Yesterday was all about garden clean-up. It felt great! Tidying the beds and pruning the shrubs appeals to my organizing side.

Here’s what I did:

• I removed the seed heads from the sunflower stalks and set aside three of them
  

  Late-season Wildflowers

  for the squirrels.

• I stripped the remaining leaves from the stalks, and placed them in the side yard to dry. We’ll use them in our “haunted house” on Halloween.
• I cut a handful of wildflowers and put them in a  vase.
• I pruned the dinosaur topiary in the children’s garden.
• I continued my search-and-destroy mission for the invasive plant taking hold in the side yard.
• Finally, I pruned the Hardenbergia and Jasmin. That job was long past due.

Dinosaur Topiary

I love this time of year when the days shorten, the air crackles and the leaves, even in sunny California, start to turn. The squirrels are busier, the geese are settling in at the neighboring schools and the light winds knock down the end-of-summer smog. Good riddance to that.

Although it’s no longer “PC” to light a wood-burning fireplace,  I must confess to my weakness for that smell. Our fireplace is long gone, but I lift my nose to the wind and catch a drift from the neighborhood hold-outs.

It’s sweater weather. Time to get the broccoli seeds in the ground.  What’s happening in your garden?

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