Design

It's always nice to come back home, even if things look a big ragged around the edges. We're not fussy gardeners at all (messy edges are good for birds and other wildlife, of course). But a bit of editing would make a difference in the overall ambience. The crickets are still singing, but the air is drier, and the colors of fall are becoming evident.

The beginning of the month felt like fall. Quite amazing. The air was cool, the breeze was stiff, and it definitely wasn't 'Indian summer.' This has not been a bad summer for us in the Southeastern U.S.; the heat wasn't stifling, nor endless. Driblets of rain managed to keep us squeaking through the worst of normal summer droughtiness (that's compared to the brutal droughts of the last few summers.) And the coolness makes me hopeful that we'll have a nice fall growing season ahead of us, whether for vegetables or garden plants.

I saw a female ruby-throated hummingbird yesterday, and my gardening companion spotted another as we had lunch today (on the porch). It's fairly late to see them; last year, it was Oct. 8 for us. And Bill Hilton, at Hilton Pond , reports that their last hummingbird sighting (monitored over a number of years) is Oct. 18. But I'll leave up the feeders if there are any stragglers, and there are still coral honeysuckle flowers for them.

On the calendar, fall is here, but in the southeastern U.S., we definitely have an long prolonged warm period into fall. After intense summer heat, the highs moderate, and the lows gradually drop, and finally, cooler air comes. Tomorrow, the high is predicted to be only 72° F. That's warm, for northern folks, but cool for us for late September. The Virginia creeper has already turned a lovely scarlet color -- maybe hastened by droughty conditions. This one is climbing up into the large Southern red oak near our house. Virginia creeper ( Parthenocissus virginiana )

The ruby-throated hummingbirds are whizzing around our 3 feeders -- there are at least 4-5; it's hard to tell. It's a reminder that fall is coming, even though there's plenty of warm weather ahead, the days are visibly shortening. A fellow garden blogger in northern B.C. reports a first frost warning (yikes!); another garden blogger friend in England is putting one of his pea patches to bed, and sowing mustards as a cover crop. And I'm seeing monarchs coming through as they make their way south to Mexico, and their overwintering grounds in Michoacan.