garden wandering

Fall is perhaps the best time of the year in Albuquerque, which is a bit ironic for me, because it is probably the season where I get most depressed. I know winter's coming. The garden does its best to cheer me up by giving a blazing last hurrah, but sometimes it only emphasizes for me that the garden will be entering the winter doldrums. Strangely, when winter is in full swing and the garden is all black and brown, with a few grey or dark greens, I find it peaceful and worry-free. It's funny seeing how my mind works.

I would like to claim responsibility for the color combination of lavender and Prunus bessyi 'Pawnee Buttes' above, but I didn't know that the lavender would be blooming to this degree at this time of year. But it is a fantastic combination isn't it?

The seed heads of Clematis scottii having been hanging on for the last 2 months, and I've finally gotten a change to photograph them. They make me think of Dr. Seuss.

The purple smokebush is turning its full color. The parent plant is a rich purple in the summer, and is now mostly yellow. Maybe mine gets too much shade, because the other ones in the neighborhood add an orange tone to the summer purple as their fall color. I think that nurseries sell purple smokebush as seedlings rather than cuttings, since as I look around the neighborhood, there is quite a bit of variation in plant form and color.

A seedling of it in my garden, grows in more shade than the parent, and turned this mottled orange and red color. It's funny how different it is from the parent.

I've been too busy to take care of things in the Orchidarium. The bromeliads need dividing. The rose cuttings are in dire need of repotting.

This cutting was repotted a few weeks ago, and produced this flower. I'm still debating if I should replace 'Iceberg' with this one since it does better in the summer. But then 'Iceberg' is doing better that this one in the cooler weather of the fall. Time to get back to work!