The Ambition of Autumn

Japanese Anenomes, a sign of Autumn at the Huntington this past Sunday.
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Another reliable sign of Autumn, the planting of the ornamental kales.  I never plant them here, as they wither or bolt in our Santa Ana winds.
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Summer daisies continue.
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Salvia leucantha is at its best now.
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So too are Rudbeckias.
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At home, the tomato patch looks like a Frat house just after the boys clear out for the summer.  I found a rat skeleton amidst all the crispy tomato foliage--perhaps it died of obesity.  We finally did get a modest crop, enough for many salads and a few pots of sauce, but overall the summer was a bust, tomato-wise.  
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 I'm considering using the veggie beds as planters for towers of winter Sweet Peas; it might be charming.  Last fall I tried Sweet Peas in pots, where they failed.  Garden ambition waxes in fall, but it often comes to nothing--the season slips away with ideas unrealized, and suddenly it's time to dread the arrival of Christmas, with all that awful music droning in the grocery store, and the garden center transformed into a horror show of glitter-splattered poinsettias.  Grandma got run over by a reindeer?  I'm glad.

I did buy a big bag of tulip bulbs this morning, to tuck into the fridge, which is what we do here to simulate winter chill.  If I can remember to plant them (in pots), that may be the sole extent of this  Autumn's ambition.
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Comments

  1. Gorgeous Japanese anenomes, daisies and rudbeckias, your garden looks amazing in any season.
    xoxoxo ♡

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  2. I hear ya. I waited all summer for the fall rains to return so I could get back to planting all the stuff that I bought and didn't get in the ground, and now I've kind of lost my Ooomph. Plus, I did some digging and replanting last weekend, and now my back is very sore. It's my body telling me my mind is right, time to take a rest from it.

    Bummer about your tomatoes. I'm going to have to pull mine soon. I still have loads of green ones. Something, maybe a squirrel, has been eating my cherry tomatoes.

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    1. When you need a rest, you need it. Your Oomph will be back as soon as you see a new cool plant for sale, right? ;^)

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  3. I, too, was disappointed by my tomatoes - and the rest of my vegetable patch (with the exception of the corn) - this year. This fall I'll probably plant some sugar snap peas (my favorite garden snack) but I'm also thinking of giving over a large part of my raised beds to flowers for cutting. I've gotten hooked on floral bouquets.

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    1. The summer being relatively cool for so long until the heat hit in late August might have been an issue. I did get great bell peppers.

      Yes, grabbing a pea pod for a snack in the garden is always fun. :^)

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  4. The Anemone japonicas are wonderful in the fall, just like the little Anemone nemorosas in the spring, so reliable. Great photos. I have planted peas to hopefully get a fall crop but it's not like S. Calif. where there is a real cool season for vegetables. Fava beans did well for me as a winter crop there.

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    1. Here some winters we have such nasty hot wind, the winter veggies shrivel and die. If I plant them, we get those bad winds; if I don't, we don't. Or else it seems like it!

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  5. What a wonderful photo's you are showing. Hoover Boo. I don't want to think about the gardencentre in christmastime.
    Have a wonderful weekend.

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    1. Thank you kind Marijke. I am working to try to make them better. Have a wonderful weekend, too.

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  6. I just pulled out my J. anemones this morning -- the leaves were burning, and tho I know they'll eventually get more drought tolerant with maturity, they just weren't happy. Your beautiful photos are how I'll remember them.

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    1. That clump in the Shakespeare garden was absolutely pristine. Made me want some. My tiny plant from the Fling is growing but still tiny.

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