Very little on my gardening plate since I have short-timers attitude already! We always have a ton of work with fall clean up, many old growth oaks and those leaves and acorns have to be removed or they kill everything. Also huge white pines that shed needles and cones that make a mess in the front. So our gardening is limited to clean up this year. I have nothing on my list to move (that's a first) and have not bought a single plant with the exception of the mums that went into pots by the front door. Hopefully we'll get all the leaves up before the first snow but many years it's a race we lose :(

I CAN'T WAIT TO LIVE SOMEWHERE WARMER!!!!

All of my old garden roses...got them a number of years ago from Antique Rose Emporium in Tyler, TX, are blooming like CRAZY. Fall FLush is what most call it. I call it getting enough rain and warm not cookin' hot ! My clematis is blooming again too. My sedums are wonderful. And all the sweet olives are in FULL bloom. So I have a lot going on. Also the Salvia Leucothe is full of purple flowers and the butterflies and hummingbirds are having a great time.

I don't do vegs but I am getting more and more of the native plants so that the butterflies and hummers will be here as much as possible.

As a side note I swam today ! Water is COLD but wonderful when the pump is off there are swaths of warm water that I swim through and then cold...very exhilarating I can tell you :)

Guess it just depends on what zone you are in ...we are 8. c

Caroline, I bought two Climbing Pinkies from Antique Rose Emporium last year. One climbed all over the place, the other just sat there. I finally pulled it out a couple months ago. Have an order pending from Brushworks Nursery for some honeysuckle, jasmine, and clematis vines to replace it. I forgot to cut back the Mexican Bush sage in July so it's tall and sort of all over the place. Plan on relocating the majority of it next spring along with most of the ornamental grasses.

I pulled tomato plants in July. Kept a few to see what they might do in the fall. Tropical Storm Irene wiped out the remaining ones except for one that must have been protected from the winds. It has a few small green tomatoes.

I grow lettuce, arugula, bush beans, and Swiss chard in the fall garden. Harvested the first arugula yesterday.

Redid a couple beds recently and transplanted some shrubs ... oakleaf hydrangea, Little Lime hydrangea, camellia, couple abelias, lorapetalum, thryallis, and a few perennials. Planted some alyssum too. What a sweet scent. Next weekend I'll probably get pansies and call it done.

I am waiting for some bulbs to arrive and we will be planting those. For fall vegetables I have kale, peas, chard, sorrel, mache, lettuce, leeks, cauliflower, spinach and broccoli. Our first freeze was last weekend which did in some of our tomatoes and cukes and basil. Now I am throwing things in the compost, weeding areas, and trying to get more garden beds built before the cold settles in for good.

Natal I have used Brushworks in the past and they have great stuff and it is beautifully packed. I have what is supposed to be a climbing Cecile Brunner from ARE and it has never climbed...hmmm.

Since I am going only native I am trying to find small shrubs for zone 8. It isn't easy. Most need too much moisture...I want really drought resistant or else they get way too big. I have all these handouts and have worn out my fingers looking at every nursery in the SE. I have a few that meet the criteria but it is pretty hard. My gardens are really really small and lots of tree roots and dry...and...

I sure wish I had YOUR green thumb !!! c

This is the time of year that I "ungarden." I yank out the annuals that have given up the ghost, cut off the spent perennials and spend a lot of time raking and mulching the leaves. My stupid neighbor planted three oaks a few years back and they drop every leaf onto my yard and almost none on his. Those darn oak leaves will kill anything that's under them, so I always have a lot of leaf clean up. I run the lawn mower over as many as possible and mulch them to tiny bits.

By early December, the garden is put away until next spring, when I start looking for the crocus and snowdrops to show their heads.

I'm just starting, LOL! In Southern California, this is the best time to take advantage of winter rains and plant perennials. Last weekend, I took out a long-suffering rose and put in more drought tolerant natives. I have to do an annual pruning/cutback out back, maybe next weekend. We'll see.

I don't like gardening anymore, but I normally do pansies in containers, and buy mums, and sometimes cabbage plants. But, I haven't done crap this year yet.

Trailrunner....Try High Country Gardens. They have drought resistant plants up to Zone 10. Been around for a long time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plants

I planted some of the ornamental cabbage also Jane - only in containers. I did take a picture of my big planter - gotta figure out how to get it here from my Iphone.

I don't do annuals in the ground - only in pots. I am zone 6 something.

My roses are still blooming. Peppers and tomatoes will go here till frost - but we've pulled up all tomatoes now. Still have 3 in the sunroom ripening and one in the kitchen LOL. Since we've cooled down my salvia has really revived. I have some lantana that I am going to save over the winter (it's potted) since I saw some that Allison did last winter. I'm also going to try that with a ivy rose geranium - it is so pretty - I hate to see it go. I might even move it into the sunroom.

We mulch leaves so we don't have much of a problem with that.

Just waiting on the landscaper!!!