happy new year! for christmas, my hubs gave me a 60mm close-up lens! i am just learning to use it to the best effect. let me know if there are too many close-up photos. we visited family in the sf area, and the hotel has a garden with roses mightily resisting the uncharateristically cold (low 40 f) weather:

merry christmas! this is joe joe when he was a pup in 2000. garden fool will be on vacation until next year, so happy new year!

my dear joe joe suffered bloat over the weekend, had surgery, and now seems just fine. whew.

our christmas tree this year

luna snuggled up on the window seat by the christmas tree

i made a squash snow person

curly larix (larch) is seldom graced by both leaves and snow

the sciadopitys held tufts of snow like flowers

the poodle loves the snow

winterberries!

blue atlas cedar in front of the bald cypress. a reader asked me how the bald cypress is so red in the previous picture. yes, the bald cypress is a rusty red tree after its light, feathery, green needles change color in the fall.

we had our first significant snow fall today, but also our first really low temps, 12 degrees F. so many of the trees, like this bald cypress, still have their leaves. i took this before the snow stopped falling.

the japanese maple in front of our house had the most remarkable color i can remember this year

the whippet whooshes through the woods

garden fool and her exuberant poodle

happy thanksgiving from sugar pond, today

fall colors from top left to bottom right: japanese maple sangu kaku, dwarf oakleaf hydrangea, enkianthus.

the beauty berry also awaits the hungry birds

back to my garden, where the winterberry awaits the hungry birds

more NYBG... bamboo installation by tetsunori kawana

ginko bonsai with fall color

carp in the NYBG water garden, for you s...

chrysanthemum and rock gardens at the NYBG

ogiku: single flower kiku. these are in tazuna-ue style, recalling the colors and style of the bridle of the emperors's horse.

yesterday, i went to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx to see KIKU: the art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum. it was cold, but the displays were impressive.above: ozukuri, or 'thousand bloom'
above: kengai, or 'cascades'
more tomorrow!

luna the whippet is just trying to stay warm!

mums love the cool weather!

camellia japonica 'april dawn' has begun to bloom for the first time.

yesterday, as i drove back from boston, i had my camera ready in case i could get some leaf color shots. however, clouds from approaching hurricane noel created these dramatic sunsets. i just pointed and shot, without stopping or looking through the lens.

my daughter's art class made drawings... left-handed, not looking at drawing,
right handed, not looking at drawing, and
right handed, while looking at drawing. i think this is a pointsettia flower.

happy halloween!

my mother's portuguese water dog at 6 months! he's as sweet as he looks.

colchicum 'waterlily' is struggling in the drought

here is mr. squirrel, foraging on my deck. i took this picture from my office chair.

Sorry to say, blogger is having problems with image uploads. Mr. Squirrel will have to wait.

what a beautiful shelter!

i planted many morning glories, but only one survived

a rose in despair over the end of summer

the mums are taking their time unfurling due to the drought

asters are in their glory now in the ne usa

one last look at the way brugmansia 'pink beauty' was last week. today all but 3 of the flowers have fallen to the ground.

graceful and sculptural, luna perches at the window to observe the local prey

green stinkbug on lantana flowers