Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to bring you the latest news from our garden and its environs. You may remember me from such similarly-themed posts as “Approaching The Equinox”, among at least a few others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
You wouldn’t know it, but I’ve been slightly under the weather. I have clostridium. My doctor said it was from eating rabbit poop, but rabbit poop is very tasty. It’s just grass that has gone through a bunny.
So I’m on an antibiotic and eating prescription food, and getting probiotic yogurt and pills hidden in wedges of Brie.
The guy I live with was almost more than under the weather when I dragged him out of the front door on our morning walk. He almost fell onto the concrete walk as I tugged on the leash.
He cut his arm, and there was a lot of blood, which is to be expected when you live with an older human.
I had an excuse though.
There was a fox on my driveway.
The fox followed us.
The guy I live with said it looked like it wanted to make friends with me, and he felt kind of sorry for it.
He also said there was plenty for a fox to eat around here, but he didn’t elaborate.
The guy I live with said next time he’s going to let me out of the front door a lot more cautiously.
And there are colchicums.
This is ‘Pink Star’.
This one has no label; it could be a seedling.
This one could also be a seedling. At first he thought it was ‘Jarka’, but that cultivar has pink at the bottom and white at the top.
There was a ‘Jarka’ here at one time, and maybe it produced this seedling.
‘Innocence’ is doing very well right now.
One ‘Innocence’ decided to be partly pink.
We walked around the garden to see how things are doing, like we always do, though usually I like to spend time barking at squirrels, but at one point I heard a little exclamation of surprise. The guy I live with said “Look there”.
The first snowdrop.
Galanthus bursanus.
The guy I live with said he could see more coming up. He said this is the best autumn-flowering snowdrop for our climate. This is considered to be hysteranthous because the leaves aren’t well-developed, as you can see. I talked about that in an earlier post.
He has all the other autumn-flowering species here, but this one does a lot better than the others.
There was a crocus in flower, too, but he forgot to take a picture of it.
I know he has mixed emotions about the coming of autumn. It was his wife’s favorite time of the year, along with Christmas, so he thinks about that, but this summer has been a really awful one, way too hot and way too dry.
He doesn’t have a lot of hope that we’ll get a bunch of rain, since we usually get less and less precipitation in the coming months, but at least it won’t be 95 degrees every day.
And maybe, he said, it will snow soon.
That’s all I have for today.
I’ll leave you with a picture of me photobombing what the guy I live with said was a very red sphaeralcea.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
The colchicums are very nice!
Thanks. There are a lot of them here, as maybe you can tell.
Lovely images as always. Love your autumn blooming bulbs. Hopefully your neighborhood fox will get the hint to move along. Sorry your Dad got skinned up-hopefully that won’t happen again on a walk. Happy autumn.
Thanks. We didn’t see the fox this morning, but I’m sure it’s around.
Glad to hear that you and the guy you live with are surviving your bunny and fox adventures. At least you get to enjoy some brie.
The colchicums sure brighten up the garden. One of my new plants went pfffft almost immediately, not sure what happened there, maybe we’ll see next spring; but all the rest look beautiful.
Thanks. I really like Brie.
The guy I live with said if the colchicum flower fell over, they do that sometimes.
The most important thing is that the daughter corms keep growing, for next autumn.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit how long it took me to find you in the first photo, but eventually I made out those attractive ears and then recognized your athletic form. Shame on that fox for luring you out. Hope his wounds mend quickly. The snowdrop is awesome, the colchicum are excellent. Mine seem unhappy in the heat, but I’ll explain to them tomorrow just how good they have it here and what real heat and drought are.
Thanks. The guy I live with said my form is somewhat less athletic than it was some years ago.
He comes in from brief episodes of gardening with blood streaming down his arms, just because he walked by something. Talk about thin-skinned.
Our weather has changed, finally. It’s been raining for the last two hours, and the high tomorrow is predicted to be 49. Fahrenheit, not Celsius.
Quite the recovery diet you are on Mani. I don’t remember anyone feeding me Brie when I was under the weather. You are a bit spoiled. Hope you appreciate the care you receive. In saying that you need to be more careful with the guy you live with. Age brings the risks of falls and injuries. The fox looks like it might be a young one hence it’s interest in you. Cool to see. Lovely colchicums and what a thrill to see a snowdrop. Takes a keen eye to see something so small at this time of year. Hope you are both feeling better soon.
I don’t like “pill pockets” so the guy I live with hides pills in Brie. I don’t even notice the big pills.
We figured the fox was a young one; it’s been wandering all over this part of the neighborhood, though of course there could be more than one. Plenty of places for foxes to find nice homes around here.
It’s been raining here since last night.
Yeah for rain. Wish some would come our way too as it is no sooooo dry.
THE red sphaeralcea iss so red like a Tomato Mani!! All yore Colchicumss are lovelee…..deepsite lack of rain Guy werkss meer-acless getting plantss to flower! Purrty Snowdropss ttwo. Wee think THE Fox wantss to beecome part of yore pack….mew mew mew…. Pleese bee carefull Mani an no draggin Guy again Okay??? **nose bopss** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
Thanks. It is a very red sphaeralcea. There are also orange ones and pink ones.
The guy I live with wondered if the fox wanted to be friends with me.
But it was on my driveway, which was just too exciting.
Had a beautiful bushy tailed red fox out back yesterday morning but the dog barked him away. Let folks on our road that keep chickens know about the prowling canid.
The guy I live with talked to his neighbor, who a fox in his back yard, maybe the same one; the guy I live with said he saw a fox easily clear a six-foot fence.