When the frost is on the pumpkin...

We've been lucky enough not to have a hard freeze yet, so some of my veggies are still producing.  The tomato fruits are gone because it's too cold, but my lettuce, cabbage, radishes and Swiss chard are all doing fine.  The first hard freeze is predicted this weekend :-(

There are some charming irises reblooming for me this fall that I received from my friend Bette.  I don't know the cultivar name.  They're blooming better this fall than they did in the spring!  My neighbor is a horticulture professor and he asked me about them the other day.  I think he'd like some, so I'll divide them next year and keep neighborly relations on a high level.  Of course, he's more of a tree man and we tend to discuss woody plants much more frequently.

Another charmer is the mum I received for free somewhere.  I'm always pleased most by plants that didn't cost me anything.

Another pretty plant in fall (and into winter) are the garlic chives I have scattered around the garden.  When the sun hits their seedheads, they seem to glow.  You guessed it - they were free from a friend's garden too!

A landscaping friend took me along to a wholesaler's clearance and I picked up some cool perennials for myself, but mainly for my mother's garden.  The drought-tolerant plants I bought were perfect for some terra cotta planters that I wanted to pot up.  Some very low-cost crushed stone made for an interesting "mulch".

There are sedums, thymes, a Sempervivum and I'll try to overwinter a sun-rose (Helianthemum nummularium).  We'll see how that goes.

Fall has always been my favorite season, and this year hasn't disappointed in terms of the beautiful colors. 

And the weather has been good enough for some memorable scenery along the way...

Time is quickly running out.  The houseplants were all brought in the house weeks ago.  I've raked the leaves into the beds and will have to winterize my rain barrel soon.   If I had received a more liberal education, I would probably break into poetry about the ephemeral essence of the seasons.  That isn't my nature.  I'll just adopt my best Eeyore voice and say "It'll probably snow."