New Yorker Garden Cartoons

My husband cut these out of The New Yorker magazine. I guess I'm guilty of neglecting him while I'm in the garden for a few months out of the year.

First Fall Freeze

This is not my plants dressing up for Halloween as ghosts. Last night( October 10) we had our first freeze of the fall season. I was attempting to eek out a few more days with the annuals on the deck but I think I'll concede defeat and let nature take it's course. Some of the most tender annuals such as the begonias are already looking much worse for wear. I did manage to get in all the tender plants that I'll try and overwinter as houseplants. The whole south side of the house is floor to ceiling windows so I get a lot of light. I may even get a bit too much sunshine as sometimes the plants tend to burn and scorch. I'm going to make a valiant attempt to keep the bugs off the houseplants this year. I've sprayed them once with Organocide and watered them with a mixture of water with a few drops of dish soap. If anyone has advice on overwintering annuals as houseplants I'd appreciate it.

The dining room gets a tropical look when I bring in the plants. I had some trouble last year with scale on the orange tree but I still managed to get 3 oranges from it.

I really hope I can manage to keep this 3 foot tall Angel Wing Begonia from losing all it's beautiful large leaves. My mom bought it for me because the nursery was going to throw it out soon(too pot bound) and we couldn't bear to see such a beauty destroyed.

Also thank you to My Chicago Garden for the heads up last week about the coming frost. I appreciate the early warning so I could get my plants in the house before the frost/freeze.

Flowers in the High Desert of Central Oregon

Make a Smilebox slideshow