The view from the window shows that we had our first snowfall, just over an inch, but it didn't last long. Temperatures mostly ranged in the 30s and 40s. I guess I am done putting the garden to bed. Our first complete year in the new garden draws to a close leaving us with a sense of satisfaction - and a list of things to do next spring.
It was time to create a Garden Room. Yesterday I noticed that the Christmas cactus out on the front porch had been slightly nipped by cold night time temperatures. It was time to clean out the side porch which spent the summer filled with construction materials and debris and turn it into a Garden Room. We closed the windows, and even though the temperatures never quite hit 70 degrees and substantial breezes kept our two river birches dancing,…
Chrysanthemums are an iconic autumn flower. You can see potted mums for sale everywhere including the supermarkets where ranks of mums in shades of lemon, tangerine and plum cluster around the entrances. A friend reminded me of a quote from Maggie Smith in the 1969 movie, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which I never saw. A student had given Miss Brodie a bouquet(?) of chrysanthemums and her response was, “Chrysanthemums. Such a serviceable flower.” Miss Brodie did…
Blues in the autumn strike a different mood from that of the traditional expectation of reds and golds of the fall. And yet, there are many blues in the autumnal palette. The very blue perennial ageratum, or mistflower have tumbled in the heat to embrace the dahlias. Some may call it a shade of lavender, but I consider my Russian sage a part of my autumnal blues. If I allow lavender Russian sage I will also allow purple…
On this Garden Blogger's Bloom Day in Greenfield, Mass, still boasting only a Zone 5 rating, my very late blooming pink chrysanthemums are still blooming. We have had frost, and some rain and wind, but these dependable beauties are still going. They are the only thing blooming outside.We are still not having freezing night temperatures as a regular thing, though it does get down below 40 degrees. This prostrate rosemary was taken out of a pot and put…
This pot of pansies was all but forgotten until the sun shone on it this afternoon. This large clump of chrysanthemums is still blooming so energetically that it refuses to be forgotten. For more Wordlessnes this Wednesday click here.
The weather has been kind to those of us who procrastinate and go about fall clean up in the garden with a little less energy than we once had. Right now I am buckling down and in the midst of working through my to-do list. I got an early start in the vegetable garden in late September. I pulled out finished squash and bean plants and put all that biomass in the compost bin. All the empty…
Returning from a few days away I was happy to see that the asters are still blooming. These sunny quilled mums don't look like the cold and the rain bothered them at all. The Montauk daisies have started to bloom! Do think I can now say that the Sheffies, my late blooming Sheffield daisies, are finally blooming? I leave it up to you.
It is hard to believe these are Sheffield daisies. They could be any chrysanthemum - except that my chrysanthemum is blooming. I look closely at the Sheffield daisy buds to see if they look like they might be ready to open, or at least to be showing color. Why are they so late to bloom? The summer was very cool for the most part. And dry in late August and all through September, but I did occasionally give…
A different kind of Dinner Theater. At this time of the year we are sitting down at our dining table in front of big windows that look out across the lawn, to the hills beyond, and into the sky for supper right at sunset. The show is brief and doesn't take us all the way to dessert, but it is spectacular. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.