September Slump

The nights are getting chilly now. Our day time temps range from 50 at dawn to 76 in the late afternoon, the kind of weather where kids leave their coats on the playground or at school, and then, oh, oh, need them again in the morning.  

The garden is slowly slumping, as it tires of being pretty and perky, and winds down toward the fall. The lower yard is mostly in shade now by the afternoon, as the sun rides lower across the sky, hidden behind the tall trees. 

The vegetable garden is shutting down. 

 The beans and cucumbers are done.

 The sweet peas have been taken down and the annuals are looking a bit raggedy. 

 The dahlias didn't get tied up a second time and were interplanted with sun flowers, a mistake, so they are flopping toward the light. The wind and the squirrels have taken a toll on the sunflowers, but I leave them in place for the chickadees. 

 The raspberry bed cum flower patch is tumble down and going to seed, but still has color. 

 The zucchini is ready to be yanked out. Tom rolled the vines out of the way to get at the soil for filling his transplanting pots. 

 He took cuttings of all of his fancy leaf geraniums and has them potted in the greenhouse. 

My earlier deadheading has paid off with a second blooming of delphinium, nepeta and geranium. 

 In the upper yard, some of the roses and the dahlias are still blooming and I keep after the deadheading.  

 In shade now, the hardy fuchsias are exuberant. 

 The sedum Autumn Joy plays nicely with the kafir lily. 

 Sedum spectibile "Brilliant" is blooming along with a white sedum.

 This one was lovely until the raccoons decided to play in the water in the glass tower above it. Slumping indeed. 

 Each morning the lawn has more divots where those ring tailed marauders have been digging for grubs or whatever. The lawn is a mess. I did get it edged yesterday and today, trying to keep it all from looking too disreputable. 

Squirrels are going after the "strawberry" Korean dogwood seed pods. 

 A few clematis are still making an effort. 

 We walk and work in the yard in the mornings, and then in the afternoons we slump too, our get-up-and-go up and gone. We enjoy time on the patio in the warmth of the day, as the slanting sunlight sets the garden to glowing. 

 Fortunately not all are in a slump. The brugmansia has put on another huge show

And the tomatoes troop on.