by Leslie Cox; October 9, 2018

Still have flowers blooming in the garden. A last hooray before the grey of late fall descends.

by Leslie Cox; Sunday; October 7, 2018

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came—
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses Maple
In scarlet looked their best;
All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.

Then, in the rustic hollow,
At hide-and-seek they played,
The party closed at sundown,
And everybody stayed.
Professor Wind played louder;
They flew along the ground;
And then the party ended
In jolly “hands around.”

~ George Cooper (1840–1927), “October’s Party,” c.1887

by Leslie Cox; Saturday; October 6, 2018

October has definitely started off with some clout this week…first frost hit on the 4th. Same date as in 2012…both years taking credit for being the earliest frost dates we have had here in our garden. Next earliest frost date for the season was on October 11th in 2016. The latest date I have ever recorded for the first frost of the season was November 11th in 2014. We had quite a long and beautiful Indian summer that year.

Feeling quite gypped this year at the less than stellar autumn display of burgundy, red, orange, rust, and yellow. With not more than a week of mixed sun and cloud at the end of September, the plants barely had enough time to get revved up for colouring. And even the ones who started changing hues a bit early did not hang onto their leaves long after the wind gusts blew through here on the 29th.

Sooo…have you ever wondered how those wonderful leaf colours develop from summer-green leaves? The answers lie buried in science.

Continue reading →

by Leslie Cox; Friday; October 5, 2018

Nature sometimes makes its own breeding choices.
A family group of a Canada geese, a white goose, and their offspring.

by Leslie Cox; Wednesday; October 3, 2018

Descriptive and growing information for the ‘Akane’ apple, (pronounced ah-KAH-nay), has been added to the Plants We Grow list under In the Garden on the main menu bar.

Or you can follow the quick link here.

I am certainly enjoying this delicious eating apple but definitely, they should be kept in the fridge for keeping. Outside of cold storage their crispness starts to fade after two weeks or so. Unfortunately, I needed more fridge space this harvest season and moved the ‘Akane’ apples downstairs to my cool pantry. Left them there for about a week and a half and their crispness has faded. But still good!