We're in a new-construction house with a blank yard, for the most part. Today my husband helped me get a bunch of composted manure and we made a raised berm in which to plant perennials, and also filled some raised wood beds I made. I don't know why but I'm sooo excited I'm going to have more stuff to work on outside. I hate running out of projects. I like to keep fairly busy, and get exercise that also *does* something, such as gardening. I think I've really got the gardening bug. And now it's turning to Fall. Oh, well!

Well, don't give up yet. Are you new to this area? Fall is a good time to plant some perennials, and bulbs. I'm still waiting for my order from Brent and Becky's.

You are fortunate not to have a lot of weeds and blackberry vines to deal with. I spent my gardening time today cutting out Thimbleberry and 3 kinds of blackberry vines, with painful sticks from the thorns, and piling them in a wheelbarrow to chip later. I will use them in paths and this year also in beds to get more mulch down to hopefully suppress weeds a little. I also have more beds to weed, some for the first or second time this year, some for the third or fourth time. I may try to chip enough to mulch most this winter. I still have a few plants to move, too. I've been picking beans for seed and for shelly beans, too, then I have to sit around in the evening shucking beans. I like winter here because I use the time to plan next year's garden and order seeds. I had a great vegetable garden this year and hope to have an even better one next year.

Hi Nancy and all,

I love threads like this! Thanks for starting it. Your garden looks great as always. I love the foliage on your tree peony. Really nice! And iris are always fun.

I've been planting a TON of things lately (variegated bergenia, some ornamental grasses, irises, variegated daylily 'Golden Zebra', hellebores, spring bulbs, hydrangeas, euphorbias, tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca), a few rhododendrons and camellias, plus transplanting self-sown foxgloves and hollyhocks from pots where I started them in August). It's fun to hear who is planting what and when.

My new little garden is holding up pretty well still. By far the best looking plants this month are the Rudbeckia laciniata plants which are covered in tall, fresh yellow blooms that catch the morning dew and the calendulas which are still making tons of clear, bright orange blooms. Verbena bonariensis is still blooming its head off (and the spindly stems make a great infrastructure for spider webs) and the roses are also still fresh and beautiful. I've put in quite a few types of Schizostylus which are tossing up occasional blooms of pink, red, and white. As you know, they'll just keep going through late winter. The hot-colored coleus plants are still in great shape and seem very autumnal (time to take cuttings to overwinter (note to self)). Several, but not all, of the fuchsias are also picture-perfect this month too.

I'm curious to see who will with the race: frost vs. Salvia gesneriiflora. The foliage on the salvia is just wonderful: wide, flat, and crimped. The plant is suddenly lurching skyward (already 5 feet tall) and looks like its budding up but as I've read many times, it may get frosted before fully blooming. We'll see! The foliage sure is nice coming up through some Melianthus major and purple-leaf elderberry plants.

Not much color yet on the fairly large Japanese maple that was already here, or in the smaller 'Bloodgood' maple that I planted myself. I'm eager to see them color up. This summer I planted some orange-flowered Chilean glory flower (Eccremocarpus scaber one of my favorite delicate vines) at the base of the one dark-leaf maple and the vine is gently climbing it and producing rich deep orange blooms which really warm up against the dark maple foliage.

And speaking of fall color, I'm a little disappointed in the yellow of my 'Forst Pansy' burgundy-leaf redbud tree. The color is more khaki than yellow. Still, the burgundy held up great all summer long so I'm glad I planted it.

Of course, plenty of things look less than lovely too, but I'm hoping the nice-looking plants distract the eye, heh heh.

Take care and good gardening,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Zebra variegated daylily

Obviously that's supposed to be 'Forest Pansy' redbud, not Forst.

Hope to hear how everyone else's gardens are looking, and who is planting what. :)

Grant, I usually put covers over plants for the first frosts as there is frequently some good weather that follows, so if the foliage survives the plant can keep blooming. A 5 foot plant would require a very large container or a tarp. A tarp with a trouble light inside to add warmth works really well, just be sure the light is not close to the tarp. I typically invert 5 gallon pots or garbage cans over plants for protection.

I usually pre-dig the holes for bulbs and put the dirt from the holes in pots under shelter to keep it dry, so I can plant if the fall rains start before the bulbs arrive. But I just realized I can put my tunnels on the ground where I will plant the bulbs to keep it dry instead, and save myself some work. I'm waiting on my order from Brent and Becky's which should come soon. They were even nice to add to my order from July without charging me the basic shipping charge again.