Blooming Now: It's Fall!

We had the tail end of a tropical storm this week - over five inches total I hear - and a lot of it ended up in my basement. But a lot helped out the plants as well.

It's clearly autumn, and the colors of autumn are everywhere, including my yard. I've got mums and goldenrod and asters and ageratum, along with the weeds everywhere. I spent a good three hours in the front yard, cleaning up branches from my self-pruning silver maple and my ancient white oak. I tossed the wood into a pile at the edge of my yard, where it drops off to the neighbor's. I figure it will eventually decompose to make a berm (I'll pile leaves on it later) and in the mean time, it keeps the mailman and even the deer from using that pathway.

I'm mostly still coasting on things done in years past.

Mums Oct 2010

I bought these mums at Loews for about $2 each a couple of years ago. I actually bought 5 each of four colors, but these are what have survived. This year, I recognized them coming up and pinched them off several times before the 4th of July, as you are supposed to do. Hooray for previous investments paying off!