Falling towards Winter

Yes, it has been a while since I found anything to post about. But I was away from home and while I was gone leaves that were green when I left had changed color and fallen off by the time I returned only two weeks later.

This photo, taken November 14, provided my inspiration for a blog post I was going to title "Flying South for the Winter" - but I never did get the posting done.

 In mid October there were a lot of leaves down already but yet, as you see, some bushes still defiantly green.

 Before I left the country on October 23 I thought I should take down this tomato plant for the season. As you can see it was still loaded with tomatoes; I have saved a few to try and harvest the seeds because I don't know what this plant was (it was purchased with a label that clearly did not belong to it). The sweet potato was from a so-called ornamental sweet potato plant I had in a planter on the deck this year. There were two such plants but only one developed a tuber.

By November 7 there was quite the variety of color out front. In the foregound the butterfly bush was still holding on to leaves while behind it the viburnum was a rich Fall red and the ornamental plum tree had a spectacular orange coloration.

 A high shot of the back garden shows trees in varying stages of their Fall wardrobes...and lots of raking needed.

 Around the 20th of October I decided I better harvest the butternut squash that had been the big surprise of the garden year in the front garden bed where I had newly planted shrubs. This one plant grew out of the load of compost I applied before the shrubs were put in. With no other fertilizer or special care you can see the plant really produced good sized squash so it must have been an ideal spot.

 For dinner on November 20 I cut into the first squash and it tasted delicious served alongside pork tenderloin with gravy, gnocchi, broccoli and cauliflower and a pineapple ginger salsa.

 This is not quite as pretty as the August view of the caryopteris but it does have a certain charm don't you think?

 On November 21st I looked out and saw how the sun was slanting through the treed area and wanted to try to capture the moment. As I dashed outside with my camera I grabbed a vase of flowers that are also fading and past their best but they did give a pop of color to the scene.

This morning I could see that this one bush was still holding on to a late display of Fall red although most everything else has let go of the leaves now. And with the temperature today not rising above freezing for the first time this season I'm thinking I have almost seen the last of the color in my garden.

I'll close out with this sunset view from October 8 and hope that it will not be quite so long before inspiration for a new set of photos and thoughts to share with you occurs to me.