This is the color of sedum that I love the best....wish it would stay that way and not continue on to the rust color....

Still waiting for Mums to fully open.

VERY nice MGallica! I just love a naturalistic garden that does it's own thing. That curve of Rudbeckia is perfect. I don't think we could duplicate it if we tried. lol And the asters must be a boon this time of year to pollinators. It must be nice for you to have such a pretty outdoor space that can manage on it's own!

My October garden is a bit sad lol. Some annuals still going - zinnias, cosmos, tithonia (banner year for that!) and dahlias, and then I have some asters and monkshood and a couple of rose blooms, and that's about it. My relatively new (2 years) diervilla is starting to color up nicely, and I have some berries on my tiny, first-full-season hollies, but otherwise not much going on.

I took out all my tomatoes and cukes last weekend so that garden area seems very naked and exposed haha. I'm hoping to get out a few days this month (as long as it doesn't rain on the days I took off!) and get some planting and rearranging done.

Funny, I HAVE focused more on late-season interest the last year or two, but still don't have much. I guess I have to give my little guys more time. I have high hopes for some berries - decidous and evergreen hollies, callicarpa, symphoricarpos, viburnum - as well as fall color - diervilla, cephalanthus, fothergilla and the afore-mentioned viburnum - but everything is still young and small and I guess I have to be patient!

Love your rudbeckia, MG. Mine did not do well this year - not a single bloom, not even on my usually-reliable triloba.

:)

Dee

Nice to see you Dee! Always happy to hear what is going on in your garden. It was a different season with the lower levels of sun and all the rain. I planted white marigolds which are the tall African type, in May and they didn't produce a flower bud until August. They are just starting to bloom the past 2 weeks. lol

Yes, keep adding Fall bloomers and Fall color foliage plants and all of a sudden, you will have your Fall display. I know it's hard to wait...lol.

I usually have a small Fall display but it's usually late. And last year I rearranged my front bed quite a bit and I'm not that crazy about it this year. And I won't have the chance to rearrange it again this Fall. Maybe next spring. Life gets so busy.

I still have cherry tomatoes going but they are slowing down the ripening process at this point and that will only get worse once the colder weather starts this weekend going forward. I won't even bore you with all the negative results with my veggies this year....or the rabbit trials and tribulations. [g]

Right now we are having a new fence installed and I had to dig out all my roses, vines and perennials out of the way of the new install. My lovely rose and Honeysuckle display on that fence made me so happy in 2021, it was the best I'd ever had. And I tried to get the New Dawn rose out in one piece but it had monster canes and was intertwined with 2 other roses with canes going in every direction. And the root seemed to go to China, so we let it go and just cut as much of it out as we could. So now I'll need to start over.

The fence was 32 years old and had to be replaced, and maybe I'll end up with something even prettier! There are certainly enough roses to choose from and I already have 3 other Honeysuckles I bought in the spring that need a home. And they are supposed to be fragrant and the Orange Mandarin Honeysuckle was not. We lost that also. I pruned it back to the ground in the spring, thinking it would come back and nothing.

PM2, Thanks for keeping these monthly threads going. I always really enjoy checking out all the beautiful photographs. This month I actually got off my butt to take some pictures so i'll participate. I actually love this time of year in the garden. Will split this into multiple posts since I don't know how many pics I can put at one time. I have just realized this year that I have hydrangeas everywhere and they add so much to the gardens.

Some shots of the slope garden and new road garden:

Asters, asters everywhere! I let them reseed all over the place and cut them back a couple times over the season so they don't get crazy tall. We have never had so many bees.

It rained so everything is a little droopy, but I think you'll get the idea.

Chelone still going strong!

Heptacodium is a great late-season tree for insects and interest. When this was in bloom it was covered in all kinds of buzzers. And now the pink calyx are getting going.

Roses still going pretty strong. Here are a few.

Some perennials of interest.

Anemone, Aralia flower, Chocolate Joe Pye and Aster with bronze peony foliage

Poor Joe flopped a bit wth the rain. Just yesterday he was standing as tall as the deck when a monarch came by to visit. No idea why that chyrsanthemum is so ratty this year in bottom right.

Sheffield Mums still to come!

I'm super excited for what this bloom will be. I have them all over the new road border and the slope.

At our driveway we left a pokeweed for the season---I know, I'm doomed......but we liked the height of everything in this area.

And last season we tried an experiment leaving anything that reseeded next to our driveway to grow out, but our lawnmower broke and when we had a company come mow, they also weedwhacked it all down! This year we tried again and it did not disappoint. There had to have been thousands of insects in this area down the driveway. Now out of bloom but still pretty for fall. It runs the full length of the driveway and was filled with asters, goldenrod, grasses and other pretties.

And now some berries.

symphoricarpos, beautyberry, holy, winterberry

I was SO clever planting this holly near the white hydrangea blooms! Until the first year the hydrangea changed over to its pink flower color! LOL! Alas, I won't move the holly. I'm not keen on the clash, but it's ok.

A few more berries and I'm done! See what i can do when i put my mind to it! HA! I don't take many photos of the garden, but after planting the last bit of plants left to get in the ground I grabbed my phone (I mean really, what can be easier? I have NO excuse) and got going.

Crabapple (newly planted to replace the one we lost), dwarf pyracantha (that i swear is only allowed to get 1 bunch of berries per year. It would be an amazing little shrub if it would bloom....), viburnum (only 2--i've spared you with the others. my backyard is full of viburnum varieties) and dogwood 'Samaritan' that bloomed on ONE branch only.

Hi Thyme2Dig - I have forgotten this thread once or twice and thanks to Deanna who has backed me up and posted it, too.

Yes, so happy you are taking some time to take some photos. You’ll be glad you did when you want to remember what your gardening season looked like. And really - I have to drag my big camera in it’s case out and make sure the battery is still good take the photos, then upload to the computer after I find the cord to do that…so, for sure, if you have a phone that takes good photos, you’ve got it made!

What is the name of the Hydrangea in your first photo? Very pretty white and rose affect.

Your street side garden is so well done! And look at how well everything is growing in. You have good structure and enough evergreen that I bet it looks nice in the winter too. And it looks like your lawn has had good rain like we have this year too.

That third photo of the front of your house….you must be so happy every time you pull into the driveway! Those Hydrangea look very red in front of the contrasting white. Again, lots of evergreen for the winter.

I’ve thought about trying a Heptacodium

Your Joe Pye Weed looks like a flowering shrub when it flops over like that. My Kolkwitzia looks a lot like that in June. [g]

Your asters are purple? You still have a LOT of color! Nice patch of Chelone and lots of rose blooms still. You had a good season I think.

Please post more photos when those Sheffield Mums bloom. I’m still waiting on my Mums, that are just starting to open.

The pollinators must love you. Your driveway is really long and so nice to have a natural border that will fill in and bloom without too much help from you.

LOVE that new Crabapple. It looks like it’s going to be gorgeous!

Thanks for posting your garden photos….I really enjoyed seeing them!!

Thyme, just awesome, really awesome. I hope your garden gives you as much joy as it gives to me haha! I love your garden, especially that slope (which I always think of when folks here ask how to handle a slope) and your fenced-in area. I've usually seen spring/summer photos of it so it was great to see the fall pics. LOVE those purple trellises!

I planted a symphoricarpos last year, and wasn't expecting berries so soon, but I have three whole berries! Which is exciting, but I'm a bit worried because they are white. They are supposed to be pink, so I will keep an eye on it!

Just yesterday I got an email notification from a nursery that their stock of heptacodium has been replenished. I had planned on getting one but yesterday after getting that email, I hesitated. I don't know... you know, it's ridiculous. For someone who has almost an acre and has 40ish very tall oak trees, I am always reluctant to commit to big plants! Even my shrubs are all dwarf varieties hahaha! I can't figure out what my hesitation is all about. Oh well, it's still on my wish list so maybe soon I'll get the courage. That being said, what's the size of yours? It, um, looks a bit bigger than the descriptions I've read... :)

That dogwood is beautiful. For some reason I've never been a big fan of kousas but that variegation has certainly piqued my interest (I've never met a variegated plant I didn't like lol) and those red fruits are eye-catching!

:)

Dee

Hi PM2, Thanks for all the nice comments.

Regarding the name of the hydrangea.....sigh......alas I am quite a collector of things, but I don't keep track of anything. I mean I have lists of my epimedium, hellebore, daylily collections, etc. but don't know which is which looking at them in the garden. For the hydrangea, aside from 'Bobo', the oakleaf(s), PeeGee and Annabelle, and one in the back that I actually just found an old label for, I don't know which are which. I planted a bunch of paniculatas as I saw them in nurseries, but can't tell you what's what out there. Sorry!

Thanks for the comments on the front garden. It's pretty crazy that it's only in it's 2nd year. I planted so much stuff in there and it has really taken off. I'm sure there's too much in the end and at some point I'll have to move a couple things, but I'm so thrilled with how it turned out, and the changes to the slope we made that help meld the two areas together.

If you have the space for heptacodium I would give it a try. Even though it could have a better shape in my garden, it's one of my favorite trees. Dee, it's about 20 x 20 or larger, so yes, it can get quite big.

The Chocolate Joe Pye really wanted more water. With all the water we had this spring/ summer it really had its best year ever. Everything was very lush this year with all the water we had. It was a drag for us people, but the gardens loved it!

I have tons and tons of purple aster if you want some. Just let me know and I can bring down a carload! LOL! Let me know if you want some chelone too. It multiplies well and I've been digging some up for my mom and tranplanting some in my garden. It transplants really well.

I will definitely post when Sheffield opens. I'm really excited for this year. They've expanded so much in size so it should be quite a show. I find them to be really easy in that they can be a bit thuggish with how much they spread, but they are really easy to rip out. So I let them ramble throughout the season and then in spring rip out and relocate any that are crawling under roses, evergreens, etc. I do the same thing with Oenothera fruticosa which I love in June.

We keep adding as much as possible for the pollinators. I wish we would get some more monarchs coming through. We had 6 at one time this year, but we used to have droves of them about 20 years ago. I have a field of milkweed outside my fence and a good yard for them, especially with late-blooming food sources, but either they've changed their migration route, or more likely they've just dwindled in numbers drastically which makes me sad.

Dee, Thanks so much!!

As mentioned above the heptacodium can get pretty big. I think mine has been in since 2007. Many times storms (ice) can trash them as they can crack/break easily. I've been lucky with mine with no damage during storms.

Regarding your symphoricarpos there is 'Albus' which is a white berry. Did you happen to note if your tag said that? I hope they didn't have your shrub mislabeled. There's also a red berried one that I have never had a berry on even though it's in about the same conditions as my pink one. The shrub itself seems weaker. Some of these berrying shrubs can be so frustrating when they don't cooperate!

We too have a lot of oaks and just this spring removed about a dozen to bring in more light. We abut 100 acres of oak forest so I didn't feel bad about having 12 of mine cut down. What a difference! I'm so curious to see how some of my shrubs that were struggling as the oaks got so much bigger will do.

YES! Plant bigger shrubs and small trees! Start with heptacodium and a variegated kousa! WOOT! Do you have many viburnums? Most of mine I would now consider small-ish trees.

I love my Aesculus pavia and paperbark maple. If you have room (and some sun through those oaks) do it! You won't regret it!

-Susan

Thyme, I used to have a garden maintenance business, which dwindled over the years from about 8 customers to 2, and then last year I gave up my last customer. While it was really, really hard to give her up, it was perfect timing. My daughter had twins, and I had committed to helping her with child care, and my customer moved in the same month, so that made my decision for me haha. (Although I did have her leave my name and number for the new owners, but they never called.)

Anyway, I mention this because her yard (which honestly, was just like a second yard for me - she pretty much gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted, and she had more money to spend in her garden than I did/do in mine, so that was fun!) - but anyway her yard/garden was way more thought out and planned than mine. While I originally was hired to maintain what was there, over the ten years I worked with her she had me plan and plant much much more, despite my protestations of not being a designer. She had a swamp in her back yard. Literally. Once my foot came out of my muck boot, which was stuck in the mud. There was literally standing water for much of the year here. Oddly, there was a garden here but it wasn't doing well, and it was because the appropriate plants were not there. So I did research and planted more appropriate things and it really took off.

All this to say, in her yard, I felt more comfortable planting big things lol. I think maybe because it was more open, although still rather shady, and she was more adventurous than I am lol. She was like, sure, plant it! If we don't like it, we'll just cut it down! That thought horrifiies me a bit haha, but I plunged in. I planted viburnums, chokeberry (I think that's what it was - I'm always confused on this one - a variety called Brilliantissima (which ended up being not all that brilliant lol) but which was very tall and narrow and perfect for that spot), steeds hollies which grew over 8 feet tall, pagoda dogwoods, Blue Prince and Princess hollies, tall rhodies, cephalanthus, even variegated willows which got HUGE.

So I have had my experiences with some of these shrubs, but for some reason hesitate to plant them in my yard. But this past year I've gotten bolder lol. I FINALLY took out some overgrown sassafras saplings (good Lord they are the bane of my gardening existence!!) which were also covered in grape vine and virginia creeper and poison ivy, along the front road, knowing full well I'd be naked and exposed to the neighborhood lol. So now I have some rhodies, viburnums, and hollies (decidous and evergreen) to plant there. I still can't go hog-wild in regards to height, since the power lines run directly above, but I am putting up this screen so I am going a bit bolder and bigger lol. Eight to twelve feet lol. Also am planning on adding, in other areas, my own pagoda dogwood and I think a white-flowering c. florida, have added a redbud where I lost my beloved triple-trunk oak, and keep going back and forth on the heptacodium.

My daughter also recently bought a house and wants a privacy border in her back yard so I have been working on that as well, so I've planted some bigger things there. Actually I'm supposed to be there right now trying to wedge a rhodie into some maple roots lol.

Geez, sorry for this long meandering post. I guess I got a little overly wordy lol. Here's a photo to make up for it haha

Here's a shrub border I put in at my customer's. There was a tree here, hence the semicircular bed (around the tree) , and when the tree fell we just kept going. This is from about 6 years ago, and things are much bigger now, plus I filled in the back area with more viburnums and the pagoda dogwood. This bed was a challenge as it is viewed from 3 sides! The street, the driveway, and the back yard.

Same bed from the street side

Swamp bed. There is a creek on the far right, behind those shrubs but oddly the left side of the pathway always flooded more. There was no garden on the left when I started working here - mostly a swath of jewelweed and poison ivy. I put in the pathway (a yearly rebuilding effort thanks to winter water flow!) and made the garden on both sides. I adore these hakuro nishikii willows and was thrilled to be able to plant not only one, but two! In a space where they could thrive and grow to their hearts content!

From the other side (pardon the thumb lol). From this photo if you turn to your left the back end of that driveway bed curves around to meet this bed. Things got way more filled in, not only as the season progressed but as the years progressed too. I don't have more recent photos though.

Far end of the swamp bed showing the viburnum (and the thumb again lol). That viburnum is well over 15 feet tall.

Okay, now I've REALLY gone down the rabbit hole. Thank you for indulging my walk down memory lane lol (gosh I miss this garden!) and for letting me prove (to myself??) that I CAN indeed plant big things lol - just not in my yard! :) Or at the very least, thanks for politely ignoring my way-too-long, off-topic post and not making any snide remarks lol.

Okay, back to October 2023! Thyme I also meant to comment on those Sheffield mums. have been considering those for quite some time, but I'm worried about their reported aggressiveness. Good to hear they are easy to remove!

:)

Dee

Thyme2Dig - No worries. Next time Hydrangeas are blooming in the nurseries, I’m sure I’ll see something that looks like that. There are so many new varieties.

Yours look great and will only get better as they grow larger.

You should be thrilled at the way your garden is turning out! So exciting to be able to put your ideas into actions and see it pay off.

No, I’m not looking for more asters. I’m trying to find places to put those I already have. Lol The Chelone - I do keep looking for a place to put some of that. It looks good this time of year.

Very sad about the Monarchs. I might have had one on my aster Alma Potschke this year. Last year I had about six. I think this year the aster was late to bloom and they were already heading south.

Dee, congratulations again on being a grandparent to twins! And to have your daughter live near by and be able to help her with her garden. How satisfying that must be. Yes, the timing was great, to be finished with your last client. Looks like some new beginnings for you.

Lovely to get a look at photos of the garden you spent so much time helping to develop. Great job - especially that bed that could be seen on three sides. Turning around a swamp had to be a fun project. You gained a lot of experience in the process.

We need to redo an area of our garden that is covered in virginia creeper with a little bit of poison ivy that we have to keep vigilant about keeping out, since our neighbor let’s his go to the point of climbing 15 feet into his Spruce trees. We also need to grow a screen to block out a view that has gotten worse over the years and we’re tired of looking at it.

The other reason we want a screen, is because our neighborhood has been knocking down older homes and putting in big homes with no evidence any of the town zoning laws are being observed any more. I’d hate to suddenly find a house encroaching on one of our lot lines…and there’s only one lot line that is likely to happen, so I am getting proactive and planning to plant a new taller screen.

It’s so much fun to look back at the beginnings of gardens you’ve worked on and see how much they change as everything grows. I was doing a little bit of that today too.

We're halfway throught the month. It was 48F here this morning by our thermometer. And the rain held off for the whole weekend and we ended up being able to get a lot done outside. Our fence was installed, but we have a couple of issues they'll need to come back and address and there is a Big Mess to clean up now. So we started that this weekend.

Finally the Mums are opening. And still have a few roses and new buds still coming.

Beautiful mums, PM2! I wish I had more success with them. When I cut them back, they die or look like they should be put out of their misery lol. If I don't cut them back, they bloom in July and still don't look so great. So I always just buy a few pots for the front steps and back patio. Still wavering on trying Sheffields....

LOL had to laugh at how you capitalized Big Mess! Hope it's not too hard to clean up! Would love to see some photos of your new fence!

It did rain here, but I was still able to get a few things marked off my checklist. Extended a bed and dug out a HUGE hellebore. Was able to split it into SIX good-sized plants. But then I have to dig holes to replant them haha! I planted one at my daughter's, gave one to a friend, replanted two here, and sold two. I rearranged some stuff in this bed and planted a Lyda Rose, an azalea Perfecto Mundo Pink Carpet, a hosta Ivory Queen, and moved a small holly and a ligularia that I got from George (EGO from the NE forums) years ago. I planted/replanted everything in this bed in those mesh gopher bags. This is the bed that I have vole issues in, so I'm hoping the bags work!

Planted a rhodie and a Rose of Sharon Pink Chiffon at my daughter's, in our ongoing project to build a shrub border along her back property line. We're under the maples now so I am trying a method I saw Marie (I think it was) post that she said George had used - planting in a cardboard box to help the roots get established before the maple roots take over. The bad thing is that of course the box is bigger than the plant so i had to dig a bigger hole! We'll see if it works. Not a fan of gardening under maples. As much as I miss the fall color, I'm glad I have oaks instead!

I also got a cephalanthus Sugar Shack planted today - which sounds easy but you know how it is. You have to move stuff to fit in a plant. When you move stuff you realize it needs division. So going out to plant one thing results in a morning of digging and (re)planting (not to mention trying to find ROOM to plant!) a dozen plants! I divided some NOID yellow irises which were gorgeous this spring - bloomed for WEEKS! Also some helenium. I'm hoping the cephalanthus likes it here. I planted one (species, not a Sugar Shack) in my customer's swamp garden and she loved it, I loved it, and the cephalanthus loved it's spot! So I am trying the smaller Sugar Shack, and hoping my soil is damp enough over in this corner for it.

Still have several things to plant - a callicarpa, a rhodie, a viburnum, some peonies, and there are ALWAYS hostas to plant. Went to plant a hydrangea my son bought me for mother's day but there is apparently a huge rock right where I want to plant it. Got about 6-7 inches down but this thing is big. The hole is over a foot in diameter and I still can't find the edge of the rock to try to pull it out. Ah, the joys of gardening in New England!

:)

Dee

Thanks Dee, I look forward to the Mums. You are always talking about how much shade you have from your trees, so I was going to say, maybe it’s all that shade that gives you a hard time with the Mums, until I remembered I transplanted some divisions into my veggie beds last fall because I didn’t label them when I dug them out and didn’t know which color was which. LoL I left them there all summer and they are blooming in part sun in raised beds and looking pretty good, but flopping. But so are the Mums that I trimmed in late June too. So I don’t know if there are any hard and fast rules I can point to for success. If you can buy potted mums for your patio and steps, thankfully, they are usually fairly inexpensive and you don’t have to trim them and you can change the color every year if you want!

We took a walk after dinner and it was dusk when we were getting back to the house and I was noticing how much color there is in the front now. Today I noticed that my ‘Dark Towers’ Penstemon is next to a red Mum that I added this year and wow. Great combination. Just with the dark foliage and the red mum it was pretty but today the Penstemon foliage started to turn red…and I’m loving that. I have two red mums and now I’m going to have to move a Dark Towers over next to the second one too.

I had a terrible time with the roses this year and less bloom and late bloom. Julia Child is blooming now better than the rest of the season. Foliage is completely clean and something about the blooms at this time. I think this rose enjoys the cooler temperatures because the blooms are even better looking then they are in the summer.

The fence…well, it does look very good. I still have a few issues I need to call them back to fix and they really did make a big mess. I thought I had moved a lot of plants out of their way, but I forgot one area and they completely wrecked a huge Hosta and a pretty Japanese painted fern. And it is New England, so every post hole they dug pulled up all these rocks and they’re everywhere. We have to do some grading and I’ll need to move pavers that are now out of line. Plus I want to add hardware cloth to a section of fence to try to keep the rabbits out now, so…yes, a lot of work.

I am going to post two photos of the gate and fence but hopefully all the algae on the side of the garage is not as noticeable. [g] My Dad used to tell my Mother when she wanted to paint one room, that as soon as you make something look new, it makes everything else look so bad you end up painting everything. [g] That’s how I felt when I noticed how much algae was on the side of the garage next to the new gate. So that has to get cleaned up next. It never ends, does it?

I'm trying to decide whether to leave the gate natural or paint it. I'm leaning toward natural at the moment.

And that's all the straight 6ft stockade.

Dee, you got a huge amount of work done this weekend…lol. I might have done a fraction of that over 3 days, mostly because we’re still trying to clean up. But still.. I needed to move a Pink Diamond Hydrangea, but as you said, you end up having to move one thing to move another, so it didn't get done. Sounds like you have increased your stock with all those divisions. I love having lots of divisions to plant, I just rarely get around to doing it.

I have a dozen or so potted plants to find homes for still and I walked around looking for somewhere to fit them in and threw up my hands. So yes, I understand.

That ‘Perfecto Mundo Pink Carpet’ Azalea - sounds like a name for a rose…is it a dwarf?

What ever happened to George? He was such a great contributor to the forums and I always looked forward to hearing what he brought to the CT swaps. His photos of his garden were so well designed and neat as a pin. I wonder what happened to him and if he is still in the same garden. I thought I remembered he moved? I never heard of the cardboard box method. I’ll have to try that under my Maples.

The Cephanlantus I had to look up - the Button Bush! Those are so cute. I hope it performs for you. It sounds like you are doing a lot more than usual to your garden. It should be pretty exciting in the spring to see all the new changes!

I was out looking around and I have more divisions of Mums that were in the front last year, planted in the back. They were later to bloom because they are in more shade. I am tickled to discover that they have crossed. And one plant has two different flowers on the same plant.

Here is what I think was the orignial plant and color...

And here are some of the other divisions ....the yellow in this photo was originally a different Mum than the orange. It was from Bluestone Perennials called 'Amber Morning'

And this plant seems to be a cross between the orange and the yellow.... because only the yellow had a center, the orange was a double.

And this is the plant that has two different flowers on it....all of these branches are on the same plant. And the orange is a different shade than the original too.

My raised beds were not used for vegetables this year and I let them lie fallow. And I've grown Borage here before. Well, it reseeded everywhere. The bees are loving it and for some reason, the Cardinals like it too.

Dee, TWINS! Oh boy! That will surely be fun and keep you all quite busy. How exciting and so nice that you can help out and enjoy them close by.

And sounds like you'll be able to work on some garden design at her house.

Thanks so much for sharing the pictures of the landscape/beds you designed. What an amazing bit of work you did there.

It sounds like you have an opportunity to go a little bigger/bolder with your screen.

And don't waiver on the Sheffields! If you give me your address I'll send you a bunch next spring. Then if you decided in time to rip them out you won't feel bad that you had spent money on them only to rip them out! LOL!!

Mine are in full bloom now, but again I am so bad about taking pictures. It's pouring out today and I'll be away all day tomorrow. They should still be going on Monday though and maybe I'll remember to take some pictures!

You have been very busy with your dividing and planting. Just reading all you've been doing above exhausted me! HA! Next year I have to get a little bit more going with dividing/transplanting. I'm VERY good at buy new plants/shrubs!

PM2, you're new fence looks awesome! I love it! Love that you went with pickets in the front. It really opens up the area.

And that gate is GORGEOUS!! Wow, so different than the run of the mill gates.

Boy, it does sound like you have a bit of work ahead of you with the cleanup/grading, etc. Will you be able to get that company back to do any of that?

I hope you can find a way to keep the rabbits out. I'm so scared for them to eventually make it to my gardens. I can only hope my killer cat will keep them away.

Your mums are beautiful, and how cool they crossed!

And the borage looks great. How nice for the bees.

Do you have plans for the raised beds for next year? I know they're tough with those dang maple roots.

Thyme2dig - Thank you, I am pretty happy with the fence and the gate. We had the old gate that the hardware just never worked on and it was not installed right and we put up with it for a long time. The new latch on this is a pleasure.

No, I wouldn’t give the job of grading etc. to this company. They already made the attempt to grade and nope, I’ll be satisfied with our own work, it will just take longer. They do have to come back to fix a couple of things, but we’ve already started cleaning up and it was long overdue to do something with that area of the yard anyway. Most of it will end up having to wait for next spring, but I’m trying to get as much done this fall as I can.

My DH laughs at me that I have any thought of keeping the rabbits out of the yard. [g] But I am going to give it a try any way. I’m also going to be planting more plants that they are not interested in.

We may be getting some help in that department. Neighbors are now reporting seeing more and more coyotes in the neighborhood at times we hadn’t seen them before. The neighbor across the street came home at 9:30p and saw a coyote exit the street two houses away from us, cross the two lawns of the houses across the street from us. Yikes! Although I do have 6ft fence, I’m looking at that 4ft fence where the gate is and they wouldn’t have any trouble getting over that.

The next day more neighbors reported seeing a coyote @ 6:30p. While they were walking their dog and making noises didn’t scare him away. I’m surprised there is a rabbit left in the neighborhood. I have been in the habit of going out into the yard if I am up late to check on one thing or another and to let the dog out, but that is something I won’t do again. It’s too bad because with the clocks going back in a couple of weeks, it will be too dark to walk after dinner now. I guess this is more and more an issue in a lot of communities.

Raised beds are a done deal. I can’t even put a foot up on the edge without them falling apart. They’ve been there 9 years already - hard to believe. That is the next project after the fence - dismantling those and doing something else with that area. Another big project. It’s always something, but it keeps things interesting I guess.

PM2 those mums really are lovely. I love the color variations - they just announce that autumn is here!

The fence is looking good. Love the gate! I'm always a fan of white fences, but will admit that that can be a lot of work and maintenance. And of course a natural fence can fade to a lovely, unobtrusive color in the garden. I guess it depends on the setting (formal vs. informal) and agree that in a more natural setting such as you or I have, the natural may work best.

The Perfecto Mundo azalea is a low-growing one. I think about 1.5 feet high, spreading about 2 feet wide. I was on a (apparently failed) search for some Robin Hill azaleas, which I guess aren't bred anymore. This is my attempt at a substitute. I don't think the flowers will get anywhere near as big as the RHs, but hopefully will bring some nice spring color. I've never had great luck with azaleas but hope springs eternal. I have two, one purchased last year which BARELY made it through winter and did not bloom this year, but the one I just purchased arrived with a bud! That was a nice surprise, and it opened shortly after I planted it so that was fun.

I kind of am doing a bit more this year than usual because I spend so much time THINKING about what to do that it kind of keeps me from DOING. And I am trying to switch the garden over to more shrubs. I never have enough time to be out in the garden and it seems when I am, I do half the work in the same amount of time as I used to lol. So lower-maintenance is my theme and I'm trying to act on it. While I feel like I still have so much to do, when I think about what I did in the limited amount of time I have, I am pleased with the progress. Not thrilled, not overjoyed, lol, but pleased!

Thyme, thanks for the congrats - I can't wait to get my little girlies out in the garden with me! And thanks for the generous offer! I would love to finally try some Sheffields and will message you privately.

Okay, enough typing. Time to get my butt out in the garden and take advantage of this bit of sun we have today and get something done!

:)

Dee

Dee, Thanks, those lovely Mums were flat on the ground in the rain this morning…lol.

I have to agree, the photo of the gate that sold me on the design showed a white gate, which I loved. But, I would never paint the entire fence and gate white. Maybe just the small amount of picket fence that goes along with the gate, but, like you I am trying to get more and more low maintenance. The older we get, the less we are able to accomplish out there. So why give us another job to do? And how often do you end up having to paint it again? And if you wait too long, then it’s peeling and you’re sanding before painting. I even tried a stain on my last gate, but it still peeled and was a pain to repaint. So…it’s nice to enjoy something visually more interesting but in the end, I’m a sucker for practicality. And really the cedar weathers to a very pretty gray in no time at all.

I have one azalea in the front foundation and I enjoy it. I wish I had more azaleas and rhododendron. My soil is a pH of 6.0 and the areas I'd like to place them do have winter winds, so I’m not sure I can provide their ideal conditions. I am trying another Rhododendron this year though. So I haven’t had a lot of luck either.

OK here are more photos. Sheffield and Japanese maples.

You are a lucky duck! Look at all that vibrant color! And I do like the Sheffield Mums. they are like daisies and very low to the ground and not tall and floppy like mine. Nice! And I love your mailbox cover.!

Well, I have been absent, but quietly checking this thread. Took a trip to London, and then the month was filled up here. I believe I will be working in the office nearly full-time for a while, which makes gardening and, for some reason, taking photos harder. That, and being an idiot and buying 1,025 spring bulbs. What was I thinking?! I’m hoping to plant that last 100-200 today. I’m sure I’ll wait several more years before I buy more, but I sure hope i have a brain next time I buy any.

I would love to comments on all the threads but will not, but believe that I have certainly read them! Thyme, it is so great to have you active this month. These threads were getting quiet, and I am thrilled to see the conversations among online garden friends thriving. Gardeners are a special breed! Gardening brings us together, regardless of lifestyle, politics, faith, culture, etc., whatever. It is indeed a wonderful peacemaker! I hate it that I missed the online tea party this month, but look forward to future months.

For some reason my Sheffield and Clara Curtis mums and Raydon’s Favorite asters are NOT doing well. I have no idea why. They are in the same bed. There is very little info on the web, the bed gets plenty of sun, the soil was amended just like everything else, which seems very very happy. I am down from four asters to two, and really only one Sheffield. The only surviving Clara Curtis is probably on its way out. Any advice? I’m stumped. The foxgloves sure do love that bed! I’ll use these picks when I do a Memorium for my dead asters and mums.

This stand of happy mushrooms is worthy of a story book!

I will say our very very very wet summer has things looking weird. I’m sure I have some fungal issues, as many plants have brown spots on leaves. It looks like a jungle that isn ’t quite healthy. That last thing I have time for is fungal disease maintenance, so I REALLY REALLY hope it’s just a temporary thing. My younger shrubs adored the weather this year. It has been a learning experience with regards to shrub establishment and watering. Last year we all talked about a future of drought-tolerant plants. This year I realize I need the impossible—plants that handle flip-flopping drought and flood.

Lastly, sunsets are indeed beautiful, but this week the bright afternoon was especially beautiful. The river and tidal currents were quiet, and the sky was glorious.

Deanna, bulbs!! LOL!! I have to crack up. Years ago I was at Home Depot (which by the way has great sales in a couple of weeks on bulbs) and I just kept plunking package after package of bulbs in my cart. My MIL was with me and she finally said "Hey Susan! You know you have to PLANT all of those, right??!" I never learned my lesson and still buy tons of bulbs each fall. However last spring the deer got ALL my tulips out front (probably 600) so i'm not so sure I want to plant more bulbs out there. Those brats!!

I can tell you my sheffield are in not the greatest of soil. Kind of gravel mixed with loam. Not super rich soil. Maybe they like really sharp drainage?

Those mushrooms really should be part of a children's story. I saw a lot of really cook fungi this season.

Is that water view right from your property? It's gorgeous.

Here are some last Oct shots:

Stewartia on the right was outstanding this year.

Picture from the left-hand path coming up to house.

Picture from the right hand path coming up to house.

Check out the yellow of the climbing hydrangea up the oak tree!

Looking up the right hand path up to the house.

FInally the hakone grass is spilling over the path with the Japanese Maple! WOOT!

I really love how this finally turned out after waiting years for my plan to come to fruition.

The whole Japanese Maple/pathways area were pretty carefully planned.

Roadside bed with the sheffields.

I absolutely love this time of year and am always sad to see it go!

Deanna, sounds very busy @ your house! I hope you had a great trip to London. Fall sounds like a nice time to visit. So, going back to full time working, I'm sure that will be an adjustment, but really at the end of the gardening season seems like great timing.

I have been enjoying everyone's photos of the single Mums that look like daisies. They're so pretty! My double Mums, became soaked in the rain and then were flat on the ground and they don't come back up as they dry out. But in this part of the country, Fall is often a rainy season, so, how much sense does that make? I have two ideas, one is to cut them back about 4x in the spring to keep them much shorter than I have been leaving them, and the 2nd idea is to start buying more singles too. I don't know the answer to the problem you are having wtih them, Deanna - maybe it was just this season that was very different with the amount of rain we had.

Thyme2dig - This is the first time, I've seen your garden in fall, from these angles and I'd have to say that Fall is the best season for your garden! I LOVE it! You did a masterful job of choosing and siting plants that highlight Fall color. And all that color makes your brick steps really pop. The tree on the right in the first photo is a Stewartia? I love it's structure and that color is wonderful! What better way to end the gardening season than with that Fall display to look forward to!