In a vase, on Monday – after the frost

Early Saturday morning the car roof and windshield was covered in a heavy frost – a week or so earlier than usual – but it didn’t seem to settle down to the ground. Nothing in the garden appears affected, including Cannas and basil, which usually turn brown or mushy at the first hint of below zero temperatures. So I’m going to take that frost on the car as a gentle hint that it’s time to get bulbs planted and peonies cut back.

Lots of on and off rain yesterday, a welcome change that should help keep our well flowing and allow the conifers and other trees to survive the winter ahead. In between the showers I headed out to the Zinnia patch to fill a vase with the brightest thing in the October garden.

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Along the way I stopped to pull out the last of the beets. Wanted the roots for dinner, and had been waiting a while to use the leaves in a vase.

Here’s the final vase – I added some spent Agastache flower stalks for height, since I was cutting them down anyway to prevent indiscriminate self seeding. Every week, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts dozens of gardeners from around the world, all willing to display cut flowers from their gardens.