On Wednesday, the Harvest moon brought in the changing of the seasons. A full moon on the equinox is a rare occasion and the next one won't happen for another 19 years or so (I think 2029). I've noticed that as I get older, time seems to move much more quickly. There is still so much I need to get done, but my time is running out. The sand in the glass has turned from molasses of youth to quicksilver of age. All and all, it sucks.

I did manage to get almost 100% of my yard completed this year. It's been a 5 year project and this year was the year to actually accomplish most of it. I managed to put in my ponds and plant all my trees (I think I even got a wish-tree to grow.. I believe I have a 5" mimosa seedling growing, plus 2 6" golden rain tree seedlings) that I wanted, for the most part. Some trees I want I can't have.. they just won't grow here (Jacaranda, crepe myrtle), some are just not too practical for my yard (Colorado blue spruce, northern catalpa). But, I'm pretty happy with the trees I have. I didn't get in all the roses I wanted, but who does? I still need to put in other plants for filler, but I'll have to wait til next year to see what's available with what companies and see about putting shrubs and other flowering plants in. This weekend will be the rest of the mulch that needs to go into the back yard, I'm not sure if I have enough. I seriously doubt it.

However, it's semi-official, my season for growing is almost kaput. As I was driving into work, I noticed that the misty drizzle we had here ended up being snow in the mountains. Sure, it was just a dusting and at over 14,000ft at altitude, but still, it's a herald of what's to come.







As I drove into work, I saw that a lot of the locust trees are starting to change their colors and lose their leaves. They're usually the first to go. My burning bush is just slightly tinged, but I know that it won't be long before it's totally aflame. I've also seen some autumn purple ash trees (mine included) tinging up as well. Of course, this is not good because I've got such new growth on all my roses due to the watering and this past misty-drizzle we got. Some of my roses never blossomed once, but my Oranges & Lemons has shot a 2' cane up in the past 2 weeks, it's a beautiful brilliant red right now. I dread to see it turn purple & black with winterkill.

Autumn is my favorite time of the year due to the color of the leaves, the crispness of the cool mornings and the brisk breezes. However, it also causes an ache in my heart that my so-hard-worked-for roses will be put to sleep for the winter, and perhaps, if we have another bad winter and I didn't take care of them just right, for ever. But I guess that's a chance that we all have to take, isn't it.

My aspens are just starting to drop their leaves. By the end of October they will be barren, but in the mean time they will put on a great show.

Three pairs were planted in a triangle pattern, about twelve ft apart. They're about 35 ft tall. The space in between houses two chairs and a set of very musical wind chimes. Because of the shape of the "windows" and because of its high "ceiling," I call it "the cathedral." It's the second best place to linger in the yard after the hammock which is set in the afternoon shade of some really nice alligator junipers.

Fortunately, it's unseasonably warm here. Highs are still in the high eighties. Lows are in the fifties. I'm hoping for a long and gentle descent into fall so that roses one and all will be able to stretch out their little root systems into the compacted, poor soil.

I, too, love fall for its crisp mornings and clear afternoons. But there aren't many deciduous plants here, so there isn't much going on in the way of autumn leaf color apart from the aspens.

I, too, live in fear of what winter might bring for my roses. Two years ago I planted the first sixteen roses to go into the ground on this property. Today none of those is alive. I'm hoping that failure was more due to my own faults as a gardener than it was due to some inevitable feature of the weather and the way it must affect roses here. Sometimes in life you do what you can and find out what happens.

Hearing you write about your brief growing season makes me sad.

PPal - Don't be sad for us in colder zones. Sometimes, when y'all hear a song on the radio about White Christmases or the glory of the Rocky Mountain snows, realize that we here live in that. Having a "green" Christmas (snowless) is kinda rare for us. And it's absolutely breathtaking with the Christmas lights on frozen snow.. everything just glows. It's just the way it is and it makes me prouder to actually achieve any form of a rose garden, considering the odds here against it. It's hard work, but it's so worth it when that blossom opens. Just during the off season, I personally live in other people's gardens. I bookmark and save other people's pictures of their gardens (in fact, one of Tex68's pictures is my background on this computer here at work). I lament that some things I can't have, due to the weather, but then again, we can have things here that don't do well in other places (like weeds!! lots and lots of lovely weeds). So, if you're feeling bad, take some pictures and post them. That way, I can be in rose heaven all winter. I'd much much much rather see pictures of what people have in their yards versus the fake pictures in the J&P catalogs (almost as airbrushed as runway models!!!).

True we very rarely have a white Christmas here. The lights look pretty pitiful in the rain! We sometimes get a little of the best of both worlds; this is Christmas 2004.
You have to look closely to see the snow.

LOL!!! Imagine having roses blooming on Christmas!!! I haven't lived in that sort of a climate since I was a child living near the Mexican border in NM.

I will definitely have to post my Christmas lights when we a) get them up & b) we have a good layer of snow (at least 6"). Truly beautful, especially w/the LED lights as they're so crisp and true to color.

I'm happy getting snow in January, too. It's possible to have snow here on Christmas, but it is still cooling down that time of year. I'll keep my eyes peeled for your LED christmas lights in snow. Maybe I'll be able to dig out some photos of the decoration circuit here in Prescott. The paper sponsors a competition and publishes the entries. It's fun to go out and photo the decorated houses. Last year there was Cruella de Ville and 101 dalmations as a theme at one house. Most are more ... Christmasy.

For every other purpose, I'm happy that we have warm days and much cooler nights. But it does make winter hard on deciduous plants such as roses. So each descent into winter brings special garden worries that I've never had before. To get over them, I'm going to try planting broccoli and kale as cool season plants. May have missed the opportunity this year; but I got some over-wintering carrots planted. I have no idea whether it will work.

I kinda missed the change-of-seasons when I lived in Austin, TX. So I guess I'm going to be here even if all my roses die. And if that happens, I guess I'll have to move on to growing evergreens, alpine shrubs, alliums, and short prairie grasses. Maybe join a forum on that stuff. Hard to imagine a mahonia would generate as much excitement as a rose. But who knows.

Steve - if my roses make it here, they should make it there.. just as cold & dry here as there, but you DO have the heat much worse than I. Just mulch the crap outta them and take a chance.. it's not like you're not trying!

Or you can always move to Californiyeah!

I deal with enough bad drivers here thankyouverymuch. When I moved here to Colorado back in 01, there was more out-of-state plates than Colorado plates almost 2-1. I will movE from Colorado someday, but I doubt it'll be to California. Probably back home to new Mexico. DH really loves santa fe, but we have the same problem there: cold & dry.

Someday.

I'm an excellent driver.

I'm sure that everyone here is a good driver with actual insurance. However, the morons that moved here had no concept of full insurance, turn signals, or yield to merging traffic. They only understood blaring their horns and flipping you off if you wouldn't give way to them IMMEDIATELY. ugh, moving here was a nightmare. In fact, one time, we were in Cub Foods (long since been closed down by their parent, Kroger) and there was a couple that I had seen in the parking lot getting out of a Lexus w/Cali plates. They were wandering around, looking at food, and the man says to the woman (his wife?) "Oh look honey, they have tamales here!", meaning the canned Hormel tamales (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OU5EFW/). Only thing is that he pronounced "teh-MALEz" rather than teh-mah-leh.

I've always wanted to go to California. I think that it's a beautiful state with some things there that you cannot find anywhere else in the country, or perhaps even in the world. To go to the Redwood Forest, or the China Town, to oogle the ridiculous people in Hollywood, walk along the beaches in Malibu. Monterrey Bay. San Diego. These places to me are as exotic and as foreign as Venus (I've been to Earth, Texas, though). I just know that the persons I've met HERE from California are probably a bad example of what truly is there. Maybe some day I'll get to go. I can only wish and never met to insult anyone ambiguously.

Rain Man (1988) - Memorable quotes
Raymond: I'm an excellent driver.

Never watched it, sawwy.

Still in the triple digits here, no sign of let-up. No change....I'm tired of summer.

alan

wow here in Michigan we are freezing our booties off I wish it would get summer !!!!
Gloria

Sue. Thought of moving to CA. When DW and I were doing our internet search of homes on the market three or four years ago we found a very pretty house in our price range on three gorgeous wooded acres in the beautiful foothills, in Sonora. It was fifteen minutes drive to a town with one gas pump and one greasy spoon diner. The closest Costco was 98 minutes away. Probably an hour to the grocery store. Somehow couldn't get the balance between scenic, cost effective, and near enough to a town to be able to duck out just to buy bananas. Here it was easy.

BTW, Sue, the house next door is for sale.

Weather right now is PERFECT. Eighties, dry, sunny, with cool nights. Been like this all September. Went for a five mile hike up Granite Mountain. And returned to see a single gorgeous blossom on Baronne Prevost. I'd upload images of the hike and of the flower, but despite trying about seventeen times, "upload an image" button opens the dialogue box, but never actually uploads an image.

How infuriating, Steve. Have you explored the reason for this? Do you know that your image will upload only if you're adding it to text?

Steve - WYAH!! I'd REALLY love to see pics of your area. Today was a warm one, supposedly got to 90 degs. I have no idea, I stayed on the couch all day for the most part. Yesterday, DH & I picked up mums & other plants at HD and, when I was unloading them out of my van, I clobbered myself with the back hatch door. I know I gave myself a mild concussion, as I could not get rid of the headache and I was extremely dizzy. I did end up planting everything I'd gotten (9 mums, 1 blanketflower, & 3 .. uh.. forgot!!), and was working on moving mulch today when I just couldn't walk a straight line. So I decided to take it easy today and just take a cool shower & watch some movies (Transformers 2 in BluRay).

as far as uploading, I know that if I don't resize a pic, it'll never upload, so I have to make sure that all my pics are resized. I just do the 1000 x 750 as that seems to be the largest I can upload easily.

The size shouldn't matter at all. Here's one that's 3008 X 2000. I'll upload it and let you know how long it took.



That took 1 minute and 20 seconds and it's the biggest size I have.