It's autumn...

 Scattered frost this morning... Had ghost pepper seedlings just coming up in a pot got frost burnt...

And still, sun came out, temp improved and the butterflies came out in force!

Gulf fritillary showing off it's ultra-violet spots as it nectars at hot lips salvia...

Another frit...

Zebra longwings...

Another one...

Cloudless sulfur

American holly

Check all those berries at the top!

American lady.... kinda looks like it's been around for it's life expectancy...

Flowers on camellia sasanqua.

Blue stem

Jewels of Opar

Mother hen and biddy

And... Some autumn colour on a maple!

Signs of Spring

I'm starting to see colour...
Hate the winter blahs... Even though the people in Florida get 6 more weeks of Florida, after a palm tree saw it's shadow... I'm not as lucky... When I moved South (back in the '80s), I didn't quite go far enough...

Small clump of daffodils In the foundation bed in fronnt of the house...

Daffys n Kitties in front of the garden wire... 

Dead stems are  from the lantana...

Candy striped camellia

 Red camellias

 Variegated camellia...

Last Spring the voles chewed up the roots on this plant... it was laying on it's side when I rescued it... and potted it up... I decanted it... just before it bloomed.

Electricity in the garden...

The winter rains means a chance to do my trenching, and work can be done on 'infrastructure'.

Mockingbird

Plus.. the hellebores are blooming!

 

Normal weather

Enjoy it while it lasts...

Some camellias have recovered from those single digit temps...

Daffys!

The hellebores are looking good!

Happy Christmas!

Christmas day dawned cold!

The frost blooms on the verbesina look like ribbon candy...

In spite of the chill in the air... there is a bit of colour in the garden...

The camellias look nice...

The hellebores are starting to bloom...

The seed heads provide plenty of winter interest....

Ageratina altissima

Bluestem

eupatorium?

Agalinis purpurea

cudweed (gnaphalium sp.)

The wild holly berries look nice... (Ilex opaca)

mahonia

And... finally, ice crystals from the rain bucket.