The view from the window is slightly skewed today so I (we) can see the full garden, fence to fence. The river birches have lost most of their leaves but neighboring oaks and maples, along with our chestnut tree have lots of leaves left to keep us raking.

There is sufficient overlap you can even see the pails. It is so hard to be cleaning and storing equipment this time of the year. The golden shrub in the middle of the photo is Clethra alnifolia. Sometimes it is called summersweet for its flowers and fragrance. It is one of the many waterloving plants in the garden.

The zinnias are still giving us a lot  of bloom, but there are a few snapdragons and tiny marigolds  blooming as well. The ground cover is still a bright fresh green.The weather has been quite mild with only an occasional nippy day.  No frost. Today’s temperature was 60 degrees, and last night there was another shower. Makes raking a bit easier.

The view from the window is one way I keep a record of the weather and the length of bloom.

The weather has been so mild that everyday I go out and pick a few raspberries. On this day I collected half a pint. I will have to search my records to find out the name of this very long and late blooming berry.