Although there’s no threat of frost in this week’s hot and muggy forecast, this is our traditional time to start bringing Container Bed plants back into the greenhouse. Because we have so many tender plants it’s better for us to have to do a little extra watering once they’re inside than be caught in a frost warning gotta-get-them-in-right-now!-panic. As anyone who’s ever moved knows, it’s good (cathartic even?) to throw unwanted, useless things away first to make the load feel a little lighter. So we’re culling the herd. It’s tougher to throw out living breathing plants than pants you haven’t worn since 1983 though. There’s always the temptation to save them – maybe this year it’ll be beautiful!… Maybe this year it won’t be infested with mealybug!… Maybe this year pinstriped pegged jeans will be back in style…

Our first casualties were the Agapanthus. They were gorgeous once upon a time and we’ve been holding on to them as they’ve gotten more and more pot bound and more and more infested. It’s time to let go. So we asked Nick to do it. Nick The Willing (I think that’s his Viking name), one of the Deadheads, says “Sure! I can do that!” every time we ask him to do some hideous thing. In order to not throw the baby out with the bath water (ie. save the pots), he carved away the poor old roots and took a saw to the pot sides. Now what will we get to fill the empty pots?

Fred spotted somebody else making a move this week. Never-ever, not ever have I ever seen a slug this big outside of a Pacific Northwest rainforest! I’m not sure where he’s been this dry summer or where he was headed but Gail couldn’t help herself and took him home so that her 8 year old could impress the heck out of his classmates. I wonder if they’ve named him yet … He looked like a Jerome to me…

And froggy went a courtin’. The Rockettes found this one in the Rock Garden. The pond has dried up again but looks like a Nepeta nest makes a next best second home.

Anyone else making a move?

I know I’ve already gone on and on about the quality of light this fall – but really, honestly, truly these crispy dew-drop mornings with sloping sunshine are divinely gorgeous! All sorts of lovelies were lit by this morning’s spotlight:

The Tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima) down by the shore was an effervescent haze of pearly gray-green-blue.

The Seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides) are almost prettier just past bloom when the bloom bracts turn a pinky red.

This is my favorite time of year for the Harlequin Glory Bower (Clerodendrum trichotomum). While it’s in bloom the scent is enough to knock me off my feet (or give me at least a little up-the-nose ache) but it’s all worth all kinds of perfume discomfort for the October red gift-wrapped turquoise gem berries.

As long as they’re in residence, I’ll keep taking their picture: This praying mantis must have just had breakfast and was cleaning its paws like a cat…

Mary’s Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) looked like it was singing an aria from center stage. For information about our Memorial/Honorarium tree planting program click here.

And this Trumpet spurflower (Rabdosia longituba) doesn’t need actual dew to look dew-dropped. Plant Delights Nursery describes this as a “woodland member of the salvia family” and it just started blooming for us in the dry shade bed under the Sophora by the Moongate. If Mary’s tree is singing, this is the sheet music!

What’s center stage in your garden?