Seasonal Musings

Fall has arrived...the trident maple leaves decided to fall this week. Cooler temperatures, some rain, the first fire in the fireplace. Yes...it is that time of year. Not my favorite because it somehow makes me sad for no known reason. Maybe it was all those years growing up in snow country and thinking I am soon to be stuck indoors.

However, that is not so true here in Central California. Instead of snow on the ground I have beet and carrot seedlings sprouting.

The dutch iris are a couple feet tall... 

      and the freesias are coming up through the falling leaves.

 Lettuce, planted in a pot and covered with wire to keep the rascally sparrows from eating it before we can, is also sprouting.

 Garlic chive seed heads and fading zinnias mix with sprouting bulbs, promising spring will be here before I know it.

Even so, the succulents are tucked in various protected places. 

Because spring isn't all THAT close.

It will just be a little while.

Garden Blogger Bloom Day November 2011

It's time for Garden Blogger Bloom Day, November 2011! Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for inviting us to share what is blooming in our garden each month on the 15th.

 

 A few of the pass-a-long chrysanthemums show no damage but many of them have been half eaten by the nasty earwigs.

 This hollyhock has been blooming for months and shows no sign of stopping; I have no memory of buying it but am grateful that I must have done so.

 Twinny Yellow Shades snapdragon, grown from seeds purchased after a trip to Filoli where they were growing lush and lovely, struggled all summer but is now coming into its prime.

 Dwarf Carnation Evermore is a major favorite of mine, blooming for much of the year over the past 5 or 6 years.

 Salvia Dancing Dolls is another trouper, blooming for months on end.

 Thanks to Frances at Fairegarden for mentioning in a conversation the other day that her little camellias were blooming. I checked my Camellia Sasanqua Kanjiro and it was indeed also blooming! I hadn't even noticed. Another reason I'm grateful for Bloom Day...it makes me pay attention to blooms that otherwise might be missed.

 Solanum jasminoides has climbed up into the privet and viburnum and brightens them both.

 Rosa Flower Girl is prettiest in the fall and spring when the weather is cool enough to allow the pink color to shine. Summer blooms are typically white.

Salvia May Night still blooms a bit. It will soon die back for the coldest months, to bloom anew next summer.

Many of the November blooms are brighter and more vibrant than the summer versions. Lavender pinnata buchii for instance has a much more intense color. Looking back over these photos I see that all but two (the chrysanthemums and the camellia) are summer-long-and-then-some bloomers here. I like having them to fill in when there is nothing new going on. Other long blooming stalwarts include allysum, anisodontea, wax begonias, bat-faced cuphea, and agyranthemum. Even many of these will soon take a break as cold weather, hopefully including lots of rain, becomes the reality.