A Few Blooming Things

We had another curious parakeet visit our bird feeders a few days ago. It wanted to get to those suet balls but was frustrated by the squirrel-proof cage. The parakeets' heads are too big to fit through the cage, poor things. I should hang an uncaged suet ball just to give them something to snack on.

We still have a surprising amount of activity in the garden, even though the days are getting shorter, colder and darker.

Our Mahonia is blooming for the first time this year. Dave moved it last February and it seems much happier in its new location. It typically blooms in the fall and winter, which is pretty unusual. You can see some of the fallen leaves from our Japanese maple sprinkled over the top like jimmies on a cupcake.

Those leaves are picturesque wherever they land -- in this case on the hostas. They've just about all fallen, though.

We also have a rose that sent up a bud for some reason. It's definitely an odd time for a rose to bloom!

And the volunteer cosmos on the back patio is still going strong, though with smaller flowers than usual. When we finally get a good frost that will finish it off. The other cosmos have all died back already, but this one got a late start.

Here's the mystery plant that's growing in the pot with our passionflower vine. It's getting bigger and bigger -- that stalk has to be half an inch thick. It looks like nothing else in our garden. What on earth is that thing?

This weekend I'm planning to lift the dahlia tubers from their pots -- at least the ones that have died back -- and I'm going to lift the amaryllis bulbs too. I'll store them all in the dark shed over winter and replant them in early spring. I'm eventually going to treat the amaryllis bulbs and try to subdue the fungus that left them so unhappy this year -- but if that doesn't work we'll just have to toss them out. Time will tell!