October in Arkansas

The month is well under way.  Very welcome September rains had an impact, though since that moisture disappeared some of our grass has again gone dormant. The fierce heat is behind us at last.  Many of the plants re-emerged in the flower beds, the roses are blooming again, and insects abound. 

 This plant........









....is supposed to look like this:

 It's an infant redbud.  
Caterpillars, butterflies, bees, solitary wasps, beetles, cocoons--Fall is a great time for a unit on insects.  (Sometimes I still miss teaching.)

I'm saving the seeds from the cypress vines that are a decorative touch in my vegetable and herb beds.  (They are dressing up the scientific rain gauge.)  Such cunning leaves and flowers!

It was time to clean up the garden beds and prepare to till.  The pepper plants are producing at last, so they are granted a reprieve, along with the basil (and, of course, the perennial herbs in the foreground--oregano, rosemary, thyme.)

I thought the elephant ear had died--but here it is!  And the violets are reasserting themselves.






In addition, the flowerbed had a surprise for me:

I wish I knew if they are edible.  Either way, are they not lovely?

And the Fall blooms on the rose bushes are always welcome.  I wish you could sniff it.