Digging RI

I had the good fortune to be in New York City for the insanely fun dog Halloween costume parade.

Some of the costumes were nods to the dogs’ countries of origin.

Others were dressed as THINGS – like this police car. Crazy, no?

These two were “Starbarks” lattes.

A corgi meet-up group had asked its members to dress their dogs as minions. These dogs were getting into character before the parade.

There were a couple of dachshunds dressed as dinosaurs. Their shape works perfectly with the costume.

And this couple, dressed in full “Where’s Waldo” regalia. What more is there to say?

A wonderful, crazy event, this parade, and a photo opp to die for.

Skeletons on swings

Eyeballs on brownstones.

Witches in front of windows.

Pumpkins on steps.

Spiders everywhere.

This one was downright creepy.

And this was a combination of pretty and macabre.

Halloween in New York – over the top, like everything else in that awesome city. (I took these photos in the West Village.)

This is a common site in our part of southern Rhode Island right now. The Montauk daisies (Nipponanthemum nipponicumare) are in full bloom, and almost everyone has at least one clump. They begin blooming in early October and the show continues for about a month.

Mature plants are very large and will take over your flower beds, so it’s best to plant them where they won’t crowd out anything else. The flowers smell kind of stinky, but the plant is very well- adapted to our part of the country, and therefore, just about bulletproof. They are hardy in Zones 5 to 9.

The leaves have nice, thick cuticles, which protect them from dog urine, so it’s okay to plant them near mailboxes and curbside sign posts.

Our neighbor has just planted some young Montauks on her lawn. They’ll form a nice hedge next year.

These plants should be cut back hard in early May so they don’t get floppy and bare in the middle. I cut mine down to about 8 inches.

This pineapple sage, named for its scent, has graced my deck all summer and is only now coming into its own. If I had read up on it when I bought it, I would have known that this herb, salvia elegans,  is a fall bloomer.

It tolerates some cold, but not the kind of freeze we get here in RI, which on the coast is Zone 7, so I think I will try to overwinter it indoors. It is native to the high forests of Mexico, and the tubular scarlet blooms are irresistible to hummingbirds. Too bad the hummers are gone by the time it really starts flowering.

Pineapple sage leaves are edible, and they are used for medicinal purposes, such as treating anxiety. Perhaps I should have chewed some of those leaves before attempting to use Apple’s  horrendous photo program, which I had hoped would be improved in the new El Capitan OS, but no. It is even more annoying than before, so I just gave up and circumvented it entirely.

To end on a positive note, we have stayed more than once at an eccentric but awesome place in southern AZ that is dedicated to hummingbird viewing (Beatty’s Guest Ranch) and they had planted this and other sages  all over, so the place was swarming with hummingbirds. This is an attractive and useful plant, and if it croaks indoors over the winter, I’ll buy another in the spring.

Before the gale: Helianthus Giganteus at the front of our house. Colorful. Impressive. Majestic.

After the gale: a pathetic mess of sticks.

That is all.

No rants in this post. I am feeling unusually mellow after a short trip to Maine. The above photo captured another perfect sunset on Bailey Island. Fall is a great time to visit this part of New England for many reasons.

One of them is a traditional seafood restaurant with great views of the harbor. I took this from our table at Cook’s Lobster House. We come here every year, as much for the views as for the food.

Then there’s a perfect gin martini. Another pleasure. Note ice on glass.

The wild asters are abundant in Maine this time of year. Much more so than in our part of RI.

I also appreciate the paler flowers.

Back to the ocean again. A gorgeous September day at Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth. We always find it difficult to tear ourselves away and drive home.

Fall is trying to begin here in RI. It’s still rather hot and humid, but the wonderful autumn light is throwing everything into sharp relief.

We avoid Cape Cod, MA in the summer because of the insane traffic, but we returned this weekend. We arrived in Chatham at the end of the afternoon – magic hour.

There were quite a few people on the beach, many of them with spotting scopes and binoculars, looking out over the ocean for Great White Sharks. The sharks have taken up residence here because the grey seal population has grown and the seals are an important part of the sharks’ diet. Click on the link to see footage of a shark leaping out of the water in pursuit of a seal last August.

If you look closely, you can see one of the grey seals swimming quite close to shore. It seemed to be curious about our dog. They are big animals, and interesting to watch.

We also stopped at West Dennis. This is the estuary, known as Bass River. There’s a long beach on the other side. That distant, squiggly thing in the sky is an immense kite.

Here’s another view. The clouds were awesome, as was the light.

It was warm, too. Perfect for a nice long swim. (Don’t ask about the salt water and sand on the back seat of my car.)

Back to Chatham. Monomoy Point is dramatic and rarely crowded. Not the ideal spot for a swim because of the sharks, but a great place to walk or chill. Early autumn is a popular time to visit the Cape, and this is why.

This plant is cuphea micropetala, aka big cigar plant, aka candy corn plant. I bought it in the spring, and it has been gracing my deck all summer. Not only does this plant, which is actually a shrub, produce quantities of hummingbird-friendly blooms non-stop, it has attractive dark green foliage.

I loved watching the hummingbirds browsing in it, probing every single bloom. The hummers have departed for warmer climes, but the cuphea soldiers on, and still looks awesome. No drama, no mess, just flowers.

Here are the flowers again, closer this time. Just lovely. I realize that I am gushing, but it is one of the great pleasures of gardening to discover a new cultivar that performs so well.

There it is, next to a chair so you can get an idea of its size. This plant is hardy only to about Zone 8. It is grown as a shrub in more southern states, and I envy those lucky gardeners who get to enjoy it all year long.

I am going to attempt to overwinter mine indoors. I have read about people doing this successfully, and it seems that as long as you have a very sunny window and your house is not too warm – yes, and yes – the plant has a good chance of making it. I am expecting leaf drop when it first comes inside, but most plants do that.

So wish me luck. I figure if the worst happens and the plant dies, I can always get another one next spring. I’ll let you know how it goes.

This Thunbergia alata, commonly known as Black-eyed Susan vine, was a gift, way back in May, from a gardening friend. There are two colors planted in the container, which occupies a sunny corner of my deck. I tied string from the plant stakes in the pot to the downspout so it would have something to climb.

And climb it did. Right up to the wires. This vine does not need to be fertilized, but when it gets this big, it requires copious daily watering because the soil in the container can no longer hold sufficient moisture to support all that foliage. Apparently it also likes to be grown in moist soil when planted in the ground.

I like the darker blooms on the second vine. The hummingbirds enjoyed this column of flowers all summer, too.

This plant is native to Madagascar, Africa and Asia, so it’s perennial in Zone 10 or warmer, which Rhode Island is most definitely not. It will be tossed when its season ends, after adding considerable color and interest to the deck for several months.

I colored this. Not only is the end result quite pretty, the hours it took to complete it were pleasurable and very relaxing.

Before I left on vacation, I ordered this adult coloring book. I also ordered a slightly different one for my sister, who was coming with me. I bought colored gel pens, which would not leak through the paper to the design on the next page. Now, we are both totally hooked.

Each image is different, and I never have a plan for how my colors are going to work. I just start with one and keep going. The thing about this activity is that you can do it while you are having a conversation or watching TV. My sister and I spent every evening on the cabin’s screened porch, listening to the night sounds, talking and coloring.

I started telling my friends about my new hobby, and many of them told me they had just been reading about the pleasures and stress-relieving benefits of coloring. Unknown to me, coloring has become quite popular – trendy even. It seems adult coloring books are so hot these days that many of the best ones have sold out.

I find that once I get into a design, my brain free associates and I go into a sort of meditative state. Carl Jung, the early 20th-century psychologist, used coloring as a relaxation technique for his patients. Jung employed mandala-type designs similar to the ones in my coloring book.

I am often surprised at how different each design turns out. That’s part of the fun.

I am now dating each one when I complete it, so I can look back and remember where I was when I did it.

I do end up liking some better than others. This is one of my favorites.

Here’s a design waiting for color. It will be getting some later this afternoon. Drop me a line and let me know if you color, or if you’re thinking about taking it up. There are so many different coloring books available online – many with garden themes.