Six on Saturday – 12/10/2019 – fall foliage and flowers

After last weekend’s brush with frost (it was in the air, covering car windows and hoods, but didn’t settle to the ground, so tomatoes and basil have continued to prosper. Lucky me, since the week has been glorious, with loads of sunshine and temperatures hovering around 20 Celsius. Here then are six things in my garden still enjoying this early part of autumn, starting with the aforementioned basil. It’s a columnar variety, with small leaves that aren’t quite as aromatic or flavourful as other varieties. Still, it’s quite architectural in the herb garden, and makes a nice addition to pasta sauce.

Some more appropriate, autumnal things next, I think. First, the obligatory fall foliage – this from a Staghorn Sumac – Rhus typhina. Although The County is chock full of red and sugar maples with orange and bright red leaves this time of year, the leaves on my maple trees mainly turn yellow, then brown, then they fall off. I rely on the Sumac that rings the property to give me my dose of October Scarlet.

I’ve harvested my winter squash. That translates into carting the dead vines to the compost heap while lining up the half dozen or so fruits as I decide what to do with them. I wrote about my conundrum before, here, and how I grew different colour and sized squash all from the seed of one spaghetti squash. For now, they just sit at the side of the kitchen garden…

Last week I featured some gorgeous mums in pots. The white and yellow ones have started to fade already (well, I’ve had them for a month so that’s not so bad, really…) but even as the flowers wither they display a beauty, especially if, as with this white variety, a titch of dusky pink starts to come through…

I’ve shown one or two photos of Ratibida pinnata this year. The Prairie coneflower, aka Grey Head coneflower, self seeds freely and clumps of it bloom from July until…well, here are some from a clump still in bloom! I really love how the petals curve and spiral down – reminds me of being on a circus ride.

Finally, I can’t have an October Six without at least one Colchicum shot. This was taken mid morning earlier in the week.

Although several parts of Canada have already had snow (in general earlier than normal), the two week forecast for my part of the country is more seasonal – a mix of rain and sun, temperatures in the mid teens with no snow or even frost. Famous last words, I know, but warm(ish) weather means pleasant bulb planting next week. To see loads more Sixes this week, visit The Propagator‘s site.