Before A Patchy Frost

Who knows how low it will go. The diagnosis is calling for frost. The temperature has been holding steady at 48 degrees for hours despite a steady onslaught of winds from the north. This is not the kind of behavior that says frost to me.

There is frost and there is a killing frost. I don't think we are in the kill zone yet. My roadside weeds will continue to bloom. They are a hardy bunch. I am even getting a small re-bloom on the chicory.

Things are still weed high to the porch roof in places, but the process of a tall flower meadow being laid low has already begun. Between heavy blooms and heavy rains many things have fallen and can't get back up. It is the nature of the beast that I must learn to work with.

As the wild falls down all the baby shrubberies hidden for so long have begun to rise up. A new garden will emerge from the chaos for the winter.

There Was Sunshine

Finally, half way through the day the sun came out.

Which now means it's gonna get cold-er. There is a patchy frost warning for Thursday morning. As it should be. It is that time of year.

The seasons slowly creep to my eagerly anticipated winter rest. By the time it arrives I may be completely exhausted. Right now there is no let up of work in sight. How does this happen to me? I make no effort what so ever to find work.

2012 marks my first complete year of tragic full employment. I sure miss those leisurely days of cozy cabin construction.

Fog Off Fog On

I need a knife. It's thick out there. It has been more thick than thin. There has been very little thin.

For the last two days I have been encased in a cold, wet and ever drizzling cloud.

It's thick out there.

Thick wet fog and the highs have been around 43 degrees. I have my long underwear on.

There is a suggestion of sun for tomorrow. That would be nice.

The Declaration Of Autumn

Senescence is in full swing. Autumn has reached the north face of Hebo mountain.

It is still a good week to ten days before the peak of leaf peeping season in these mountains. Much remains green. My little spot gets an earlier start because of the north facing direction.

Uncle Ernie is ready for the rubberneckers. He got a new do for the fall.

The roadside vegetable garden is looking rather forlorn, but there is still food to be had. Peppers need picking. Potatoes can be dug. Lettuce, chard, mache and kale are giving us salads. There will be plenty of parsnips after a couple of frosts make them sweet. There is cauliflower that is looking nice, but I don't think they will bloom in time to beat the clock.

The tall grasses will take me all through the fall and continue to stand through the winter, depending. Depending on the quality and quantity of snowfall.

The dogwoods are deep red below a maple that's turning. A Witch Hazel stays green. It will actually be blooming in another month after the forest is near completely bare.

This is autumn high on the low spot of a North Carolina mountain top.

And to make things complete, a thick fog has rolled in while the temperature has dwindled. The declaration is in.

Mums And Blue Asters

The last big blooming hurrah is here.

It comes in the form of the Sheffie Mums.

The Yellie Mum climbs high.

And it comes in an ocean of blue asters.

Which nicely, are not dependent on full sun and will tolerate a good deal of shade.

The original Sheffie Mum grows as low as a ground cover at the forest edge. The plant is so diminutive these single stemmed flowers seem to float on their own, attached to nothing. It is an eery effect like small sparkling lights that could scatter on a puff of wind.

It grows a bit taller and thicker in the roadside bed.

And it spreads. I haven't decided if I care to stop it.

Just let it grow. It is the last big hurrah of a full season of blooms.

Falling

Do not use the top of a mountain for your horizon line. The cozy cabin really is not about to fall over. Fall is coming to the mountain though.

Two little sprigs of the Yellie Mum have turned into this in just two years. The cozy cabin looks a bit more level, but the Cleome are still bent over from heavy rains and blowing winds. They may not stand back up before their time is over.

I got zero growth on the Japanese Maple in this bed and all the others this year. They never recovered from the two late freezes this spring. Bummer.

Pink skies glide overhead of a falling world down below.

The time of vegetation is nearing the end.

The Sheffie Mums Are Here

Last night's deluge gave way to a beautiful warm sunny day that I was not expecting. A rainy morning interrupted the scheduled activity for the day. Then an early morning call about a babbling brook emergency that was not sent me to town anyway. The babbling brook was just fine. Once there I managed to get a few things done at three different places.

I came home to a tall flower meadow attempting to stand back up after three and a quarter inches of rain and plenty wind. The Sheffie Mums, much closer to the ground were unfazed. What could be better than a hardy perennial flower that only begins to bloom the first of October?

Even the Frost Asters, Symphyotrichum pilosum, the most woody stemmed and rigid of the asters had a bit of a lean after the deluge.

The Yellie Mum also begins to bloom at the beginning of October. This yellow progeny of the odd pink Sheffie Mum is a bit more lank than its parent. It flops. I ignore it and let it do its thing.

The time of vegetation is winding down and thoughts of tidying and straightening things up holds little appeal. It is what it is at this time of year. Soon enough it will all be a frozen brown.

Now is a fine time to relax and enjoy.

Blue

Every where is blue.

A near monochromatic blue has engulfed the mountain. It borders on being unnerving.

I wait for the trees to turn to provide some relief. Rain and a bad head cold don't help.

I feel all this blue penetrating deep. This blue is every where.