What a special treat we enjoyed today! Matt Nichols, Brian Rule, along with their videographer, visited us at MapleWalk.  We hope this will be the first of many visits!  They interviewed Tom for content about their visit for their YouTube channel.  Stay tuned ...

Our Mahonia japonica 'Winter Sun' is stunning this fall and loaded with blooms.  Soon I can look forward to the dark purple berry clusters, hence the name "Oregon Grape Holly."  The birds love the berries, and when they are perfectly ripe, they can strip the plant at one sitting. 

The finishing touch to the new bunny enclosure ...

 

Well, sometimes there are unexpected surprises in the garden that you don't appreciate ... like this!!!

Sunday afternoon I went out to the rabbit hutch to check on the bunnies, and this is what I found ... a big tree limb had crashed through the roof of the hutch!!  Thankfully, Butter and Peppercorn were fine.

The bunnies got a sun roof that they didn't ask for!

As we all know, duct tape has many uses!  Tom and I were able to remove the tree limb from inside the hutch and off the roof, and I got out the duct tape to repair the hole until Jake could get out the next day to make the roofing repair.  

Our Japanese maples seem to be slow in turning this fall, but Tom reminded me that last year it was November 20th when our maples were full of color in the garden, so while I wait, our Camellia sasanquas have plenty of color.

Camellia sasanqua 'Old Glory'
Hard to beat this combination of color ... white, pink and yellow!

 Papaver somniferum 'Lauren's Grape' is a favorite poppy.  I save the seed pods every year and distribute the seeds ideally at Halloween, but I'm a bit late this year and just sprinkled the seeds yesterday.  

Last year I just had a few of the dark purple color as most had reverted to a salmon pink color which was OK with me as I liked them ALMOST as much as the purple.  

I couldn't resist putting a dish of the poppy seed pods in a dish to display in the house.  

The new "Taj MaHutch!"

 

Our outdoor bunnies, "Butter" and "Peppercorn" have a new hutch!  The old one was beginning to break down with rotting wood, so it was time to start over.  Jake agreed to tear down the old structure and begin again.  He said he had never built a rabbit hutch, but had built a chicken coop, and was willing to give the rabbit hutch a try.  

This is Jake.  He was great to work with and did an outstanding job of the rabbit hutch!

"Goodbye" old hutch and "Welcome" new hutch!

 

Fall is a good time for change.  We had Loropetalum 'Ruby' providing a partial border around an Acer rubrum in our front yard.  We had one of the shrubs die this year and decided that this may be a good time for a change, so Tom had the difficult job of digging out all of the Loropetalum.  In their place, we decided to continue with the sweep of  Dryopteris erythrosora (Autumn Fern) we had started.  

Watering in the new Autumn Ferns

I look forward to late summer and early fall when my Toad Lilies are blooming.  I have to keep them caged because bunnies like them, too!

Tricyrtis hirta 'Miyazaki'
This is my favorite toad lily.

Tricyrtis formosana 'Gilt Edge'

  

"Mums the Word!"  Fall means the mums are showing off in their glory!

 

Ajania pacifica (Gold and Silver Chrysanthemum)

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium "Fanny'

                         

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Hillside Sheffield Pink'

                                        

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Cathy's Rust'

               

                                                             

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Gethsemane Moonlight'
(This was a new addition this summer and I am delighted to get a couple of blooms).

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Raydon's Favorite'