How did October sneak up on me? In my garden, this is the month for fall cleanup and preparation for planting in November to take advantage of our rainy season.

The thumbnail photo is Autumn Splendor, a sweet mini-flora.

Splendid autumn colors to start the season!

How appropriate!
My roses are all in the garage now awaiting spring.
Carol

That sounds sad...

Depends on your outlook. It could sound like good news if you consider that they're now out of harm's way.

Blooms for this month:

Mister Lincoln:



Falling in Love:




Audrey Wilcox:




Princess Alexandra of Kent:


Pumpkin Pie:

Porkpal - I think of it like they're safely ensconced....just likey Zuzu says.

Rose_Guy - wowza!!!! Those are gorgeous roses!!! Swoon!!!! My favorite is your Audrey Wilcox!!! PAOK looks pretty swoon worthy too!!!

That made my heart sing!!
Carol

Yes, safe and snug - but after such a short season of freedom.

Oct already, summer flew by. I guess I am holding on to my blooms like grim death lol
I still have 2 roses coming this week and my Darcy didn't do anything this year in its current location so I think that I will move it.
Rose Guy, your roses look so great and healthy in their pots. I am discouraged with my potted roses, they just dont seem happy.
What soil do you use?

@Kristinelego: You're kind, thanks. I use FoxFarm Ocean Forest potting soil. I sprinkle in a bit of fish bone meal, alfalfa meal, and mycorrhizal fungi (when planting the rose) followed by the topsoil, which is a combo of aged manure and FoxFarm.

I haven't seen the Fox Farm brand .I start with a soil that has no fertizer and as I repot I go with a Miracle potting mix .Everything else that you mention I use. Hum ? Could be too much water.
Well anyway, your pots look fab!

@Kristinelego:
It is available on Amazon: http://a.co/d/g4jzqZ2
I generally get it from my local nursery. In regards to watering, given my neighborhood microclimate, I only water twice a week. Once after the plant is well-established, I start with a monthly dose of Organic Alaskan Fish Fertilizer, I then alternate the monthly dosage with Miracle-Gro fertilizer. Hope this helps.
Thanks, it is a work in progress.

Porkpal - yes, it's a short season, because we don't get rose blooms until the very end of June/start of July...and then it's just a few.

Look what we got today!!

"Rosa 'BAIypso' Easy Elegance® Calypso™, Common Name: Own Root Hybrid Shrub Rose, Size: 2x2ft., Apricot double, Breeder: (Bailey Nurseries), USDA Hardiness Zone 5-7, Michigan Bloom Month 6

A landscape shrub rose. Apricot blooms. Compact mounded shrub rose. Dark glossy green foliage. Recurrent double blooms"

I love your Calypso, what a ni e shape and the color is gorgeous

Shyam, your roses are beautiful. One can definitely fall in love with Falling In Love. Love the color of Pumpkin Pie and I am not a fan of orange roses. The fall season must be rubbing off on me.

Frank, your Easy Elegance is a beauty! Gorgeous bush! Gorgeous flowers!

Carol, have been watching the snow fall in Banff, Canmore and Churchill. Wasn't able to see any northern lights last night because of it. Did see lots of slipping and sliding however. It was really snowing hard, so I am not surprised at your winter wonderland pictures. Makes me very thankful for my 80--85 degree temps today.

Zuzu--Autumn Splendor is just that. Beautiful rose!

Got home last night after being gone for three weeks visiting family in Idaho and Canada, a few blooms left in my garden which I picked for the house. Lots of weeds too, yikes!



Some highlights from Idaho, my daughter lives 45 minutes from Grand Teton and Yellowstone so we went 4 days in a row.







And on our way to Canada I we stopped in the little Barvarian style town of Leavenwoth Washington. I felt like I was in Germany again! Lots of gorgeous container plants everywhere.

Canadian_Rose said:

Rose_Guy - wowza!!!! Those are gorgeous roses!!! Swoon!!!! My favorite is your Audrey Wilcox!!! PAOK looks pretty swoon worthy too!!!

That made my heart sing!!
Carol

@Canadian_Rose:
Thanks! I honestly didn't expect Audrey's very first bloom to be that big with a high center. I guess I will have to start forcing the roses into dormancy starting next month because they never go dormant in SF weather.

Mustbnuts - yes, we got a lot of snow...and it'll melt in the morning, then freeze at night, then melt, etc. So it'll be pretty slippery here. But I'm so glad I got my roses in the garage!!! Sounds like your weather is perfect!! I think I'll come for the winter.

Cali_Sue...I love your pronghorn antelope picture!! I read something awhile ago about pronghorns...the article asked the question..."why do pronghorn antelopes need to be so fast (they're the 2nd fastest land animal on earth)? Well, it turns out that there was a giant cheetah that lived in North American...so the pronghorn antelope had to evolve to be fast in order to escape the cheetah. I thought that was pretty interesting!

I love all of your pictures!! The Bavarian style town sounds/looks adorable!!!

Carol

@Mustbnuts:
You're kind, thanks! I share your sentiment about Falling in Love. It sure took an entire two weeks for the bud to open; somewhere in the two weeks, I thought it's never going to bloom fully. For a first bloom, it did a fantastic job. I feel the orange shade of Pumpkin Pie is quite rare when compared to other orange colored roses, and I could be wrong. However, the roses from For Love of Roses nursery appear to be temperamental and hard to grow. What takes about two weeks in general for any roses to put on some growth, it takes about three months for For Love of Roses to show small signs of growth. I am still waiting for my Hello Sunshine to be well-established, and it has been four months now.