October 4: Mist of asters

The shady roadsides in the woods are now grown up with asters, which have tall (sometimes 4-5 foot) main stems with many branches and many, many little, barely-blue flowers. If you look at them from a distance, it's almost like morning mist creeping along the edge of the road. When you get very close, you can see that the young flowers have dark purple center disks, and the more mature ones have yellow centers. It's an attractive little bit of variety.



These plants are good browsing for deer, and indeed, later in the day after I took this picture, I scared up a large whitetail buck which leaped up the road bank and into the woods as I went by.

October 5: State of the balcony garden

It's deliciously cool, overall. A bit chilly in my jacket in the mornings, and by mid afternoon the sun is just about too hot. (I can't promise to stop reveling in this weather anytime soon. It's such a joy, after the summer, it almost makes me want to dance.) However, even though they are not losing as much moisture due to heat evaporation, my balcony plants still need to be watered from multiple trips with a 1 1/2 gallon bucket, or they'll wilt. It's terribly dry.

Eight little green baby tomatoes have joined the first on my two tomato plants, with at least twice as many blossoms following them, but I don't expect to get ripe fruits. Once it gets cold at night and doesn't heat up much during the day, the tomato has a hard time ripening. I'll leave them on until the first frost, though, and then pick them pre-emptively and have some fried green tomatoes. It's what we always do.

Everything else that was alive at the end of August is still alive. The velvety red cockscomb are still tall and fuzzy and strong. The Shasta daisy I planted in the spring put on a few more leaves, but never showed any sign of blooming. I wonder if it needs another year? I'll try to keep it though the winter and see. The silver mound, on the other hand, has grown beautifully and been quite drought-resistant, to boot. It's soft and silvery and pouring over the edge of the pot in a lovely fashion.

When I stood out on the balcony this evening, the hem of my robe (worn for warmth) brushed the mint leaves below and released a scent up to me. I should harvest herbs again before frost. I think the mums, in the same pot with the coleus, should bloom in the next couple of weeks.

And there are crickets, still singing their hearts out under the trees below.