I was trying to think of a great title for this post and coming up short.
We have been going through a very dry autumn, and consequently the fall colors are mostly muddy and short lived. That wonderful walnut dressed with scarlet underwear I featured a short while ago is now nude, except for one little scrap of scarlet at the top.
The vast majority of the trees in the area are dropping their leaves without really turning colors, or dropping them within short days of the color turn. Yesterday the wind blew hard all day long as a front moved through, so most of the color is on the ground now.
I was able to find some striking leaves yesterday, though, and brought them home for a bloom scan.
The ninebark in the rain garden was looking very spectacular in the evening sun.
So was the Petite Prairie.
I have a clematis that decided since it has cooled off and I have done some watering in that bed it ought to put on a fall display of flowers.
It has a tiny little crab spider guarding it.
In front of the house I have some fall blooming crocuses that have appeared.
I planted those as an experiment, to see how they would do. They have multiplied a bit so I can spread them around some, but I think I may just order some more bulbs too.
Out in the vegetable garden, the garlic we planted 10 days ago is UP!
I’ll be mulching it today or tomorrow. Elsewhere in the garden, the salad greens patch is growing quite nicely, and I am anticipating the salads that will come out of that part of the garden all winter with great pleasure. You can see that there are three different plantings in this salad patch. The younger plants will provide salads later on in the season after the older ones peter out. The black beans in the bed behind are ready to be harvested and dried too.
We still have not had a frost, or even a threat of one, which is why the cold frames are not already in place to protect the bed. We also have only felt the need to build a fire in the heating stove one time this fall. We might have our second fire tonight, actually. It’s only 52ºF out there and there is a nippy gale blowing out there.
I’m pretty sure that winter will be here before we know it. It usually comes every year.
