I need to clean out my pots on the deck but time is short now. It will have to wait until December. Some areas west of us are expecting frost so it won't be long before we will be affected as well. The pat few years I planted my Christmas Poinsettia in the garden and it has done so well. The deer had not touched it but this year, I notice that some of the leaves have been picked off. The geraniums are still blooming but most of the other plants have just been stressed and are looking bedraggled due to the heat and drought. I thought I had purchased a kiwi and the plant looked good through the summer but didn't begin producing fruit until September. I kept looking at the thing and thinking how much it looked like a tomato plant and it is a tomato plant.

I hope next year will be better.

No landscaping for me except for grass.    I had a poor garden experience this year.  We had a lot of rain in the spring and about one inch of rain in August and September.  I planted a kiwi plant but it began to bloom in September.  It turned out to be a tomato plant.  The package was mis-marked for sure.  I was going to cut down some plants in the front yard but it bloomed this fall.  The write up about the plant says it should bloom in the spring.  Go figure.  I have a dwarf Japanese maple that is lost in the midst of these shrubs.   I checked in with our Extension Service and it turns out that the shrub is a petulatum or Chinese Fringe plant.

Dear Angie,

Today is 10/28 and we are expecting a true frost! For Halloween, our kids will see very cold and possible 2-4 inches accumulating snow! Oh dear!

Mary Caliendo
Tea Editor

It's been warm here but the temperatures are going to be dropping and we will be blessed with a little more rain. My concern is California with those dang fires. My brother and his family live in Southern California.