The Last Echinacea
Although it is unseasonably warm right now (the high temperatures and humidity would not be out of place in July), it doesn't take much to remind one that we are not in the midst of the long hot days of summer.
Under the Deborah Maple
We should be enjoying crisp fall days, wearing sweaters and crunching leaves underfoot. Instead, stepping outside is uncomfortably like stepping into a sauna bath, though the evening light still fades at 7:00, and some leaves are still turning their autumn colours and falling to the ground.
Bloodgood Japanese Maple Leaves
Bleah!
But to say that it is all ugly would be misleading. Last year I bought a little caryopteris bush, and though it doesn't seem to have grown much this year (which is not surprising, since it the label says it stays compact), it does -- finally -- have a couple of blooms.
Caryopteris incana 'Jason'
And the hosta 'Red October' is living up to its name, blooming still when other hostas' flower stalks are crisp and brown and curling into themselves.
'Red October' Hosta
And some of the colour in the garden is definitely what you would expect of autumn.
Dying Heuchera Leaf
Climbing Vine on the Fence
Cutleaf Sumac
Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.
It would just be nice to wear long sleeves for a change, you know?
(I know. It will happen soon enough. Last year we had a snowstorm on October 12.)
9 comments:
hello,
wonderful pictures again, thank you for posting them.
The cutleaf Sumac leaf picture is outstanding. I agree with you, the weather is too warm for October and Thanksgiving. But cooler weather is coming soon. Perhaps in 2007 a La Niña might develop and influence our weather as well.
the colours that you do have are glorious. We went for a hike in the valley on Saturday and there was a good bit of coulor there. It was wonderful to just lok up and see the leaves falling gently all around us, and to hear the crunch underfoot.
Hello Karen! Thanks for the comment on my blog. Yes, I do think the northern sun allows me to grow many "shade" plants in full sun, like my Geranium pratense, columbines, and hostas. Cold limits my ability to grow some heuchera and I don't think I can do Tiarella at all. I find that stuff I put in shade here hardly grows. Perhaps, they are just too shaded with the low sun and the shade trees. I do love to vicariously garden in other people's yards though...thus I'm always telling my mom what to plant!
I agree this fall doesn't feel like fall. We are showing the tale tale signs of plants shutting down. But we have no leaves turning or falling.
the red of the sumac and vine is just awesome. My heuchera are still going strong. But today's chill should slow them down. Here comes fall after all.
Irena
Your Sumac is so so beautiful! We instead had a cold week and we even got some snow the other night but it (almost) smelt away. Next week it will be warm again and I feel much more comfortable...
HI Karen, I'm here the first time, and I like your autumn post very much. So I will come back soon.
Wish you a nice week
Wurzerl
The Japanese Maple leaves look like spun gold. How beautiful!
I brought home a couple of Caryopteris 'Bluebeard' seedlings from our son's garden. I didn't think of it as particularly compact. Their 2 shrubs are rather large, but very pretty with the late blooms, and the bees are wild about it. It sows itself liberally in their garden.
Our leaves seem to be at their peak now and are looking spectacular after all (I didn't think they would before dropping).
I'm loving this warm fall weather.
Hi - Stopping by from Garden Voices.
Your photos of your 'winding down' garden are lovely!
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