It’s the first of October, the prettiest month of the year. Our garden is much thinner than it was in the summer, but there is still plenty of activity.

Finally, one dahlia is blooming:

Along with lots of calendula:

The appropriately named “autumn joy” sedum:

Zinnias and cosmos are still flowering…

…while other flowers are at the end of their blooming, like this pearly everlasting:

and the black-eyed susan:

I haven’t figured out what’s been snipping off the black-eyed susan flower heads:

Coral bells are pretty all year but fit in best in autumn:

The milkweed pods burst open this week without my noticing…

…and milkweed fluff is ending up everywhere, like in this wood’s pink aster:

Grasses are in seed:

And even the raspberries are reacting to the season:

Some confused flowers, like pearly everlasting, are sprouting new plants after the recent rain and warm temperatures:

…or reblooming, like the tiny monster geranium does every fall:

I love bee balm – which just might be prettier after it’s done blooming: