AFTER THANKSGIVING

i hope you all had a happy thanksgiving... we have much to be thankful for...

things are strange this november in zone 6b... there are some sure signs of winter... the hakone grass is turning colors...
but look, echinacea blooms! (sundown)
(coconut lime)
the deciduous holly 'winterberry' is aglow with fruit...

the ferns have turned...
but the sugar snaps are thriving! (this one in front of the ruddy bald cypress)

here was the thanksgiving harvest... not much, but i'm surprised to have anything at this late date.
here are the herbs i grew... i'm surprised we still have parsley, but we have not had a killing frost.
sunset from a week ago framed by tulip poplar...

PAST PEAK

what a beautiful day it was today! i've got a mishmash of photos, as this is such an in-between season. below is the tulip tree reflected in the bird bath...and tulip trees in front of a nice sunset today...
i started working on the holiday lights in the potager... what do you think so far?
view from the kitchen window...
see what i found while was working on the potager? it's been so warm that my bulbs are up already! these leaf tips will likely get frost burn...
the bald cypress has almost turned rusty red... we usually have our first snow when it's all red...
the school fields fenced by weedy norway maples across the street...
hope you had a warm day too!

BATHING SPARROW

before we get to the bathing sparrow, i caught this pair of male house finches drinking this morning. i'd never seen one before (thanks for the correction, MR.) i thought my eyes were deceiving me! the bird action was so fast that i was not able to get the correct camera settings before shooting this...i think i'll take a bath...
what a warm, beautiful day, the water temperature is perfect!



i think i'm clean now...
hey, wait...
are you spying on me?
(that sparrow was spinning so fast that my camera only stopped the water droplets! that's fast!)

FIRST FROST

it finally happened, jack frost visited. not a killing frost, though... echinacea 'coconut lime' is just opening...the small marigolds were hardly affected...
alpine strawberries seemed carefree...
the broccoli soldiered on (when should i harvest it?)
the japanese blood grass survived - this time...
echinacea 'sundown' deformed by cold...
the kale looks salted like a pretzel, but it is frost...
small marigold fringed with white...
tithonia 'torch' was higher and more protected...
brussels sprout leaves...
tagetes tenufolia, is so sturdy...
tulip tree seeds and leaf frozen in the bird bath... i you enlarge you can see the bubbles in the ice...

HALLOWEEN COLORS

happy day after halloween! while getting the paper this morning, i spied this maple leaf clinging to the white pumpkin like a starfish... or maybe my canadian friends and relatives will recognize this serendipitous national symbol...hubs and i decided to make patterns in the pumpkins this year, rather than faces. we used a drill on the white pumpkin. it was all very last minute... maybe next year we'll try harder. btw, the seeds from the white pumpkin are great eating. i'm going to make a soup from the sugar pumpkin tonight.
the fall colors in our area are intense this year. i've been getting up early to an orange-y light showing off the leaves, which i've tried to capture, below, in the entrance to the potager... (from l to r, big-leaved magnolia, amsonia, grasses, liriope and volunteer crape myrtle.)
part of the uncontrollable north garden. (l to r, willow, enkianthus, dwarf oak-leaf hydrangea, japanese maple sangu kaku, amsonia, buddeleia 'ellen's blue')
looking east in the south garden, with the asian square garden in the background (l to r, crepe myrtle, southern magnolia, witch hazel 'diane', japanese blood grass, baptisia austrailas)
another look at witch hazel 'diane', with luna. the horrible green fencing protects a young camelia from the deer. the asian square garden is at left.
the potager, with the entrance garden glowing at left. yesterday we had herbs, lettuce and kale from the garden. though i have had to remove cabbage caterpillars by hand, the broccoli is getting there.