I can't tell you how happy this pile of leaves made me feel when I got home from work tonight. I have been fighting allergies and working so I haven't been able to get out into the garden to do much lately. As you will see plants are going ahead with their agenda and my Dearly Beloved has tried to get some of the leaf mulch out of areas he is comfortable working in, like the knot garden. There were several of these piles of leaves around that after dinner I scooped up and put into the compost just before it started raining. UGH We just stopped squishing through the garden and we have several days of rain to look forward to so says the weather people.
My best performer in the garden at this time is the freckled Hellebore. It is just blooming its little heart out.
The daffodils must have sensed that I was becoming a little impatient with them so some of them started to bloom. This cluster of daffodils are remarkable. I know I can hear you saying well, they look awfully common. I'm not going to argue that but these daffodils are remarkable in that these are some leftover bulbs that I just threw on top of the ground several years ago when I dug up a big clump to seperate and got tired of planting. I threw them here thinking I would get back to planting at some time and didn't ever do it. There was a big bush here that I am ashamed to say hid a lot of, ummm, things I didn't want to deal with at the moment. Do you have any spaces like that? Behind a garage or behind a big old bush in the corner of your garden?? I think what helped them most is that I would throw leaves and sticks here to keep "until later". Finally we took out the bush and the daffodils started blooming. They were so grateful for a little sun. Why I even pulled the weeds from around them. I might even get around to moving them since there are other bushes now planted in this area and they will be shaded too much again soon. That is something I can do "later".
By this little group of daffodils you can see the varigated sedum is beginning to rear up. I keep having to dig out the all green reversions. I don't like the way a lot of my varigated plants seeem to revert. I wonder if it is the soil here or do all varigated plants eventually revert back to their mother plants?
Amongst the naked ladies the tall garden phlox is popping up. I can think of several places I would like to move a hunk of the phlox. It smells so good when blooming in late summer. I need some up by the patio.
And in answer to your question Barbara about whether I worry about the lillies freezing outside this time of year, No I don't worry. You see they are under the front porch roof and with the brick on the front of the house holding heat it would have to get very cold to actually damage the lillies. They are quite happy sitting here with their feet covered with purple pansies and yellow violas. I will wait until it is steadily warm to put them out into the garden. Which should be in about 3 weeks. We have had frost several nights this past week but they don't seem to mind their location. So here is hoping they will be ok.
the bittersweet is naked except for a few berries. It is odd that the Robins departed before the berries were eaten this year.
Another spot of green was some tall garden phlox. It doens't want to give up yet either.
The butterfly bush is fairly protected by surrounding plants so it has a few leaves. These will all probably be gone shortly. That is if it gets as cold as they say it will. 
I wonder where our snow is? They keep saying we will have some. Only some flurries so far. Maybe it is waiting until Christmas to visit us.
