Every bloom is a blessing by October 17 2013...

 Its October 18th... windy, chilly and seriously raining. I set out a plastic box and its now up three inches in the past two days.... I raced outside to snap a couple pictures to show you the end of my garden for Tootsie time...... Only, I was actually surprised just how much was still blooming although looking a bit beat up from the rain.

 Chocolate Joe Pye weed full of blooms and hanging over from the weight of the rain.. contrasts nicely though with the other foliage although a lot of the deep purple/chocolate brown foliage isn't as colourful

 Along the rock wall on the west side of the house is a testament to why annuals are so wonderful

Dahlias still blooming. I deadheaded this group last Friday. I fortunately took the dinner plate blooms off without getting a picture..

 I will know to plant Zinnias closer together next year for a better show. They are in the shade though

 A pop of bright yellow standing out. These seem to self seed and I leave them.

 Ladys Tresses are really standing out in the moon garden.. if I knew how Id take a night time picture to show you how the white and the variegated foliage catches the slightest beam of moonlight

 Japanese Anemone still holding on strong and stands out against all the chunky foliage of the elephant ears.

                                        Helianthus, Sedum and ornamental grass

 The glossy foliage of Aconitum stands out against the other foliage. The deeper blue of the blooms looking pretty good still. This time of year we are thankful for anything that remains.

 The blue Festcue is looking tired but the red of the Celosia draws your eye away anyways.

 Here's a Chrysanthemum full of buds. It will be awesome if it gets to actually bloom.

 The last bloom from my Chuhuly rose... faded..tired... but the plant gave me much joy this summer

 Here you can see how a lot of the foliage is damaged by slugs... next year I won't be putting up with it...Someone told me about some home remedy's... anyone out there have a favorite they would like to suggest... Last week I was on my Brokers course... this week I "should" be studying as I still have to take the State exam.. This weekend I have open houses and buyers to work with. But I will be trying to study the rest of the time so maybe I can take a break or so and get out to start cutting back some of the garden.

                       My pots still have some vivid colour as you drive up to the house.

 The other side of the drive has these yellow chrysanthemums.. I did cut down the purple fall Asters during a quick walk around during the week...

 Geum is still blooming.. Im looking forward to this clump growing into the other two and there being a greater presentation from them against the turquoise planter and the silver fuzzy leaves of Stachys byzantina.

 Another clump of the yellow chrysanthemum and purple fall Aster a colour grouping that is repeated through the garden.

 This sleeping dragon is about ready to be happily located to drier and warmer surroundings along with the mermaid.

 The last hurrah from Dianthus. I've left it to seed in hopes of it spreading itself in this bed.

                                I couldn't resist showing you this view of the fairy home...

 Its surprising the roses that are still blooming and like little bright flags against the rest fading fast

 On this wet day the morning glory was actually still blooming on the top of the trellis Jason built..

 When I moved here you couldn't see the patio for the weeds that had grown through it...

 there are a few blooms hiding...but, they are there for the person who really wants to see them.

 I planted these early spring... they have added colour to the front of the walkway all summer.. great value for money I would say.. I'm wondering if I could transplant them into a winter planter....

 More morning glory growing up and climbing the railings. I like to let it naturally go to seed so I'm guaranteed some for next summer. I like that they randomly seed themselves who knows where

 The ornamental tree by the pond is a blaze of colour this year... something that was missing last year due to a frost that killed all the blooms earlier...

My hanging planters are down but I have not cleaned them up... There are Begonias and Fuchsia still blooming. The hummingbirds did finally leave though..

So this is my garden for this week. Even wet and covered in the fallen leaves it looks beautiful to me.

But there is a lot of work ahead of me to put it to bed for the winter.

How are your fall clean up chores coming along. Are you planning any projects over the winter to keep yourself busy. Its noticeable the slow down of blogs posts already... It won't be long before we will have withdrawal.  Starting November I will be hosting a Manic Monday link up.... There will be suggested topics if you want to join in. Or you can post what it is you did that weekend... 

I hope you will plan on joining in.

Thanks for walking my garden.... Please leave me a message... I answer all of them and I love to visit 

your blogs if I'm not already following you...

Kate