Here's what's a little odd about the weather here in the Bay area: The trees and other deciduous plants are turning color, and at the same time we often have the hottest days of them all in September and even early October. Above, some tired-looking lavender together with a native buckwheat - still going strong - and Asclepias speciosa, a native milkweed. Asclepias started turning color a week or two ago - and with weather like this, and on an irrigation line that goes on once a month, I can't blame that plant.
After the explosion of color in spring and the more muted shades of pink and white buckwheats in the summer - together with the stunning sunflowers - I'm enjoying the setting into fall, the yellowing and fading.
Eriogonum fasciculatum, the native buckwheat next to the dragon fountain, has more brown flowers than white by now.
In the front, Eriogonum arborescens has turned a rusty pink - in a few weeks, the flowers will be brown and I'll trim the whole plants to keep it a manageable size. To the left Salvia leucophylla is its most grey right now. All summer, the leaves of this plant shrivel more and more until they are fairly small and very hairy - then, over the winter, larger leaves grow and those large grey-green leaves will contrast nicely with the purple flowers in the spring.
Even coyote brush, the spot of green in gardens in locations with just a little more rain and fog, is turning an odd shade of yellow. Hope it will survive those last hot days before we hopefully see some nice drenching rain.
In the side strip, Epilopium 'Calistoga' has worked out very well - I'll get more of that plant this fall - and even Salvia spatacea has worked well enough for the spot and will stay. A special delight this time of year is the deer grass (Mulenbergia rigens), which is putting out lots of seeds to the delight of the migrating birds.
And now, I'll get a Mr. Linky widget and I'll hope some more of you will join Ms. Country Mouse and me in showing off some true views of your gardens. We both enjoy Garden blogger's bloom day so much - but we've found that we lose the big picture when we post our blooms so this is our chance to keep track of the garden over the year.
Looking forward to visiting everybody else's first views - and this month, I won't be out of town so I'll come by soon.
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