Your Least Fav F*a*l*l Gardening Chore?

It is nice. I'm hoping for a switch to warm/dry for a good month this Fall too though.

I just came in from collecting seeds. Definitely one of my fav chores ^_^ Heh Dave-who-is-Dave do you want to try some Eryngium planum 'Blue Hobbit'? It is prickly but mine only get about 8" tall so won't attack you. It is soooooo drought tolerant it would be perfect for your new space. PF has some nice pictures of it but the plant info is way off - says its hard to zone 9!

Here is a rainy day picture from my walk this afternoon.

Nice cloudy arch roybird.

Sigh. Thanks for the offer dahlianut, but it does have spines. It is pretty.

You are adamant on that "no spines" rule. Were you attacked by cactus in your childhood, Dave?

I have had negative experiences with thorns, both in having them end the life of things that are supposed to hold air and in sticking me. I just figure it this way:
- There is a set of plants that I could plant in my yard and they will grow.
- If I eliminate the ones that have thorns/spines, there are still more than I could possibly plant over my lifetime and plenty that I like.
- Planting something with thorns means that something else that is pretty doesn't go in, so I just opt for the something else.

Well thought out. I just like to tease. Stickery things do tend to be hard on balloons and bike tires.

:)

I am procrastinating about bringing in my papyrus, lemon verbena and other " we don't really want to be outside when it goes under 50 degrees " plants. It has already been in the mid-40's at night here but it seems to be warming up again. I usually don't haul anything in until some time in October.

I have to take care of my fall chores early this year since we will be gone for the first two weeks of October and it's sure to freeze while we're gone. The lemon and bay trees are safe in my office with a helpful coworker to water them. The frost blanket frame for the tomatoes is in place and I think I have found a home for the giant tender sage plants that live on the patio.

I bet my fall bulbs will show up while we're gone too. Who decided this would be a good time for a vacation?

I LOATHE leaving my garden when it's not skatable :(

The middle of Winter is a good time for a vacation.

We usually go some place tropical in the winter but we want to see the parks in southern utah and winter is not ideal because it's rather cold for camping and snow closes the roads sometimes.

PS. I think the police have located our wayward emus http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090921/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_emu_loose_1

Edwina would give them a run for their money.

The emu was migrating to a warmer climate. As all good birds should. I brought in the lemon verbena, the papyrus and some other plants today. We are supposed to get down to 35 tomorrow night. The garden and the house are a mess. Of course, we got a call this afternoon that the appraiser is coming tomorrow. So I'll be real busy in the morning trying to make things look nice or at least cleaner. Thank God he won't be coming until afternoon. I cut down some dahlias. I doubt they will make it. Also the rest of the basil and jalapenos. Depressing. D.H. went out and brought me some chocolate even though he has a cold. Awww.

Very prettiful arrangement roybird. I shall be cutting dahlias by the barrowfull over the next few days. Some places got f*r*o*s*t last night :O

We have a freeze warning for tonight, so it sounds like I might as well go cut any dahlias that are blooming? I may as well enjoy them in the house if they're not going to make it outside...

I'd better get out there and start hauling some things inside...

No! No! No! Plus, we are apparently getting all the rain we didn't get this summer now. So our aspens may not do much of a show this year. Wah! This is an odd picture but I like it because I was slamming things around, playing with the camera and the vase spilled and got water on the floor and the chair. But, I just turned it up and kept clicking!

Everything happens all at once. I left some dahlias, not to mention snapdragons, etc. because the weather report could be wrong. ( Right? ) I wonder if Rush the rush needs to come in, too?

Most of the fall bloomers can handle a light kiss from Jack but not the dahlias and glads. My glads are just opening too. Bummer. Got them planted way late this year.

Its not allowed to freeze yet.

Nope. I made an offical decision.

Good! Glad to hear it. It is early for a freeze here so it might just be a slight temperature drop. Still, I guess it's time to round things up.

Frost on the lawn this morning!
Last night I brought in the Hibiscus, and 3 flowers opened in the garage. Wow.

Well now that I'm really facing it, I guess my least fave fall chore is bringing in all the houseplants that have been outside all summer. It got down to 35 at my house this morning.

Oh my gosh, lisabees! It wasn't that cold in Ft. Collins this morning. We were in your neighborhood -- visiting Tagawa's on our way back to New Mexico. It was cool and rainy but I am apalled that it got down to 35 this morning. From Denver to the New Mexico we ran into intermittent snow driving back today. We saw cars covered with snow that apparently feel before we got there down near Walsenberg in Southern Colorado. It continued through La Veta Pass where Theresa's car recorded 27 degrees, but fell off after that. Once we crossed into New Mexico the clouds went away and the temperature went up and compared to Colorado, New Mexico was a balmy 55.
But even here the wind was fierce and fall is definitely in the air.

Sigh... one of my tenants (who is a helicopter pilot and has his own weather station) warned me that it could get very cold here tonight (he said 20*)... I ran around and plugged in all the heat tapes at our RV sites so the water pipes don't freeze, took care of our own motorhome in the park, cut the dahlias (they are LOVELY!), and didn't do much more... now the actual weather forecast says 40-something overnight. This is my first year going into Fall/Winter while living here full time, somehow it wasn't so bad when I came to visit from AZ and suddenly the summer plants were done-for... others were tending them then, and there weren't nearly as many. Sorry I'm whining.

I need to bring in some of my special things that can overwinter, but then my shade garden will be so bare. How do you all deal with the impending cold? Words of wisdom for a girl who came from a 10 or 11 month growing season?

Brrrrrrrrrenda

LOL on the cute signature.

I love Indian summer. The light is so beautiful. It's sad to see all the pretties go to sleep, but it's really nice to have time for other things. I'm going to put together a nice playlist for our tango group. Finish a sewing project (started last Dec., snort!) Read the whole Harry Potter series again in the original British English.

Well, that's after we harvest and process plums, squash, apples, grapes, ....

That's a very positive outlook, Picante. D.H. now has a terrible cold/cough and is franticly trying to get our heaters going. As usual, one is a problem. I'm starting to try to clean up for the appraiser. My studio and the kitchen floor are the worst. Around 5:00 a.m. ( we aren't sleeping well with all his coughing ) it was 37 degrees here. I really need to deal with my "water feature" but it all appears to be fine. Right now I'm having a cup of coffee, however. This winter I hope to work more with the computer and learning more about various photography related things. Tai chi and meditation will help with winter blues, too.

Ick, it was 37° near the house this morning and 34° out in the yard. Time to put the frost blankets up on the tomatoes, I fear. DH likes to keep an eye on the weather for bicycle riding so I bought him a schmancy weather station for christmas a couple of years ago.
I think it's make for a much different climate because it predicts rain every time the pressure drops a little.

I did put frost covers on the tomatoes last night. One was blown off this morning but the plants were fine anyway, 35 was as cold as it got overnight. We had a little snow in the air yesterday and they say we might get some today that will stick. Temps are forecast to stay in the mid 30s to upper 40s day & night until Friday. I wish I could sign my name with Brrrrrr too!

You will get used to your new seasons dear Brrrrrenda. I'm not really driven inside til Novembrrrrrr. I just dress for coolish and keep adding layers. Keep working on establishing the backbone of your garden: hardy perennials which include those with fall and winter interest so things will continue to look prettiful all the time. I also stick some dried arrangements in the beds and containers for winter. Willow and wild roses that have nice red canes in the drainage ditches are easy pickings here. Once it is truly brrrrrful I work on garden designs and orders and photos and writing and feasting and soon it is seeding time ^_^

Ahhhh, good advice! Last fall gardening was about the last thing on my mind as we were in the midst of the move and it was already cold. I think I must get some "bulbous things" in the ground ASAP. Budget is very tight at the moment, so it won't be as many as I'd like, but there will be some!

Keep us posted on what you choose. Right now I'm waiting for my fall blooming crocii to sprout. Come on little crocii, you can do it.

lisabees, you could sign as lisabrrrrees.

It was an adjustment for me getting used to it freezing in the Winter and the plants die back (came from SoCal). For me its partly letting go of it, partly planning for the next year, and partly finding other fun things do do. A good break from the garden makes it fresh and new again in the Spring.

or Lisabeerrrrrrs davd-who-is-brrrr-dave. For those who don't recall, due to an unforeseen typographical static storm I once accidently called lisabees 'lisabeers' (oops).

Are lisabeerrrrrrs cold enough? Perhaps she needs to mail some so that we can test them to be sure.

I LIKE it ^_^ Lots of possibilities for the Rocky Mountain Rocks in Beers company too!

We'll have to start working up some recipes.