The south edge of the yard, where it borders a neighbor's yard, is left mostly to itself except that I try to keep it presentable and pleasing to him. He has a large patch of white wood asters by the road.

I planted some variegated miscanthus, sedums and yucca there over the years, and goldenrod and white wood asters have moved in. They play together nicely.

Blushing Knockout rose is a highlight in the fall, particularly where it abuts the winterberry wall which still has leaves along with the berries.

Rose 'Zepherine Drouhin' is sporadically blooming next to a miscanthus.

and the big old Osmanthus has started to bloom.

Claire

I know this is not a contest (is it?) and I'm not trying to out shine anyone, but did anyone else get Jack O'Lantern mushrooms on Oct. 1st? How lucky can a girl get?

Hahahahaha,
Jane

Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Dept. of Conservation - Fungi

Well I don't have anything as cool as Jack O Lantern fungi, but the light was good this morning so I took a few photos.

A shot of the new mixed border garden that I created in the Spring. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Yes, the grasses are blooming their heads off right now. Here's Misacanthus sinensus 'Little Zebra'

This is Misacanthus sinensus 'Variegata'

Cornus sericea 'Silver and Gold'

Hosta 'Morning Frost'

Not a grass. This is Papyrus from the container I made earlier in the year.

This mum won't die. Third year in my garden.

Eupatorium 'Chocolate' in the white garden

Seedhead from Echinacea 'Sunset'

Yellow Knockout rosebud

Pennisetum 'Redhead' collecting the morning dew.

Here it is a little closer.

Steve

No glow-in-the dark toxic mushrooms here either, Jane. I'd never even heard of them.

Steve: Your new mixed border is off to a fine start - are you going to grow vines up that nice arbor? That Pennisetum 'Redhead' is wonderful; it looks like it has purple wooly bear caterpillars climbing all over it.

Claire

Thanks Claire. I'm growing Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight' and a few clematis on it, but it's going to take some time to fully cover it. In the meantime I use a shade sail. Probably could use another.

Steve

wow, Claire, Osmanthus is hardy in our area? I am actually looking for an Osmanthus as HOUSE PLANT, it brings me back to my childhood. never thought it would be hardy in zone 6. Do you know any nursery carry Osmanthus?

Sorry I do not have pictures of my garden but a question - I do not even have a garden - still dealing with my foundation plants. :(

Thanks
-Greendale

Greendale: Osmanthus heterophyllus is hardy in zone 6 if protected from winter winds. Osmanthus fragrans is probably not. My big osmanthus was planted about fifty years ago by my parents who thought it was a holly. I grew up knowing it as "the holly" so it was a shock when I discovered its true identity. I've since planted several other osmanthus cultivars, Goshiki is a nice variegated one, and they all are doing well although none of the Goshikis have flowered yet.

Mahoney's sometimes has Goshikis, but a surprising and unreliable source is Home Depot in the holiday season. For the last few years I've seen Goshikis at Home Depot in with the holiday holly pots with ambiguous labeling. I suspect that's how my parents got the first one years ago. It was sold as a holly.

The best check is to look at the arrangement of the leaves on the stem. Osmanthus has opposite leaves while hollies are alternate.

You can buy varius osmanthus cultivars online from Forest Farm although they say Osmanthus heterophyllus is zone 7.

I'll post some photos later today.

Claire

Osmanthus 'Goshiki' next to the big old O. heterophyllus in bloom. When I planted Goshiki I left plenty of room (I thought) between the two shrubs, but the old one kept spreading. I don't have the heart to prune its branches back - I spent too many years nursing it back to health.

I tried to photograph the shrub overall, but it doesn't photograph well. Small leaves and small flowers don't read well in the big picture, at least in my hands. It doesn't help that the osmanthus is crowded in with the winterberry and other shrubs. I'll keep trying.

Zepherine Drouhin rose continues to bloom sporadically.

I've been busy filling in and extending my bluestone paver path, so that's the most interesting thing in my yard in my eyes. Ornamental grasses and roses line the path in this season.

I've mostly finished the front yard path and I'm giving the body a rest before I start on the side alley.

Claire

It looks very nice, Claire. I like bluestone. 35 years ago I ordered 2 tons of field stone to build a tree well and to edge gardens. Today, I'd write a check; so I applaud your effort.

Claire,

Your garden is fabulous. Your hard work really shows.

I love the ornamental grasses.

-Tina

Claire - those paths are amazing. I'm even more amazed that you have done it by yourself. I'll second Jane - I write checks!

Spent yesterday and a bit of time this morning doing garden clean ups - in preparation for the "hard freeze" predicted for tonight. All these photos were taken before I tore everything out!

Marigolds had taken over the veggie beds. It's been weeks since I've harvested any veggies - but the marigolds continued to outperform the veggies!

After bring dormant for most of July and August, the Gerbera Daisies started a second show througout September and in to October.

Stella D'Oro Daylilly is also putting on an autumn show!

Zinnias and Rudbeckia continue to impress. Both were WS this year.

Tithonia continues to put on a show. I'm disappointed to find out that this is an annual. I transplanted a couple echinaceas that were being crowded out by the tithonia - all to find out that the tithonia won't be in that same planter next year.

I love the pink centers of this Aster

The Blue Rug Junipers are putting out lots of berries.

And lastly - these mushrooms. The day these mushrooms appeared in the garden - as I walked my daughter to the bus stop, I noticed that they had appeared in everyones gardens on our street.

Claire, oh - I love your Osmanthus trees. That old osmanthus must be awesome - 50 years old. Is osmanthus heterophyllus fragrant too? I will to do more research on those cultivars. Thanks for the Home Depor tips too, guess I will visit HD more often looking for opposite leaf "Holly" from now on. :)

Thanks
Greendale

Last weekends frost really did a number on my gardens. Pretty much killed off anything flowering. Yet I'm not getting the pretty autumn foliage yet.

I seem to have skipped the pink step of my Hydrangea Paniculata Tardiva. The frost made all the blossoms turn brown.

This gailardia is totally flopping over, but at least it is continuing to bloom! I collected seed heads - so hopefully I will have more of these plants in years to come. This has been blooming since July.

No frost here by the coast yet. The temps hovered near freezing but couldn't make that last commitment.

I have a few house plants still outside setting buds and I covered them with several layers of frost blanket with a few jugs of warm water underneath to keep them warmish. I would have brought them in but the long range forecast showed several more weeks of decent fall temperatures. I'm just hoping the Christmas cacti won't drop all those buds when they finally get into the warm house.

I didn't deadhead my Carefree Beauty rose this summer because I like the hips it puts out. It still flowers late even without deadheading.

Pinus strobus 'Nivea' has lots of pine cones as well as lots of dead pine needles to drop. This is normal for this season. Pine needles are suddenly dropping all over the yard. Oak leaves will come next.

Aster 'Fanny' is just starting to bloom. This is always the last aster in my yard to flower. Note the pine needles on the aster. I love that free mulch.

Claire

Still no frost, but the oaks and cherries have finally started dropping their leaves.

Itea 'Henry's Garnet' leaves are turning.

And one of my five Zepherine Drouhin roses has suddenly bloomed. I don't think I've ever had this many ZD blooms on one rose in October, usually there will only be one or two blooms. The other four ZD roses are doing nothing.

Those aren't giant miscanthus plumes towering over the rose. The grass and the rose are about 15 ft apart, but I looked out my kitchen window and saw the rose through the grass so I went out and took the same photo a little closer because I loved the combination.

Sedums have gotten much darker now.

Claire

Back from visiting with my new grandson in France, where the flowers in town parks, along the streets and in window boxes are still blooming even with all the rain they've had. This afternoon I checked out my gardens and they desperately need weeding and cutting back. But a few things are hanging on.

Oneothera Siskyou is like a weed. You can't get rid of it.

Gaillaridia 'Oranges & Lemons' hiding underneath a huge grass

My newest Coreopsis, 'Galaxy'--- I hope it comes back!

We planted a beautiful Cinnamon Bark Maple from Broken Arrow Nursery. The red leaves aren't much this first fall, but the peeling bark is beautiful.

Had to say "hello" to Etienne. He looks pretty happy, for a gargoyle, sitting in the middle of Veronica 'Waterperry' and Oneothera 'Fireworks', which both get red leaves in the fall.

Found these two underneath a juniper --- a mushroom and a tiny Hellebore, Pine Knot Strain, which reseeds all over the place. I know, I know --- blurry shot--- but I'm too tired to go out again. Takes days for me to get back to 'normal' after a long plane flight.

Molie

And P.S. --- let me add to the kudos directed at Claire for her marvelous stonework paths! I remember those 'younger' days when I built stone walls and paths. Alas--- I'm now also in the 'check-writing stage' when it comes to stonework.

Molie

Molie,

Love the maple. Do you live near Broken Arrow? I need to take a day trip down there. Gargoyles are my favorite garden art. Etienne is a particularly good one. Love it.

Steve

Steve, we live about 30 minutes from Broken Arrow. It's a wonderful garden center located deep in the woods in the mountains between Hamden and Cheshire. They Propagate & grow their own stock in fields. I've worked in a well-known CT garden center where much of the stock was purchased, balled & potted, from various wholesalers, but I prefer the quality at Broken Arrow. They also have a great staff; however, being small, their stock sells out quickly.

Etienne acquired his "French" after my daughter, who lives near Paris, and I went to to Notre Dame. The gargoyles there are wonderful, especially those up on the observation balcony that overlooks Paris. Like the ND gargoyles, Etienne has a job --- listening for anyone/thing that might sneak up on us and cause harm.

Molie

Molie, welcome back! Hope you had a wonderful time with your daughter and new grandson!

Bon jour to Etienne. Il est tres effrayant et grotesque!

But your maple most definitely is not, lol - il est tres beau! Or would that be belle? And therefore elle? Is a maple masculine or feminine, lol? Either way, it's wonderful! Here - l'arbre est magnifique. I think that is sufficiently gender neutral and will cover all bases, lol. Besides, that is the extent of my high-school French!

I live fairly close to Broken Arrow as well, and usually take a trip this time of year just to see the view from the back greenhouse! I haven't been there in some time, though. Perhaps time for a visit to check out that maple...

Dee

I hope this isn't a repeat, but I thought I posted this earlier this morning but I didn't see it, so...here it goes again....

Love all the grasses and the last of the roses.

Pixie Lou, I had the same trouble with Hydrangea blossoms that are already brown. We haven't had a freeze yet, but mine turned brown early when it was really dry.

Claire, great work on the bluestone pathways...big job! Love your evergreen shrubs, I'll have to look for that Osmanthus.

We have only had one night that was as low as 31 degrees and nothing has died back yet. I took these this morning...

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I forgot, Steve, your chocolate eupatorium looks much better than mine this year. Great shot!

Molie, love that peeling cinnamon bark on the Maple.

Pixie lou, you had a great patch of marigolds this year.

Dee, I'll have to ask my daughter about the maple tree! My high-school French is from so long ago that it's hardly any help while I'm there. Ironically, I can understand French much better than I can speak it. Plus, my daughter and son-in-law want their children to be bi-lingual so I speak only English with her.

Enjoy Broken Arrow! As I said, we aren't that far away so that anyone who visits them and wants to stop at our place is more than welcome. We love sharing our gardens and swapping plants/techniques--- plus there's nothing like a west-facing deck at sunset, wine in hand, of course!

Molie

Ah, Paris and a new grandbaby - what a lovely way to avoid fall cleanup, Molie! and Etienne is perfect for a garden.

PM2: Your garden is showing all the wonderful colors and textures of fall. Those first two pics in particular are a scene you just can't imagine happening in the spring (or at least I can't). Spring is so orderly and a little sparse - fall is just stuffed with foliage and flowers and contrasting texture. It's hard to believe that a hard freeze will end it and eventually spring will come back.

Thanks to all for the compliments on my bluestone paths. I'm really on the cusp of check-writing too, but I decided to take the chance because I get so much satisfaction out of working with the stones. I'm still not sure whether I'll be able to finish the whole pallet of stones before self-destructing, but so far the body is holding out.

Plan B is leaving artfully placed piles of pavers around the yard and calling them cairns, pretending I always meant to construct cairns rather than paths.

View from a side kitchen window yesterday morning:

The sumac is a volunteer that snuck in under a pokeweed. I planned to remove it, but then it turned this lovely color. I'm not sure now what I'll do with it.

Claire

Thanks Claire, I love the Fall almost as much as the Spring. Unfortunately, a lot of my garden looks tired by the Fall due to dry weather that always takes it's toll. This small sun garden is easy to keep going though and I've put a lot of fall plants in. But, I really am almost relieved when the freeze kills off everything and then the snow covers any messes to wait for a fresh start in the spring.

Your garden seems to have a mind of it's own, Claire and I like the way you always manage that. I like the Fall look of that. Pokeweeds and Sumac seem to go well together. Not so sure about the how they look the rest of the season, or whether they are invasive? That is a very vibrant red color!

Moving those stones around is great for the bones. :-) And cheaper than a gym membership. You'll finish it, I'm sure.

I'm late to the party this month, but I'd thought I'd post some pics of my yard anyway.

Claire---your yard is so pretty, beautiful pics once again. Nice work on the path.....how thick are stones and what are the dimensions? what are you setting them in? I have a sad little path that runs across my yard; I used the thinner, irregular slate. It looked pretty after I first laid it, but now it is over run with grass. I need to fix it before I can't do that kind of work anymore.

Steve---I love all those 'frosty' photos from your garden!

Prairiemoon---your fall garden is gorgeous!

Molie----that cinnamon bark maple is so pretty; it makes me wish I hadn't planted a coral bark...maybe I can squeeze one in somewhere.

PixieLou---I like your raised veggie beds. What size are they?

I've still got some stuff going on in my yard.....I am still harvesting vegetables; I can hardly believe it. I've had a few tropicals that I've waiting on to bloom, and they've just started.

Brugmansia:

Wintersown cannas:

Seven son flower tree:

I love this little aster, it's fluffier than my other blue ones and the color is a vivid periwinkle:
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The morning glories are still putting on a show, but that will end this weekend, I'm sure:

All my sunflowers have died off, except this Lemon Queen:

This butterfly bush started blooming late, so it's still going:

Veggies:

Blue Bedder salvia seems to like the cool, dry weather. It's still blooming it's head off around all the withered zinnias:

Teresa

Teresa: That's a pretty little aster, do you know its name? It looks like a double version of the single aster 'Fanny' that I have and that's blooming now.

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The tumbled bluestone pavers are about 2 inches thick and I'm setting them on a 3 inch bed of coarse sand, so I excavate 5 inches, throw in sand, and set the pavers so they're flush with the ground. For the joints I add sand or sand plus gravel or sand plus little stones from the excavation. The heavy pavers are very stable once they're set, but they are heavy, I repeat, heavy!

The pallet is a collection of different sizes and shapes so you have to work with what you get and fit them together somehow. The first pallet I bought several years ago was mostly irregular pavers of medium size and I expected the same for this new batch. They just had a partial pallet on view so I didn't see the total content, I was mostly looking to see the quality.

I used a different landscape supply company this time (the other one went out of business) and I was surprised that this batch was mostly pavers 12 inch by 18 inch, with a fair share of smaller ones. This made it tricky since I was trying to fill in the earlier path with different shapes.

It's easier where I'm heading off into new territory and don't have to match a different set. If you do use tumbled bluestone you probably should ask to see the actual pallet so you know what you're getting.

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Piles of pavers of different sizes and shapes, but all of roughly the same thickness. I've already used most of the 12 inch by 18 inch pavers. The finished path under the piles is made from irregular shaped pavers, some old, some new.

The finished path here is almost all made of the original pavers - they're a different shape and are nicely weathered.

This area in my alley is half done and the stones are all from the new rectangular batch. The ones on the right are set and the ones on the left are laid out waiting for me to get there. It will probably take me several days to finish (did I mention those things are heavy?). This will be a work/storage area.

I put a little landing at the bottom of my granite steps (that's a wet footprint on one paver).

My original path also got overrun with grass. I had tried to set it with pavers alternating with grass; carefully spaced to match my stride. That didn't work - I mostly ignored the spacing and stepped wherever was most convenient. The grass also kept trying to swallow the pavers. This time I'm filling in all of the original grassy spaces and expanding until I run out of stones or my body quits, whichever comes first.

This may be much more information than you wanted, but you did ask.

Claire

I just realized it is November. I'll get the new thread up tomorrow.

This is my favorite time of year so I've been drooling over all your photos.

Claire, the path is incredible. What a lot of work but what a payoff you'll have. Nice job. I noticed the sumac this year had incredible color! I like the roses in front of the winterberry. And I'm a huge fan of grasses and you have such a nice batch of them punctuating your pathways.

Steve, your new mixed border already looks so mature. Love that pergola. What is the tree in the right corner with the orange berries? Mountain Ash?
How lucky that cute mum won't die. She's a beauty. Just how tall is 'Redhead'. Looks like a good option for a spot I've been thinking about grasses. Do you have multiple chocolate Joe plants? Or is that only one? Mine don't get all that huge and one tends to flop. Do you have to stake yours at all?

Pixie Lou, those marigolds must be on steroids! Holy cow! I've just recently dived into vegetable gardening. What is the plant in the first picture that the marigold appears to be climbing up?

Molie, does 'Oranges and Lemons' come back each year for you? I've tried it multiple times and it never comes back. I love that one.

PM2, what nice color. You've done a great job packing in a lot of fall plants to extend your flowering season. Looks great! Is that orange mum next to the euphorbia in a pot, or does it come back each year for you? It's gorgeous.

Girlcat, Is that scarlet runner bean? The one I never plant but always "think about" planting each year? That mum is very cute! You have nice calyxes on the Seven Son tree. Mine never really get going all that well. The tree flowers well, but never finishes up with a bang like it should. I was just recently at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden and coudn't believe their Seven Son flower in their entry garden. It looked like sedum heads all over the tree it was that full. I'll keep hoping for that some day!

I'm late to the party but here are some shots from a couple weeks ago.

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Quintessential fall garden, thyme2dig! The last hurrah of the garden before winter sets in.

Is that a beautyberry (Callicarpa) in the third photo from the bottom next to your great stone stairs? It looks like it belongs there - not easy for such a distinctive out-of-the-ordinary shrub.

Claire

I've been busy putting the gardens to bed for the year, but finally reaching a point where I can take a breather.

Claire, your bluestone walkway is lovely. Like others I am in awe of your energy and ambition to undertake such an enormous task. I'm totally impressed!

I've been doing battle with pine branches and blackberry brambles to add on to our walking path through our woods, but it pales in comparison to the work of Claire's walkway. I'll have to take some pictures later when it is finished.

thyme2dig, your fall photos of your garden and yard are beautiful. I especially love the view through the white birch trees. This was a pretty autumn, despite the lack of red in the sugar maples (probably due to the lack of a good hard frost to bring them out), at least in my area of Vermont.

Pixielou, I love your photos from earlier in Oct of your vegetable garden with all the marigolds. Also I hope you plant another tithonia in the same planter next year so we can all watch it grow and flourish.

I have nothing to offer. All my flowers are done for the year, and leaves off of the trees. I did take some nice photos of the fall foliage earlier, but they were taken 30 miles or so away from my home and gardens, so I won't post them here.

Thyme - that was an eggplant. I bought a 6-pack of Black Beauty, but these were long skinny black eggplant. I grow my eggplants in tomato cages - keeps the plants from keeling over if you get nice big fruits.

Claire, yep, that's a beautyberry. Bit of a funny story about that shrub. My MIL gave it to me and I planted it on top of the wall on the right-hand side of the steps. The next season it was sooooo late in the spring and it was deader than a doornail. So I literally grabbed it from the top and ripped it out w/o using a shovel. Poor thing. Then to really rub it in, I threw it over to the other side of the wall to the left-hand side of the steps to get it out of the way since I already had the ninebark to replace it with. After the ninebark was planted, I went over to collect the beautyberry to throw it in the woods. Well, there were broken branches and THEY WERE GREEN! LOL!! Classic learning experience about how late beautyberrys really are to leaf out in the spring! I though about where I was standing and said "well, this is as good a spot as any!" The planting of the beautyberry on that side of the steps was complete luck because of my lack of knowledge of the plant. It was quite serendipitous as I think that side really does work better than the right-hand side would have. It's one of my favorite shrubs.

Pixie Lou, thanks. I had half been wondering if it was an eggplant. I did grow some this year but they didn't get that tall. I did have to stake them a bit when the fruits weighed them down. Next year I will use a cage. That leaf color is really nice. I'll have to find it.

Thyme2dig, I really enjoy the Fall too and having as much color as I can as late as I can. The orange Mum has come back every year for the last four years. It was just a Fall Mum that I planted without a name. It looked the best it's looked this year, because I finally managed to trim it back twice over the early summer. I think that made a big difference.

You have obviously planted with the Fall in mind and it must be fun to see it all maturing so well. Gorgeous colors! Love photo # 4 especially. Are those Birch or Aspen? You have a great view! Photo #7 that Japanese Maple is a gorgeous color too!

Girlcat, I thought I posted in response to your great photos, and I know I started to one day, but I guess I got distracted and did not. You have a nice way of taking photos. I just love the one of the morning glories from below them with the blue sky above. Very pretty! Your aster is such a nice powder puff form, must be a double? Such a pretty blue!