Fruits and Flowers in October

 a yellow phal. orchid in bloom at the beginning of October.  The blooms lasted for more than a month.

 The unknown orchid in bloom.  These blossoms did not last nearly as long as the yellow phal.

 The seed head of a clematis.

 One of the figs in the beginning of October. We had a quite a few fresh figs.  The second crop kept ripening on into November.  They were not as sweet as the ones that had ripened earlier. I left most of them on the tree and they are now finished.  Two years ago I had preserved the extra figs in syrup.  They were really very good.  So, rather than letting the late ripening ones go to waste I will be able to preserve them in the syrup and freeze them.

 After the rains started this little rock plant began to look more healthy.  It seems to like the moisture.

 The lovely royal blue primula that I got at Matticks Farm last winter decided to put out blooms in October.  I hope it blooms again in the spring with the rest of the primulas.   The moss garden needs to be cleaned up.  As do all of the flower beds.  Most of the leaves are off the trees, except for the oak trees, whose leaves have gone brown.

Gorgeous color on the front, sweet gum tree, on October 31st.
This is a link to Kevin Gilbertt's live feed from Standing Rock, North Dakota.  Kevin's posts have disappeared off FaceBook.  So, I thought I would put this link on my page to replace his posts.  He was encouraging people to get in touch with Obama, etc.  Millions of people shared his posts and sent to their donations page.  At last count there were 11K people in the camp and the police (?  don't recall who they were) had given the camping people to disband the camp by today. http://thedailyhaze.com/collection-kevin-gilbertt-livestreams-standing-rock/

Autumn Color in October

 Pin Oak and the Japanese Cedar just behind it, in the woodland.

 The Virginia Creeper in the front of the strip between the driveways.

 The pin oak towers above the garage and the other trees in the woodland.  Across the back garden from the pin oak is the English oak that does not get nearly the spectacular colors.

 The sumacs, the holly tree and the firethorn in the back borde/woodland.

 More of the sumacs, firethorn, and the saskatoon berry bushes, in the woodland area.

 The garage roof with the pin oak, Japanese cedar and sumacs showing behind it in the woodland.

 The plum tree that is just off the deck.  Of course all the leaves fall into the pond and need to be skimmed off.  The tree did have some good golden color this year.  The water hawthorn are now in bloom in the pond.  Strange I did not see them all summer, after draining and cleaning out the pond.

The tree peony off the front entry after a shower and with the sun backlighting the colors.
The garden had gorgeous Autumn color this year.   There are only a few leaves left on the front sweet gum tree.  The magnolia seems to think it is time to put out buds.  The roses are having the last display of color.  The crocus leaves are up so I do not mow the lawn in the crocus field.  I have put mulched leaves on the garden beds and the whole leaves in other places when I did not mulch them.  Hopefully this builds up a good bit of top soil over the years.  The new snap dragons in the magnolia tree bed are still blooming and are mulched with leaves.  They should be nice for next year.  I am slowly replacing thyme in the bare spots in the thyme circle.  I move pieces of thyme from the stone path and add them to the circle.  This seems to work better than buying plants to transplant, so I shall do more of this as time permits.  The moss looks lush  and fluffy, so I must get out and remove leaves and debris from the moss garden as time permits, too.

Birds in November

 I have finally caught a humming brid in flight.  This was the beginning of November.

 The flicker was high in the cedar tree watching the robins sample the firethorn berries below, on November 4.

 One of the robins in the fire thorn shrub, on November 4.  Since this time the berries have been diminishing.  There is not as many robins testing the berries as there has been in other years.  Usually the berries are not ripe at this time.  One memorable year  there were a flock of robins eating the berries on Christmas morning.  They had all of the berries cleaned off the tree in a couple of hours.

 I think this will make a good Christmas Card this year.

 The color version of the Winter Roses in my previous post.

While looking back at some Can-Am photos from over the years, I found this one from 2011.  We were fortunate to visit the Johnson Group's collection of vintage cars, that year.   This is a very good example of how some of these old autos are found.  They undergo restoration to their original condition over time, with meticulous care and attention.

We have had a lot of rain in October and it is continuing in November.  I have the apples harvested  and a lot of them frozen as apple sauce, and pie filling, with some apple butter, and a couple of bags of them given away.  They are sweet and delicious for eating fresh, but definitely 'organic'.  I have been raking leaves and mulching them with the lawn mower, and putting the mulch on the woodland.  About three quarters of the leaves have fallen off the front tree.  It had beautiful color this year and leaves have hung on for a long time.  The petunias in the front garden where I renovated under the magnolia tree, are still in bloom.  We have not had a frost yet.  I wonder if I will be able to keep these petunias on into next year.  They are a rich burgundy color and would look super with the dark, royal blue of the big crocuses that come up in that flower bed in the spring.  

Winter Roses

The world is a darker place for the loss of Leonard Cohen.  His last album:  You want it darker.