Maiden Grass

I just love it when the Maiden Grasses starts to head out, especially when the October sun shines a spotlight on the plumes. The carpet roses are still blooming, too, protected by the grasses. The only negative is that the grasses are so tall now that we can't see the flag on the mailbox from the house, to know whether our mail has been delivered or not. Small price to pay!

Computing with a cat

October colors

October is two-thirds over, yet the garden still offers some wonderful color.

Not the best photo and not the prettiest rose this bush has produced, but you've got to be grateful for a rosebush that is still giving you roses in late October!

 The red twig dogwood is starting to live up to its name. It will be gorgeous against the snow––if we have any snow this year.

The catmint and salvia are blooming again. These are some of my favorite early bloomers. And now late bloomers.

 A beautiful stand of Dallas Blues grass waves in the breeze.

A surprise mum (that we let get too long and leggy!) is blooming the exact shade of fuchsia as the Superbells blooming in its shadow in the same pot.

I'm NOT ready to let the garden go yet, and trying to enjoy the few bits of beauty still there before winter sets in for good.

Watching fall unfold

This quiet, shady (but not too shady) spot under our bald cypress tree is a new favorite place to sit and enjoy the colors of fall. And this is the view from the bench...

Cyclamen, my new favorite flower

I bought two cyclamen plants at Walmart way back in March when I could hardly wait for spring to arrive. If I remember correctly, they were only $3 each, so I couldn't be too disappointed when I started reading up on these plants and discovered they were early spring bloomers and would only bloom for a few weeks and then their season would be over. Thankfully, these beauties didn't get the memo! They bloomed all summer long in the morning sun/afternoon shade of the front porch, with a brief break in the heat of August. And then they went at it full-steam again. They apparently have mistaken these cooler days and even a couple of freezing nights for the advent of spring. We have a few more days of warm temps in the forecast, but before our next freeze, I'm going to repot these and bring them inside for the winter. And next year I'm buying a whole bunch of them! 

This anemic begonia (and a tiny cutting of coleus that survived the freeze) kind of took over the second cyclamen, but it's still beautiful and blooming in its corner of the pot.

Rain, wonderful rain!

We had a good old-fashioned thunderstorm October 12. Look at that rainspout flow! Haven't seen that for a while, but what a wonderful sight it is!

Leaves making up

We may have lost most of our flowers in October 6th's freeze, but the leaves are quickly making up for the lost color. Now, on October 12, almost overnight the trees have turned, and a gentle rain has washed everything in beautiful autumn color. 

A freeze

Things are looking a little sad around here after it froze Saturday night, October 6. We didn't check the weather, so didn't cover anything and we lost all our coleus and the beautiful lantana. Most of the other plants are doing okay, so there are still spots of color (and we moved some pots around to capitalize on what is still blooming) but it's always a little sad when we realize this year's flowers have done their duty. I have to remind myself that things bloomed almost a full month early this year, so we still certainly got our money's worth.

I brought some blooms inside for the window sill and am really enjoying the bright splash of color they provide.