November Nor'easter

Last week for three long days, we experienced a nor'easter that produced six and a half inches of rain. What was very interesting was how the temperature hardly moved for those three days and how the wind was constantly blowing for the same time without a break. The time covered by the charts is Nov. 4 through Nov. 16 with the storm covering the 10th through the 14th.

Interesting Croton Flower

A couple of weeks ago I brought in our two large Croton plants that were doing so well on the front porch. Since I almost lost them several years ago when I left them out during a November freeze I try to bring them in early. One of the plants sprouted a beautiful flower that you can see in the first picture. We suspect these are flower seeds so we captured some of the seeds to plants later. The second picture shows the small red cone shaped leaf at the base of the flower. Quite a nifty looking flower.

Midnight Owl Visit

The Owl is getting a little more dramatic with his poses for the pictures. The first is really interesting since this is the first one with him in the water. You can see the lower part of his body is underwater. I think he may have just landed when the camera flash went off. The second picture shows him on the side of the pond and gladly I can't see any Goldfish in his claws (not that he wasn't successful in his fishing trip, but at least I can't see it.) It is very interesting that his wings are fully extended in both pictures.

Butterfly Bush Surprise

A big surprise was provided by the Butterfly Bushes this week. This time of year their normal flowers are gone (and so are the Butterflies). So I was quite excited to see a flower of a different look on two of the bushes. One white and one purple. These flowers are very different from the normal flower and I have never seen them before. There were only a couple of them with the purple one being the most interesting. The normal flower cover the bush with color at the end of almost every branch. I don't know what function these flowers provide but they sure were neat.

Last Call for Elephant Ears

It is almost the saddest time of the year for the Elephant Ears. This year the best display was on either side of the door to the shed. A few years ago, I had some extra Elephant Ear bulbs and in looking for a place to plant them, the shed offered a spot. The plants have come back year after year and this year is the best yet. The Elephant Ears next to the ponds are already starting to thin. They looked quite good this year but didn't achieve the same status as years past. Very soon the freeze will come and the plants will collapse and look very sad.