Fall in the Air

Yes, Fall has arrived. As I look out the window the rain has started and the flowers show their last splashes of color before the killing frost. The once bright yellow sunflowers now droop low with spent flowers weighted down by the sunflower seeds and the chickadees and goldfinch that dart from one head to another trying to get the best of the seeds. The dahlias and roses still put forth their beautiful flowers but now it takes tree days for a flower to open as the cool nights slow the growing process.

I made my second batch of tomato sauce and now may have to make tomato soup and salsa to utilize the tomatoes that now set in the sunroom for the last ripening. Everything seems to come at once. You once wished for the fresh vegetables from the garden then the zucchini, basil, tomatoes seen to all arrive at the same time. It seems only last week I picked leaves carefully from the basil to make my pesto. Now the plants are blooming and I need to make and freeze more pesto and tomato sauce.

I made the round taking pictures of the yard and making notes of things I want to change next year. After eight years some of the plants need to be divided or moved. Other plants will move to another place next year to see if they will grow better or at least not be crowded out by the other plants. The three sticks I planted four years ago are now a mass of hydrangea bushes that crowd out anything planted near them.