Happy Halloween!

“But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.” 
― Stephen King, 'Salem's Lot

The fall season at Illahe Nursery and Gardens

It seems the older I get the more I take notice of the changing of the seasons, The little things like carving pumpkins seem to take on new meaning as the years go by, My little girl is now a teenager and Halloween isn't such a big deal as it once was. But she still carves a pumpkin with her dad on the weekend before the big show. Life goes by pretty quick and if you blink you can miss an awful lot. I smile as the facility maintenance guy brings his grandkid by the cubicle for a trick or treat at the office and I'm reminded of that little 3 year old dressed up like a lady bug, wide eyed and wondering about everything in the world. Now it's horror movies and haunted houses with her friends. I sigh a little bit and I think about how some people find the often grey days of Autumn depressing and I think about the spring that waits around the corner and how you wouldn't really appreciate anyone season if it didn't give way to the next.

Crocus cartwhrightianus 'Marcel'

I love the stories of where selections came from and this is no exception, the story goes it was named by Janis Ruksans for Antoine Hoog's son. Mr. Hoog grew the wild collected seedlings and sent them to Janis. The saffron type looks fantastic this time of year with the failing light and although the slugs love them, I've finally got a handle on those critters by some frequent metaldehyde applications under the pots. 

If I can get my act and camera together before the frost and wind have taken there toll, I'd like to do a post on the Autumn crocus collection. 

Rain, but not that cold this week. Still haven't seen a frost or gotten really close to it, which is nice because I have some food crops I'm trying to get up and established in the greenhouse. 

Cheers, 

Mark