Fall. Sigh.

I've said it before: fall is a bittersweet time of the year. Considering how much I dislike winter, the bitter is probably enhanced. I've tried to like winter. I have five books on the winter garden. I've learned to ski (I'm trying to "ski train" right now). I plant plants that bloom just before the first hint of warmth (Rosemary). I've plants that bloom until the frost hits them (the delicious scent of Osmanthus heterophyllus). I try to enjoy the down time in the garden, and the chance to coddle my orchids, make garden plans, start seeds. But in the end, winter's cold is inescapable. So fall is bittersweet. I'm tired of people saying that the bitter makes the sweet better. It's a melancholy time, but I've come to be amused by the emotion.

I'm not a chrysanthemum and aster kind of guy in this climate (loved them in California), so I plant other things. The Salvia 'Mystic Spires' is still blooming strongly in the same dark purple as the Salvia 'Indigo Spires' that I used to have (but took out because it was just too big - but now I'm sorry). The Salvia chamaedryoides is an even more glorious blue now than in the summer (and despite my earlier complaint of it's lack of luminosity, I'm enjoying the heck out of it). Salvia azurea is pushing forth it's fall burst of gorgeous sky blue. The oreganos (O. dictamnus, O. libanoticum, O. 'Kent Beauty, and O. sypleum) are blooming with their hop-like bracts and pink flowers. Nepeta 'Walker's Low' is still blooming (wow does that plant grow fast). The Salvia pachyphylla is still going strong with it's red-purple bracts. There are still some flowers on the Blackfoot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum) despite the dry spell. The Agastache are still going strong. Agastache 'Firebird' has much stronger colors in the cooler temperatures. Agastache 'Ava' is a raging purple-red that is almost an afront to my eyes. A. 'Desert Sunrise' has been nothing but a disappointment for me, producing colorless bracts instead of flowers unless watered well. A. rupestris has its odd combination of orange and purple, and is just finishing now. The 'Provence' lavender is still blooming just as it did in mid-summer. Even my Rosemary 'Gorizia' and 'Blue Spires' put out a few flowers in the cooler temperatures and the bit of rain. So I'm not, by any means, in want of color.

But I hate getting up in the dark, in the chill of night. But the reward for doing so is that there's something I can get at this time of year that I get that I don't in the summer. That's the morning sky. The colors light up the sky, and I can watch them develop the glorious colors as I eat breakfast. I suppose I could do that in the summer, but there's no way I'll get up that early.