Port Hope, MIchigan

Port Hope is a nearby city with a beautiful name and friendly people. I saw these Cleomes on the way to Port Austin and stopped to take some photos of them. I've had pink and purple Cleomes in the past - next year I think I'll try the white ones. Gorgeous. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

Heliopsis helianthoides (Ox Eye Sunflower) is one of the wild flowers in my wild flower garden. Their flowers have narrow petals but an interesting and attractive mutation with wider petals appeared in one of my volunteers this year. The first two photos show typical flowers. The last two shots are of flowers with wider petals. Actually Ox Eye Sunflowers are members of the "composite" family which means the "flower" is actually a large cluster of small flowers gathered together; some of the small flowers have a ray [a petal] while the majority don't have rays [petals]). Sunflowers, zinnias, daisies, mums, dahlias, et cetera are all composite flowers - composed of lots of tiny flowers each producing its own seed. If you look closely at the head of the flower, maybe you can see the indvidual flowers. Cleomes, above, are not a composite flower. You can easily see the individual flowers. Imagine, if you can, all of those Cleome flowers compressed into one head.

A sure sign of autumn is the arrival of migrating Flickers. Flickers are actually a woodpecker that feeds on ants. When winter arrives Flickers are unable to penetrate the snow and the frozen ground to get to ants so, unlike other members of the woodpecker family, they leave annually for sunnier and warmer climes. Most woodpeckers find insects even in the dead of winter living in the trunks and branches, especially dead ones, of trees.

Autumn is also when the concord grapes ripen. Last year I was saved from having to harvest them and turn them into juice and jelly because migrating birds ate them to give them energy to continue their southerly journey. I'm honestly hoping for the same solution this year. That's a win/win in my opinion.

The Colchicums continue flowering; joining the group are some recently opened double pink ones now.

Most of the mums (chrysanthemums) that we can buy this time of the year at hardware stores, Walmart, grocery stores, flower shops, etc. are not winter hardy which, in my opinion, is a real shame. The old fashioned garden favorite mum is a hardy perennial that can last for years. If you know someone who has some of these in their yard, ask them for cuttings or divisions next spring. They are very easy to grow from cuttings and will spread into lovely clumps that will last for generations so you don't have to plant them again. The only problem? You may have to divide them. They can also be spread thoughout your garden by taking more cuttings when they are about five inches tall in late spring or early summer. Just make a clean cut with a pair of scissors or clippers and push the cutting into the ground. They're not fussy. Just be sure to water the cuttings like you would a recently transplanted plant and they'll do fine. A few may die but most will make it. Take lots of cuttings next spring and you'll have lots of truly winter hardy mums in a very short time. And it's probably not too late to try a few cuttings even this year but the plant must be an old garden favorite not one of the new kinds if you want the plant to make it through our Michigan winters.