"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Monday, September 28, 2009

Enjoying them while they're here.

I'm just beginning to really see signs of fall in our yard.  A couple of trees have just barely started to have a hint of red in their leaves, the grass is wet in the morning and the evenings are definitely cooler. 

 The Dogwood leaves have started to redden.

Japanese 'Orido Nishiki' seems to mostly be changing color on the branches that see the most sun.  Most of the tree is still green.

I realized the other night when letting our little white dog out for her last time that evening that it was too cold to stand out there like I've been doing all summer.  Now I need to grab a blanket if I want to stand on the deck and look at the moon.  This summer felt like it could never end.  As much as I complained about all the watering, it was fun having a summer that we could almost count on the weather being nice.  That's a very unusual thing to be able to do in the Seattle area during the summer.  I've found that I'm trying to really get out and look at the garden often and enjoy the flowers for as long as possible.  We don't usually have the first frost until around November 11, but I was was looking online and found that it's possible to have an early one mid October.  That's not too far away!  
These are some of the newly opened flowers in my yard:

Rose 'Honey Perfume'

Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' has the most buds and flowers that it's had all summer now that it finally has settled in to the new bed I made for it.

Another Sunflower planted by the birds.

Blue Pickerel Weed

Clematis 'Josephine' has several flowers in different stages of blooming.  I'm so glad I moved it into this container on my deck, I doubt it would've bloomed again where it was let alone be alive at all.

I'm going to be enjoying these flowers as long as I can, because before long they'll be a memory of a great summer.
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31 comments:

  1. We are supposed to start frosting on Tue. Yesterday is was still 90. The weather this year is crazy! Your blooms are still going strong~

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  2. You still have a lot of blooms to enjoy from this summer. Looks like your clematis is certainly happy in it's new location...location is everything! It was 62 this morning..sooo nice. Will get to the low 90's later today though. Middle of the week should bring 50 80 split! Love that type of weather. Really would like for it to get cool enough for the snakes to go AWAY! I have seen 4 just this past week!!!

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  3. My clematis do not do well so a new location for the new spring season. Our flowers are showing a bit of the signs of autumn, too. Each season has such a breathtaking beauty ...

    TY for sharing. Have a great week. TTFN ~Marydon

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  4. That Japanese Maple is SO cool and colorful! I desperately want one even though I don't have the right spot for one.

    Happy Fall!

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  5. CONGRATS on your Blotannical nominations! I love this time of year because w/o the hot sun I can linger in the garden longer and really "see" the plants. That peach rose of yours is perfect! Hope you have a nice day Catherine.

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  6. What beautiful flowers. I enjoy your blog so much. It was the first one I saw when I joined Blotanical.

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  7. Your weather is holding up well to have such great flowers blooming..You have a great collection.

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  8. I have to agree in everything you say! And I also try to enjoy every single flower and all that wonderfull foliage as long as I can. Uncle Frost won't arrive until late november, and purhaps not even then, so I still got time =) The leafes haven't started to turn red yeat but I'm sure it'll happen soon. Lovely pictures as always. And congratulations to all those nominations you've got. I've done my part by voting =)
    Good luck / gittan

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  9. Hi Catherine~~ So true! All we have is this moment and it's so quickly gone. Your Japanese maple is fabulous. Not only the purple-ing foliage but the hot pink stems and petioles.

    My garden buddy Carol has 'Honey Perfume' and considers it one of her best. Your photo is award worthy. And Gertie is beautiful. Hopefully she'll finish her strutting before the rains come. And hopefully the frost will hold off for a long while.

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  10. Our killing frost was Friday. Love the roses! And I miss mine already! Cheese with that whine, please....

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  11. Oh Catherine, every shot was so full of fall beauty! The roses took my breath away and the sunflower is just so cheerful. The thought of an early frost threatens us as well. Let's hope the frost comes record breakingly late this year. :-)
    Frances

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  12. You still have some lovely flowers and lucky to have a Josephine flowering so late.

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  13. The details of the closeups are just stunning. How gorgeous and what a beautiful garden.

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  14. Catherine, those are some impressive Blotanical nominations. I wish you good luck.

    Your flower photos make me feel weak in the knees...they're so pretty.

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  15. I find it hard to believe you are already having to use a blanket to stand outside in the evening. Sounds wonderful!

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  16. Beautiful, Catherine. I find myself doing the same as you.

    The last roses of the season are sometimes the most beautiful, aren't they?

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  17. I'm just not ready! It seems that we lost a month somewhere this summer. Clematis Josephine is truly lovely...she looks like you watercolored her and your roses are delicious. I spent most of the day outside...energy is renewed on these cooler days. gail

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  18. Love Josephine, she is a great Clematis.
    Dogwood look so different in the fall, almost like a different tree. The red is amazing.

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  19. I'm not a rose-lover, generally, but that rose "Honey Perfume" is sure a beauty - and I'm guessing fragrant, too.

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  20. The trees were telling us fall is here with their lovely colors, but the weather has been so warm, that is, up until today. Now we are in for a big change in temperature. Time to get out our jackets.

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  21. It's 51 degrees outside here as I speak and I can't believe it. Just last week we were sweating and having to use the A/C. Fall has for sure arrived but your roses still say summer.

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  22. Beautiful pictures Catherine! That's how I feel about autumn too, enjoying it while it lasts.

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  23. Catherine you are so right that we need to enjoy them. The cool weather is coming just to fast here.I love your clematis 'Josephine'. I planted one this summer and cannot wait to see it bloom. I planted it to climb the lousy wisteria vine that never blooms ;-)

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  24. Did I remember to tell you congratulations on all of your nominations? Well, consider it done and I hope you win all of them!
    It is getting nippy out isn't it? I hate to see the rainy cold season come but O'well I choose to live here because that's what keeps it so pretty and green!
    You're flowers look great - please keep them going 'til the middle of October! LOL
    I think my Josephine is in for a move too. She didn't bloom this year but I guess I'm just darned lucky she's still alive. Oh and I'm very excited about new growth coming up on her so that's good news!

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  25. Love the color on that Honey Perfume rose! Fall is definitely here, too. It's bittersweet for me...as my summer was shortened by health difficulties that kept me from gardening, but I look forward to starting over again next year.

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  26. You do have some beauties to enjoy. The clematis is spectacular and I love the shade of orange on your Honey Perfume rose. The sunflower is magnifico.

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  27. Hi Catherine. Enjoy thoses autunm colors (we don't get any color change till Spring - kinda just skip Autunm). Poor Gracie! I think she needs a blanket, too.

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  28. Honest, I can write - those, Autumn... one of those days!

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  29. WOW, Catherine, I just saw your list of blog nominations. Congrats! It's really impressive.
    That photo of Josephine is just gorgeous. I have a bud about to open too. I can't wait. It hasn't bloomed much for me this summer.

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  30. I just have to say, I want finches, too! Superman says one bird cage is enough, but I love the noise the zebra finches make...

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  31. Gorgeous picture of your Rose "Honey Perfume" and your Clematis "Josephine". We had 90 degree weather on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday it dipped down to 50 degrees and overnight freezing temperatures. It's taken its toll on my garden.

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