I always bring in the last good-looking foliage and seedpods to make an autumn arrangement. This time I forgot about watering it after the first few days. So I remade it as a study in brown.
Have a pleasant Thanksgiving. I'm not the cook this year, so it will be very pleasant for us.
October began with a few gorgeous days in a row letting me empty all my containers. The perennials went back in the ground, while I brought my Begonias indoors to see if can manage to overwinter them. Then I scrubbed all the pots — the ones that were planted — from the smallest to the largest.
The small pots went into the garage until next spring. Mark and I turned the biggest decorative ones ones upside down to winter in place. Since they won't be able to hold water, they should be fine with this treatment. Mark can still pretty much turn these pots over by himself. I just help put the wood risers under them.
They are very big pots. Here's what they look like next to a person . . .
and next to the fence for the winter. Also sitting on wood blocks.
We moved the rest of the decorative pots down to this storage area on the east side of the house. It's a surprisingly protected location with the garage wall, fencing and a big maple tree overhead. We've never lost a pot to winter weather yet. Knock on wood.
I got my work table all cleaned off (except for that big branch) and bagged pine needles from neighbors and a friend by the beginning of the last week in October.
The weather was terrific so it wasn't as frustrating raking up the endless maple leaves from my neighbor's tree as it would have been on a miserable day.
We spent the last nice day — Thursday, Nov. 10th — cleaning the garage, washing tools and putting them away. I cleaned and organized my metal shelving and cabinet and Mark did everything else.
Just as the sun was fading and the temperature dropping the team from Tiplok came to blow the leaves off of the roof on the house and the Tea House. Rain was forecast for that evening so we really wanted to be sure the gutters were not going to get clogged up. They did a great job, including blowing the leaves from the roof off of the yew hedge where they initially fell.
We did get rain as predicted that evening and the temperature took a dive with snow showers on Friday and Saturday. It snowed lightly starting on Monday but it was enough to cover the ground. The view Tuesday morning.
It snowed on and off all day yesterday. Note the snow depth this morning at 7 a.m. My theory of winter is that it will be a long winter if there is measurable snow before Thanksgiving.
The temperature is supposed to hit the mid-30°s today. But the high temp doesn't get out of the 20°s for the next few days. That's January weather. I was going to add more leaf mulch on some of the newer plants and already I can't locate them because of the snow cover. That's gardening in Wisconsin.
I cut the seedheads off of my Belcamda chinensis knowing they have a reputation as rampant self-seeders. Given that it's planted next to the gravel-filled upper pond, I could just imagine my frustration if the seeds landed there. Thus I've been enjoying this small bouquet of shiny black buttons indoors, instead of worrying about them free out of doors.
Our recent warm weather pushed my Thanksgiving rose — Helleborus niger — into spectacular bloom. Here it is last Monday, Nov. 7th.
Last Thursday we finished our winter prep on the last warm day. Overnight the temperature dropped from the low 70°s to the 30°s. That was followed by wind, rain and snow showers. When the temperature finally hit 32° early this afternoon I went out and cut a few Hellebore stems.
The flowers were lightly brushed with snow with iced and downward curving stems. It didn't take them long to perk right back up however. You've gotta love a plant that can deal with serious weather.
The garden has never looked better in autumn than this year. This is the view from the spot I aways sit in our living room. Once I sit down, I've hardly been able do anything but look out the window at this glorious scene.
Of course, the above photo is one I intended to post when Typepad started acting up. In the intervening days, that green tree turned red and now all of them have lost most of their leaves.
Gorgeous warm weather today, followed by rain and temps dropping into the 30s — if the weather forecast is to be believed.
Thank you for checking in with me while I attempted to solve my problem loading photos. Fingers still crossed, but it seems to be working.
Whenever I get bored, I change up the items on top of this pair of Chinese wine tables. Or on the glass shelves we added on the bottom to provide more display space. Recently I wanted something to punch up this room and bought this pair of lamps at a new antique mall in town. Mark is less than thrilled with them because they limit the size and number of pieces of art that can be put on the wall behind them — which is why I saved the pair of smaller scale lamps that had been residing here.
I put this grouping of objects out at the beginning of October. I wanted something that felt like Halloween but didn't include typical items. This group showcases a Japanese incense burner, a squash-shaped box of unknown origin and a Chinese ceramic piece that was likely used as a roof decoration.
I immediately fell in love with this piece when I saw it at an art show at a friend's farm the summer of 2021. It's an actual dried pumpkin covered with lead bullets and sculpt metal. It's called "Pumpkin Mine" and is a comment on the marine mines used to blow up ships. I'm still not sure why I am so drawn to it. I'm not a violent person and neither is the artist — a friend — who made it. But it certainly has that eerie Halloween feel.
This big wooden bowl full of Honey Locust pods comes out every autumn. When we first lived here, we rarely got pods from our three trees. In recent years, we are buried in them. We fill a lot of big bags with them and send them off to the county dump.
As a means of turning these lemons into lemonade, I saved the longest, shiniest, most velvety pods for display. They live in this bowl year-round in the basement except for their month in the sun every October.
The trees in the front garden have rapidly turned color in the last week and one has already lost its leaves. Most plants are still very green making the red foliage pop. For the first time the leaves on our Burning Bush are an intense red — the result of much more sun without the old Sugar Maple tree that came down last winter. I'm standing with my back towards the street, directly under the burning bush, looking toward the house.
The orange leaves on the left belong to an Acer Manchuricum, while the gold ones on the right are from Acer tschonoskii. The small weeping yellow tree in the center is a 'Tina' crabapple.
The Burning Bush in all its autumn glory.
The Acer tschonoskii lost its leaves first which means this gorgeous moment was very fleeting.
'Tina' was bright yellow late last week and is already moving into less attractive brown tones.
This tall, narrow Acer triflorum is one of our favorite trees in the garden.
I particularly enjoy this low branch that drapes over the Japanese forest grass. The grassy backdrop is perfect to set off the tree's foliage . . .
no matter what stage of fall color it's showing.
The top of the tree in the sun is always brighter and often the leaves even look shinier than the more matte foliage down where I can easily see it. I think that is just the way it looks to me and not a true difference.
The orchard owner at the Wednesday Hilldale Market, here on the west side, has a beautiful and ever-changing selection of apples each week. I picked a mixed bag of crisp varieties out of his assorted baskets, not realizing what a stunning group I'd chosen until I opened my bag at home.
I snagged this impressive pumpkin (squash?) at the first stand I always visit at this outdoor market. Once I saw this beauty, I had to stop shopping and carry it back to my car. It was too heavy for me to haul around while I finished my shopping. I love the fact that the dark green color is a perfect match for our house color.