Early October Images

Today the sky is bright blue, and the air is cool. Summer is gone.I watched dark clouds yesterday, first faint on the horizon, then gathering power and rolling toward us, until at last they poured out much needed rain and forcefully pushed away the last high temperatures of the year. This morning I breathed in the fresh air and reveled in the low humidity and chill breezes. Autumn is only peeking at us and blushing a bit now, but the next few weeks should bring some wonderful color transformations as the season displays its full glory. Meanwhile, Lou is already busy raking leaves.a sampling of autumn leaves
This skinny squirrel is probably watching, not leaves, but all the acorns falling from the trees! Maybe they will fatten him up!

Here are a few early fall scenes around the garden:

Tropicana canna Lily is noted for its outstanding foliage and fiery blooms, but I am also impressed with its seed pods.

This seed pod is from a Southern Magnolia tree.

There are still some flowers blooming in early October. Most of these will bloom until frost:Counterclockwise from top left: Spider lily; Purple Sage; Autumn Sage; Red Cascade rose; Hardy Morning Glory; Wild ageratum; Plectranthus; Penelope rose.

October blessings to you all; have a great week!    Deborah

Going, Gone: November Review

The end of November brings a sadness for fading glory and a resolve to love winter in spite of it. Fall colors peaked during November, then within days it is gone.

In the following grouping, the photos on the left were taken on November 18, the ones on the right were taken today, November 30:

Watch the Japanese maple, Orido Nishiki, on the right in the following photos as the month progresses. 

Nov. 5:
 Nov. 12:

 Nov. 17:

 Nov. 20:

And today, Nov. 30, most of the beautiful leaves are on the ground, covering the moss path. I will need to rake these leaves since moss won't thrive if it is covered. It gets most of its nutrients from the air, rather than the soil.

Not all leaves have fallen, and some of the ones that have are still quite interesting:Clockwise, from top left: Korean Spice Viburnum; Anthony Waterer Spirea; a shriveled hosta leaf; Variegated Hydrangea.

Recent frost shriviled and browned flowers that had persisted well into the month, but they were pretty while they lasted. Yes, I know the ornamental cabbage on the second row is not a flower, but it is pretty enough to be one. It also is the only one to be unfazed by the frost:

Some woodland trees, photos taken less than two weeks ago. Only the evergreen Feelin' Blue, a weeping deodar cedar, looks the same now:Left: dogwood, Cornus Florida; Top right: 'Waterfall' Japanese maple; Bottom right: Japanese maple 'Orido Nishiki' and 'Feelin' Blue' deodar cedar. The trunk in the middle belongs to a dogwood. 

Finally, here is my Tin Man, given to me years ago by a dear friend, and a few other garden ornaments. The large urn is a water reservoir in the woodland garden, which fortunately I have not needed to use at all this month:

Now it's time to look toward winter, to Christmas and family gatherings, to snuggling under the blankets, to fires upon the hearth, to homemade soup and warm comforting drinks, to good books and garden catalogues, and maybe, just maybe, to a little bit of snow!