Autumn in Oregon

During my extreme busyness in September I managed to do one little craft project to mark the turning of the seasons. The hydrangea bushes with their abundance of blooms still looked beautiful as the flowers dried when the weather turned cooler. I was amazed they retained a lot of their blue and purplish color so I cut the prettiest heads to make a fall door wreath.

                                      

I bought a styrofoam wreath base and a role of linen ribbon to wrap it with. On the day that I could squeeze a bit of time in for the project I began and quickly found out that one roll of ribbon was not enough. Thwarted by Murphy's Law ("It always takes longer and costs more than you first planned.") 

It was another week before I found more ribbon and continued on with it.

                                     

                                I wrapped the wreath form without using any glue or staples.

      

                                Then inserted the stems of the flower heads into the wreath.

                                         

I was one flower head short, even after cutting an extra at the last minute. The flowers that were left were greenish instead of blue so I decided to fill this space with a bow instead. Choosing a color of ribbon to match but also have a autumnal look caused a lot of indecision.

                                    

I finally chose a rich brown taffeta but still wonder if I should change it for the linen ribbon instead?

      

I have harvested many more pumpkins from my garden since I took this photo and have placed them around the flower pots but you can see something of my porch here.

We had been having some lovely October days that gave me time to harvest the garden and work outside in the fresh air. 

       

                                          This is the border of the vegetable garden.

                                        

                                                    Dahlias are at the end of the zinnias. 

                           

                                           Some of the roses were having one last Hurrah.

       

                The anemone, such a carefree perrenial to have, was taking its time to shine.

And then suddenly, without warning, one clear night last week, we had a pre-dawn frost. So now the flowers are done. I always try to take one or two last bouquets to enjoy indoors but I was so focused on picking tomatoes and peppers and pumpkins that I didn't. I'm so disappointed that I missed it.

       

So now the woodstove gets lit every morning, jackets and boots are cluttering the mudroom and soup simmers on the stove. 

Flower season is over.