John Steinbeck
A sharp drop in the temperature had us hauling out the winter duvet along with warmer clothes. However, it now appears that we could be set to receive some tropical warmth courtesy of the fallout from Hurrican Sam.
I love the zesty vibrancy of the leaves on our Catalpa Auria - Golden Indian Bean Tree, especially now.
As yet there are very few signs of autumn's gold appearing on the trees, and still the late Hydrangea flowers continue to flourish.
"Winter is an etching,
Spring a watercolour,
Summer an oil painting,
and Autumn a mosaic of them all."
Stanley Horowitz
What lovely flowers/leaves. It staggers my mind to absorb these colors on a grey day. Boom, they blast over me! I have my senses honed to find little bits of color in my environment, then my screen here just is overflowing. What a trip!
ReplyDeleteWe all need pops of colour as the year passes, and perhaps even more so when winter begins. At least by then spring will be on the horizon.
DeleteWe love our aeonium and we have been lucky to have conical line green flowers on it the last couple of years. Love all the colour in your garden. B x
ReplyDeleteYes, those little Aeonium flowers are very unusual - mine also flowered too.
DeleteBeautiful garden views.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteBeautiful flowers still! I love that concluding poem by Horowitz.
ReplyDeleteJust the last stragglers hanging on.
DeleteHello Rosemary, I take it that Mr. Horowitz didn't live in Taiwan, or Steinbeck either for that matter. Your garden, on the other hand, full of color and interest, continues to delight in any season.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello Jim - I guess that you are right about them not living in Taiwan. Steinbeck was born in California and died in NY. Horowitz too lives in NY, and I believe he is still alive.
DeleteDear Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteLike you I am finally getting around to appreciating succulents. I see that your frilly cactus has turned red on the outer leaves. Mine do the same but turn all green again once they go inside the greenhouse.
Beautiful photographs again.
Dear Gina - that plant is called Echeveria ‘Ruffles Red’. It has an almost surreal appearance. There are so many fascinating succulents available these days and they are also very easy to propagate. I have quite a few in the house now where they live happily with hardly any attention from me.
DeleteDear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful colours and forms are in your garden just now. This morning it was 6 degrees here and I was wishing for gloves while I drove to the market. Our hydrangea plants vary from pale pink to deep burgundy and they are what's providing colour just now, along with the berries on the cotoneaster.
Dear Lorrie - 6° does sound quite chilly but I know that, like here, it can just as quickly change for you too, and suddenly turn much warmer.
DeleteI do love the way that you always find little jewels in nature and capture them for us to see.
Dearest Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteYour golden Catalpa is glorious; love all golden green leaves as they always stand out.
Indeed, succulents can fill in for shape and color.
Stanley Horowitz phrased it so well!
Enjoy the remnants of summer, even if you already had to change your down duvet.
We're still close to 30°C but again rainy since Monday... too many rain all spring/summer and right into fall.
Hugs,
Mariette
Dear Mariette - you are still warmer than us but it is nice to have a bit of a reprieve courtesy Hurrican Sam.
DeleteSadly our Catalpa Tree has never flowered and given us beans even though it is now mature.
😒
DeleteYou have some wonderful colour in your autumn garden, Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan.
DeleteDear Rosemary, autumn is definitely coming near - it got cold here to, the acorns are turning red and yellow - and a soft breeze here too makes us undress the warm coat. But in the morning and evening I turn on the heating - and the stars at the sky twinkle brightly - which now means "cold at night" .
ReplyDeleteDear Britta - I like the sound of your acorns turning red and yellow - I think that I would probably collect some and put them in a bowl. Enjoy your stars twinkling brightly but be cosy.
DeleteThese are beautiful. What Stanley has written is ever so true.
ReplyDeleteStanley's words do feel appropriate.
DeleteFall has arrived and with it the vibrancy we have come to look forward to. Yesterday, it was an incredible 21.5 degrees here, and we went for a glorious walk with colours all around us and a carpet of leaves to walk on. Chipmunks were scurrying busily gathering winter storage, though they must wonder whether summer has come to stay!
ReplyDeleteThat's the same temperature as here, but Autumn has hardly touched our trees as yet.
DeleteVery colourful garden. I think a lot of folk will be experiencing the chill of winter given the recent predicted gas hikes. I rarely put the heating on before the pandemic arrived, preferring a warm sleeping bag, hat and gloves in the middle of winter instead but this season coming I may even break my own house record for spartan living as I grudge giving them any cash at all :o) Being a hill-walker and already having all the cold weather gear I need for sub zero temperatures comes in handy.
ReplyDeleteYou paint a really wonderful image of yourself.
DeleteDear Rosemary - Different species of plant look to spice up your garden. Seed pods picking up sunlight and fascinating colored Aeonium especially caught my eye. We can’t see fresh blooming Hydrangeas at this time in my country. At the beginning of Sept. I thought autumn came much earlier but season has gotten back to summer with temperature topping 32 degrees C.
ReplyDeleteYoko
Deaar Yoko - 32° is a summertime temperature here - that is very warm. Only 21° here, but very pleasant and rather that than very chilly dull weather.
DeleteHope all is well with you.
Beautiful photos of my favourite season. Succulents are very interesting, and we are adding them to our garden too, after caring for our son's plants for six months. We miss them now they have moved to their new home! I think Summer has arrived here, 32 deg. today (she groans :)
ReplyDelete32° is a nice temperature, but hotter than that is too much for me - I simply wilt. Succulents can be very attractive and some are almost surreal. It is very easy to reproduce more of them just by putting one of their leaves in a pot of gritty soil.
DeleteLovely pictures and I love that last poem :)
ReplyDeleteTitti
Thanks TittiXX
Delete