It's definitely getting autumnal around here. Trees are turning vibrant colors and prairies are turning browner. Above, a maple, bright red, is already shedding its leaves. Below, the ash tree in my front yard has a burgundy crown with yellow underneath. (You can tell from the photographs, it's a cloudy, dreary day...)
Snakeroot blooms in my yard. This was a little treat when I arrived home, as I had forgotten about this final flower.

In the garden, we planted garlic yesterday. Last year (harvested this summer) we grew 18 bulbs in 2 varieties, of which we saved 2 bulbs for planting this year, and have 3 bulbs left BUT we have been eating garlic from the farmers market because I wanted to save some of ours for a little while. This year (for harvest in 2010) we planted 42 cloves, in 10 varieties! It's exciting to do something for next year in among the cleaning-up and destroying... yesterday I also removed all our tomato, pepper, basil, melon, corn and bean plants (and a lot of weeds that had grown in between them to snugly to take out before). And I started the long process of flower bed tidying with the composting of the nasturtiums. So it was a long, chilly afternoon in the garden -- and several more are needed before the winter sets in!