October First Views-California’s Fifth Season

First Views is a meme that Town Mouse started to show seasonal view of larger areas
of your garden, rather than more focused photos of certain plants. She has a Mr Linky widget on her page so others can enjoy this idea, and add links to their blogs. Please visit her page to see her views and add yours: October First Views (Town Mouse)

Path view through the garden

Path view through the garden

In California’s ‘Fifth Season’, what Judith Larner Lowry calls the time between August and October, the iron hardy tarweed blooms and sets seed in our fields, there’s no hope of rain and most everything has bloomed and dried.  The primary color is yellow.

Holocarpha heermannii, Heermann's tarweed

Holocarpha heermannii, Heermann's tarweed

After the Rudbeckia fades, after the wildflowers have seeded, the bright yellow tarweed seeds are beginning to attract the goldfinches by the hundreds. The oak trees are filled with them and the raucous Acorn Woodpeckers and Scrub Jays compete for the most noise. The low chirp of the quail bubbles up every afternoon and the deer appear,…hungry.

Endemic Goldenfleece Ericameria arborescens and planted Deergrass, Muhlenbergia rigens

Endemic Goldenfleece Ericameria arborescens and planted Deergrass, Muhlenbergia rigens

I’m delighted to see that the deer grass above  has throw off several babies and those can be transplanted further out this Fall.


During these last summer months and September, indicative of this ‘fifth season, ….until today, ….has been without rain, and the hand watering has grown to be a chore hopefully ending with today and tomorrow’s rain storm. I’m ready to go on to the next season of Autumn and begin planting bulbs which are waiting in their box, arrived last week. 

Patio View

Patio View

We’ve had a last barbeque with all our friends and it’s seems time to make soup and put away summer worn out gardening jeans.

Monster Ceanothus, tamed. I collected the fence posts, found around the place, to make a zig zag 'fence'

Monster Ceanothus, tamed. I collected the fence posts, found around the place, to make a zig zag 'fence'

In the garden, I’ve tamed the monster Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman’ into a tree form with loppers cleaning up the lower two feet so sun can allow plants to grow underneath. It now also reveals the rustic ‘fence post’ fence I haven’t seen for a year. Last year, I thought I had it trimmed enough, but it will grow big, to 15 feet!

Natural meadow, planted with only CA natives, sage, Needle grass, CA fuchsia and monkey flower

Natural meadow, planted with only CA natives, sage, Needle grass, CA fuchsia and monkey flower

This year I planted three more, C. thyrsiflorus ‘Skylark’ but further out around the natural meadow where they can attain their natural size and shape.

Patio bed

Patio bed

Mullein in my favorite early form

Mullein in my favorite early form

 The mulliein from last month has been cut down and new early rosettes are forming here and there in the garden.  I’ll keep the ones in nice places, such as this one by the steps.

East bank has Rosemary, Thyme, Euphorbia, Artemsia 'Powis Castle', a Rose 'The Gift', Asters, and Lavender.

East bank has Rosemary, Thyme, Euphorbia, Artemsia 'Powis Castle', Rockrose 'Orchid Rose', a Rose 'The Gift', Asters, and Lavender.

South bank, planted with gum plant, Carex buchananii 'Red Rooster', Salvia brandegei and Ceanothus 'Carmel Creeper'.

South bank, planted with Gum plant, Carex buchananii 'Red Rooster', Salvia brandegei and Ceanothus 'Carmel Creeper'.

Most everything that needed trimming back has been done, the Euphorbia (carefully, using eye protection), the Shasta daisies I have left, Black-eyed Susans, Salvia, Penstemon, Lamb’s Ears, Yarrow, Lavender, Santolina and Artemisia, Redtwig Dogwood,…all cut back and neatened for Autumn.

A path, steeper than it looks, needs some steps, knocked out of place when the tractor went down.

A path, steeper than it looks, needs some steps, knocked out of place when the tractor went down.

Mulched bank, needs planting, something for dry shade.

Mulched bank, needs planting, something for dry shade.

Salvia bed gets afternoon shade

Salvia bed gets afternoon shade, shows trimmed ceanothus. Now there's room for more salvia!

Current and “Coming soon” bloomers: The new Anemones ‘Pamina’ have bloomed, the Asters budding and the Copper Canyon daisies are surprises that sit and wait until November.

Reading: The Landscaping Ideas of Jays by Judith Larner Lowry

10 comments

  1. Katie -

    Sue,
    I was taking a tour through your garden from my desk at work earlier today. What a treat. The rain was blowing in the library backdoor and I swear I could smell those wonderful, wonderful native plants. They are the best, especially in the rain. That smell is pure joy, and not just mine. I actually think the plants wake up happy from a deep sleep on the first rainy day. Thank you for adding the visual!

    • Sue Langley -

      Thanks, Katie! I love the first rain and the smell coming from the soapy smelling tarweed and sages. I can’t believe how fast the moss becomes green.

  2. country mouse -

    First rains – nothing like it. So wonderful. So early!! I loved seeing the views of your place, so interesting what lovely garden spaces, and it does make us pull back doesn’t it to make those more general comments about what’s going on. I really like Tmouse’s meme! The deer grass is such a stunner – I have one now too and am loving it. I put in three more but they are tiny yet.

  3. Sue Langley -

    Thanks, CMouse! Well, it’s rustic and country here and in the Fall and Winter you can rely on the natural beauty here. I’m jazzed about those deer grass babies and I forgot to say that the Gum plant is spreading on it’s own…makes me feel better for having paid $8. for a ‘roadside weed’. It seems well behaved and relatively neat and colorful.

  4. Curbstone Valley Farm -

    I’ve become a recent big fan of the Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ this year. I love the contrast against darker leaved plants, and it’s turned out to be one of the very few plants that our deer actually ignore outside the deer fence (except for an inquisitive nibble by a fawn right after planting, but it’s been unscathed since).

    I haven’t trimmed down our natives though. I wait until the new growth starts in spring, in part because a number of our native insects, including native bee species, will use some of the dry standing stems for their nests.

    I can’t believe how quickly the weather has changed though, and so early too! Feels more like December than October. We’re getting soaked again this morning, and already have had 2.5 inches this week! Bad for our bees, and our tomatoes, but great for fall planting!

    • Sue Langley -

      Thanks, Clare! I’ve found that ‘Powis Castle’ can be propagated two ways, by setting a rock on a lower branch to root and also by just sticking a cutting into soil (My favorite way) Someone said uproot your green tomatos and hang them upside down in a shed to ripen. Huh! It’s been a challenging year for your bees,…hope next year is better!

  5. ryan -

    That’s great for this time of year. I like the big mass of tarweed. It’s funny how many of the local plants that bloom this time of year are yellow. This early rain has already made the views of my garden start to change and I bet it will with yours too.

    • Sue Langley -

      Thanks, Ryan! Yes, our native and non-native grasses will turn green almost immediately and the moss on the rocks and trees is already thick and dark green. Such a relief! The tarweed smalles so good and fresh.

  6. ferne -

    I love your referral to this as the fifth season because it is quite different from any of the other seasons. This is my second year or gardening in the mountains and looks like I could learn a lot from you! I like the natural controlled look and am trying to achieve it on our 4 acres so far we are doing well on about 2 acres if we could just get the star thistle under control,. Maybe deer grass would squeeze it out!

    • Sue Langley -

      Hi Ferne, Thanks, and I love the look of your blog as well and I’m looking forward to reading more of it. You’re not much newer than I and I started this blog to record the progress of my new garden, too. I do believe deer grass will eventually squeeze out any weeds,…it seems to grow thickly in colonies. The ones I planted took their time to grow three by three, but are throwing out babies nicely and I’ll have lots to transplant. The difference is a little extra water. Before I watered them more this year they grew very slowly.

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