Fright Night Larry

One of my favorite days of the year is fast approaching and I've gotten Larry ready to fright and delight with what I think is his best costume yet; the rest of the decorations will be going up this week.

He's pretty gruesome during the day.

But he gets even more so after dark.

Plenty of new growth is evidence that the gardens are enjoying the cooler weather as much as I am. I planted some coleus about two months ago and had pretty much given up on them, but lo and behold if they haven't finally starting to grow and in a few weeks I hope that the two hanging pots I planted them in will begin to fill out.  

The apple and rose cuttings aren't showing any signs of rooting, but the figs are. All of the cuttings are starting to leaf out, so even without roots, I'm confident that they'll survive and by Spring should be ready to plant.  

Fig (L) and Anna Apple (R)

Climbing Joseph's Coat

The petunia that has been barely hanging on throughout this summer is now producing deep, vibrant purple blooms, the zinnias I planted back in late August are about to bloom and the dwarf white Mexican petunia, Ruellia brittoniana, is blooming daily and will do so for the next several months.

This truly is the deepest purple petunia I've ever seen.

Can't wait to enjoy these in bloom, as they're in the window box outside my office.

Unlike the more common purple variety, these stay nice and compact.

'Novelty' is now putting on quite a show and it should continue for another week or two.

'Baby Toes' appears to be all bloomed out, but it looks like there may be a seed pod developing, although I'm not sure, since this is a new plant for me.  The female Euphorbia obesa has finally bloomed, and there are three more buds forming, but I'm not seeing any budding on the male plant.  Based on photos of the first one I bought, it's a female as well so I planned well when I put the male plant in between the others.