First Snow!

I first noticed the snow today on Facebook. It was only when a friend's status update mentioned the snow that I got up from the computer and looked out the window. My goodness, there were tiny white floating flakes falling from the sky! I think many areas of the prairies saw a little bit of the white stuff today. Besides snow in the sky, two fighter jets roared over our house today. They were flying north, though I can't imagine what exciting destination they were speeding off to.
Alpine garden, which looks remarkably attractive at this time of year:

I have noticed that few of the alpines go brown and ugly in fall, leaving this bed more attractive than the big perennial beds right now. The little succulents simply change to reddish shades as the weather cools.

The sloped bank of sedum turns red for fall and winter, coordinating well with the surrounding forest and its colorful deciduous trees. RLM cleaned up this bank by beheading the dead brown flowers with the weed whipper.

I did get some bark mulch from the local store before they cleared it out for the season. Unfortunately, I didn't benefit from any end-of-season sale prices, but at least I got some before we welcome the snow. I really appreciate how the mulch keeps the weeds down, as I hate crawling under the low branches of the mountain ash tree to pull weeds. I'd rather spread mulch once a year than get the tree droppings tangled in my hair on a regular basis.


I blogged earlier this year about this patch of perennial border that I have never really liked. I replaced a messy mass of dianthus and moved a peony from a hidden spot in the yard to the center of this area. The hostas look decidedly nicer in the fall than those other perennials that lose their aesthetic appeal after flowering (like the dianthus). I dragged the hostas, Brunnera, and Alchemilla mollis from other areas of the yard and then underplanted the area closest to the front with about 20 Anemone blanda bulblets.