Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Garden in November

Spirea 'Little Princess'

I seem reluctant to leave gardening aside this year. I find excuses to go outside to putter around, rake some leaves and put things in order.


The weather has been unusually warm.


A few roses ignored my prediction that they were finished for the season. In the last couple of weeks, the temperatures have dipped a few times and they are now freckled and battle scared. Finally, at the end of November they are ready to be cut back and put to bed for the winter. 



This Pokeweed was one of the last plants to put on a fall display of berries. I forgot to show it earlier and thought that I would do so now. Two weeks ago the leaves turned brown, but the berries are still shiny and black.


Despite the mild temperatures, we had repeated hard frosts.




I continue to watch the skeletonization of this hydrangea with wrap fascination.


I have also been collecting seeds of all kinds.

These Amsonias or Blue stars have long, pendulous seed pods.

Rudbeckia seed heads

Dictamnus fraxinella,Gas plant

The trees are all bare now. It has been interesting to observe which shrubs and perennials have hung onto their leaves despite the frosts.

The freckled leaves of a Ninebark.

Ninebark

The odd leaf still clings to my Ninebarks.

Spirea 'Little Princess'

Spirea 'Goldflame'

It seems that a few of the Spirea are refusing to give into winter without a fight.

Viburnum leaf

Until last week there were still a few leaves left on this Viburnum.

Common White Lilac

I noticed this Lilac early this morning. I think it is downright confused by all this mild temperatures. 
There are fresh green leaves budding!


Thyme and Parsley in a glass bell.

The warm weather has also meant that my vegetable garden is still going. There are spring onions, carrots, thyme, sage and parsley.

More mild temperatures are forecast for the weekend. I plan to take full advantage and plant just a few more spring bulbs. Yes, I am still planting bulbs in November. Shameless, I know!

To all my American friends, have a very happy Thanksgiving!

29 comments:

  1. Już nie taki kolorowy, już bardziej królują brązy, ale dalej można jeszcze coś ciekawego zobaczyć. Bardzo mi się podobają szkarłatki, a nawet gałązka bez jagód. Pozdrawiam ciepło

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  2. It looks lovely - love the little glass bell as well! :-)

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  3. thank you for sharing! I'm knee deep in snow & slush... missing my garden & the soft summer breezes

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  4. I know you're thankful for these warm days...enjoy digging in your garden this weekend. What a treat it will be to see the hard work paid off by spring when the bulbs emerge!

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  5. You take such beautiful photos and your garden looks like a lovely place to be.......

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  6. Beautiful images. Same here on the trees losing leaves, but the shrubs are falling behind. My viburnum still is holding most leaves and the coloring is still varied. Many are spotted like you have shown and this is the first year they looked like that.

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  7. Love the frosty silhouettes!

    Thank you for your kind Thanksgiving wishes.

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  8. Happy belated Canadian Thanksgiving to you, and never be ashamed of planting bulbs.

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  9. Jennifer, the photos really are lovely this post. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. Your photos have shown the beauty even with the ending of the garden season this year. I agree Nov has been wonderful...mild and sunny. Hoping to burlap some shrubs today.

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  11. Beautiful images. I love the berries and frost images! So nice that you are having an extended season. I agree that some of the plants are confused by the weather. I saw some cherry blossoms the other day which aren't suppose to come out until spring.

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  12. Lovely summary of this time of year. Spiraea 'Magic Carpet' is always a star performer right now. There is hardly a time when it isn't ornamental since it comes out so early in the spring. I have planted bulbs in January! Happy Thanksgiving.

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  13. Such beautiful photos, fit for a gallery. I love how you play with light and get such fantastic results. Now, I don't recognize the small red blooms on the stem in the forth photo but would appreciate knowing what that is. Your Hydrangea photo is spectacular.

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  14. Good for you for staying with it... I have thought about getting a Ninebark... Like how you manage to get interesting pictures at this time of year!

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  15. I just finished planting my bulbs last week! I love your spirea pix. I also grow 'Little Princess' spirea. :o) I've never seen thyme with red stems. What kind is that? Thanks for the Thanksgiving wishes. I'm very thankful I found your blog!

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  16. Those berries are shining like black pearl. Happy Thanksgiving day!

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  17. I love the images of the frosty leaves--beautiful! My spirea are also hanging onto their leaves longer than I expected. I keep puttering around in the garden, too, and probably will until the first snow flies. Good luck with your bulb planting!

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  18. Thanks everyone for your comments. I hope that everyone in the USA is enjoying a big turkey feast.

    Gardeningbren, I am sorry that I did not better identify the pictures. Both picture 4 and 5 are Pokeweed. The plant is very tall (maybe 5-6 feet). The leaves are unspectacular, but the emergence of the berries is interesting to watch. First the red floral stems emerge (image 4). The berries are green at first on a magenta stem and then turn shiny and black. The berries are not edible. The plant can self-seed and become a nuisance, if left unchecked. So far mine has not been a problem.

    Casa Mariposa/Tammy I must confess that I did not notice the red stems on the thyme when I posted the picture. So, thanks for giving me a fresh excuse to run out to the garden and take a look. All my thyme have magenta/purplish stems. I think it must be the plant's response to the cold. The sun accentuated the color and made it glow giving it the "red" appearance in the photo. In normal light, the stems are closer to a magenta color.

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  19. Podobają mi się kolory twoich zdjęć. Zazdroszczę Ci tych zdjęć. Pozdrawiam.

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  20. Just beautiful photos. I love to see the contrast between the summer and the November coneflower.

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  21. Oh my, how lovely is your garden. Wow, I love all the colours. I bet it smells wonderful.

    We left Ontario a few months ago...I am missing it now.

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  22. Wow! Still planting bulbs! Good for you for taking advantage of this weather! I wish I had some of that ambition right now! I am in Chicago and it has been rather mild here too! Enjoy your weekend and happy planting!

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  23. Jennifer, I also have been reluctant to give up on the garden, must be the unseasonable weather, although quite wrongly I have been under the impression that Ontario would be knee deep in snow by now. Plants in your garden are still looking so beautifully photogenic.

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  24. Your spirea and Ninebark have fabulous colors and I love your pictures bathed in golden light. You must be happy about the warm weather considering how long your winters are!

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  25. I feel silly for having planted my bulbs so early! To think I could have been doing it now. That poor lilac, it's going to be a hard winter when it finally realizes what's going on.

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  26. How did I miss this post? I was once again perfectly charmed by your striking photography.

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  27. The fall colors are so beautiful while they last! Today is steady rain, but we are due for hard frost and possible snow in a day or so. But I also love the faded browns and tans. Each season has its own particular beauty. Your November garden photos are lovely. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  28. I am feeling just the same as you, I go out and putter here and there every day. Even in the rain. We haven't any snow yet, so every day I can walk without boots and still see grass (even though it's getting browner) is an added blessing.

    I love the pictures on your post, the skeletonized hydrangea is so beautiful and the pokeberries and ninebark foliage are amazing, too. I know I appreciate color (any color!) so much this time of year and for the winter months since we white will be predominate.

    I've been having some issues blogging lately and sure hope this comment comes through. The computer and I have had a tiff, but now (maybe) I've got it settled.

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