Ah September, the time of year where the cold fronts move in and we get cool 98 degree weather. (That’s… that’s only half joking. It IS actually better than 104 degrees.) The children are off to school. And… that’s it. Fall doesn’t set in for a long time here, so it isn’t really fall-esque around these parts. Aside from fashion that is- I am SO ready for jackets and boots and vests and so SICK of plain tank tops and shorts. I assume it’s like being sick of your sweaters in the north, this tiredness of tank tops. And necklaces and scarves- I miss them! Sheesh it’s too hot for anything aside from earrings really.

This would be an awesome segue to talking about my Eve’s Necklace Tree, Angel’s Earrings Fuchsia, and Cashmere Bouquet Glory Bower. But I don”t have any of those and if I did they’d be dead right now.

But fall IS here, even if only the plants know it. It amazes me every year- the new growth that begins on all these dormant and struggling plants when September starts. The tomato has a new flush of stems, leaves, and flowers. So does the blackberry.

The yews look great and are starting to perk up. I don’t have a shot of all of them, but we have 3 different kinds. The standard english yew in the shade/Japanese maple garden. Then there is a low spreading one on the front corner of the house (replaced a rose the deer would NOT leave alone out there.), and the tiny leafed one I got my husband this year.

Heck, even the roses know the season has changed and are starting to flush.

It’s funny- roses are really some of the hardiest plants I have and they’re generally perceived as these delicate and fickle dewdrops. The Souvenir de la Malmaisson has tripled in size over this rough summer. So has the Earth Angel. And the Marie Pavie, Francis Dubriel, and the Parade (above) are flushing out with new growth.

The Madame Alfred Wegman has some weird die back on a few stems, and the Belinda’s Dream that’s planted in the driveway bed are the only two that could be doing better. But none of them have a lick of black spot (hahaha you need moisture for that… silver lining) and not a bit of spider mite (knock on wood, salt over shoulder) or aphids. I give a drill sergeant style pep talk to the rest of the garden using the roses as an example. (meaning I call them names and point to the roses as an example to be followed. Fall in line already, you pansies!) Ahhh. the pictures below are the roses in better times.

I’m making a HUGE mental note to add more late summer flowering plants to the mix because there are literally only three plants actively blooming right now, and two shouldn’t really count because they’re so pathetic about it.

Really the only one that SHOULD count is the Thryallis- it’s been a bloom machine for months.

And there are some things fruiting, even if the tomato is on hiatus. I’ve harvested about 6 key limes off my 22 year old tree (it’s in a pot. That’s a good harvest for that thing). The Meyer’s lemon has one big fruit on it, and the Calamondin is covered in fruit. Since the toddler has stopped eating all of these we might get a harvest. Maybe!

In other fruiting news…

So yeah. If you squint real hard there are a few things that don’t look totally awful in the garden right now and you can almost see it starting to come back.

Fall will come. Summer will end at some point. And when it does we’ll buy about 4 yards of horse manure and 8 yards of garden compost so we can raise all these beds with better soil and reset all the plants, and install the brick patio. (Fingers crossed! I hope it’s a this fall thing!)