we’re talking about fresh paint, still mostly talk. Marty doesn’t see the need.
We’ll be heading south sooner than I’d like to take care of some much-needed upkeep on the 1919 bungalow. October has brought serial days of 100-degree heat to Southern California, so it’s definitely time to install a heat pump. It’ll be the first AC in the house’s history, a grim milestone. That and the new roof is the best we can do to confront the supercharged El Nino predicted to bear down this winter (this weekend!) and through next year.
telescoped in this view are multiple parallel webs only a few inches from each other. Spiders rule the October garden
Looks like I’m leaving the Oregon garden in good hands. (all eight of them).
mornings are foggy and misty which usually burns off before noon. No sustained rain yet. Our first October in 2021 brought rain all month. The hunter next-door was extremely bummed
Only the birds see the contrast between the fenced-in lawns surrounding us and this planted madness. Bindweed still creeps under the fence looking for a toehold, and the garden shed becomes engulfed in neighboring Himalayan blackberry by summer, at which point Marty asks for access to cut it back.
By fall the strong shapes and outlines that began to build in spring lose focus and blur into each other, even with all the evergreens. I’m constantly watching the evergreen/deciduous balance, which easily tips over in favor of evergreens if I’m not careful. But that herbaceous seasonal surge and transformative arc has me hooked.
there’s a few young evergreens in here that will change the balance next year: a self-sown Euphorbia stygiana, a small Cassinia leptophylla, even an evergreen Viburnum atrocyaneum var. harryanum. Manzanita, Brachyglottis greyi and calluna pool at the base of the pedestal
Helicotrichon sempervirens with newly planted Erodium manescevii in front. An order to Dancing Oaks was planted a couple days ago.
I had front-loaded the edge of the patio with evergreens, and many have been removed to leave some breathing room as the rest of the garden matures. The patio was effectively getting ringed in, blocking a view of the garden, not a bad effect in a large garden but claustrophobic in a small one like this. Hebe ‘New Zealand Gold,’ Cassinia x ozothamnus, and Phlomis monocephala were removed in spring for lower-growing plants. That and removing the third stock tank has opened things up. Even with a lot of the recent removals and thinning, the paths are more implied that usable! At least they’re still useful for maintenance access.
On October mornings I always bring a tool to knock down all the spider webs crossing the paths. I hate it when the spiders catch an occasional bee — I’ve rescued a couple, which I admit is silly
so many great time-lapse performances in a garden, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, from the creatures, from the plants through the seasons
tall spires of Lobelia tupa still opening flowers at the tips
Aster horizontalis ‘Lady in Black’ finishes in October what she started in spring, the structure and leaves strong all summer
The variegated euphorbia (‘Silver Swan’?) was planted on arrival in 2021. Incredible shrub-like longevity for what I thought was a short-term plant.
fatshedera flower buds?
Acacia pravissima full of flower buds — not sure if or when they will open
my little multi-trunk Sinopanax formosanus did well over summer, another evergreen initially planted at the patio’s perimeter
sesleria gets moved around the garden a lot because it thickens up so fast. Holding this corner is one of its best looks. Being evergreen it needs a lot of grooming in spring. Deciduous cutback grasses are easier maintenance, but for now I feel the sesleria is worth the work. Bamboo canes support tithonia, which fell over in high winds but obligingly righted itself with help — fence high, started blooming in October. On the other side of that fence are the neighbors’ two large dogs that really want to get a piece of Billie
the east side is a mix of some permanent planting but also a cutting garden
the few potted plants have been pulled under the covered porch. Scented geraniums, mangave, Aloe boylei. Just behind the patio Phygelius ‘Strawberry Blond’ has been there for the hummingbirds since June
WordPress offers a subscription AI function now, which is tempting in terms of formatting, security and updating, chores I always fall behind on/have little interest in. I’ve looked around for some tech help in the past, but the blog is considered a small potatoes job. The current iteration with all the archives listed on the right is not one I’ve chosen, and stuff I have chosen has become nonfunctional. I’d love to command AI to keep up on all the housekeeping, but it sounds too good to be true. Maybe something to explore over the winter.
The plethora of asters in your Oregon garden grabbed my attention – it’s wonderful! Have you ever tried growing that aster in SoCal?
Your post is a nice wave “goodbye and see you later” to your Oregon garden, Denise. However, I expect that your SoCal garden will quickly grab your time and attention, especially with all the unknowns associated with this season’s El Nino event.
The plethora of asters in your Oregon garden grabbed my attention – it’s wonderful! Have you ever tried growing that aster in SoCal?
Your post is a nice wave “goodbye and see you later” to your Oregon garden, Denise. However, I expect that your SoCal garden will quickly grab your time and attention, especially with all the unknowns associated with this season’s El Nino event.
Safe travel home!