> Raise corner of curved bridge
> Move rain barrel back
> Move the smaller geums that are not thriving.
> get Jobes spikes for the trees in the field
December 15
Blueberry in Winter
Oddly, the potted dwarf blueberry "Sunshine Blue' by the kitchen door has not lost its leaves.
The entire plant is still in full leaf, frosted and turned mahogany, but looking great.
That seems really odd. Blueberries are deciduous and any plants I've had in the past lost all their leaves in winter. It's strikingly attractive now as we come and go through the kitchen door.
December 14
Big Wet Mess
After the late November snow, it lingered on the ground, so the landscaper couldn't get to the leaves, and they are still piled and matted under snow even as it snowed again today.
I didn't get to the perennials either. I usually have time in the later part of fall to cut back the messiest -- some I leave standing -- but this time the snow came early and never left.
The snow today is wet and heavy, bending down the juniper branches and the big fully leaved privets.
This is an El Niño year, and although summer was so dry and rainless, the winter is predicted to be wet.
It caught me off guard, leaving the yard in disarray, and creating a big wet mess of perennial foliage and standing stalks and tons of leaves under everything.
November 25
Snowy Day
The Japanese maple's leaves have been getting smaller and curling with our persistent below freezing nights now, but they are still scarlet red, even with snow falling on them.
I"ve been careful each time it rains to bring them in, since the little roof above the vigas drips a line of stain on them from its corner . . . but now they sit under a thick blanket of snow.
I'll go rescue them when it stops snowing, brush them off and put them in the garage.
What a winter scene.
November 18
Rainy Saturday
It rained most of the day today off and on and it was cold, in the mid 40s. It only amounted to a quarter inch.
Through all of it, the Japanese maple has stayed bright red. It's incredibly hanging on to all its leaves and still making a scarlet show. And as I've been observing for a couple weeks now, hard freezes -- several sustained overnight freezes -- have not affected many plants.
Only a few have dried out, even as the trees are now finally losing their leaves.
November 14
Surprising Fall Colors
I'm amazed the viburnum by the deck is still bright green. We've had several n nights of sustained freezing weather. No dieback, and no fall color whatsoever this year.
The Rose of Sharon has crispy leaves, no color and no persistence, they just dried up all over.
The Japanese maple continues to stun -- after all the freezes, it carries on redder and redder and redder.
Spectacular!
November 12
Moving Rocks Around
I need to change the way the moss rock border ends circled around the base of the Chinese privet. I need to take out the last 3 rocks and put them in the opening that I made for a flat "entrance" flagstone. I don't want that open spot any more.
Then what will be the remaining terminal stones need to shift to form a curve that disappears behind the low plants at the corner.
It always felt funny that the border ended turned at the corner the way it did, blocked off from the flagstone section below it. A slight tweak to curve it to end toward the plants would be better.
Just a slight tweak.
November 7
Flirting With Freezing
It's only going to dip down to the high 20s and low 30s briefly later this week, then over the next 10 days the weather gets warm and sunny again.
But I decided to set things up for winter, bringing most pots into the garage for protection. I haven't done that in past years.
The Radio Red salvias are only hardy to zone 7, the rest have stayed outside and could again, but I set it all up to be inside on and under two of the plant stands.
I left a few pots outside -- the Black Adder agastache and the Japanese forest grasses -- but up against the warm southwest facing wall behind the deck.
I unhooked the hoses but left them on the ground near the faucets. It was simple enough to put them back on, and after this brief flirtation with freezing night lows, I'll hook them up again.
It looks like a long spell of mild above freezing temperatures for a while yet after this week.
The only pots I left in place are the three red containers of blue fescue grasses. They stayed out all winter last year and survived well, and I might like seeing the red pops in winter from the dining room window.
The Japanese maple is turning bright red finally! And look at the red plumbagos -- buried in cottonwood leaves, but bright red. I'll plant more next year.
Even the struggling little transplanted Low Mound aronia that looked so awful in the heat this summer, has rebounded and is a startling red.
November 4
Hooked the Hoses Up Again
The forecast for 5 days is sunshine, no rain and mild temps. No overnight freeze until late next week.
So I hooked the hoses back up today and watered everything except the field thoroughly. That should take them into the next freeze well watered.
Mid week I will bring in the pots that need to go in the garage, it's time.
November 3
Trees in Fall
The cottonwood did not turn any kind of yellow this year. The leaves that remain are either still green or dried brown.
The beautiful golden aspen colors of the leaves that remain on the one aspen tree in back are now tinged in black after several long nights of freezes.
But the Japanese maple continues to amaze me. It has no sign of the freeze.
The leaves are still full and although they are not the scarlet red of last year, they are a nice rusty copper. No curling or browning yet. A few branches have some scarlet in them, but not many.
The redbud has lost almost all its leaves, but the two ironwoods still hold on, with mostly green.
The crabapple has lost leaves, and its red jewels show up now.
The narrow juniper leans out away from the fence -- not sure how to fix that, as the sun doesn't get to the backside of this tree.
But it's getting big and filling the spot finally. And it's nicely shaped as seen head on from inside the bedroom sliders.
This fall has had almost no leaf color. It's been very dry, with zero rain for all of October and none forecast so far for November.
But I watered a lot, just cutting back now that the nights are freezing. I think that's why the Japanese maple looks good, I watered that a ton all season.
November 1
Hard Freezes
The past three nights have been well below freezing, into the low and mid 20s for the whole night and into mid morning. These were not just brief dips, but extended hard freezes.
Surprisingly, other than the skimpy petunia in the front urn and the red geraniums, all the potted plants look fine.
Even the Japanese maple looks fine. It's rust colored, not red, but the leaves are still full with no signs of drying or curling. The fall anemone usually turns black at the first frost, but it's still green.
Perennials in the kitchen courtyard look okay too, and the Red Cascade rose is green and lush.
Raydon's Favorite aster isn't touched a bit, although the things surrounding it -- the Rose of Sharon, redbud and even the sumacs are all gone by or getting bare.
The cottonwood now has completely dried leaves and they are falling all over. They form a solid river of gold brown leaves in the channel of the rock swale.
I'm really surprised at how green the potted plants and most perennials still look after such long freezes