Snowing here, north of Boston. And I just talked to a friend in Hanover--snowed there today too. And a lot of leaves are still green--weird. Just a few tall ageratums still in bloom in my garden.

They talked of snow here but none yet. I am probably too far inland for this event.

At Tower HIll Botanic Garden today I just saw forsythia flower buds ready to pop.

In my garden, post several frosts, I have:

Persicara 'Taurus'
Ger. Rozanne (color gets much deeper this late)
Rose 'Lady Elsie May'
Rose 'Flower Carpet'
Rose 'The Fairy'
perennial mums that I must have pinched too late.
Eupatorium Little Joe that I definitely pinched very late as an experiment -- still pink and fresh but not many blooms. don't do it.
Hydrangea Endless Summer (the late rebloom is not much but whats there still looks fresh and colorful.)
Hydrangea LimeLight (ditto)
Eupatorium Chocolate - a bit past peak but still contributes a little color

Perennials:ass. persicaria, tovara, aconitum carmichaelii, corydalis lutea(always!),eupatorium chocolate,geranium rozanne .
Annuals and Tropicals: gaura, autumn crocus, abutilon, ppl leaf clover,geraniums.brugmansias all big pods but i fear they won't even open when i bring them in.

Light rain showers here in southern Plymouth, although the forecast says light snow showers are imminent.

My huge old osmanthus is covered with little white fragrant flowers! It's next to a huge old winterberry which is covered with red berries (and occasionally a few cardinals or blue jays for accent).

Clara Curtis mums are hanging on, the feverfew (tanacetum) looks perfectly happy. Asters are way past prime but some are still in bloom.

A little bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) is blooming, tucked between a Virginia sweetspire and a cotoneaster in a sheltered area. Nicotiana is slowing down, but still in bloom, and I saw one sad phlox flower. Ceratostigma flowers are in the last throes.

The 8 foot tall cosmos is finally blooming happily.

Knockout roses, both pink and red, are blooming fairly well.

Unknown tall yellow wildflowers (maybe Jerusalem artichoke) are blooming very well.

Shrub/plant foliage colors are developing nicely - the new virginia sweetspires are turning burgundy (Itea virginica Henry's garnet). I hadn't anticipated it, but they beautifully complement the nearby cotoneasters which are also turning burgundy, with red berries.

Festiva Maxima peony foliage is a lovely peachy-bronze and one of the new blueberries is bright red. Ceratostigma leaves are also turning red.

Unknown helichrysum has spread dramatically and the cool gray green foliage is very dramatic in this season. Same with the Powis Castle artemisia.

I'm still hitting the end of season sales, although I'm slowing down. I planted 4 peonies ($2 each!), a rose and a hardy geranium yesterday.

Most of my garden is either newly planted or transplanted this year, so I don't know if this timing is normal for them (is anything normal this year?)

Claire

Oh, I forgot all about the Fairy rose. It's easy to take it for granted after all these months. It's right out at the street, so I'm probably the only one in the neighborhood who forgets that it's blooming. Also my new Endless Summer hydrangea is in bloom; the other mopheads are still looking nice with their fading flowers - I really should bring some inside.

I guess I've got aconitum carmichaelii, too, because of the 3 monkshood I planted in spring, 2 bloomed early and then turned black; the third is blooming now.

The heath is budding up really nicely too; I think it really liked that dry summer we had.

It's snowing!

Claire

I brought in some pinked up hydrangea paniculata blooms a couple of weeks ago and it still looks nice in a vase. This is new for me. I expected it to turn brown. Maybe I ought to go grab the blue Endless Summer's now.

My knockouts were covered in blooms last week, but I had a deer visitor and totally wiped them out. First visit this year. he left a few buds.

Although does anything else eat roses? It was a very "neat" disappearance -- not the ragged edges that deer usually do. Also some of my mums look like I deadheaded them in bloom but I did not. Clean cuts. who eats them?

Tomorrow and Monday should be a nice taste of Indian Summer. Can't wait! I am itching to cleanup and cut down. I think winter's coming early this year (or maybe its just that this autumn stinks so far and we haven't been able to enjoy it much )

I finally had a little time to get outside today. I raked a bit and chopped off several siberian irises and 3 very large hostas before it started snaining (that's snowing/raining). I can't wait to have at it again tomorrow! Can't say as much is blooming anymore, though I do have a couple of rudbeckia still looking good, some perennial mums, sedum, one little dicentra and 2 little Stella d'Oro lilies.

Dicentra eximia (since May!!!),
Acontium carmichaeli,
Tricyrtis 'Sinonome', 'Myazaki' and 'Lightning Strike',
Gentian(a),
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (almost done, but leaves color is to die for),
Phlox David (rebloom),
Cimicifuga ramosa (or racemosa?),
Abelia 'Edward Goucher',
many roses, but hedge of 10 'Prospero' look absolutely gorgeous, almost like in June.

Ah, almost forgot, alstroemeria 'Freedom' is still blooming (from June? July?).

One plant that is worth special mention, Leucoseptrum stellipilum, will start blooming any day now as buds finally got color and about to open.
Picture from the last year:

What's happening in my garden? I'm freezing my freakin' butt off, that's what!! LOL! Sorry, I know it seems like I'm always complaining, but this weather feels more like Thanksgiving-time weather than Halloween-time. This morning it was 36 degrees at 11:30, and I had four shirts on and still froze. At least if the sun would come out I could pretend it felt "brisk and refreshing" lol!

I only have a few mums, some asters, a few straggly fall-blooming crocus, and a callicarpa perking up my garden. I have a bunch of rosebuds, but with this cold, who knows if they'll ever see the light of day? Oh, and today, to my very surprised delight, I noticed a patch of sedum seiboldii in bright pink bloom. How nice!

I ripped out all my tomato plants today, as well as my bean plants. Got a few irises and lilies planted, and a few pots of dead annuals emptied out. This week I made a big push on my large lasagna bed - I had 7 buckets of coffee grounds waiting in my garage to be spread out. With the rain we had, I haven't been able to get out there to do it, so there was a bit of a pile-up!

I was going to do some more work this evening, figuring as how tomorrow will be darker earlier, but between freezing this morning, and then spending the afternoon in an ice-cold skating rink, I've decide to plop my butt down on a comfy couch with blankets, a fire, and some hot chocolate! I will contemplate the weeks of raking that are ahead of me - that will be the closest garden-related chore for me tonight!

:)
Dee

i must have jinxed myself. minutes after posting today, snow began and i just laughed, thinking it would be gone in 10 minutes. wrong wrong wrong. we began frantically pulling in all the huge brugmansias,phormium, etc etc etc. while at least 1" heavy wet snow piled up. oh my.i could practically hear them shouting' THANK YOU THANK YOU!!' Poor splendid tropicals. i just want to see my Snowbank brug. open those 3 pods and show me what she's got, as i've been waiting all season.

I went outside to review what was happy in the garden at the end of October and again when I looked at the hedge of ÂEndless Summer hydrangea that I spent years waiting for no praying for and I felt very uncomfortable as I have for the last two weeks. I know I am a chronic complainer but I am feeling that I may have wished for something I really didnÂt want. Is it me or do the pastel blossoms at the end of October seem more like an anomaly than a gift?
ÂEndless Summer 10/29/05 planted May 2005 after being deadheaded

One last centranthus ruber, a nice patch of salvia n caradonna still going strong, gaura, J anemones, some really nice mums I had forgotten about, sundown echinacea, a giant yellow Santa Fe helianthemum(?), blue fortune agastache and another agastache...all covered by an inch of snow. My poor birches, dogwoods, J maples are all weighted down miserably, looking frail and floppy. I should go shake off the snow, but I'd rather read a book....
What did I do this week? Brought the hoses in! Put out more vole traps. Thought some more about where I'll be moving fall bloomers to next Spring. Finished moving roses, peonies, heathers, scabiosa, and a bunch of other stuff I probably didn't treat kindly enough. Everytime I move things, I run out of soil. How can that be? I dig a hole, amend, move the plant, refill around the plant and the old hole -- but I never have enough to completely fill the old hole. It's a real mystery.
What else should I have done? Finish spreading compost, start new pile, shut off outside water, start raking...and I still have a bunch of bulbs waiting to go in. Vole food....

Of all things, I have primroses blooming...I found them yesterday hiding under a large H. 'Sum & Substance' leaf...weird. Impatiens are still blooming. No frost, no snow, no snain here yet...thank goodness but we are getting some cold drizzle tonight (38 degrees). I picked a bouquet of my Hydrangea 'Homigo's' yesterday & measured the flower heads once I got them inside...14-16" across and 12-14" top to bottom. They are just huge and have faded to lovely shades of ivory, pale blue, & cherry red...not a bright fire engine red but a bright purple red...I'm completely enthralled with them. Four stems are so heavy I had to drag out the antique stoneware to use as a vase. I hope the colors hold thru Thanksgiving indoors. I filled the vase w/water but will let it go dry...

Anybody else have primroses blooming?

not blooming, exactly, but the snow looks lovely on the remaining stalks of broccoli.

Not this year, Tricia, but I have had primroses bloom in November in past years. It's such a wonderful treat, isn't it? I've also had irises bloom in November, but again, not this year. This year, I can't even seem to get my late-bloomers to bloom, when they're supposed to be blooming, never mind the odd reblooming spring flowers.

:)
Dee

Blooming:
One Viburnum carlesii bud - (What a trip to smell Viburnum in October!!)
Iceberg rose
Golden showers rose
4th of July rose
Rugosas
'Provence' lavender
'Rozanne' geranium (even the layering)
Echinacea
Sedums
Hydrangea macrophylla (I like that the flowers are pastel -- golds and reds are wonderful but a break is nice)

Annuals are gone. Darn Lemon Verbena still is going strong, despite a confirmed freeze (birds had a skating rink this morning).

Martie

From memory...

Allium thunbergii Ozowa
Gentiana scabra
Eupatorium coelestinum
Aster Monch
Aster Fanny
Geranium Jolly Bee and Rozanne
Rose Knockout
Daphne caucasica Summer Ice
Persicaria Taurus
Calamentha nepeta
various Tricyrtis
Mums
Gaura Whirling Butterflies
Iris Immortality
Salvia leucantha
Salvia Victoria
Salvia Black & Blue
One lonely Phlox David
Leycesteria
Gaillardia Arizona Sun

A few cannas are holding on. One of my variegated Abutilons has a few large peach bells. The berries look great on the Viburnums and Callicarpas. The Hydrangea paniculata flowers have faded to rose color. All the tender stuff got toasted by frost the other night. I still have a couple of bananas, brugs and assorted house plants waiting on the screen porch, in the garage and in the house for me to decide their winter fate. No frost in the forecast this week so I have time to repot some fuschias, abutilons, and rex begonias that are still in containers outside.

At the request of the husband I cleaned up the front entryway so the trick or treaters can get through tomorrow night. How did it get to be Halloween already?

Sue

Hi Folks,

It's been a while, since I've visited the forums. Starting a new business took up all my available time. Yesterday, while planting a few late-arriving mail order plants, and today, while mowing around the snow piles, I noted that, after two snowfalls and temps down to 26F, there were still some scattered blooms out there. Got to wondering about what else was blooming in the rest of the world (my honeybees were flying like mad today, so SOMEWHERE around here there are still significant blooms). Which got me to thinking about the forum and Belle Isis' question. So, here I am. It is nice to read about all the other gardens that are still putting on shows. For me, itÂs down to a few:

Hollyhock
Dianthus (regular and Siberian)
Foxglove
Delphinium
Coreopsis
Black-eyed Susan
Tall Summer Phlox
Speedwell Veronica
Roses  including Improved Blaze and several minis
Mumstead Lavender
Ice Plant
Several Scabiosa have sent up new buds, but I donÂt know if theyÂll manage to open. It's supposed to be warmer for the next week, so we'll see.

These are scattered here and there, no serious concentrations of bloom anywhere. All annuals have said "Adios". Outside of a few dandelions in the lawn, no wild flowers that I can see.

ThatÂs it.

narcnh

I've got two new dahlia blooms today. Small, a bit tight, looks like they've opened against their will - or their better judgement, lol!

I don't know if I mentioned this above, but my salvia Victoria is going like gangbusters! It really is spectacular in the one bed that's full of it. I've got a large patch of emilia blooming it's tiny fool head off too. Maybe I should put these two together in one bed for a show next fall...

:)
Dee

Wow, so many people still have flowers! It's wonderful to read about them. Still no frost here yet, although there was snain (great word, AlicePalace!) the other night. I guess we'll be spared for at least another week. Payback will come in spring when it's cold and wet here until June 15 (almost).

Finally got the new clematis planted - they were "free" because White Flower Farm was giving gift certificates for donations to GBH this summer. Very smart of them; I spent a bundle in the process of cashing in the $25 gift certificate.

Mums are still going strong, both the cushion and daisy type. My annual geraniums are still blooming. A neighbor of mine has pink "knock out" roses blooming. I've been putting in more bulbs. Nice weather to plant them!

Whoops, forgot the Gaillardia. They are real troopers, and several of them are still blooming pretty well. So far, this week of true Indian Summer seems to be pushing the survivors of all species to put out some last minute blooms.

Just got a package of 120 bulbs from Brecks. Have never 'done' bulbs before, so this will be something new. The buds will probably end up as deer chow, but if they surive they will give some nice, early spring color, which my garden lacks.

How are your chooks and other critters doing, narcnh? Mine are getting a new pen -- rebuilding the old one now that it is 12 years old and getting too mossy.

Mild weather has kept my garden green, though hostas seem to go dormant no matter what. They're yellowing and fading into the ground. But, the echinacea and agastache still are blooming. The rudbeckia has some flowers but I'm letting the seedheads stay for the birds.

Cady, I've got eight chickens left from my original gang of poultry. The guinea fowl left the enclosure every day, and one-by-one they got picked off by coyotes or foxes or whatever. Lost the last one in May. While I was away on a business trip this past April the spring heave and thaw lifted a couple of fence posts (sunk three feet down, but obviously not deep enough) such that the gang could squeeze under the mesh fencing, and I came home to find most everyone running around in the yard and in the fields, the survivors, anyway. The only chickens that survived were the ones still inside the pen, which is surrounded by an electric fence. It must have been a real smorgasbord for the coyote. The surviving ducks and geese decided that they liked the outside better and kept getting out. It's hard to stop a determined goose. I built another enclosure for them down by the stream and dug them a freshwater mini-pond that was fed by the stream, thinking they would like that better. But, they just kept busting out and each time there would be one less bird to catch. Eventually, I just gave up. I had a neighbor call me back in June to say that she saw three geese and a duck walking in her field, which most likely was the Brown African, a Toulouse, a White Chinese and a Black Cayuga. She lives on the other side of the road just off the Connecticut River, and I like to think that the survivors made it down to the river. ThatÂs the last I saw or heard of the waterfowl.

So, what did I learn? Guinea fowl are too free-ranging to survive in an enclosure thatÂs not roofed, at least not with the kind of predator population that I have around here. For me, ducks and geese would only work, if I could put a fence around the entire pond, not practical. Chickens are the best, easy to keep, not a problem at all. They are what I wanted to get in the first place, before I went crazy and ended up with my menagerie. IÂm down to eight, the hardiest ones, and thatÂs fine, as I only wanted a half-dozen to begin with. If I lose any over the winter, IÂll replenish in the spring. When I go out to throw cracked corn they all follow me around clucking and gurgling, excited as all get out. They looked pretty ragged these past few weeks, molting and all. But, everyone is looking much better these days.

My six beehives are doing great; it was a good year for bees.

How are all your critters faring?

I didnÂt deadhead anything this year, and the garden was a very popular hang out for all types of songbirds. I had hummingbirds like crazy this year, too. I think they like the butterfly bushes. I saw one land in one of my honeysuckle shrubs and sit in one place for over five minutes. IÂve never seen a hummingbird be immobile for so long. It was a real treat.

narcnh

Sounds like you learned what all us poultry owners learn, the same way. Sorry about all your losses. All of my standard hens were picked off -- some right in front of me in broad daylight -- last year by foxes. Coyotes were around, but the foxes got the choice pickin's. I learned to coop my birds entirely and let them out only when I'm right there working in the garden. The bantams are the only chickens cagey enough to take care of themselves. They are scrappers and good flyers, so they stay out of trouble.

My ducks and geese are penned and have a small pool (225 gallons) in the ground. They seem content, and it's preferable to letting them get eaten.

The only plants I deadheaded this season were the butterfly bushes because I wanted the continuous flowers. I even gave up keeping them neat after September, but they are still blooming.

Glad your bees are doing great. With the onslaught of mites, the honeybee population in the Northeast has been decimated. Beekeepers are using strips treated with miticide, attached to the hive entrances, to protect their bees. Hope yours stay safe. Maybe New Hampshire's climate is too hostile for the mites, or your region has not been invaded yet.

I've got to say, the weather has been pretty darn close to magnificent lately! It seems we had November weather in October, and now we're having October weather! If it was a bit less windy, it would be perfect. And what's with the leaves? It looks for all the world like Columbus day weekend, lol, what with the glorious color. Even my drab old oaks look nice this year. This weather gives me hope that all those buds on my roses will get to open after all.

Plugging away at the same thing as last week - planting bulbs, working on my lasagna bed, watering the beds, and still wavering over whether its too late to plant perennials.

*Thinking* about starting to rake leaves...

:)
Dee

I've finally settled on the shape and size of the new planting beds (pretty much ran out of stuff to plant), and the newly seeded grass can be walked on.

No more excuses, so I've been placing fieldstone borders around most of the areas. Gotta do something with all those stones we dug up during construction and all of the stones that turn up everytime I dig to plant.

I did move two Lady in Black asters today that bloomed beautifully but the colors looked jarring next to a Silver King euonymus.

I need to negotiate a time-sharing arrangement with the flock of blue jays who want to be alone with the bird feeder. Most of the other birds have reluctantly accepted me working in the garden nearby, but the jays keep screaming at me. I resent being put in the same category as the neighbor's cat who also gets screamed at.

I put some little wire fences zigzag uner the big old winterberry to foil the cat who lurks there stalking the birdfeeder.

Leaves are coming down, but the gusty winds off the water have blown a lot of them across the street. There seem to be more pine needles down than oak leaves.

Claire

Hi Cady,

Unfortunately, the mites are pretty much everywhere, with a few island exceptions, like New Zealand. I treat for them every year. The strips actually go inside the hive, two per brood box. I just removed the fall treatment strips today. Was nice to work the bees one last time, although they weren't too thrilled to be opened up in November. At least it was relatively warm out. ItÂs a bit of a bear to move wooden boxes that weigh a good 50 pounds each and are pretty much glued together with propolis (Âbee glue derived from tree sap), but itÂs still a treat to open a hive and see all the thousands of bees inside. The mites are the reason I got into beekeeping. About 10 years ago I noticed that I wasnÂt getting very good pollination of the wild berries around my old home. I remembered reading something about the disappearance of honeybees. Turns out the mites, introduced from a species found in Asia, had pretty much wiped out all the feral colonies and wreaked havoc on the commercial beekeeping industry. Since I had been fascinated with bees since childhood, it was an opportunity to satisfy a childhood wish and do something good for the environment at the same time. Now, I keep six hives and find it among my favorite pastimes. Nothing like working a hive with 50 or 60 thousand Âgirls in it to make you appreciate nature. The organization and structure they maintain still amazes me, every time I look inside a hive.

YouÂre supposed to deadhead butterfly bushes? Mine kept putting out new blooms right up to a week or so ago. One still has a couple of blooms left. Will I get more, if I deadhead them?

narcnh,
Deadheading butterfly bushes is supposed to stimulate more bloom. It also keeps the shrub from reseeding and becoming a "pest." It does seem to bring a denser cover of flowers, in my observation.

The honeybee mite problem is terrifying. It looks like domestic hives may be the only way to keep the species alive. I'm glad you're getting success with your bees, using miticide. I can't picture life without honey!

The majority of bees I've seen the past few years have been carpenter bees and bumblebees, both of which do a good job pollinating the large flowers and exposed ones such as grapes. But I worry about plants with smaller flowers that need the honeybee's lighter touch.

Where is Belle Isis...anyone hear?