End of Month Review - October 2015

I seem to have missed October, I feel like it has been and gone before I have had chance to really say hello.  I could say that I've been really busy and whilst I think I have been, I cannot show you anything much that I have done.  I shall just put it down to someone unknown stealing a couple of weeks of it when I was looking the other way.
I shall start in the driveway where things have been growing rather well.  This hydrangrea aspera has been doing very well this year and the yellow leaved shrub (lost the name) but it is looking really wonderful this time of year.
The Pin Oak has done well this year and is turning flame red.  I still love this tree very much and I am hoping that next year it will put on a lot of growth as it will have had time to really put down roots by then.  I think it takes trees a couple of years to really settle in before they start to properly grow away.
By the front door the red rose and white anemone are doing that thing they do every year that makes me smile.
and the quince hedge, which is not quite hedgy enough yet but it is getting there.  There is also some self-seed Verbena bonariensis in the cracks in the path.  I let it grow but I do have to hack it back every now and again when it starts to get hard to get in the front door.
Around to the back of the house, the Rosa Maidens Blush is having its final flower of the year.
In the borders there has been a bit of a penstemon outbreak.  This one is still flowering well.
The garden is looking distinctly autumnal.  This picture really sums up the garden for me at the moment.  The field maple in the background is about to turn an incredible yellow and flames of autumn color are rippling along the pleached hornbeams.
In the borders the asters are still flowering well,
as are the chrysanthemums.
The nasturtiums have had better years, but the flowers are always welcome.
This aster and amaranthus mix really pleases me.  I want to claim that I knew the pink center of the aster would look good with the red of the amaranthus, but this would be a lie.  I forgot it had a pink center when I planted it.
There is still quite a bit of color in the garden when looking along the Long Shoot.  You can see the windfall apples waiting for me to tidy them up.
The grasses around the pond are looking fantastic this year.  They have taken a few years to really mature as they were grown from seed, but now I am very happy with them.
and where-ever I turn there is usually a little brown Esme cat watching me.
The Four Sisters are growing well.  The Carol Klein acer is colouring up well and the Edgeworthia in the background is looking healthy and strong.  I shall be watching it anxiously over the Winter as usual.
The other side of the pleached hornbeams are the Three Cousins, they are also colouring up well.
As I look up into the Wild Garden there is a ginger Bruce cat looking back at me.
The Euonymus is putting on its Autumn color beautifully,
the Catalpa on the other hand just looks mucky.  It is not a graceful season end for this tree.
I like this view along one of the paths through the Prairie Borders, one of the Aldi acers is having its moment to shine.
and even as the season declines into Winter there are signs of Spring already, the fluffy buds on the Magnolia stellata are forming already.
In the veg borders the broccoli is broccling.
and the cabbages are cabbaging.
The greenhouse is quite full of overwintering plants, sheltering from the oncoming frosts.
and the pond is still looking fairly clear and is filling up a bit from recent rains.  It is good to be able to see reflections in the pond again.
Thanks as ever to Helen for hosting this meme.