Midwest Garden Tour Showcasing Fall Color

Due to the impending frost coming my way, I am doing one last hoorah for the front and back yard. These garden beds are getting ready to go dormant and I want to show them off before they start going to sleep.

This year I tried my hand at planting out some swiss chard as an annual fall color and it has not disappointed. 

I was going to try and use the typical annuals, aka mums, lettuce that type of thing. But the rabbits are still a part of my life here in NW Indiana. I'd rather they keep eating the scraps I toss or the bird seed or corn in the yard instead of what is in my garden beds.

It seems to work sometimes, although if you saw several blue junipers this past Winter, you'd know they ate thru those pretty quick. Plus my arborvitae's as well. One last look at the fountain above. We will have to bring it in pretty soon. It won't stand up to the harsh cold we'll get.

Sorry about the sun flare on my camera lens. It would have been a gorgeous shot if it had worked.

The Honeysuckle bushes managed to put on a tiny bit of growth, but hopefully next year they will start to show off a bit. It hasn't given off any nice smell yet either, but maybe next year!

Things are turning a gorgeous fall color in here. The purple smoke bush peeking in at the top left corner is just starting to go that gorgeous yellow orange color. I started planting more Lambs Ear a week ago around the base. This area butts up against my driveway and is a huge weed attractor. Hopefully this will help me suppress the weeds. 

I did a large fall display in the center of the yard. A girlfriend hooked me up with a Farmer who sells hay bales and corn stalks for next to nothing, so I went crazy.

Below on the right hand side you will see a new "Emperor" Japanese Maple Tree I bought to replace the 11 foot arb that the bunnies ate up last Winter.

Right now Greg is finding an hour or two every day to re-caulk all the windows and paint the wood trim a bright white. These windows haven't been touched since we moved in and they need it. I asked him to start getting done, because every time we put holiday decorations out, it just showcases how bad they look with lights hanging near them. 

You can see above the orange / brown irrigations lines running through the bed. We switched from soaker hose to the brown drip irrigation and are extremely happy with it.

If you were to want to add irrigation, I would advise just skipping the soaker hose, it usually ends up getting clogged by the second or third year, especially if your water is on a Well, like mine.

If we had to pay for City water to irrigate these beds would be filled with Cactus.

This old black lantern might need some christmas lights or an outdoor candle in it come the holidays. What do ya think?

Below is the West side yard and it is really starting to look good. The Hydrangeas are coloring up with great Fall color and the butterfly bush is towering over the blue juniper so much you can't even see it. It's only about 4 feet tall but the butterfly bush is 5 to 6 feet this year.

I've come to the conclusion that the only way I am going to be able to keep the creeping charlie weed out of my garden beds, is by getting it out of my yard.

I have no idea about how to treat weeds in the yard so wish me luck. I am going to have to get educated and grow a better lawn to have nice garden beds.

The succulent bird bath did great this year, so I will probably repeat it again next year, if these things don't like our winter. I am no succulent expert and am already planning and plotting my seed growth for 2022, so bringing them indoors won't be happening. That's a lot of stuff under my grow lights and I am already short on grow space.

The yard art chandelier got mums for Fall and is looking wonderful. I did it as an experiment for a bright pop of color and it worked perfectly. The Trailing Vinca vine I had in there all season also did great, even though these tiny pots (aka soup cans) get baked all season and whatever is in them has to be drought tolerant or tough enough to forget about watering them for a day in 90 degree heat waves.

I hope you enjoyed the front yard garden tour and hopefully I can show you the back. The rain has been coming down non stop as I am trying to finish off this article, so cross your fingers so I can get out back with my camera.