Nell, that's a good progression of interest over a long period of time.

I haven't done nearly that well! I am making a note for next spring to move some things around and divide some things.

Does gardening totally stop for you over winter?
It almost has here already.

Nell, aren't photos just great for documenting the garden? You've got dates for when things bloom and can make plans accordingly. Beautiful island bed.

I just posted my blog article for today about the verbena bonariensis. Mine has bloomed since May and is still going strong with the salvia and nepeta.

Freeze is coming this week here.

Cameron

I was thinking yesterday about saying, "Goodnight Gracie, see you all in March...." and deleting the GardenWeb Bookmark in my favorites list; but I think I'm addicted to these forums too much, as I keep peeking in to see what's up. Snow and freeze are supposedly on their way next week to my area as well.
Time to rest. Time to read. Time to eat and gain weight.
Hopefully more time to spend with friends and family. After all, Spring will be here before we know it.

Nell what a great idea, I think I'll start doing something similar. I've got a couple of beds that I'm not happy with so I think in my case taking pictures once a month from the same position will give me some idea what's missing and where. I loved watching how your bed changed throughout the season.

Although my gardening season is winding down I for one will be interested in seeing what's happening in the gardens with warmer climates. It's been too hot for some to even enjoy their gardens until now.
Here it's time for fall housecleaning and jelly making, in other words cleaning the cobwebs out of the kitchen, belting the stove making sure it still works and getting back to some serious cooking. Then it will be sitting by the fire with needles and wool or reading a good book and of course watching old movies(another addiction of mine).

We still have some serious cleanup to do, clean out the old raspberry canes and top dress the bed. The rambling rose Albertine which covers the back wall of the house has to be cut out and a new cane tied in, this alone will be a truckload to the composting section of our city's landfill.

This is the time of year I wander through my garden thinking about what worked and what didn't, making new plans of what to tackle next year. My Fuchsia collection is going to be whittled down to 50 by next year as I have decided to let the Clematis Wilsonii completely cover the lath house once again making it a lovely cool shady spot to sit on the few hot summer days we get. Plus the bonus of the lovely scent of chocolate it gives off doesn't hurt a bit :o). It will be too shady for the Fuchsias and I only have space for about 50 baskets elsewhere in the garden so some have to go.

The older one gets the faster time goes so for me Spring is just around the corner, got to get these old batteries recharged and ready for whatever challenge awaits me in my garden, there always seems to be one LOL.

Annette

I, too, set up folders by date. Which is so easy since the system does it for me.

Just this morning I was saying that I hate to see winter. Thank goodness we get mild winters. I would perish if it were dark/cloudy and cold for very long.

I always enjoy your pictures.

Kathy

Very, very windy here tonight; this old school's a creakin' and crackin'. Just hope the serviceberry shrub in the sunken garden doesn't get blown over - again, and the new little Pagoda Dogwood tree I planted hangs on tight to its stake.
Maybe the weatherman will be right when he said snow tomorrow. Oh and for whom it may concern, don't forget to turn your clocks back this Saturday night or Sunday morning!

Thanks for the inspiration, Nell! Very good idea to take progressive pics for garden planning. Something I've not been doing but will try to do that next year.

My island bed is in dire need of replanning and replanting and I hadn't thot of adding rocks altho I use them in the other beds. So I definitely will do that in the spring.

We had our first (or maybe last) frost in June this year and have had several this fall so it's definitely Goodnight for my garden til spring.

Fortunately, while our winters are cold they are often nice and sunny! Snow is very late to arrive this year, not sure how that will affect the plants but guess we'll know next spring.

I just say goodnight to tender plants. Gardening never really stops here -- it is easier to garden in cold than in summer's heat and humidity. Light frost expected this week.
I'll still be planting spring bulbs in December after weeks of chill in the fridge, the ground doesn't freeze. We'll have some real cold nights before winter is done, but the days are generally well above freezing and sunny after a cold night. The upper lawn beds need lots of attention. Not seen from the road like the island beds are, I haven't tried before to make them as visually interesting, just attractive to butterflies. Edges everywhere need attention; centipede grass crawled into every bed.

Cameron, I have to 'speriment with V. bonariensis, perennial here. Insects took out some in the very dry summer. Some has persisted. What seems to work well for me is V. bonariensis in spring and summer and Salvia leucantha for fall, cutting the verbena back late summer.

I hope everybody will find a system to use pics to their best advantage in planning. Now that I have them in folders by months, I'm going back and moving some into folders by location.

I have to get out and take last-minute cuttings of tender plants. There's no guarantee that stachytarpheta and pentas will return if the winter is colder than usual. I kind of promised the butterflies there will be more fav nectar plants next year. I dug my one pineapple sage plant, which could be kind of iffy, too and took additional cuttings.

Thanks for all your kind comments.
Nell

A really great idea, Nell! I must remember to do that with the new gardens I'm creating. It will be interesting to monitor the progress, or lack thereof!! I should have been outside today, getting rid of leaves, but I have the tiniest bit of a cold. Head cold, and it woke me up at 4 am....I lay there wondering if I should get up and medicate, but fell back asleep. I actually feel like I am on meds, but have decided to baby myself instead. We have a 'Winter Storm Watch' in the area for tomorrow, which usually means all kinds of crap and corruption, most likely including snow. My tech support guy reminded me we invariably have snow before Halloween. Oh well, back to painting the kitchen - one wall has grown into a larger job!!

Nancy.

There was actually ICE and a bit of SNOW in the state of North Carolina today! What was that about? Too soon!

My salvias, Encore azaleas, KO roses, gaillardia, 4 o'clocks, scabiosa, heliotrope, buddleia are still in bloom. Goodnight, George!

Cameron

PS How many of you know who Nell and I are talking about with regards to the "goodnight" chat? :-)

Comedians George Burns and his wife, Gracie.

We got sleet early this evening, but it's all rain now. Gathered three big trash bags of leaves from my mother's retirement center village before they got wet. Salvia is still blooming and so are the pansies; I picked another basket of leaf lettuce yesterday.

Cameron I remember listening to their radio show back in the 40's. George would say "Say good night Gracie", Gracie would say "Good night Gracie". Other radio shows back then, The Amos and Andy Show, Lux Radio Theater, The Jack Benny Programme, Blondie, Fibber McGee and Molly, The FBI in Peace and War, The Shadow, The Green Hornet, The Adventures of Sam Spade, Five Star Theater and I think I remember one about Charlie Chan. I'm sure there were more but can't think of them at the moment. I bet there's not many of us that remember many of them :o).

Annette, who at this moment is feeling ancient :o(.

I'm "ancient" enough also to remember most of those shows! We listened to George and Gracie on the radio and later watched them on TV. I loved their shows!

We still have not had snow that stayed, most unusual for this area. Last year had snow the 15th of Sept altho it didn't stay. Almost always, in my recollection, have snow that stays by the end of October. Oh, well, a few days left in the month. Temps from -5C to +16C. I think that's about 23F to 61F for non-metric people. Quite unseasonable, at least the highs. Not complaining tho! :)

Annette, I remember. Which show had the creaking door as it opened? That used to scare me.

Another ancient one.

Hmmmm I'd forgotten about that one. It was the Inner Sanctum I found this sample you can listen to, does this bring back memories. Then there was The Whistler, The Whisperer and I Love a Mystery, this one was on about 10 at night. Philip Marlowe and Boston Blackie, Michael Shayne, Philo Vance Detective, Gang Busters and Richard Diamond Private Detective. I listened to quite a few of these shows but from looking at the list there are a lot I didn't, Radio was big back then, do you think the kids today would get a kick out of these? I doubt it.
Might be fun to listen to some of these again on dark and rainy nights, the lights out with the glow from the fireplace flickering, the scent of freshly popping corn in one of those long handled baskets, or maybe microwaving less chance of it burning but not very nostalgic :o)

Yesterday was a lovely day, actually quite warm, we've had frost but haven't had a real killing frost yet. Things have been nipped but not blackened but that day is coming. The fall color around here has been quite beautiful this year, a lot of butter yellow, a bit of red and some other tints. A

Here is a link that might be useful: Inner Sanctum