The hydrangea blossoms are going into their late fall brown color. The white hydrangeas I have and the pale green Limelights and the (not so) Little Lime are also turning from their fall pinks to brown.

The hydrangeas are literally telling me that November is just around the corner. And it is.

I don’t know where this growing season has gone, it flew by faster than ever!

I planted a lot this year. A lot more than I told my husband I was going to, but in my own defense, spaces opened themselves up to me that weren’t there before, or I just didn’t see their potential.

Next year, however, there will be a lot less planting with the exception of the bare root roses coming in the spring and herbs and annuals I put in. And midnight snack cherry tomatoes for the pots on the front walk again.

My nursery growers aren’t going to love me as much starting next year. Because this garden is pretty much at the stage I want it to be with the number of plants. However, these could be famous last words depending on what kind of a winter we have.

I have been planting kind of nonstop since the end of 2012. This was the first year where I saw a lot of my vision that I wasn’t sure would come to fruition show itself beautifully.

I look know I might need to do more work on my shade and woodland gardens but I can’t plant any more back there until I see how everything survives the coming winter.

Today I planted my last heirloom daffodil bulbs from Old House Gardens . They were a delightful discovery I made and I’m very excited to see how their bulbs do here! I also planted my orders from Brent and Becky’s. I had another smaller order of W.P. Millner daffodils for drifting and Spanish Bluebells from Colorblend.

The bluebells went in a bunch of places, and I hope they take better this time. I also experimented with some alliums. The bluebells haven’t spread the way I had hoped they would in one area of my gardens, so I tried this time to plant them in different areas to see how they do. Alliums are a first time thing for me like Frittilaria. 

The W.P. Millners are at the top of this end of a flower bed that runs the length of the driveway. I finally got to planting the top of this bed and a little adjacent hillock this year and when I was looking for bulbs I remembered how pretty W.P. Milner was in a drift. I’ve never grown this bulb before in this garden, but I have seen this bulb planted elsewhere.

Bulbs are something I tend to plant almost every fall. I will see how everything over-winters, and then I will figure out where I have spots that need filling with bulbs next year.

The funny thing about the fall garden is I still have a bunch of color. I have a red rhododendron that decided it was going to bloom again now for starters. Then there is a white echinacea that also decided it was going to bloom some more.

My David Austin roses still need a bit of a trim in places to get out the spindly canes, and I will get to that. But right now a lot of them are still blooming remarkably.

I put all my spades and shovels away. I cleaned my various pruners. I still have some other miscellaneous pruning and trimming to accomplish, and the last big chore will be getting the leaves on the flowerbeds. As both shredded leaf mulch and just leaves blown into the beds. It totally enriches the soil.

Now I wait and see how my witch hazels will bloom over the winter and if my camellias will bloom this year. I have discovered that camellias need to get established sometimes before you see a show. And I hope my Sochi Tea plant makes it through another winter. I don’t think it’s quite big or established enough to harvest leaves for tea just yet.

Our Holly tree is very happy and loaded with berries this year! I can’t wait for the berries to turn red!

The garden is taking on the full color spectrum of late fall, and it really is quite lovely.

I will note for those of you who have things left to do in the garden don’t forget your tick checks when you’re finished. I found a couple of riders of the deer tick variety when I came in after planting the bulbs.

Anyway that’s it for me for today. I hope you are still getting out and enjoying your gardens. Every season brings something new.