Meanwhile

Hello autumn light!

Spider season is upon us.

Cobwebs appear everywhere. I am grateful that they are snaring the biting gnats which are still around, probably because it is still consistently about ten degrees hotter than average every single day. I wouldn’t mind some cooler nights to dampen the enthusiasm of the bloodsucking bugs, but then too I don’t like being cold.

Maximillian sunflowers, having recovered ten fold from my attempts to reduce, restrict and restrain them in spring, have brought their blooming golden abundance to the garden.

Pollinators of all sizes are bathing in all these happy yellow puddles.

When they are not falling asleep, that is, on a final flowering of zinnias which have managed to survive a summer of extreme heat and extreme neglect which equates to lack of water.

Though it’s a sparse and mean flowering I will take this late season zinnia budding and blooming and be grateful.

There are even a few marigolds rallying now that they are getting regular watering again. Not enough for garlands, but I’m sure my dead will understand.

Mostly the garden is offering vistas of stalks and seedheads.

Garlic chive (Allium tuberosum) burst and scatter seeds. What isn’t foraged by various roommates will germinate come spring.

These alliums are very successful little colonizers and tasty too.

Serrano chile peppers are also taking advantage of the unseasonable warmth to indulge in a spurt of budding and fruiting.

Considering how bad the plants looked when I returned from that July leave of absence, I am impressed.

The resilience of the plants in the garden is amazing. Here in the desert it seems we oscillate between two modes of being: endurance and resilience.

Now excuse me while I sort through my seeds to plan a cool season leafy greens planting. I am thinking about trying for more than just garlic roots and shoots this winter. If it is as mild as recent winters past, the gamble might pay off. If it’s a cold winter…oh well, let it snow! Not bloody likely: weather gods prove me wrong.

...like any dealer I am watching for the card that’s so high and wild I will never need to deal another…

(Apologies, Leonard, for distorting your words)