I have been so busy lately it is hard to believe how much time has gone by already.
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| Penelope |
Only when our first rains arrived about a week ago did it finally dawn on me that fall is here already and I'd better get out into the garden to enjoy the last of the season's offerings.
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| Angel Face |
A couple of unwelcome surprises greeted me among the roses.
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| Geranium "Rozanne" |
It seems that a whole army of grasshoppers has arrived to chew on the buds (sorry, no pictures, I go after them with secateurs, not the camera).
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| Lady Hillingdon |
I killed about 30 this week already!
Cucumber beetles are everywhere too, whole hordes of them...
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| Étoile de Lyon |
I remember the last couple of years October blooms on my roses were perfectly clean, but this year a lot of them are still damaged, so I decided to deadhead my plants a little longer in the hope of seeing better blooms.
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| Rosette Delizy |
On the good side, lower temperatures have brought out brighter colors and intense fragrance, so when I do find an undamaged bloom it is a joy.
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| Just Joey |
My fall perennials and shrubs, such as Mexican sage, cape honeysuckle and Japanese anemones, are in full bloom...
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| Anemone "Honorine Jobert" |
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| Anemone "Pretty Lady Susan" |
...and my apples, unlike my roses :), show very little pest damage this year.
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| A Fuji apple |
On the whole, I have learned to enjoy my garden however imperfect it is.
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| Lyda Rose |
Even a rose bloom that looks like Swiss cheese because of the holes a grasshopper chewed in the petals, can still smell sweet (provided that grasshopper is not still inside it).
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| Dame Edith Helen |
I have started my winter pruning already, not the roses which are almost all still growing, but some vines and shrubs.
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| Classic Woman |
Each year the plants grow bigger and it is more work to keep them contained. I don't mind, as it keeps me busy during the gray winter months.
My garden is very messy right now after a long growing season. As I look out on this wild tangle it is hard to imagine the orderly nakedness of winter. But I am beginning to look forward to it.
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| Mme. Berkeley |
