I have been reluctant to call it fall yet probably because we were a little (a lot) gypped by summer. But regardless of how I feel about it, the asters and Jerusalem artichokes have started to bloom, the tupelos have way more than one red leaf by now and the early bird sugar maple in town has already lost a bunch of its bright orange leaves (you know the one on Church St.?). And today it’s officially official.

How fitting then that this morning dawned in deep fog as if the air and water temperatures were in the same perfect balance as today’s day and night. Acceptance of what I cannot change (the rotation of the Earth) along with the fog, made my morning rounds of the grounds a total treat. But do I need 62 pictures of spiderwebs? Maybe you do! – here are a couple just in case:

(hover over for captions and click on for larger view)

I know a lot of people have already begun their garden clean-up. It is a perfect time for dividing perennials (many thanks to all of those people who have offered me their extras!) and planting – like I mentioned in the last post. Even though Gail is popping our purchases into the Rose Garden ground as I write this, we’re still going to wait to do any major clean-up, redesign or perennial divisions in any of the gardens. Meanwhile we and the volunteers are still deadheading and weeding all of the gardens to keep them worthy of visitation. And we’ve been busy making babies. — By which I mean we’ve taken cuttings. (Did you think I meant something else?) For a refresher look at how we propagate our favorite tender perennials – and how you can too, check out this post from last year.

Are you willing to call it fall yet?