We went pretty abruptly from summer-like temps in the high 80s just a week ago to daytime highs in the low 60s and overnight lows in the 40s.

I absolutely love autumn. Beside the cool temps that I thrive in, fresh apples top the list of things I look forward to this time of year. Even leaf raking is an enjoyable pastime for me.

Are you seeing seasonal changes where you live? Any chance you're going on a hayride?

We're in the middle of a hurricane. And hayrides arentt thing here. Lol.

I will share a poem a friend of mine wrote during a particularly boring conference call. He's a good poet and writer.


Autumn

A weaker light descends and runs
Beneath the branches of the ones
Who’ve seen a hundred seasons.

When summer radiance departs
The leaves escape and drift apart,
Committing minor treasons.

I like that.

Me too

I've waited to comment on this topic because I really wasn't sure about fall.

Like WTG, fall came on all at once this year. Monday it was 88 degrees and raining and on Wednesday the temp never got above 60 degrees. We haven't seen temps above 75 since then, and most days are in the 60's.

One day all of the hydrangea flowers turned brown, all over town. The only flowers left are impatiens (very tough here, difficult to grow in CA), red begonias (but not white ones), and chrysanthemums - which appeared in every store/farm stand/nursery all at once about a week ago. I've never seen so many! Perfectly shaped and covered in blooms in any number of colors I have never seen as well.

And pumpkins. People here are mad for them and everyone sets them out in their yards - sometimes dozens of them! All different colors and shapes. We would carve the occasional Jack-o-lantern in CA but nothing like this.







When in NE Ohio... We signed up for the whole program. Pumpkins, mums, a straw bale and a fall wreath. Not sure how the installation goes with the door but it doesn't matter - it's fall!





The vignette on the straw bale needs work, but I figure I can leave it there through at least Thanksgiving and might work in a creche or something around Christmas. If the pumpkins don't rot maybe I can make a few of them in to dog mush.

As might be expected, pumpkin patches here are a big deal. We had them in CA but they were small affairs with some pumpkins and maybe a pony ride. The pumpkin patches here are HUGE and have all sorts of things for kids to do.

I've seen ball pits, but this one had a corn pit!



Frost warnings are up for tomorrow morning, even though the almanac says first frost shouldn't until 10/27. I need to go harvest what's left of the herbs.

Then we wait for the "killing frost", the idea of which makes me somewhat uncomfortable.

Nice pictures!

I've lived in the South, North, West, and Polynesia.

I don't think much would surprise me.

I mentioned this in another thread but Fall seemed to happen overnight here.

The temperatures are now low '80's down to high '60's.

It's a very pleasant change.

I don’t know if I have ever experienced such a sudden and stable move into the fall season! The greenhouse where we buy our flowers in the spring posted today that their mum season is over (meaning they can’t keep growing them to full size for sale, not that the ones people have won’t survive) and that this is the shortest season they have ever seen owing to the quick switch to persistent fall temps.

I've been told to expect an Indian Summer before winter hits.

This would be good as I never got around to spray painting a lot of outdoor stuff and now it's too cold.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I've been told to expect an Indian Summer before winter hits.

This would be good as I never got around to spray painting a lot of outdoor stuff and now it's too cold.

Yes, there is usually a nice little return to high temps at some point! I remember trick or treating with Liam in a tshirt at least a couple times.

Steve gets sucked into the magic of fall.

1) If you can't get to harvesting the herbs you can throw a sheet (cloth, not plastic) over them and they'll probably make it. Well, maybe not the basil because it's more tender. But the perennials like thyme, oregano, sage...they are pretty tough.

2) Impatiens, actually a very tender annual in these here parts and will turn into a pile of slime if temps get down to the low 30s. People make the mistake of planting them way too early in the spring and lose them in a mid-May cold snap. If you're so inclined, you could cover those, too, if you want to go through the trouble.

3) Check out ornamental kale if you haven't already. It is basically....kale. Very hardy, will withstand pretty cold temps and could be around till Thanksgiving. It's not quite as colorful as the mums, but still a nice decorative accent in the garden.

4) Hot apple cider. Spiked or not, it's the nectar of the autumn gods.

5) Related - And have you gone apple picking? Or at least gotten some apples from local orchards? Honeycrisp and Cortlands are among my favorites.

Pro tip: Try the Butter Cookie dessert hummus from Aldi smeared on a cold apple; you almost think you're eating a taffy apple but it doesn't pack up in your teeth like caramel does. My Aldi had it marked down to a $1 a container.

Oh, and if you don't have one, consider a pumpkin carving kit. Tools that make it safer and easier to carve those beasties.

Like these tools. And patterns to tape on the pumpkin. I have zero creativity and even *I* can carve a pretty good pumpkin with this stuff.

https://www.pumpkinmasters.com/carve/

There are tons of kits out there, some with more robust tools than Pumpkin Masters. Check out Amazon, too. And your toolbox.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I've been told to expect an Indian Summer before winter hits.

This would be good as I never got around to spray painting a lot of outdoor stuff and now it's too cold.

Yep. I finished staining the deck yesterday, but I decided not to redo the part that is under the pavilion roof. It was in great shape as it sees no real weather, and it's a pain to haul all the grills, table, chairs, etc. out into the yard for the duration of the project, and then we cannot use it until it's done. Now I think I will just give it a pressure washing and a topcoat of stain. I can do that all in two days.

The temperature overnight has fallen about 10 degrees during the last week. It was 6 degrees last night and a clear chilly night sky.
Loads of windfalls in the garden, and here's a photo of our pumpkins:



https://www.dropbox.com/s/vucv...7_01_07_Pro.jpg?dl=0