Turn, turn, turn

Our foliage season won't attract any "leaf peepers" like some parts of the country, but I do enjoy seeing the trees change colors.

And not just the trees. Besides these witchhazels turning yellow, the winterberry bushes are dropping their leaves and revealing their red fruit. Ditto the crabapples.

The one witchhazel that predates the other four blooms in the fall. Have I done a "what's it good for" posting for witchhazel yet? I will do so and mention the differences between these two varieties.

While picking up sticks, I noticed this "growth". It's called giraffe spots fungus (Peniophora albobadia). A species of crust fungus that grows as flat, spreading patches on decaying wood, it acts as a plant pathogen for stone fruit. Good thing I'm not growing any stone fruit.

It has been dry lately, but rains on Thursday produced a very bright double rainbow. By the time I parked the car, only this single was left.

While untangling some tomato cages I once used to fence in the raspberry bed, I pondered how my "enthusiasms" change over time. I used to grow a lot of vegetables, then more ornamentals, now natives, although I am no longer 100% native. Ditto organic gardening, now relying on herbicides to keep the weeds at bay, except around food plants.

Similarly, I went through a raw milk stage, turning it into yogurt, ice cream, and cheese, until I was done with that. In a previous lifetime, I baked all the family's bread, quit that, dabbled in it, quit it again, and now am kept busy with my sourdough starter. After a hiatus, I'm concocting winter soups to freeze again.

Seasons change, enthusiasms change, and that's okay. It keeps life fresh. Happy Halloween!

What's it good for - ninebark

Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) is a suckering shrub native to North America. It's easy to grow and maintain, produces pollinator-attracting flowers in the spring that give way to "inflated seed capsules" that many birds feed on. The mature branches exfoliate to reveal several layers of inner bark (hence the name); birds use strips of bark for nests. So it is not a useless beauty.

Except for mine.

While doing some research for this post, I discovered that while the cultivars of ninebark don't sucker as much as the straight species, they are not very hardy, nor are they as beneficial to wildlife. Oops!

I have tried my luck with 'Amber Jubilee' which has been mostly a failure (despite descriptions that say it should be easy to grow); there is still one standing (a replacement that didn't quite look like the others), but it looks a bit peaked. This past spring I replaced a couple of dead 'Amber Jubilee' specimens with 'Ginger Wine'; they are doing well... so far.

I chose ninebark primarily for its foliage, but 'Ginger Wine' also has better disease resistance. Maybe I will get lucky with its longevity. If those two shrubs are still thriving next spring, I may replace the sad-looking 'Amber Jubilee' with a third 'Ginger Wine'.

Going forward, I will have to pay attention to whether my ninebarks' blossoms attract pollinators, whether the birds eat the seeds, and whether the birds use the bark for nesting material. Sounds like an excuse to just sit and stare at some attractive bushes in the yard.

'Amber Jubilee' ninebark, spring

'Amber Jubilee' ninebark, blossoms

'Ginger Wine' ninebark, blossoms

'Ginger Wine' ninebark, spring

'Ginger Wine' ninebark, autumn

Frost on the rooftops

Looking back on previous October blog posts, I see why it seems like autumn events feel delayed - it is because they ARE! The leaves on trees don't seem to be turning but just drying up and dropping. Even my oak tree that usually clings tenaciously to its leaves until spring has dropped most its leaves. WTH?

Sometimes I get so busy with yard and garden maintenance that I forget to actually *look* at what is growing. Today I strolled around the yard, observing mostly how the weeds are winning again (still?) The new 'Fluffly' western arborvitae is looking good, though, better than its predecessor.

We've had a couple of frosty nights - not enough to damage the tomato plant but frost nonetheless - so maybe the plants will get the hint and act like the end is near.

The frost ain't on the pumpkin

The weather continues to confound. Here it is, almost halfway through October, and we are having 80+ degree days. The leaves on trees are just beginning to turn. One neighborhood I walk the dog through has iris blooming and a tree of some sort blossoming. Crazy.

It's been dry, so we took advantage of the weather and went for a walk in the woods. I like to look for mushrooms this time of year, not to pick but to admire. We spotted the usual culprits, but then near the end of our little hike we found these clusters of Jack o' Lantern mushrooms at the base of dead trees.

They are good for dyeing yarn, but I didn't pick any. For one thing, we were in a nature preserve where one takes only memories (and photographs). For another, these are highly poisonous and should be handled only with gloved hands.

I've been so busy lately that about the only thing I have done outside is mow. Hummingbirds still visit the pineapple sage, while bluebirds feast on the Virginia creeper berries. The seasons do change, just not as fast as they used to.

Soggy

We received more rain this week. Despite the rain garden, the backyard gets soggy, too soggy to comfortably mow. I'll give it a go tomorrow. Maybe. And/or mulch some more.

I've learned to not plant anything in the fall, as by now I'm losing interest in the yard and garden. So I'm happy to see the spring-planted annual pineapple sage start blooming in September. It's amazing how large it gets. The one on the left has a six-foot span, the one on the right is about four feet wide. (Dog for comparison.)

The goldenrod on the south side of the house is about done, while the shorter one on the north side is peaking. The insects *love* it. My SO dug up a clump of it for his yard and is having a similar experience.

The yellow jackets are loving my compost pile. Clio the dog sometimes sits out there, snapping at the flying insects. She has been stung before, but doesn't learn her lesson. I, on the other hand, know to add to the pile early in the day, before the activity starts. Yellow jackets get testy as their food sources die off in the fall.

(These posts get rather boring this time of year, but I don't want to get out of the habit of writing. So please bear with me as we enter the dormant season. Thanks!)

Visitors

I'm taking advantage of this gorgeous weekend to get some outdoor work done, now that the rain has paused, and observed these visitors:

Orange sulphur butterfly
(Colias eurytheme)

Praying mantis

Sometimes you just need to keep your eyes open.

Inside, one of my houseplants is blooming.

Parlor palm
(Chamaedorea elegans)

Again, it helps to pay attention.

Otherwise, it has been another week of mulching and mowing. Today I even trimmed the yard. All the Halloween flamingos are out, including the new skeleton ones.

I see that one of my elderly neighbors (and by "elderly", I mean older than me) now has a scooter to help him get around the yard. There are days when I am about ready to give up on the house but I don't want to abandon the yard - it's not done yet! (Will it ever be done?) I guess once I can no longer take care of the yard myself, I will consider moving. But not yet. Not yet.

Be careful what you wish for

At the end of my last post I mentioned that we needed rain. And rain we got - 4" in the past couple of days. Today was dry, so I mowed and unplugged some downspouts, just in time for more rain over the next three days.

The rain garden is FULL and parts of the backyard soggy. I haven't been able to do much of anything out there, so not much to report.

My next door neighbor goes all out with her seasonal outdoor decor. My efforts are mostly limited to changing flamingos. I do usually purchase a "hardy" mum for the front porch, though. And one could consider the spider webs on said porch to be Halloween decor?

I am pleased about how the coleus looks this year. Sometimes it gets leggy or bedraggled, but this year it looks *great*.

And that is about it for this week.