Accidental Still Life

One of my hypertufa planters on the deck has become a landing spot for items collected by the kids on their adventures.

They have good taste.

Late November Color

Kind of a memento mori for the miscanthus...staring at the compost heap, knowing it will join it in the spring?

 This combo of calamagrostis brachytricha and cotoneaster franchetii keeps on giving.

Oak leaf hydrangeas carry on with business despite being planted under a huge maple with greedy roots.

More of that cotoneaster, mmmm....

Angelina sedum

Lonicera foliage and one of the last blooms

The hellebore nursery under a hydrangea contains seedlings from my favorite purple hellebore.  They need 2-3 more years to bloom.

Arum italicum 

 The last rose?

I have troughs in the basement, sealed in plastic, fully cured and ready to come outside, but I couldn't bring myself to put them out tonight for the predicted 17 degrees.  They can wait.  After all, it's winter.  I need to learn to wait again.

Fall Color

Fall color comes in surprising packages sometimes.

Autumn Troughs

This is one of a grouping of troughs at our house.  The angle of the light and the changing foliage make it easy to tell the season without a calendar.

The dracocephalum turned such a great yellow/orange this year, though I need to divide it next year (it's a flopper).

In the back rank of troughs lives a quince with sedum sieboldii at its feet.  I LOVE this sedum in autumn.

Fall Combo

I love this classy pairing of calamagrostis brachytrica and cotoneaster franchetii.  Even the fence looks good with these two.