September Cheer

September is the new August, it appears - blue skies, an ever-so-little nip in the evening air and the winds bringing down the pots. With the kids back in school, grandparents visiting are leaving in a hurry. Baked the cherry upside-down cake for the get-together and made punjabi-chole for dinner that was so tasty that i am still in doubt if its the tea when boiling the channa. S wanted to have some panna-cotta while the weather still allowed for it which answered the usual dessert dilemma. Sprouted mung and horsegram for a couple of new recipes - one for a refreshing salad with carrots and apples and another for curry from Amma. Not sure why it took me this long to try these! Better late than never!!

Attended back to back arangetrams from BigC's dance school while also squeezing in BigC's Fall piano recital. Exhilarating performances and choreography suiting the dancers' strengths by a dedicated teacher makes one hope that their kids will also be there one day. Came away from a canning class all set to jam/pickle as soon as i can buy some jars, that is. Planted some long-overdue trees around the yard and hoping they will take off. Ogled at a few beautiful private gardens around town and came away with a list of plants and ideas to implement - a rain-catcher into the lily-bowl being a top-pick.

in the garden - kniphofia

 

Garden on sabbatical

Love affair with black-eyed susan going back to the 1st days in Minneapolis - along Lake Minnetonka, finally bloom in my garden

Sedums are flowering earlier than usual, a sign of low temps

Hardy Gardenia that has survived one mild winter has been flowering along the sidewalk and the envy of passers by

Humming bird corner - Agastache and yellow Crocosmia with blue scabiosa and hardy geranium

Cactus Dahlia and marigolds putting on a show in the veggie box where i temporarily plopped them.

Artichoke flower had caught my fancy since the first year in our home - the house on the corner of our street had one along the sidewalk. Under the impression they needed hotter temps, i never planted one. This year, after seeing a few gigantic ones at Bethany Nursery, Kruger's farm and Hughes' garden, i planted a lil one in June with hopes for next year but a pleasant surprise awaited us on our return home from the east-coast.