The Garden Puts On Its Autumn Frock

As the days get shorter and the nights get chillier here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the garden is putting on its unique autumn attire. Our autumn color may come later than in other climates, but it still comes nonetheless. And I love it when it does. It all happens in time for Thanksgiving and that makes it even more special.

In the spring this hydrangea is a pure white. But with the onset of autumn the petals of the blooms as well as the leaves don a wonderful deep pink.

It's as if nature is burnishing them with the deep russet tones of autumn as decor for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Alone and less fantastic than its summer siblings, an autumn "Abraham Darby" bloom still puts on a show in front of the reddened hydrangea.


[In case you're wondering, that's an "Abraham Darby" in my blog header. It's my favorite rose in the garden.]

My puzzling "Princess Di" bower vine (that's only "supposed" to bloom from May to June), still has many white blooms on it that look enchanting in the November light. I was taking shots of this blossom when suddenly this bee zips in to grab a snack. I clicked the shutter just in time before the bee took off again.

Click on the image to see the bee and its silhouette larger.

And remember my unseasonable October apple blossoms? [If you don't click here.]

Well, I decided to leave them on the tree and now I've got a nice crop of what I'm calling "encore apples"! They aren't very big yet. But I figure that most apple trees like cooler weather and these apples may get big enough so that by the time we have our first frost some time in December, they'll be ready for harvesting. Hubby and I were actually able to harvest one apple off this tree from the first batch of the year. It was the first time we've ever been able to eat anything from the tree. It was a very nice and delicious little Pippin.

What the...????

Okay. So I'm out in the garden yesterday harvesting the last tomatoes and other produce...

The tomato bed was located next to the Pippin apple tree that hasn't fared well because it doesn't belong in our climate. The apples all fell off long before they were edible (always do). The raccoons and other critters eat the bounty because they obviously don't get a sour stomach from unripe apples. I've been tempted to remove it so many times, but then I feel bad and leave it because I can't bring myself to cut it down.

Anyway... as I moved around the tree, I didn't pay much attention to the fact that the leaves aren't turning like the rest of the trees around here, like the liquid amber just across the garden from it. It really didn't register that the apple tree's leaves are a deep, lush and vibrant green in stead of the usual crispy brown that they usually are this time of year from being zapped by our August heatwaves.

I was too focused on harvesting the tomatoes for it to register. But...

Then something caught my eye. I thought I was seeing things in the late afternoon autumn light. Is that what I think it is?


I moved closer. What the heck?

Okay, did someone switch hemispheres on me while I wasn't looking? There are apple blossoms on my Pippin... and it's the 14th of October! And last I checked, California was in the United States in the northern hemisphere! What in the world?????

It was too late to photograph the blossoms yesterday, so I waited until today to go back out and get shots of them. As I was shooting the blossom cluster I discovered yesterday, I realized that there's another cluster of blossoms higher up. This is insane!


The tree still has an apple hanging on the north side, and on the south side it's got apple blossoms--in OCTOBER!!!!

I've got friends and family that have just had their first frosts and snowfalls. They all live in the northern hemisphere (where I thought I was).

Seriously, did someone relocate California when I wasn't paying attention?

Okay, I'm officially freaked out now. The wisteria blooming in September was explained by my pruning it in August and encouraging a second bloom, but this??? Somebody explain this one for me.

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