moved in. We still don't trust her with stangers until she's given evidence that she considers them acceptable. She has mostly learned that anyone we let in the house is not going to hurt her. Once she decides a person is not going to hurt her, she usually becomes very cuddly/friendly. But you can't drop your guard too much with her.

She's 11 now and slowing down a bit. Her tolerance for puppy play is a bit less - she tires more easily. But she still enjoys the puppy attention - she just calls it quits a bit sooner than she used to. She has her 'safe zones' - under the kitchen table, under my desk, and other nooks and cranies that she's small enough to get into but big puppies won't fit! She's very smart :-)

Phoebe has become quite friendly with Zoe, the young Rottweiler. Phoebe looks very disappointed if we pass by and Zoe is not out to greet her. Phoebe met Charlie (miniature poodle) during our lunchtime walk. So she's met all the neighbourhood pack now except Roma (Malamute) I think. Phoebe is more relaxed this visit - in part I think because she's a bit older but mostly because she knows us, our routines, the neighbourhood and has lots of doggie buddies to greet each day.

Anita - I didn't got any of those mums but a couple of weeks ago I planted mums in the big pots the peas were in earlier in the year. They were just sitting on the driveway with soil in them but nothing else so I popped the mums in easily.

Wonderful photographs Woody and I especially love that shot of your Heptacodium framed in that arch! What a classic. Lovely! Thanks for sharing these with us. I might just have to find room for one of those HOt Cocoa roses. Jerri and I saw some beautiful specimens at the Fuller Rose Gardens this summer and it looks like a great bloomer for you.

Deanne

I can almost smell your sweet autumn clematis! I had to chop mine back for the porch work, and I do so miss it.
Misty is adorable, her little face is so nicely framed :)
Gosh, if you all were closer, I'd be giving you tomatoes until you begged for mercy. Jim planted something like 8 plants. I see the Romas are needing to be dealt with.
I'm not familiar with heptacodium, I'll have to research. It's lovely framed in the archway.
Brenda

Woody...thanks for sharing your photos. Your fall garden looks nice. Love that aster at the end of the driveway and would love another photo when it opens up more. What is the purple behind it? Such a nice screening from the street. I have a small SAClematis but it has no fragrance to my great disappointment. That was 75% of the reason I got it. Then I read somewhere that you should buy them when in bloom because they are not always fragrant. Very pretty!

I see you are all dressed for fall. Is it cool there? We are still having summer weather for the most part. That is a gorgeous marina. How lucky to have such a nice place to walk the dogs!

pm2

Woody, that is some sweet autumn clematis. I can imagine the smell. I quit trying to grow it because there is a bug that always stripped it just before blooming. I did transplant a seedling to the swing arbor this year and sure enough the bugs showed up. I did treat it and kept knocking them off since the vine was still small, but I don't think I am going to get any blooms. I enjoyed the marina area where you walked the dogs too. If you were nearby I would send Rebel over while we take a short trip. LOL though he would push you over. He likes to lean on people to much. I think he is pretty tuckered out tonight. Both DH and I took a RALAT (riding around looking at things) on the tractor at different times today and he went along both times. The raging waters that went through the creek with the Ike remnant rains have really changed things once again. I went around most of the back property and see that I need to get busy mowing with the brush hog when we get back. Need to finish up a few garden things first though.

You guys crack me up. I too had seen the typo but was reluctant to bring it up.

Martie Yea! for Rich. Hope he gets to do the work.

Marian I enjoyed the cozy family shots. I'm thinking the youngest GD favors you a bit?

I'm typing in the box so I better try to post what I have, and catch the rest of you another time.

I'm working on backing up my files in case this computer decides to pull another disappearing act. Norma

Speaking of your front porch Brenda (chopping back the clematis) We need before and after shots. Or did I miss them? Norma

PM2 - the purple behind the pink aster is another aster that opens before the pink one, but the bloom times overlap a fair bit. Here is a closer view of the purple one:
{{gwi:181571}}

This is a picture of the pink one from last year, dated Oct 6 so it's a late bloomer:
{{gwi:181574}}

The marina is a great place to walk. When we first moved to this town, there wasn't anything there but the original pier and a muddy field of fill. About 12 years or so ago the marina started being developed. It's only been in the past 6-7 years or so that it has been as fancy as it is now. There are a bunch of expensive townhouses that have gone up across from it in the past couple of years and more to come. The marina is at one end of a fairly extensive path along the lake. The Town has a policy now that any development or redevelopment of property along the lake must result in giving the Town 30 or 40 feet (I can't remember the exact amount) of the land directly on the lake. The goal is to have the waterfront trail extend from one end of town to the other. There are long stretches in place in various parts of town but it's not continuous yet.

The heptacodium is maybe 6-7 years old now and it has really started to take off finally - it was slow at first. It actually looks a bit odd from some angles - you can see it is right in front of the cedar. The back side has no horizontal branches at all because it is too close to the cedar. All the brances face south and the north side is completely flat! It's most noticeable in winter or from one angle looking at it from the road. In winter it's quite an interesting tree just from the branch structure. To me it looks like a mathematical decision-tree. The trunk has two main branches; each of those brances has two branches; each of those has two, an so on... I don'tknow if all heptacodiums are like that or just this one.

Woody, I always enjoy pics of your garden. That Hot Cocoa is such a great rose but a tricky color to fit in ! I figure it matches well with Gallardia , Lobelia laxiflora, and a yarrow that I have that is a terra-cotta ish red. Definately a 'hot border' candidate. Phoebe is getting so big ! You can really see it in the shot of your friend with her and Misty. I wonder how close she is to full grown ...

Kathy in Napa

What great things you have going on, Woody! Asters don't do at all well for me, even when I replant them every year, so it is a treat to see yours!

Martie

No, Norma, you didn't miss them. I haven't posted them :) Before shots are taken, and my plan is to get things all tidied up and take the after shots. Look out when we get back from vacation..I'll be pelting you all with pictures of all sorts!
Brenda

Beautiful pics Woody. I love the color of your rose. Wow I can just imagine the scent of your sweet autumn! I just love that smell and really appreciate that you don't have to "get right on top of the plant" to smell it. Is that pink aster 'Alma Potschke'? Wonderful fall scenes...thanks for sharing!

Ei

Very pretty asters, Woody! I especially am fond of the deep pink. I would like to know if you pruned them earlier in the summer and if so, how much did you cut them back by?

Your town is very smart to be sure that you end up with access to the marina with all the development. Which lake does the marina open up to?

pm2

Ei- yes, the pink aster is Alma. I'm not sure exactly what the purple-blue one is.

PM - the marina is on Lake Ontario.

Dang! I want my new computer NOW! (It's not due until next week.) Randy's Dvorak keyboard setting is not working so typing is extremely slow!

PM
- I forgot to say.... yes, I cut the asters back - around the third week of June I cut them back by ~half

p

Woody, your gardens look so lush. The asters especially catch my eye. No flopping, and no dried up bottoms on the stems. So unlike mine this year :) Love the shot framed by the arch and the overhead of the clematis. What a great show that puts on for you. Misty is a smart cookie to find her little haven. The marina looks like a nice place for dog walks. I always mean to tell you how much I love the soft yellow color of your house too! Thanks for sharing. It was great touring your September garden.

Eden