Small red flowers on a vine with airy, threadlike foliage, growing on black metal scrollwork.
This is cypress vine from #Garden2025. One of the plants I grow for hummingbirds. It's so delicate-looking it gets a little lost on the big arches between beds of corn, raspberries, and other annual flowers, so I'll give it a separate spot of its own this year where it can shine.
Small potential pumpkin at the base of an unopened flower. The vine is climbing up a tall evergreen tree.
My hand pushing back evergreen branches to better show the 15" diameter pumpkin growing in the tree.
From #Garden2025: This 'Rouge Vif d'Etampes/Cinderella' pumpkin vine traveled down its bed and up an evergreen tree, where it produced a fruit that became the largest of the year. As the pumpkin got bigger and heavier, it gently descended via gravity. Final color was a bright red-orange.
Three sunflowers in shades of orange, rust, yellow, and rose against a background of arborvitae. A bee explores one of them.
Some 'Evening Sun' sunflowers from #Garden2025. A bee explores the biggest one. Always take photographs of the warm and colorful days because they do brighten up the gray ones.
Pink roses and buds.
Melon-orange roses.
Abundant raspberries ripening on their canes.
Bunches of purple grapes ripening on their vine.
A short respite from rain! I cut back the long rose canes so they don't fly around in the wind all winter. I'll prune and thin for growth in March along with the raspberries. Even earlier than that, I'll cut out about 90% of this year's vines on all the grapes. #Garden2025 #Garden2026
White hellebore flowers with yellow centers.
White hellebore flowers with yellow centers.
Our earliest hellebore started flowering in November and is still opening buds. It usually comes out just in time to be eaten by slugs and snails, so this is its best year ever. #Garden2025
Oakleaf hydrangea foliage in shades of red.
Yellow azalea leaves and next year's flower buds.
Lichen on the colorful younger twigs of a red maple. Ferns and other leaves in the background.
Festive red and green in our north-facing woodland garden: Oakleaf hydrangea, yellow azalea, and lichen on red maple. #Garden2025
Overhead view of a grouping of pumpkins and gourds in different sizes, shapes, and colors.
Another overhead view of a similar grouping of pumpkins and gourds in different sizes, shapes, and colors.
Time to transition the exterior decorations from pumpkins to jingle bells. Best harvest ever! Thank you #Garden2025. Now comes winter and the planning of #Garden2026.
The dahlias are MULCHED. Layers of plastic and raised bed mix plus bags of leaves. We warmed up with hot cocoa and butternut pie. Rough job, but somebody has to do it. :) #Garden2025
A butternut squash trimmed, halved, and seeded on a cutting board with kitchen shears and grapefruit spoon for scale. Dark yellow interior, smooth tan skin.
The fourth and final entry in my #Garden2025 butternut squash trials: old standby 'Waltham' -- developed in Massachusetts in the 1940s. Mildly sweet flavor, good texture. The one to grow for sheer poundage of squash (big vines, too). For special-event eating quality 'Honeynut' remains my winner.
Small butternut-style squash with dark caramel-bronze skin, deep orange interior, halved lengthwise on a white cutting board. A cluster of seeds, a grapefruit spoon used for cleaning out, and a knife blade are visible.
Cooked our first 'Honeynut' squash, the butternut-buttercup cross. Deep color, few but mature seeds, sharp and fruity pumpkin aroma. Flavor is rich, slightly less sweet than 'Honey Bun' acorn. Texture is very dense and creamy. I would definitely try this one in pie. Will grow next year! #Garden2025
Large double purple dahlia and smaller single-flowered coral dahlias.
Half the dahlia border now cleaned, leveled, and covered in plastic. Mulching will continue as weather permits. We will start checking them for sprouts in May. #Garden2025
Territorial Seed Company catalog (cover art is children maintaining a community garden) surrounded by packets of vegetable seeds.
Sorted all my old seeds. The leftovers from #Garden2025 are sealed in a bag for emergency backup next year. Anything older than that got tossed. 2022 photo of one of my favorite catalogs and the seeds I bought that year.
Small butternut squashes in my gloved hand.
Small butternut squashes cut in half for cooking, showing a good quantity of mature seeds.
The #Garden2025 butternut squash trials continue. Today's lunch included these little 'Butterbaby' ones. Not bad, sweeter than the 'Butterbush'. Well-pollinated, with mature seeds despite their size. Still to try: 'Waltham' and 'Honeynut'.
Fully open double dahlia in shades of warm dark pink and light red on yellow.
Here's a full-blown 'Macalister's Pride' dahlia, new to the garden this year. Beautiful warm color that we needed in the border. #Garden2025
Tomatoes (large dark red one, several small orange ones), a large yellow tomatillo in its wrapper, and two cucumbers.
'Sungold' tomatoes still producing. Great hardworking and healthy variety. Can we ripen those last little green ones? Maybe with a few more sunny days. Photo from earlier this summer: 'Sungold' and 'Black Krim' tomatoes, 'Queen of Malinalco' tomatillo, 'Raider' cucumbers. #Garden2025
The last thing to plant in the garden for 2025 is this large bowl of soft neck garlic. Soft neck stores very well. I will count how many I plant and comment.
Who else has or is planting garlic now?
#garden
#garden2025
The 'Honeynut' squashes are ripening nicely in the kitchen. Looks like they'll be ready in time for Thanksgiving. 😋 #Garden2025 #Thanksgiving2025
Dark rose-pink double dahlia, half opened, with glowing yellow center spangled with raindrops.
Gold-melon double dahlia, mostly open, splashed with rain.
Photographing dahlias while we have them. 'Macalister's Pride' and 'Lora Ashley' still looking good in the cold and wet. #Garden2025
Raspberry pink double dahlia flowers with a yellow base.
'Macalister's Pride' dahlia opening flowers very late in its first year in our border. This is a nice color. #Garden2025
A small double dahlia in shades of peach and rose with a bud next to it.
We thought we lost our 'Foxy Lady' dahlia over the winter, but it bravely re-sprouted and even produced a flower. It has buds, but we don't expect them to do much. Soon it will be sleeping under thick mulch in preparation for next summer. #Garden2025
Two dark purple double dahlias covered in raindrops.
Good old faithful purple dahlia with no name. I wait for this one every year. #Garden2025
Lavender dahlia with pointed petals in the rain.
'Unicorn Dreams' dahlia glowing in the rain. #Garden2025
Two dahlia flowers on the same plant: One is solid red, and one has red stripes on yellow with some solid red petals.
'Aw Shucks' dahlia, typically striped, is disguised as a solid red flower for Halloween. #Garden2025
Still windy, but a break in the rain let me do some #Garden2025 work. Cleaned out cucumber vines, cut down four o'clocks and big marigolds. Leaving the little ones for anything that needs to feed on them. Saw bugs sheltering in the dahlias. Collected plant ties for re-use. Gray Novemberish sky.
3 red apples on a countertop
That's our apple harvest in.
4 reasonable sized fruits and if these are as sweet and crisp as the 1st I will be really happy.
#Garden2025 🌱
Pile of decorative gourds in many shapes and colors on a brown painted wooden floor.
Some of the outdoor #gourd action. #Garden2025 #Halloween #Thanksgiving #autumn #harvest
