Have you ever had one of those feelings / thoughts that said “take the pictures now before the rain? I had one of those moments on September 8th, the day I shot the pictures for this post. I knew there was going to be rain, and the weatherman was saying there were chances it might be severe. He was right, the rain came down strong and hard that night, and a week later the Heavens opened up again with another big storm that gave the garden another good watering. Here are some pictures of the Calm before the Storm(s). -> The garden here at Whimsey Hill goes through 4 different color changes during the growing season. The first is in April when the garden is all yellow with the blooming of the daffodils. The yellow fades to rose, pink, purple and blues in late May and early June when the peonies, columbine and Dutch iris are in bloom. Those calm looking, somewhat cool colors are replaced with the fire colors of red, orange, yellow, some hot pinks, and purple during July and early August. The garden then reverts, one more time, to mostly shades of pink and rose, with some yellows and purples before the gardening season ends with the first killing frost. The September and October garden here at Whimsey Hill is all about dahlias, zinnias, amaranthus, sedum, cleome, some gloriosa daisies that still bloom, a few roses and the Russian sage. All those flowers and the changing colors of the perennial’s foliage from greens, to yellow, gold, orange, reds, dusty bronze and rust add visual interest to the Fall garden. There is something magical and at the same time sad about the colors of Fall. It could be caused by the angle of the sun and how the direction of its light illuminates the landscape; or the cooler days, that are getting shorter and kind of cozy make you want to spend more time inside; or you just know things related to gardening are winding down. Without sounding too sappy sweet here…I do like/love the Fall garden, but then all of a sudden, something inside me says “I want it All to go away“. Out comes the garden debris bags, pruning shears, and finally the lawn mower. I pull out the annuals, chop down the perennials, dig up the dahlias, canna, glads and elephant ears that have been frost-bitten, and finally grind over everything with the lawn mower, to ready the land for next years gardening cycle to start again. If you were wondering how the garden fared after the two terrible storms??? Let’s just say..some of the plants did perfectly fine, others got knocked over, but I will put a bamboo stake next to them and tie them to it for the rest of the gardening season, and others will be brought into the house to be turned into bouquets.

Happy Fall Everyone!