Happy Halloween

From the whole gang!  Which witch is which? 

May your Halloween be frighteningly full of treats!

May all of your tricks be fun.

For you history buffs, here's a link to an interesting article about the history of this harvest celebration.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we'll be having the first rain-free Halloween in eleven years.  The day will be sunny and early evening temperatures are predicted to be in the fifties.  No frost on the pumpkin so far this year.

Some years we leave the lights on and hand out candy, other years, we're lazier,  close the curtains, and pretend we're not home.   I hope you enjoy the day whether you celebrate the holiday or not!

In a Vase on Monday - The Eyes Have It!

A playful raccoon decided to knock one of the eyes off of the Dr. Seuss tree (What I call most topiary.)  One of these days, I'll get the ladder out and put it back up but for Halloween, a cyclops is just fine.  Clever raccoon was trying to remind me of a cyclops tumbler that I'd found at last spring's Glass Eye sidewalk sale.

Don't be frightened, the vase won't harm you.

Also just right for the season is this glass face container found at the same sale.  It's holding Senecio viravira along with some pokeweed and cotoneaster berries.

Cyclops is holding Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus', opened seed pods of Iris foetidissima and unopened pods of Paulownia tomentosa along with some pokeweed berries from last week's vase.  These two looked a little lonely.

So some Jack-o-lantern friends joined the party.

In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Be sure to visit her blog to see what others have scared up to put in a vase today.

An Autumn Visit to Todd's Nursery

Each October, after visiting the pumpkin patch, we stop by Todd's Nursery and I vow to visit again in the spring and summer but somehow never make it.  Todd's is a large nursery with lots of lovely areas to stroll around and explore.  See previous visits here, here, and here. On this day, we'd just attended the Glass Eye Sidewalk Sale, Fleur de Lis Garden Statuary, and the pumpkin patch and I wanted to get home to do a little gardening so I didn't wander as much as usual.

Once again, I found myself wondering why I don't visit this great nursery more often. 

Todd's does autumn beautifully.

Shabby chic birdhouse.

Every bird needs a lake house, right?

Unless your birds prefer a country cabin getaway. 

There was a sign advising that customers should ask for help with the cacti. 

This table and stools had me drooling.  Fun to look at but when sitting at the table on the stools, where would your legs go?

The red culms of Fargesia jiuzhaigou are gorgeous & it almost jumped into my cart but I'm kind of out of space.  In reading more about it after I got home, I learned that it's slow growing and does well in containers.  Wonder if they still have it?

'Sugar Thyme' flowering crabapple is lovely.

No visit to Todd's is complete without saying hello to the happy koi in their pond. 

May your road lead you to wonderful places this weekend!

Growing Old Gracefully - It's a Mess out There!

Fall is a chaotic  time in my garden.  In addition to leaves falling from trees and plants continuing to grow and sag with the weight of rain and the tumult of wind, the gardener only  gets to play outside for a few hours on the weekend. Some would call it messy, I prefer to think of it as the garden growing old gracefully.

For some reason, the wind keeps this part of the path relatively leaf free.

 Perhaps because they all blow on this part of the path. 

The berries of Mahonia gracilipes are looking lovely.

Hail pelted the garden a week or so ago and tattered broad leaves.

Blossoms too.

I considered going kaleless this winter but then grabbed a couple.

The maples are coloring up nicely.

Meanwhile, out in the parking strips...

Poncirus trifoliata

There's still a lot of green to enjoy until Jack Frost comes a knocking.