Up Periscope...Full Speed Ahead

Full speed into fall, that is. I've been in a bit of a funk of late, and perhaps it's because of fall...the fewer daylight hours, the impending winter, who knows? So instead of sewing shots, I share with you signs of fall in my backyard.

This dahlia bud does remind me of a cartoon submarine periscope. I fully expect it to start twisting around as it scans the horizon above the water's surface. In this case, it's peering above one of the dahlia's my husband planted. We visited Buchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. a few years ago and the dahlias were incredible—flowers bearing every permutation of color, size, petal shape, length, and width were staked grandly in a single border. Since then, Paul's planted dahilas.


This guy was purchased in a small farming town west of here. One year we went to a festival of some sort there and a man was selling the most inventive sculptures from found metal objects. And this one was, quite literally, five dollars. We bought at least three. He, too, reminds me of a cartoon character—the one who practically disappears when he turns sideways because he's so thin.


Here's sedum, the go-to guy in fall. We've planted them in our front and back yard. The ones in front have gotten a bit leggy and floppy as the shade has increased, but these guys in the back are stubby and stiff and stay nicely upright. Love this new shot of pink in early fall.


Here's a little stone landing that's finally coming into its own. This is the first year without our big maple, which used to provide lots of shade before it fell and crushed the garage last summer. The only downside to that big 'ol 120-year-old oak was that it made it impossible to grow much besides impatiens and hosta. While I love them both (and the hosta are definitely suffering without the shade) I'm thrilled with the purple fountain grass in the planter behind the chairs, which helps soften that big expanse of garage wall, and with the progress the wisteria has made in covering this funky arbor.


Finally, a flower that will last all winter long. A farmer's market purchase from earlier this summer, when peas and spinach were abundant. Now it's butternut squash and apple cider, which is a good reminder that fall certainly has its upside.