While I hid in the studio on Saturday, Sunday was an outdoor day. It was mostly cloudy, but it was dry (at least the sky was – everything else is still soggy), and the sun did peek out here and there throughout the day.

Most of the day was spent planting bulbs – one of my two mail orders came late, and it was now or never to get them in. And just in time too – we woke up to a good frost on the ground Monday morning. It wasn’t enough to kill everything off, but it was a sign that the hard frost isn’t very far away.**

The cool air has a very interesting effect on the flowers and I took these pictures when there was a real chill in the air.

For many of them, the colder temps seem to intensify their colours. This Good as Gold rose is always orangey in bud, and it fades to a golden yellow as it blooms, but in October, it gets amazing, bold coral tinges.

These Susans normally have dark orangey-gold petal that deepen to red at the centre – but the cold weather has made them much more intense and red-orange.

And these mums are normally a pale pinky-mauve, but icy winds have made them a much more intense pink.

And of course, the weather is affecting my Burning Bush

It’s not yet the glowing red that mature ones get, but it’s got much more colour than it had last year and it makes me so happy. It’s more or a smoldering bush than a burning one, but it’s still young. It needs a couple years to really develop that fall fire.

The Toad Lilies have been absolutely spectacular this year

Normally, I get a handful of flowers and then it’s done. I don’t know if it’s the wet summer, or what… but the buds just keep coming on these guys. I’m definitely going to have to split some of these up next year, because they’ve taken over the steps in the catio yard.

While we had a brief uptick in the temps mid-week, there’s no denying these blooms won’t be around for much longer. I have to enjoy them while I can.

After alll

My Holly Bush is reminding me that Christmas is just around the corner!

** of course, Mother Nature then decided it should be WARM all week – the last three days in the high teens/low 20s (celcius). Where was this weather when I was on vacation two weeks ago???