The News from Kenabeek

We have had two real frosts in the last week. They did in the morning glories and scarlet runner beans, and the remaining poppies and cosmos. And the black-eyed susans had been pretty well over even before then … or so I thought. It’s another glorious fall day, cool and sunny, and I went out to do some clean-up in the gardens because it was just too beautiful to stay indoors. To my surprise, I found several poppies with buds – both the red and california kinds – and, when I dead-headed the black-eyed susans, I found quite a few new blossoms further down the stems. And two of the nicotiana remain unbowed. And the carrots are doing fine – every so often I pull a few more.

It’s been rainy and windy the past few days, and most of the leaves are gone, but there are still a few poplars with their tops intact, leaves fading from gold into orange, like torches in the woods. And the tamarack’s needles are just beginning to turn. When all the leaves are down, the tamaracks will have golden needles.

Last year was the first time in the then-13 years we’ve been here that we never saw a flake of snow in September, and in fact there was no snow on the ground at Halloween. This year, again, not a flake of snow so far. But the weather reports say we may have some snow tomorrow or the next day!

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