The first fall rain...

fell in San Francisco tonight. What a relief! Summer is over and I can let Mother Nature have control of the garden for a few months. No more supplemental waterings! No more room left to plant.

I'm digging in bulbs once a month from now until December. By Thanksgiving, I'll have sown seed for all next spring's annuals; it's lupine, poppy, and flax for 2007. Summertime cuttings of Mimulus, now potted up to one-gallon, await January's inevitable warm spell. The winter vegetables are in and on their way: strawberry, beets, lettuce, broccoli and lots and lots of beans. And I planted an artichoke, inspired by Nina's sojourn in Sicily.

I'll head back the Tibouchina when the last flowers fall, and I can't wait to see the Dahlia imperialis bloom this winter. The white ribes is already beginning to make flowers!

The Mandevilla and wild grape have just begun to turn colors in my garden, but the vine maple is already dormant. Spicebush, elderberry and climbing hydrangea show no sign of slowing down. Flowers on St. Catherine's Lace have only just begun to open, and one Salvia spathacea just sent up another flower stalk. Crazy.

I'll add pictures tomorrow.