Mum's The Word

So, I may have been shopping.

With my sister-in-law Phyllis.
She eggs me on.  
"Buy them," she says. "I know my brother Howard will LOVE them . . . ."

I'm fibbing.

I didn't need any egging-on.

In my defense, I've got a lot of porch on which to perch mums.

This morning; what a gorgeous start to a beautiful day!

Although I believe in squeezing the last bits of summer out of

the limbo of mid-September, I folded and bought mums today.

Pretty much a mini-van full of them.

I always return to Lincoln Park, where we used to live, to buy mums.

There are real, live growers there,

and the plants are healthy and (relatively) cheap.

This puppy is one big mum. 

It's bigger than some shrubs,

and it seems to have been planted with

two different mums, so the colors are really cool.

Deep reds and pinks.

What fun, to have more than one color in one mum!

I've got an equally big basket for it to live in.

I also picked up a big Black-Eyed Susan, 

only it's not a Black-Eyed Susan; it's called "Irish Eyes."

It's pretty evident why.

And two Montauk Daisies.

They are not yet in bloom.

Montauk Daisies, which are actually from Asia but have naturalized

their little selves on the East End of Long Island,

bloom crazy late in the season, with big gorgeous white daisy-like flowers.

They're like Shasta Daisies, only longer lasting and sturdier.

They can grow really big, so they do need pruning in spring.

And, having had such great good luck with the blue aster

that I planted outside our sunroom last year,

which bloomed all summer and is still pooping out flowers,

today I got a lavender aster.  I do love it when the

perennials are 50% off at the growers.

If you, too, are a Summer Lingerer, forgive me for buying mums.

I did not buy scarecrows, cornstalks, hay bales or pumpkins.

We've got plenty of time for that!

Now I need to go stir the risotto.  -- Cass

P.S.  Phyllis - thanks for the pizza and the book.
(Thankfully only one of them came from Goodwill.)