Monday, November 3, 2014
October is Never Long Enough
How can it be November already? I feel like I barely had a chance to enjoy beautiful October.
I've seen an internet quote that sums up our love affair with October. It says "I'm glad I live in a world where there are Octobers". I'm sure we'd all agree.
Last night we had our first frost here in central Ohio. It's always a sad day for me. But I'm sure all gardeners feel that way. When that first frost threatens, I always go out on a rescue mission. First thing to save was the beloved Queen Red Lime zinnias. I filled two vases full of my favorite blooms.
Next up was the roses. There weren't many blooms left, but I saved some of the sweetest ones. It's amazing how concentrated the fragrance is once they are inside.
I also rescued the dahlia blooms. There weren't as many flowers as usual this year. I think I just didn't pick the best varieties, because last year they were prolific.
Our first frost was a bit late this year, so that gave me a few extra weeks to enjoy the flowers. I'm sure anyone could guess how happy that made me!
But up to that darned frost last night, we were enjoying a warm and sunny spell of weather. The autumn sunlight is especially golden, and I found myself grabbing my camera at every turn.
While the fall colors were especially bold this year, it was often rainy
during those peak colors. But around my yard, I still found plenty of
color, only in flower form.
Goodbye then to the most beautiful of months. Oh how I'll miss all this over the winter.
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Your garden is still lovely this late in the year. I love the zinnias that are such an unusualy color. While April is my favorite month, October is a close second. Lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteThose zinnias are called Queen Red Lime, and that unusual color is what makes me love them so. I grow them every year. I gather seeds if I can. But truly, the blooms last so long that it's hard to get any seeds. I buy them early while it's still early from whatever place I can find them. Totally worth it!
DeleteFunny. We got our first frost Saturday night and another heavier frost last night. One more would bring us rain or so my husband tells me. We could use rain. I went out and pulled up the caladiums which had succumbed to the frosty nights but the snapdragons have acted as though it was Balm of Gilead and fired up their color even more.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos dear, absolutely gorgeous. Thank you for sharing them!
Snapdragons love the chilly weather. It takes frigid temps to finally bring them down. Mine still look lovely, but the big chill is coming this week and I'll probably lose them.
DeleteI love that quote, Robin, especially as my birthday is in October. Your Oct. garden is very beautiful! P. x
ReplyDeleteOctober is truly a treasure, isn't it? Even though November can hardly compare, I'm tying to appreciate it's unique beauty too. It's a whole different kind of beauty, but if you try real hard, you can see it!
DeleteWaaah, what are we going to do November - March? I know somehow we survive without our beloved outdoor flowers every winter, but it's so darn hard, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteLet's just take it one day at a time Melanie! One thing to do is buy those bouquets from the grocery store. It's the only way to stay sane! LOL
DeleteYes, it's a tough transition from October to November. I don't handle the cold and shorter days very well, so I'm trying to look deeper at the more subtel beauty. Is that Amsonia by your front entrance? It's gorgeous, along with the other lovely plants there.
ReplyDeleteYes, I grow amsonia hubrichtii by my front walk, and it makes a lovely show come fall.
DeleteBeautiful photos! And a wonderful quote. I especially like your penny ball. October is a great month, but here in Alabama we are also blessed here with spectacular November weather, at least through part of the month. We have had one frost, but it was not a hard one, and everything in the garden continued to bloom through it. We are predicted to get down in the twenties sometime this week, and that may do it. We are looking at all this fabulous fall foliage, and then we realize it all will soon be on the ground! The temperature is sure to bounce back up, which will make for some great raking weather.
ReplyDeleteMy penny ball is one of my favorite garden art projects, although I've had to revive it several times as the glue gives out and pennies drop off. But silly me, I make sure to only use pennies from the original time period in which it was made! I had to do some digging for that. LOL
DeleteRobin girl .. your garden and plants are looking luscious even at that date ! so beautiful : )
ReplyDeleteThis morning was our first real frost .. Nov 14 .. so it was late this year.
I was answering your comment with a hardy YES ! you should get a sweetgum tree .. they are gorgeous from what I have seen on other blogs too .. even if it is only for the fun and beauty of the Fall.
Our maple tree is the last in the neighborhood to drop it's leaves .. and sadly it has black tar spot ... but it is still beautiful to me. Trees are special.
Joy : )
After saying that I need a sweetgum tree, I added it to hubby and I's "wish list" so that we remember to get one!
DeleteYour photos are mouthwatering. Such beauty before the cold temperatures ruin it all. I'm sad too. But I guess it helps us appreciate it more, right? The hypertufa you asked about on my blog: Yes, several years ago I went on a hypertufa binge and made several. The succulents look so cool in them don't they? I wish we lived closer, I'd share some. Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your theory. I don't think we'd appreciate our gardens so much if we didn't have winter to make us long for it!
DeleteIt is a shame to see all those beautiful flowers go. We just had our first frost this week and we are having frigid temps at the moment.
ReplyDeleteIt was such a shame to let go of my flowers for that early, hard freeze, because it's been fairly mild since then and they'd probably still be blooming.
DeleteI do exactly what you did when the first frost comes ~ cut all my favorite blooms (or bring them indoors if that's possible.) You had so much color still! It's unbelievably sad to see it all blackened. It's only just happened here about 10 days ago and already I can't wait for spring... That photo looking up your front sidewalk is beautiful. What an entrance!
ReplyDeletep.s. I ended up saving that Begonia you commented on. At least for now... :)
When I brought in a vase full of roses, I kept finding black pollen or seeds around it. I'd clean it up, and the next day it was back again. Finally I thought, that looks like caterpillar frass! But I couldn't find one. Eventually I looked harder, and found two little green caterpillars hanging out in my indoor roses! They were there for quite some days too. Ewww!
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