A recent walk around Tiger Way Gardens had me finding lots of neat fall colors. Above is a monarch sipping from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). Funny thing about Mexican sunflowers, I've never grown them before and don't really know where this one came from amongst the zinnias. I almost pulled it out but due to lazy weeding, it bloomed before it was doomed. That was a good thing! Monarchs love tithonias.
The front corner garden is outstanding in its fall glory. This garden never fails to please me. Except for the dastardly weeds (which thankfully you probably can't see too well from this angle).
The Sheffies in the front foundation garden are putting on quite a show. Here they are paired with hyssop, spirea, and Japanese roof irises.
Another garden has a bunch of Sheffies. Here they are paired with daylilies, 'Autumn Joy' sedum, and tall yellow garden mums.
'At Last' rose is an AHmazing rose. It blooms and blooms, has a great rose scent, and does not get foliage diseases (at least in my garden this rainy summer).
My beloved glass mosaics are finally in their new home. I am very happy they survived the move, the subsequent storage, and then reinstallation. Considering these have been in the garden since 2009 that is fantastic!!
The koi pond with its surrounding pink garden is a highlight for me. All of the koi are active and eating well. We've not had a single issue with wildlife dining on the koi. Thank goodness!
Beautyberry (Callicarpa bodinieri 'Profusion') is beginning to color up. This is a rather large shrub that continues to grow, flower, and fruit even with multiple prunings during the growing season. I like it a lot.
The chickens got a new roof over their run to keep them dry this winter. This was a long time coming project but it is mostly finished for now.
Looking down the driveway along the south side of the orchard we see asters in the butterfly garden and lots of PG hydrangeas and grasses. The leaves are beginning to fall in earnest as well.
The beehives have had their mouseguards installed and I am in the process of hay baling the northwest side of the hives in order to block the cold north winds. I am most relieved to be mostly done with the bees until next spring.
Some of these PG hydrangeas are still showing new blooms but most have faded to the brown flowers they'll keep all winter. I love these as much for their winter interest as for their bloom in the summer.
On the back 40 Wildflower Hill is doing its stuff. The broomsedge has turned brown and the trees are coloring up. We don't seem to get much fall color in Tennessee, especially when it has been dry, but some trees color up nicely. The short red tree is a native dogwood. These almost always have a lovely red fall color.
The hickories in the foreground turn a russet color. I mowed a path down the hill and oftentimes this path beckons me to travel onwards.
This is simply one of my favorite sights on the property.
I mow the flat part of the crest of the hill and have planted numerous nut trees in this area.
More of the russet hickory trees. Our forest is predominately Oak/hickory hardwoods and I try hard to maintain it thusly.
Some golds mix in with the russets.
A dogwood and cedar stand mix well in this southern facing exposure.
Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima', aka red chokeberry, is coloring up. These berries will persist all winter long as long as the wildlife does not find them.
I finish back at the house in a foundation garden. This is one of four 'Black Dragon' (Cryptomeria japonica) and they are finally getting their beautiful shape. I purchased four of these as markdowns two years ago. 'Black Dragons' can be very expensive but are so beautiful I had been on the lookout for them. All four are planted along the foundation corners in the front of my home. They are actually growing fairly quickly and once mature will make lovely counterpoints to the house. Additionally, since they are evergreen they provide year round interest.....
in the garden......
I don't post as much as I used to, but I am fairly active on my Facebook page found here. I find it so much easier to be in the spur of the moment to post interesting things on FB with my smartphone rather than on the blog. So if you like Coach in the Garden and would like to keep up with the plant happenings in Tiger Way Gardens please check out and like my professional page...in the garden.
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
It is monarch haven here in Tiger Way Gardens and I have been enjoying all of the baby butterflies-in the form of caterpillars-tremendously. I thought I'd share a few with you all today. Above we have three monarch caterpillars munching on Asclepias tuberosa, aka butterflyweed. I started all of my butterflyweed from seeds in January 2016 via winter sowing. The plants have all been planted in the gardens and many are now blooming. Most all of the plants have monarch caterpillars feasting on them. Butterflyweed is easy to start from seed and I definitely recommend winter sowing for them.
The pictures are not the very greatest because they were taken with my phone but it was all I had at the time.
Last year I had my property certified as a monarch waystation and I'd say judging by all the monarchs flitting about laying their eggs here we have become a pretty good monarch waystation.This is not the first year I've had monarch caterpillars but the population has exploded over last year's population. All of the newly planted milkweeds have made quite a difference.
One monarch caterpillar can completely eat a butterfly host plant to the stem. All of the host plants for monarch are plants in the asclepias family. Things such as the above mentioned butterflyweed, swamp milkweed, whorled milkweed, showy milkweed, redring milkweed, common milkweed, and many more.
This stem above is all that remains of swamp milkweed and as you can see there are now NO leaves on it. I ordered 100 swamp milkweed plants and 100 whorled milkweed plants from Monarch Watch last summer. I did not receive any plants until this summer--but they did finally come. I have planted out all of the swamp milkweed but not all of the whorled milkweed. Two hundred plants are a LOT to plant out on the property so it is a slow process for me. Hopefully we'll get some rain soon so I can finish planting all of the milkweed. This milkweed will recover and I do not worry that it is leafless.
I have tried to restore our property to a fairly natural habitat which includes wildlife areas that involve not only flowers, but trees and watering and sheltering spots for pollinators as well as wildlife. The milkweeds were an addition for the monarchs. I was absolutely delighted to see monarchs not only on my butterflyweed but also on the swamp milkweed. All of these plants are pesticide free and are growing in gardens. I really haven't checked the wild milkweed yet for caterpillars but hope they are playing host as well as the cultivated plants I grow.
Talking about plants being eaten to the stem this here is what I believe to be a snowberry clearwing moth caterpillar. I don't have any snowberry plants in my garden but these caterpillars will also much on honeysuckle (Lonicera) and bush honeysuckle (Diervilla) and I do have both of them on the property. This caterpillar was most likely munching a good stand of lonicera nearby. Many people see these 'hornworms' and automatically kill them. I think that is so sad. I try very hard not to kill most things. I make exceptions for ticks and known pests. Not all 'hornworms' are bad and even if they do eat plants the plants will grow back. I promise you. I've had several batches of monarch caterpillars this year and just when I thought the butterflyweed was dead and gone it comes back! The relationship between caterpillars and their host plants must be a reciprocal one or both might die. For sure if a caterpillar killed every host plant it ate, then there would be no more host plant foods and no more caterpillars. So please, do not be alarmed when your plants disappear. They will rebound. Even tomato plants with hornworms on them will rebound depending on the time of the season. If you must 'save' your plant from hornworms, please move the caterpillar to a more appropriate plant or, better yet, plant extras for the caterpillars. Hornworms make a terrible squeal when killed and I'd love to spare you from hearing it!
I came back from a mini trip and the first thing I noticed was my sweet bay magnolia; which is in a very prominent position out front; was nearly defoliated! Sweet bays are semi evergreen here in most of Tennessee, and I had been nurturing this one for over a year. It is doing very well now so all of the leaves being gone-eaten-was quite noticeable to me. I looked closely and I discovered the culprits! These two caterpillars are some type of swallowtail. I think perhaps Eastern Tiger Swallowtail but I am not sure. These are fairly common caterpillars though I have never seen them before. We do have tons of swallowtail butterflies here though and I love them. These swallowtail cats have what appear to be false eyes-can you see the one eye above? The false eyes help to scare off predators.
This is the same type of caterpillar but an earlier instar. It is disguised to look like bird poop with the cream colored blotch on its back. How cool is that?
Many folks bring caterpillars into enclosures to watch the process of them turning into a chrysalis and then hatching out as a butterfly. I have done this in the past but did not bring any of these caterpillars in to do so this year. I am really not sure how to do it completely properly and prefer to let nature do the work here....
in the garden.....enjoying the baby butterflies.
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
By SKEETERThe Saint and I celebrated Valentines all weekend long with beautiful weather. We played in our Georgia Garden together on Saturday. We transplanted some Butterfly Bushes from the Butterfly Island to give the Bald Cypress a bit more room to grow. Thus, expanding the Island a bit. 
On Sunday, we drove north of Atlanta to check out the Home and Garden Show. The show was a total bust! More business cards handed out then anything. We did see a few new items but over all, we were totally disappointed with the show. The fun thing was having breakfast at one of Guy Fieri of Food Network fame picks. This pick came from the show Diners, Drive-In's and Dives or Triple D as we call it. The Silver Skillet is a landmark breakfast spot in Atlanta and has been featured in many movies, magazines and TV programs. Click the link to check out this hot spot from the 1950's. We got a kick out of walking through the kitchen to use the restroom. We kind of wanted to flip an egg on our route to tinkle. Ha ha. The Lemon Ice Box pie was as good as my Grandmothers! It melted in our mouths. Click HERE to see how it is made... We tried to check out Gallery 63 Antiques and Auctions but with it being a new show on TVs Discovery Channel, well, lets just say, the line to get in was longer then we were willing to endure. We goofed around a bit here and there and ended our day at Buca di Beppo indulging in Pasta. Yum... 
On Valentines I kidnapped the Saint from work and took him to lunch. Once home, I surprised him with this gooey Chocolate, Vanilla, Nutty treat I made. Wow, it was rich and oh so good....
Backing up to October of last year, we find ourselves on our last boating trip of the year. I kept noticing butterflies floating by us as we traveled the waters.
Upon a closer look, I realized they were Monarch butterflies! Putting two and two together, so to speak, we decided they were on their migration! 
Do you know how difficult it is to capture a fluttering Monarch in the air while on the wavy waters? Well let me tell you. Three people had cameras in hand and the Saint was being yelled at by me to go right, go left, speed up, slow down, Come on Saint keep up darn it! He was zig zagging right and left and going in circles. We were all laughing and cursing at the same time. LOL The Saint was afraid that a Ranger would pull us over for being drunk on the water. (Note, Impossible as we do not drink booze on our boat) I am sure that anyone watching us from the shoreline were wondering what in the heck we were doing.... 
They were not flying in any pattern so the speak. Some were flying just above the water, some flying high in the sky, some diving towards the water, some floating along with the breeze and some flapping their wings like mad. They would zip by us so quickly that it was a challenge to capture them on film. I must have snapped 50 pictures and taken about 20 video clips with little results.I am not sure who snapped what picture here but thanks go to our friend's for letting us use their pics and video taken that day. I hope the video works as Blogger does not seem to operate as it use to for me. If this does work, be sure to see if you can spot two other butterflies in the background high in the sky when the subject goes upward. We kept the song for effect on the windy day. The music Bob sings says the words "high in the sky" as the butterfly is doing just that and they were headed south...We must have seen over 100 Monarchs throughout our little cruise that day. We had a blast witnessing this FLIGHT OF THE MONARCHS, In the Garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
I am not generally a pink type of person because I much prefer the bright and hot colors. The more saturated the color the better in my humble opinion. The one time pinks really are a pleasure is during the spring. After the hots of the tulips and daffodils have passed by I kind of want to give my eyes a rest and let the soft blues and pinks of spring come into play. However; I have one area at the western most point of my sword shaped vegetable garden that is full of pinks. This section of the garden that is less than five feet square has the hot bright pinks in the form of cleomes, soft and subtle pinks in the from of gladiolus, coneflowers, and Chinese indigo, and the somewhat fluorescent pink of an old fashioned phlox. The colors rock my world! I did not in any way plan this color scheme because, as regular readers of this blog know, I am a mix 'em up and shake 'em up kind of gardener and like gardens full of tons of different colors. Now I'm beginning to think a white border, a blue border, a yellow border....well, you get the idea.
Pictured above is the Chinese indigo (the tall airy shrub in the background), the cleomes in the center, and the phlox (the first time it has bloomed) in the foreground. The glads and coneflowers (barely visible in the back of the photo) are nearby but I could not fit them into the picture. If you'd like to see them check out July's Bloom Day post....
in the garden....
Do you have borders or gardens with shades of only one color in your garden?
A late addition to this post is a picture of one of my very first monarch caterpillars munching away on the Mexican/Tropical butterfly weed. It's not a pink in my garden but you'll forgive me if I cannot resist posting a picture of it. I found three cats and am just thrilled! If you don't grow this tropical milkweed run out and get some now if you want monarch caterpillars. It is easy to grow and looks awesome with no help from me-and comes back each year too...
in the garden...
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,
In the Garden
