Green to Halloween

Fall weather has both extended the life of potted flowers on our deck and muted a colorful fall foliage season. Yin and yang.

As darkening days remind us that winter is just around the corner, it’s lovely to still see colorful and full-grown potted flowers adorning the perimeter of our deck. We’re already two weeks past what I consider our average annual frost date (Oct. 10th) here in the valley, and it looks like we may continue our lucky flower run past Halloween.

A string of cloudy and rainy days has acted like a blanket, with clouds holding heat close to the ground and warding off that first killing frost.

At the same time, our extended warm and moist conditions have allowed trees to persist with an unusual amount of green foliage, or muted fall coloration at best. Large Sugar Maples, with their awesome contrast of bright yellow and orange foliage, set against dark branches, usually capture my attention the most, but it may be the dimensional fall colors of the Sweet Gum that actually take my fall color award.

Bob