October 2009
After such a banner summer it was only to be expected that more typical seasonal weather had to be just around the corner and indeed October 1st looked much more like the kind of weather
we expect to see this time of year. It was dreary, drizzly, raining at times, for most of the day.
The 2nd did start off a bit better, and there apparently are another 3-4 days of balmier weather on the way, you gotta love that. The other thing you gotta love is the fact there are still flowers
to be found in the yard, such as this rose for example in the backyard.
That first week of October and into the Thanksgiving long weekend we have seen some bonus weather.
Plenty of sunshine, the occasional cloudy patch, temperatures in the high teens C, no precip, just perfect fall weather. There are signs all around though to remind us that winter is not far off, embodied here by the close-up of a leaf on a Hosta 'Fortunei Hyacinthina'.
The vast majority of the Hostas are starting to die back, the early flowering ones have their seed pods opening up and while there still are a couple of them that insist on flowering, the seasonal change is here and we'll say goodbye to them
again until March/April 2010.
These seedpods are on a Hosta that I refer to as 'Green Revolution', which is an all green sport of 'Revolution'.
Like its parent, this is a vigorous grower and readily sets seed. They are OP seeds and quite unlikely to render anything exciting in terms of seedlings, so I'm not too worried about saving them. That's why I just let them be.....
On Saturday October 3rd we went to visit our friend 'Lovely Pauline' and instead of taking the car we decided to take the new Canada Line into downtown Vancouver. We were
at the head of the train, which allowed me to take this picture showing the track right at the foot of Cambie Street, having just crossed the Fraser river. The Marine Drive station is visible virtually dead center in this picture. Once it leaves that station the trip continues underground
all the way into downtown Vancouver. While the trip portion in Richmond was in bright sunshine and gave one a different perspective from the usual one when you traverse Richmond, the underground section into Vancouver is really quite boring.
I was commenting to Waita the other day that it was absolutely amazing how long this particular Bleeding Heart cultivar just keeps on blooming. We've had it in the corner
of one of our North sideyard planters for 3 or 4 years now, it's Dicentra 'Luxuriant' and is one of our Costco acquisitions. It may not be quite as vigorous perhaps as D. spectabilis but it stays around longer and flowers until the first frost kills it off. Here it is October 11th
and although we recorded an overnight low of 1.9º C on our patio, it doesn't seem to have bothered this one at all.
Ace and Neka were almost cooperative for some quick fall pictures, they just didn't stay put very well. This particular shot has been turned into a Thanksgiving card, used for the main website as well as
some e-mail greetings.
It's that time of year when you shift your focus from the obvious beauty of flowers and fresh growing foliage to whatever catches your eye in terms of shape and colour.
Here it is a grouping of some Echinecea seedheads, above you saw the brilliant orange/yellow of a Hosta leaf. Regardless of the time of year, look around and you will inevitably find something eyecatching and as such worthy of a picture.
