Not a lot going on in my garden right now. Dahlias, zinnias, cosmos. I posted my supposed Purple Dome asters in September; they're still going strong.

Here's some of my monkshood. Very floppy. About 4-5 feet tall but always flops

Montauk daisies looking good this year!

I tried a new cosmos this year. I think the name is Apricot Lemonade. Very delicate and unusual coloring, which I can't quite capture on camera

A hydrangea whose name I can't remember

And a rhodie bloom! Have never seen a fall rhodie bloom!

:)

Dee

Lots of leaves on the ground already Babs. Very pretty New England scene. The new family dog would love to walk along those paths. Babs is actually her name, short for Barbara. Our daughter's dog, that is now 1 yr old. She is a sweety!

Dee, love that 'Apricot Lemonade' Cosmos. You still have a lot in bloom! Montauk Daisy is very neat.

Ilex 'Honey Maid' we just moved into this corner. It was pretty unhappy where it was and I trimmed off a lot of dead branches. I'm waiting for next spring to give it better shape and hope it is happier here in front of blue hollies and Taxus.

More Hydrangea blooms this late? That's just 'Endless Summer'

Not taking many photos right now. And we just got another 2 inches of rain.

NHBabs, your woods look so clean - no invasive vines! I sometimes have to go into the woods in my backyard (abuts my property) to get rid of vines choking the trees.

prairiemoon, Babs is so cute!

Dee, love the daisies and cosmos.

Seems like the trees are changing colors a bit more slowly this year.

My flowers are still going strong! Some of these were taken last weekend, some were taken this week.

Japanese anemone - planted these last fall - they were very tiny when I planted quite late in the fall last year - so happy they survived.

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A few lavender reblooms

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Geranium is still going strong

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Still some butterfly bush (Nanho Blue) -- planning to move this as I think it is not getting enough sun. Planted this only this spring

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prairiemoon, not sure if you remember but i had a post last year or 2 years ago looking for suggestions for this area bordering my neighbor's fence. Took your recommendation for a Blue Princess holly - planted 7 of these in a row (1 is blue prince) spring last year. They are doing well - some of them were munched on by deer last winter but survived just fine. Will do a deer spray soon (the deer seems to be a problem only in winter when there is not enough food for them in the woods). I also planted a row of Miscanthus -- will post pictures when the "blooms" come out.

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Some sunset pictures from last week

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RTHawk - We just had Babs again for a couple of days and now she's gone home with our daughter. We usually have large dogs, retreivers mainly, this the first time with a small dog. She is really fitting in well and loves the garden and the dog next door. She loves to climb up into one of the raised vegetable beds when it's piled with grass clippings and chopped leaves or hay and just sun herself. She loves to burrow in the hay. She's learning to be a good garden dog. Loves fresh string beans off the vine. [g] Do you have a pet?

You have a lot still going on! Anemone is very pretty and so dependable. Nice to have something that blooms late. Hard to believe your geranium are still blooming, mine have been done for over a month. What variety is that? I’ve been getting jealous of all the Butterfly Bush photos I keep seeing this season. I used to have them but not now. I miss them.

I did not remember suggesting the Blue Princess, and I feel bad if I recommended a shrub that deer enjoy if you have them in your area. At least the BP in your photo looks healthy and lots of berries on it. In my photo above, of the Ilex ‘Honey Maid’ that we moved, the plant behind it is ‘Blue Princess’. That’s how big it’s gotten with not a lot of sun, but we don't have deer here. We had a lot of rain this year so I have more berries than usual.

Gorgeous sunsets!! Something I don't see a lot of, so I enjoy seeing photos posted here.

I don’t have ‘woods’ like some of you, but even the Spruce trees along our lot line had wild grape, virginia creeper and PI climbing all over them. We keep our side clear of everything but I made the mistake of letting the Virgina Creeper go, because it is ‘native’ and that was a big mistake. I’m now pulling it all out when I see it. Our neighbor allows PI to travel up the trunks of the spruce to about 12ft off the ground.

I have new blooms on my Hydrangea too, which has not happened before. I think it is all the rain. They probably want this much rain, but never get it.

I LOVE that ‘Ivory Queen’ Hosta. And so clean looking for this time of year, if you don’t mind saying, where did you buy it?

Stunning bouquet, wow on that Dahlia~!

PM2, I got the Ivory Queen from Bluestone about two years ago. I don't buy much from them anymore (used to get pretty much every single plant in my garden from them) but I still make an occasional purchase. I really do like this hosta. It truly does look better in person lol!

:)

Dee

prairiemoon, we have a 3-year old Zuchon. We have a weeping cherry just outside the front door and she never misses a quick bite of its leaves. If I let her, she'll probably snack on it all day. And don't feel bad about the BP - it was really only the 2 plants farthest from the house that had their leaves eaten by the deer. I just sprayed with Liquid Fence - hope it works.

Dee - the Great Silence dahlia is amazing - it looks like the sun is shining on it.

RTHawk - I had to look up Zuchon...cross between a Bichon and the Shih Tzu. What cute dogs they make! Never heard of them before. Looks very small too. Good luck with it!

On the BP - I'm glad it's not all of them, how many did you plant? Hope the Liquid Fence works too.

prairiemoon - here is Sushi - she's a cutie if I may say so

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I planted 6 female and 1 male blue princess/prince hollies. It was mostly the male that got eaten because it was the last one in a row. Once spring started, the deer left them alone.

Oh, what a tiny thing she is!! lol I bet she has a big personality!

Oh, nice that only the male took some damage. That leaves you all the shrubs with the berries. That sounds manageable. I hope you get some nice sizeable shrubs. I enjoy my hollies.

I just took this before incoming storm. Usually they burn out in August. The milkweeds have gone to seed but hydrangea have new blooms! CT zone 7a Fairfield County

I'm having new Hydrangea blooms as well, which is very unusual for me. I can't remember ever seeing new blooms form this late in the season. I suspect all the rain we've had this year is part of the reason. I think they probably need this much rain to prosper and I never have it.

And it's gorgeous out there this morning! Blue Skies, Sunshine and warmer than usual temperatures for October. We had another 3/4 inch of rain last night which we needed. This must be the last harrah. I don't have the usual Mums display I usually have but there's af few things looking good out there.

All the Dahlias were soaked this morning but each bloom had a sleeping bee in it. lol

This is 'Sherry Sue' Clethra. I cut this to the ground this spring and it's over my head! It did skip blooming this year though. Normally it would have white blooms in September.

I took out half of my Mums in the spring and this was only a very small couple of branches in the spring and nice that it filled out so well.

This is actually what I went out to take a photo of this morning.....It's on my neighbor's lawn under a white pine. They remind me of the mushrooms in Fantasia. Have no idea what kind they are.

Next year's Foxglove....

Purple Bok Choy - have a lot fewer holes in the leaves than the green... and so pretty.

I think this is supposed to be 'Cafe au Lait' but it's tiny and the only bloom on the plant.

PM2 that bok choy is gorgeous! When I sold bouquets at the farmers market I partnered with a woman who sold greens (she had the magic touch - only vendor with lettuce in August lol!) and I acquired a love of all kinds of greens through her. Even if I don't like some of them to eat, I've come to believe that they are really quite lovely plants, with such wonderful forms and shapes and colors.

My daughter also has reblooms on her hydrangeas. I don't recall seeing that before. The same with the rhodie bloom I posted a few days back. Rather odd, imo. I do have some roses reblooming. Small and not very vigorous but blooming!

Pretty Jessica

Teasing Georgia

I'm really enjoying my cosmos Apricot Lemonade. So many shades and colorations. Many of the newer blooms are just a soft yellow (no pink mixed in) but I'm still loving them. Couldn't get a good pic without showing my messy yard in the background lol so I decided not to post them!

I too have a very interesting variety of mushrooms around the yard, some of which I've never seen before.

Note the ones peeping out from under the hosta leaves too

And growing in the cracks of my patio pavers:

Ooh, I just remembered some cool ones under an oak. Will have to take a pic!

:)

Dee

I love greens too. They're so pretty. There are some Kale plants that are phenomenol. And I really like this purple bok choy. We're still putting them in stirfrys and smoothies along with Kale and Mustard greens. And they taste sweeter as the weather turns colder.

'Pretty Jessica' There is a woman on the Rose Forum from NY that used to grow that and it was her favorite. Yes, there's a couple of buds and blooms on the roses, but they are smaller.

Those mushrooms coming up in the cracks through the moss are a riot!

PM2 my back patio area is always rather damp - kind of weird as it is mostly in shade, but gets blazing hot sun in the afternoon (we can never sit out there mid-day), but we get mildew and moss, etc. I'm so torn on the moss in the pavers. Same with the lichen on the white fence I have next to the patio. If I saw those two things in a magazine I'd sigh and wish I had a romantic English garden like that, but because they're on my back patio I keep thinking I need to clean them up lol. It's a constant internal battle lol.

Pretty Jessica is special to me because of the person who gave me the plant. It and several other roses (including that Teasing Georgia) were given to me by George, who used to be very active here on the forums. He was a great gardener (wow, what a yard he had!) and a great person, and I have several plants in my garden from him that always make me think of him.

:)

Dee

Dee, why do you think you need to clean up the moss between the pavers? You are SO lucky to get moss to grow there, otherwise, you'd have weeds that you would not like to look at or keep pulling out. I love moss between pavers!

We have never been satisfied with our patio either. It faces West so we can never sit out there at the dinner hour. [g] We tried putting a screen house there but that was too hot too, it seemed to hold the heat. I always wished my house was oriented differently. It faces East and the back of the house West. I'd much rather have a patio in the East for morning sun and afternoon shade. Then you'd be able to use it all day.

I remember George! I think of him on the forums every time I see a photo of a Hydrangea on the forums. [g] He was from CT wasn't he? I know he used to go to the swaps, but I never made it to one of the CT swaps. I always wonder what happened to him. He did seem like a really nice person and a great gardener. So, the roses were cuttings from his roses?

Yes, that is George! Actually, the roses were the entire plants! He decided to basically rip out his entire rose garden (gasp!!!) or at least a good portion of it. I forget what he planned on doing with the area. He asked me if I wanted a couple of roses. I asked my son to keep me company on the drive to George's house and I shouldn't have. I could have had more roses if my son's seat had been empty lol. Holy moly he dug up entire shrubs and was packing them in my car! He may have actually packed them in around us - made us get in first and then pushed in a few more. My son and I could not move on the way home or we'd get scratched by thorns lol! He was so very generous to me and I always appreciated that, and still do.

I actually love the way my house is oriented. We get the morning sun in the kitchen and bedroom, and the setting sun in the living room and front bedroom. IMO, that is perfect. What's not perfect is the driveway that comes behind the house and turns left, around the patio. So there's this big patio surrounded by an expanse of asphalt, and it gets the high afternoon sun. HOT!

So many people I know have perfect patios - no weeds because they have the sand between the pavers, and keep on top of it. Like I said, the romantic, cottage-garden-magazine-loving side of me thinks the moss is wonderful. The normal side of me thinks I need to clean up my act lol. And unfortunately, I still get weeds lol!

:)

Dee

Dee, I think George would feel he gave the roses to the right person, seeing as you’ve kept them alive and still have them. They might not have as much sun as you like, but they are still producing beautiful blooms. George did have a very shady lot. He had great selections of roses too. Not surprising.

I wonder what happened to George?

Dee, if you’re trying to do low maintenance, I think the dream of having a patio with very neat sand filled between the pavers, no weed in sight, is way too hard to achieve. Weeds come up through sand too. [g] To me, your best bet to having a neat, weed free patio is moss between the pavers. And maybe encourage more moss if you are still getting weeds. I hear that a mix of buttermilk and water, with a small piece of moss mixed in, maybe in a blender, poured or sprayed or brushed onto where you want the moss, might do the trick. Have never tried it though. Paver patios are always going to need attention over time, as far as I can figure. If you don’t have sun for thyme, then moss would seem to be your best bet. Sand of course is perfect, but - if there is a way to have it low maintenance without weeds, I’ve not heard of it yet. Maybe some installers have a secret way of installing that reduces weeds, but I'm in the dark about that.

Dee, fun story - I can just imagine you and your son sitting in the car while it gets filled with rose bushes.

Temps have definitely dropped since last week, but we're still having some nice days - and a week of rain in the forecast next week! Will be a bummer but I think we really need it, even if it may signal the end for my annuals.

Blooms - My zinnias and cosmos are still going strong - LOVING my new Apricot Lemonade cosmos. Wonderful color variations and still LOADED with buds! My dahlias are winding down, still blooming but taking longer and giving smaller blooms. This bouquet from yesterday:

Lyda Rose having another flush (some hips peeking out too!)

THREE bees sleeping in a cimicifuga White Pearl bloom (one on top right near bend in bloom):

And some unknown grocery-store mums that keep returning

Berries:

Ilex Winter Red

Kind of sad yellow-berried ilex - poor shrub has had lots of abuse but keeps trying!

And this always-beautiful-to-me cascade of callicarpa Early Amethyst berries

But things are mostly about foliage now

Heuchera I think Silver Scrolls

Color on viburnum Winterthur (berries all gone already)

Red coloring on itea; yellow clethra behind it (with just a peek of Winter Red berries in upper right corner!)

And this inherited unknown rhodie which I swear more than half the time is artificial because it's foliage is ALWAYS almost perfect. It always amazes me!

Speaking of foliage, note the missing hosta leaves lol. The deer have paid a visit. :(

Every year I'm reminded that I have planted fall crocus, and every year I'm reminded of how dismal they look lol. And I have them in several different spots. It's likely due to the same root cause of many other bloom issues in my garden - lack of sun - but they really do look rather sad and pathetic lol

:)

Dee

P.S. Hoping the nice weather holds out long enough for the FIVE buds on my brand-new Julia Child rose to bloom. So excited to see them!

Dee, Yes, definitely cooler. Had to have a sweatshirt and jacket on yesterday. We are expecting 5 inches of rain, not so sure I need that much, or a whole week of rain, but, I’m sure it is a safeguard against a dry winter and will put us in position to have a good spring next year. You haven’t had as much as I had, so this is a blessing for you.

You still have a LOT going on Dee! I’m going to have to try that Apricot Lemonade Cosmos. I’ve decided I’m not going to try growing Dahlias again. I have such a small space for full sun, have nowhere to overwinter the tubers, and it took up space all season to only start blooming in late September. I guess I’m just going to have to enjoy photos of everyone’s Dahlias, here. 😀

I love your Rhododendron. Attractive foliage all the time is not often a given.

I love when you find bees sleeping in the flowers. I don’t quite know whether they are at the end of their life cycle and not well enough to fly back to their home, or what? I only see that this time of year. I find myself thinking though, about what a great life a Bee has. Especially the docile Bumble bees. Imagine, your life, your main job is done among pretty, soft, fragrant flowers all day. And a bed of flower blooms to sleep in. Plus the only thing you eat is honey. [g]

I still have 5 fat buds on ‘Beverly’ rose that I”m hoping to see bloom from. I just cut the last two blooms and brought them in the house last week and they were so fragrant and full. Usually roses this time of year are smaller and less fragrant. I hope you do get to see Julia Child blooms, Dee. In my experience, JC is the last rose to stop blooming so you have a shot at it.

How did everyone do, in the storm this week?

I went looking for a thread we were using in the spring about weather and couldn't do a search of the New England forum, just Discussions. I tried signing into garden web as someone else suggested and still wouldn't search the forum. *sigh*

Any way, we had another 5 inches of rain. I've never had as much rain in one season as I have this year. And we lost power, but only for about 10 mins and it came right back on. Looking at the map of power outages in my state, we got very lucky, the power outages were more intense south of Boston and I am north. Our town only had 5% power lost. I just heard on the news, that some in Plymouth MA are going to be out for 3-4 days and it's going down into the 30s tonight.

I'm wondering if anyone else is without power, or did it just affect MA?

not a blip here in Lexington. Very few downed trees that I've seen while driving through Lexington, Medford and Winchester. The entire thing sort of passed me by.

Not to dismiss your inquiry, pM, but after 3 decades of listening to the New England weather hype I generally tune out. We prepare modestly for an emergency but I really can't stand the weather reporter hype.

Now the real weather- what's actually happening outside- I'm interested in! I like to go out in it. And when the power is out and the street is dark and silent I imagine what it was like in 1811 when our house was built.

i have tried unsuccessfully to post several times, but now I am in a spot with decent internet, so these are photos from the whole month. Color is gone except for the oaks and beech and some of the understory in my area of central NH.

The Clethra Ruby Spice I planted in the swamp has beautiful foliage.

The house from the back shows the foliage along the road.

And the foliage along the farm field is always lovely for a few weeks, first the red maples along one side as in this photo, but then the silver maples and oaks along the river change color later.

The big bed down by the shop looks good in the fall, though this year it isn’t as bright as some years.

The woods are a study in contrasts at this time of year, and the light is gorgous, though difficult for photos.

And this little guy is the one who gets me into the woods every day that it is not actually pouring rain. I love the look of the forest floor when the red maples are dropping leaves, creating carpets of color.

I sneak into the forums and see posts, but I’m not posting much right now. I’ve enjoyed so much seeing everybody’s Sept and Oct activity.

Babs, so beautiful around you. I wish I spent more time outside, but everything is so busy now. I know it’s a busy time of life for me, but I’m pretty sure part of it is just cultivating the practice of taking a walk. I live in a beautiful area, and I should be taking advantage of that instead of rushing from one thing to the next. Is that Flax in your last post? He looks smaller than I remember, but so cute!

DiggerDee, your daisies look better than mine this year. Not sure why my Montauk’s didn’t have as good a year. They are, for sure, a dependable perennial, though. Even in a bad year they look good. I grew Apricot Lemonade last year. It was beautiful, but I still don’t “design” well with Cosmos and the flowering on them was low. I really need more sun. I know they are supposed to do better in poor soil. Maybe I need to throw them in the trash bed next time! I have one white Rhodie that, for some reason, always puts out a few white blooms. It’s the standard huge large-leafed evergreen kind. I used to wonder why its spring flowering was low, and now I know it’s because the fall flowering uses up the buds. It’s so weird! This fall it had over 20 blooms on it. It’s a big plant, about 5’ tall and 8’ wide. Based on your roses/hydrangea re-blooming, maybe this is the “year of two summers”! My friend’s hydrangeas has new pristine blooms, too, like brdrl and PM. I even had new blooms on a daylily (below). My callicarpa is blooming, too, and I’m with you on those beautiful berries. That has got to be the MOST beautiful Dahlia I have ever seen. What a beauty! Just stunning. You have such beauty in your garden!

PM, that dog is THE CUTEST! What a face! She sounds like she loved being with you and had fun. Reading about her antics made me smile! Per the new hydrangeas mentioned above, you have LOTS of new gorgeous blooms. Isn’t is weird?! This has been a year for beautiful mushrooms in the yard. They were there in all shapes and colors. The Indian Pipe/Ghost Plant was happy, too.

RTHawk, I had four Japanese Anemone’s (Honorine Jobert and another kind, Swan something, I think) and none survived. One might be trying to survive with a few leaves, but I’m not sure why. For others they are so dependable. Jealous of yours! Aren’t Geraniums wonderful? Yours looks great. What fantastic sunsets! We live in a beautiful world.

My Alma Potschke had great color, but floppy. I even pruned in spring.

Callicarpa with Amsonia hubrichtii. The hope was for the yellow Amsonia to contrast with the berries, but I have not had a fall where the Amsonia got very yellow. I think we don't get cold enough before the first freeze happens.

A new daylily blooms, one of a few!

Vision LIght Pink Geranium still blooms. I really like this Geranium!

Raydon's Favorite Aster with Sheffield Pink mums. There is a pink phlox, either Glamour Girl or Coral something-or-other. This one particular plants bloomed really late, and it was beside other phlox that bloomed normally. Unusual.

Lastly, some sunsets:

PM2, I have always figured that the bees can’t fly because it has gotten too cool in the evening, so they spend the night in the blossom and then leave when it warms the next day. Otherwise I would expect to find dead bees under certain plants. I have always grown dahlias in pots so I can get them started earlier and so I don’t have to use garden space for them.

Deanna, my Amsonia hubrichtii took several years to start developing fall color, and now it is pretty dependable. I love the spring blooms and feathery foliage regardless, though. There is a white rhodie that often blooms after a short cool spell in the fall here. I see it in several spots. But this year one of my rhododendron maximum threw out a few blooms, and I have never seen that happen before.

I still have a very few flowers blooming,

Several different clematis, including Mikelite, Princess Red, and John Huxtible, among others.

Zepherine Drouhin rose is a favorite of mine and almost always has mild rebloom in the fall.

Hydrangea Twist and Shout had time for rebloom, and the flowers of the original Endless Summer have aged beautifully.

There are or were a few other clematis, some asters, colchicum, and a few speing flowere that got tricked into bloom 6 months early, but the real deal in my fall garden is the foliage.

Deanna, I agree with Babs - even without the coloring the foliage of the amsonia hubrichtii is lovely and I like the contrast of that featheriness with the foliage of the callicarpa! I've been wanting to get Sheffield mums for at least 20 years and can't figure out why I have yet to do so....

Babs, love the Twist and Shout - fabulous! My ZD have no rebloom in fall, sadly. And as far as other rebloom, that's kind of wild to have a daylily reblooming now, no? Although I do have some phlox reblooming, so who knows? Crazy season!

PM2 we got a LOT of rain - very heavy downpours at times - but no power outages here, luckily. While some of my taller cosmos and heavier dahlias are leaning or even laying on the ground, most of my annuals - zinnias, cosmos, and dahlias - weathered the storm in better shape than I expected. I just cut a little bouquet this evening when I got home from work. Loving that it's almost November and I'm still bringing in bouquets, even if it's not "normal"!

LOVE the wide shots of vistas and sunsets! The foliage this past week has been stunning - it always seems to downpour at peak color season, sadly, so we lost a lot of leaves, but I've been enjoying my early morning drives with the rising sun hitting the colors - glorious! Oh, just remembered - have a few shots of my visit last week to the farm down the street. They do pumpkins this time of year, and any time of year have spectacular views into the valley. They're especially spectacular, imo, in fall although here the setting sun kind of obscures the distant foliage.

The strawberry fields are in the foreground. I'm so blessed to live literally down the street from such beauty!

:)

Dee

NHBabs - Sorry you are still having trouble connecting. Are you still in New Hampshire? Did I remember there was some thought to relocating to where family is?

We have hardly had much color this year either. Still have green leaves and helicopters which I find curious on our back Maple. It is usually the last to turn but this seems very late.

Those are nice views of the color along the field and along the road.

Are the last two photos, first post, the bed that I was trying to get a current look at? The last photo I saw on a thread, was an older photo. I think it was the bed near your workshop?

The photos in the woods, with all the golden ferns carpeting the area are great and the light does come through in the photos. I imagine it’s even better in person.

Our furry friends do get us to be more active and get out more than we would without them. Flax is still so cute and I bet he loves the area you are in.

That’s a good explanation of what is going on with the bees. And you are so right, I never see dead bees anywhere.

I would have started the dahlias early indoors, if I had received my order early enough. They were very late. And since I won’t be able to winter them over, I won’t really be able to start them early when I want to. Oh well.

I am surprised that Clematis are blooming this late.

Deanna - You are absolutely right. There is always a long list of essential things to do, but looking back, I always feel I’ve not made optimal use of my time, if I have not included routine physical activity and getting out into nature. Routine is the key word. Making it as much of a priority as so many other things that seem more urgent. Keeping the daily habit of getting outside for a walk to take a break and enjoy nature and a beautiful area, even if it’s just 20mins, is so therapeutic and preventative. Hope you can find a way to fit it in. It really is a challenge that I don’t always live up to either. [g]

As for Cosmos. I still include it and allow it to reseed in my front bed, but, I’m a little antsy about it this year. It bloomed late and then sets seeds that draw in the Finches that I enjoy seeing and so I don’t want to pull them. But I do have a more structured bed in the front and the cosmos this time of year is just over the line and gets pretty messy as it goes to seed and starts to bend and flop over. I finally pulled a lot of them because I couldn’t look at the mess any more, but I piled them up intact near the compost bin so the birds could find the seed heads hopefully. I wish I had a more informal place to put them.

Deanna, I have loved all the dogs and pets we’ve had over the years and miss them too, but this dog, is just a delight. I’ve been surprised, because I really was voting for a different breed and wondered about some of the expected problems reported. But, my daughter really lucked out with her. She is a happy and very pleasant addition to the household. My daughter also did a good job of socializing her, which I’m sure has helped. She makes me laugh all the time. Just the sound of her feet on the hardwood floors when she races into the house every time you let her in from the yard, makes me laugh. We really didn’t feel like we could take on the responsibility of another dog now, so this is just right, that we can enjoy her, then send her home to my daughter. Lol

I am envious of the color of your Alma Potschke, it is more the pink color I expected when I got mine, but mine is more lavender/purple. We probably noticed that last year too. Mine flops too. I am going to write down in my journal to give it support next year, early. Early, it always looks sturdy and upright, but the taller it gets, and then when it gets wet, it starts to open up. Mine is lying on my Hydrangea Little Lime right now. I’m waiting for the first frost to cut it back. I usually prune mine to the ground every spring and this year, I also divided it in three and now all three plants are huge again.

I have Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’ which is a smaller plant, and I haven’t gotten fall color on it yet, and it’s 3 years old now.

I really like your Raydon’s Favorite Aster and I remember having that on my list to get once. It’s really nice.

Nice open water to see an unobstructed sunset! You are lucky!

Dee, I have some rebloom on my Phlox ‘Nora Leigh’ that I planted last spring. Not a lot but it is it’s first year. I had two plants. One went in a pot with other plants and one went in the garden bed. Funny, the one in the ground looks great. The one in the pot, nope. No rebloom, leaves are already half brown and ugly. I’m waiting for a frost and then I’m going to add it to the bed too.

Glad you missed the power outages too! We really dodged a bullet. I cringe to think of how difficult it would have been for us this year, if we had to go without power for 5 days, like some people did. Makes me want to get better prepared. We still don't have a generator.

Yes, bringing in flowers for bouquets this time of year, is a pleasant surprise and if we have to put up with climate change, I think it’s only fair we get a couple of small benefits as well.

Isn’t it true, too often just when you are enjoying the foliage, rain and wind knock them all down. Those are really nice long views of the fields around you. Is there a lot of farmland near you? I bet you eat a lot of strawberries in June. [g]

NHBabs, thanks for the Amsonia info. There is hope! The botanical garden down the road gets fall color, which flummoxed me, but you have set me at ease. Maybe this year! I do like the foliage, but if the summer foliage will be the main highlight I would need to do some shifting around to highlight it better. I always love seeing your clematis. Also, my white rhodie usually has a few blooms in August. Isn’t that weird? This fall it followed that with more blooms now.

Per everybody’s hydrangeas, this must be THE year for them. They all look fantastic this year!

As for foliage, we are either not a peak or our color will be muted. Still, it is always a stunning season.

PM, I didn’t know finch like cosmos seeds. I have been known to take self-seeders that look ratty and cut them, then shake them over the bed to spread the seed. I want the seeds and volunteers, but sometimes enough is enough! I do love the AP color, too. Your sounds like you got a standared New England native aster, to be honest, as they are more lilac in color.

PM, it sounds like your daugher is giving you early grandchild training, potentially with you getting all the fun and then sending the dog back home. I’m glad to hear she’s as cute as her picture. She‘s practically smiling in that picture!

PM and Dee, if you both were closer I’d give you some divisions. Raydon’s favorite is vigorous, but the Sheffield mums not quite as much. I started with four and am down to two, but those two did well this year. They would probably love CT!

We just got 5” of rain this weekend but the power stayed on. We lost it for a bit in the middle of the night earlier last week, but I won’t complain about that.

This is the first year (not inlcluding yast year as it was cancelled) that all of my kids are too old for Halloween. Time marches on!

Deanna - Yes, I usually end up with gold finches every fall in my front garden and Cosmos is what I see them using for the most part. This year, I didn’t have a yellow goldfinch, I’ve only seen green finches, which I looked up and they are the immature female. Very cute and they seem to be very tolerant of my movement around the garden and just continue to eat even when I was standing 4ft away from them.

Thanks anyway for the offer of the Aster division but even if you lived nearby, I don’t have room for another aster. [g] I will have to be content to enjoy yours.

Definitely, the puppy is a precursor to grandchildren and it's not bad as parent training for my daughter either. Amazing how much care one little dog can be.

Glad you had so much rain. It’s great for the garden going into winter. We just got another 3 inches on top of the 5 inches. LoL

There were a TON of kids out for Halloween last night! For about 3 hours, it sounded like Grand Central Station in the street in front of my house. Everyone is so happy to be getting out and seeing people again, I guess after missing it last year.

PM2, yes i am still living in NH, and only about half of my rural town has high speed internet. I am one of the havenots as far as internet, but there is so much else wonderful about where I live that it is an acceptable exchange for now. There is work on the horizon for improvements.