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| Double Whammy Perennial Sunflower |
I gladly volunteer to shop at our local Mom and Pop store, Walmart, which began a few miles away and has done well ever since.
My first stop is the gardening department to see which plants are being sold. They rapidly change the selection due to weather changing and plants conking out in the heat and sunshine.
I also get birdseed when I am running low. I enjoy having finch food in the main feeder, where all the small birds gather and feed during the day.
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| Lantana and butterfly |
Last time I bought a very large hanging Lantana plant for $4 and no one knew what it was. Today I finally planted it in the Jackson Bird Spa area. That section has most of the butterfly and hummingbird plants -
- Butterfly Bush
- Bee Balm
- Lavender
- Chaste Tree
- Coreopsis
- Beautyberry
- Scarlet Runner Bean
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| Sassy waits in the driver's seat when I go inside, but she stays home during the inferno season. |
Sassy loves to ride along in the Ichaboat, but the weather is too hot, even while driving with AC on the meatlocker setting. She got her evening walk after my trip to the store. Everyone calls her by name and she wags her entire body going over to meet her friends.
I often invite Sassy outside while I work. Sometimes she stretches out on the concrete patio to show she is bored and ready to rest. Or - she sits by the door to go inside.
If I dig a hole, she looks carefully inside it.
Neighboring dogs get her attention at times. Most of the border disputes have been settled. However, when she saw a young couple having a picnic in the next yard, Sassy tried to bark them away.
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| New Bee Balm is being sold at Walmart now, but I got them at bargain prices earlier, because the collection was getting beat up in the sun. |
Ideas for Gardening - Late in the Season
This is a good time for bargain hardware, such as half-price sales on birdbaths (or kiddie pools, much cheaper and larger), garden path stones, and other equipment. The stuff will all be good next year and well into this fall as well.
When seed packets get ultra-cheap (like a dime or two each), they are worth trying this year or next. They lose a lot of zip over the winter, but a dime's worth of beneficial insect plants will normally go far, since those common plants will often seed themselves - like dill.
I am planning for a heated birdbath this winter. If we have a rough winter, a bird bath warmer will bring in birds from all over. They need to bathe and preen their feathers, so frozen water and snow do not help.
When I did this in Midland, I had birds lining up in two columns to take their baths until pushed out by the ones behind them. I had to add gallons of water to the bath each day.
The special heaters turn off when dry and only heat the water past the freezing point.
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| Birdbath warmer, Duncraft. |