Autumn Vignettes at Chickadee Gardens

Take a deep breath, note the scent of decaying leaves, the sound of chickadees and nuthatches busily stuffing themselves for winter, enjoy a warm cup of coffee (or glass of wine) and a walk around the garden with me. This is a pleasure post to highlight autumn at its best.

As you make your way up the driveway, you are presented with this path that leads to the gravel and labyrinth gardens, the heart of Chickadee Gardens. I am so glad this path is here, it adds structure, direction, a lovely curve through a sea of field grass. It separates garden areas and also makes me think of paths in large parks. 

A vantage point I've never shown before, behind the Miscanthus s. 'Cabaret' with the house immediately to the right, out of sight. 

The rain came down heavily, I watched from inside, longing to be outside. The water on the window distorted the landscape beyond.

Another shot from inside, looking through a rain-drenched window. The path from the opening shot can be seen in the middle. This is the view from our bedroom windows.

Our pumpkin and squash patch with Kuri squash.

Many of these around right now.

We planted a Franklinia alatamaha in memory of our dear Lucy who died last year. This is its first bloom.

Tripods, allium heads and grasses.

Smell the apples from the trees in the orchard. Can you see the spider's web? The corn stalks are standing on the right.

Amsonia hubrichtii.

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' has been in the ground only one year but has already produced a respectable number of berries.

Now that we are back to our old routine, I had a little time to harvest and pickle the remaining beets. I added onion from the garden, too. Sooo good.

Buddha, a manzanita and the neighbor's tree and outbuilding.

Cardoon seeds. I saw these wafting through the air a couple of days ago. Me thinks we shall have many babies all over the place.

So autumnal. The corn has been harvested and dried, Facilities Manager has been working on that little by little (kernel by kernel).

The edge of the labyrinth garden, columnar apple trees in the distance mark the entrance to the vegetable garden.

The fire pit, the center of it all.

One of three coral bark maples in the garden, Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku', with a mature Acer macrophyllum in the background.

Carex testacea and a form of Sedum spurium add warm autumn colors to a container on our deck.

Despite it being autumn, the vegetable garden is still going.

Swiss chard 'Vulcan'

Raspberries are still going.

Sunshine through corn stalks.

An unknown chrysanthemum, although I still suspect C. 'Sheffield Pink'.

Warm colors at the edge of the garden on a foggy morning.

Sunshine through Cosmos atrosanguineus, chocolate cosmos.

A second Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' in the garden adds color to the top of the driveway and the shade garden behind it.

The onions were harvested.

We had a magical visitor, a white hummingbird called a leucostic hummingbird. Not a true albino for it does not have red eyes, but it lacks pigment in its feathers. 

Note: Before anyone thinks the feeder is dirty, it is burned bits of plastic on the outside from trying to heat up hummingbird juice several winters ago. I assure you it is clean. We scrub the hell out of it, the black will not come off. Anyhow, the Portland Audubon Society asked to share this photo on their Instagram account which is lovely and I agreed to, but I got a nasty gram from a birder telling me to "clean my feeder" along with a disgusted face emoji. Another Audubon Society from a different town also chimed in that the bird will likely be dead soon (survival of the fittest). All I have to say is "What's wrong with people?" It almost makes me not want to share any more. OK, rant over. 

This is our compost bin. I share it because it's so colorful right now, having had secret photographers here last week to take photos of the garden. Since it was pouring down rain, they shot a series of collections - asters, salvia, autumn color and hardy fuchsias. This is the aftermath, long after they had left.

Lucy's grave under the oak tree, Ceanothus g. 'Point Reyes' underneath the tree has filled out and the grass beyond has turned green again after much rain.

A parting shot of the shed and many glorious grasses.

Autumn is definitely here. We are so fortunate to be surrounded by amazing trees and plants with vibrant color, adding to the year-round garden experience. It's so incredibly different from spring and summer because perennials are literally dying for the year. We celebrate their color and the release of energy. There's nothing to do, you just let them be and they can be gorgeous in the process. It's probably the time of year I actually enjoy the garden the most because the chores are generally speaking much less after the food harvest is finished. The moisture in the air highlights spider webs and grasses while if we're lucky enough to get a light fog the atmosphere morphs into a mysterious landscape. The changing colors give a sense of depth and animation that are not normally present when plants' foliage are primarily shades of green. You can see the plants. All the plants. There are layers to the garden this time of year and I so enjoy turning corners to discover unexpected views of rapidly changing color.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always thank you so much for reading and commenting, happy autumn, happy gardening!