Autumn - it's the new Summer

Here in Frisky Town Autumn (or Fall as you may like to call it) is warm and sunny, with the odd brisk or rainy day to shut you up when you start to get complacent.

Today was warm, as you can see from the view from the bench, left. Matt, John and I drove to Burlingame to buy coats. No, I mean get plants. At the crack of 9am. Craigslister Lisa was giving away 8 lavenders ("Hidcote") and 6 Limonium (Statice, or Sea Lavender) which she'd had a change of heart about, and it took mere minutes to dig them up and drag them away.

After that, John and I went to the garden to plant those, a whole load of other plants he gave us, and a few I bought up in Mendocino recently. Here's what we put in the ground:

Behind the Wrong Way sign:
6 Limonium
I also transplanted several corn marigolds and a red Pelargonium to fill in the area directly behind the sign, and deadheaded the cannas.

In the left bed (where we recently lost two Echiums to wind damage):
1Berberis Thunbergii F Atropurpurea "Royal Burgundy"
1 Verbascum olympicum
1 unknown yellow Verbascum
1 Buddleja x weyeriana "Honeycomb" 
2 clumps of Stachys byzantina (Lamb's Ears)
1 Nicotiana with green flowers - not sure which one

Along the steps:
2 Achillea "Moonshine" 
4 Achillea millefolium (white)
3 Achillea millefolium - might be "Terra Cotta"?
1 Silene coronaria "Alba" (Rose campion)

We also planted John's Fremontodendron californicum (California flannelbush - a native).

We also weeded, deadheaded, pruned and all the other tidying up you do as you go around the garden. John left, and Matt came back from surfing, and we finished up with some watering of the new plants. I got to visit with Jess, Adolfo, Sofia, Jim, and Carrie today.  You couldn't ask for nicer neighbors!