Jaci Dawn

We’re entering the Season of the Spider. I love late September and early October for the spiders. The big, fat, mother Argiope spiders amaze me with their art work.

This one used bits of plant to embellish her web.

Late Summer and early Autumn is also Aster time. This beauty is growing in a crack in the sidewalk. How it gets roots deep enough and strong enough to support itself is a wonder.

The mother plant has been uprooted, replanted, divided, and moved so many times I can no longer count them. The original plant was a gift from a friend in the St. Johns’ neighborhood of Portland.

I planted this aster and am continually amazed at the height and beauty of it. It isn’t as compact as the purple one, and it’s legginess causes a lot of issues, but the bees just adore it.

The funnel spiders (family Agelenidae) have a hey-day in the Dog Days of Summer. They are relatively harmless to humans in the USA (I wouldn’t poke my finger down that web, I just don’t want my reader to freak out and call the Exterminator) and are very beneficial for killing other insects. Hmmm. I have a number of pesky Squash Bugs I want to drop down that funnel…

I actually have grapes on my grapevine! The tag to the vine is somewhere on my desk, but I’m not going to try to dig it out to tell you the varietal. I lied: Interlaken Grapes.

I saw this black pepper annual at the local BiMart and could not live without it. It is not edible, but it is simply gorgeous! I am hoping it will reseed itself in the pot and I will get volunteers in the Spring. The plant did not come with a tag but I had an easy time finding it on the Internet. It is called “Purple Flash”.

I am amazed at the funnel spiders this year. This particular one has taken over my Yucca. Some people consider Yucca to be a pest and I acquired this particular plant when a neighbor re-did his yard. He set it out on the street with a FREE sign on it. I hauled it home and planted it by the water meter, on a strip of lawn we do very little with.

The Yucca loves my neglect and the spider seems to love the Yucca.

This phlox mysteriously appeared in my prayer garden. I don’t remember planting it.

It is delicate and very pretty. I think it is a ground cover and I can possibly nurture it in it’s present location. I dug out another ridiculous ground cover that I purchased from a school plant sale and ended up hating because it encroached on the Douglas Meadowfoam that blooms there in the spring. The Meadowfoam came with the maple tree my husband brought me from the mountains (also the Yew).

I think I remember planting this mallow last Spring. It surprised me with a spurt of growth and a bloom (or several) this year. I have no record of the plant, but I know it is a mallow.

The mallow’s sisters are my hollyhocks. Those I remember planting. I also remember how my father hated hollyhocks.

Personally, I love hollyhocks.

My one remaining fuschia takes refuge in the shade of the yew and the maple, and still provides me with beautiful blooms all summer. I bought it from the same school plant sale as the ground cover I hated.

I think this is a marigold. It just sprouted and volunteered its services. I am waiting for the bloom.

Speaking of a volunteer: what is it with tomatoes? It is the last full day of summer and I find this volunteer tomato plant in the garden. Really?

The windflowers finally decided to sprout and produce a single plant in the garden. I am loving their last minute blooms.

Tomorrow, Autumn begins. Today, Summer had one last hurrah.