Around the Yard in October

The mint lives!  After a long, hot, dry summer, I was sure it was a goner.  But here are the green sprigs to prove it pushes on, and that you really can't kill mint.

The Superbells have come back to life with cooler temperatures.  The foliage was green all summer, but the blooms were far and few in between.  I don't think this plant is partial to humidity.  To convert this planter into a fall arrangement, I transplanted the knockout rose and added a mum, and a pumpkin Tyler picked out at the Home Depot.

Oakleaf hydrangeas are gorgeous in fall.  All of the leaves turn a lovely shade of red.  I am still hunting for a good location to put another one... or two.

Toad lilies are a wonderful surprise in fall.  You definitely forget about them until they bloom, since the foliage is very plain.  It actually looks like a weed that grows around here.  The blooms are about the size of a quarter.  I got 6 plants by mail order in Spring and the blooms on two plants are actually two different colors.  This one is white with purple spots, but the other one is purple with dark purple spots.  Interesting.  The established Toad Lilies I've had for years completely dried up in the summer.

This photo doesn't do these mums justice.  They are intensely bright yellow.  They were here when we moved in, and I've never had the heart to tear them out, even though they are in a good location that I could plant several other things.  I guess it's worth the wait at the end of the season.

This photo is a little blurry, but at least you can see the color.  The wind was blowing pretty strong this evening and it was hard to capture anything.  This is one of many small oak trees that have turned bright red around the perimeter of our yard.  It's odd because all of the mature oak tree leaves go straight to brown and look crusty all winter.  I wonder if this is a different variety.

Don't worry, this isn't poison ivy!  It's either skunk brush or gooseberries.  I can't remember.  All I know is that it grows wild here, and turns a wonderful brilliant red-orange in fall.  There is a hedge of these bushes behind one of my flowerbeds that sits against the woods.  Lovely.

I couldn't help myself.  My favorite nursery was selling these gorgeous pansies for a good price, so I got a flat and put them in the new garden I've been working on since mid-summer.  There's not much else in there yet, so these have added some good color for the past month.  They will bloom in the snow, too, so I think this was well worth the money.

Check out this lovely clematis flower that has sort of mutated.  It's very odd and beautiful at the same time.  If you look closely, you can see the petals are green and pink.  I've never seen it bloom this late before.  There were four blossoms like this on the vine.