BOISE, Idaho — Fall officially arrived back in September, but colder fall weather took a little longer to settle into Idaho, and when it arrived it marked the end of the outdoor garden season.
Today on 'You Can Grow It', garden master Jim Duthie gathered a few pictures that many of you posted on the Facebook page, showing your garden successes, and inspiring the rest of us for next year's gardens.
The growing season has pretty much come to an end now that frosty mornings have arrived, and while the vegetable garden is pretty much done, there are still many plants and blooming flowers that thrive in the cool fall weather. Here are a few pictures that our fellow Idaho gardeners have shared as autumn settled across the area.
Pamela Hess-Bly shared this pretty combination of coleus and other plants around her door before the frost arrived. Coleus is always a colorful addition, and some varieties exhibit beautiful autumn shades.
This pretty coleus belonging to Sue Kuziej has really done well, measuring four feet wide and fall looks spectacular in Randy Woods' garden as the colors began to change in the trees, the grass and the ground cover.
Early fall is also the time for picking grapes. Zaheen Tariq shared his final harvest of juicy grapes.
Benn Stewart had quite a haul of delicious Armenian cucumbers and Stephanie Mckague had a bounty of acorn squash as the growing season wound down.
Pumpkins are an iconic symbol of fall, and Belinda Thiel had a plethora of pumpkins, enough to decorate her whole neighborhood for Halloween, in all shapes, sizes and colors.
Many of us had an explosion of tomatoes as the heat of summer gave way to milder fall days. Sheila Clark's red cherry, grape and yellow pear tomatoes were certainly prolific.
Some varieties of heirloom tomatoes can grow to be very big. Britt Boudreaux shows us one of her "Rockin' Roma" tomatoes that's as big as her hand and weighs in at well over a pound.
Brandy VanDam Brewer said she didn't know her Brandywine tomatoes could grow this big.
Peppers seemed to love the summer heat. Salvador Chip Madrid is going to have some delicious salsa from this huge variety of chilies and peppers.
Juli Christopherson Lynch grew a crop of unique tasty "baby chocolate" sweet peppers.
It was a great fall for flowers, especially summer and fall favorites like zinnias. This bumblebee drifted off to sleep in one of Kathy Smiley's pretty blooms.
A Monarch butterfly, Idaho's state insect, loved the nectar of these pink zinnias in Diane Lowry Etchamendy's garden.
Cosmos are showy flowers, and Margie Adams Barnett caught these bright bloomers standing 10 feet tall in her Payette garden.
Kim Hovren had a beautiful mix of October bloomers in her flower bed, with petunias and feathery celosias.
Even flowers more common in spring and early summer kept blooming on into early fall, like this pretty periwinkle blue delphinium in Cindy Carlson's garden and Roy Cordingley caught this stately white iris blossoming in his yard at the end of September.
Sandy Stones' eye-popping bright pink hibiscus stole the show and the bees loved Eve Palmer's purple asters, another fall favorite.
However, dahlia's were real show-stoppers this year. Some of you mentioned that they took a long time to start blooming, but Shellee Thomas found some beauties to gather into a colorful bouquet.
Some of the large dinner plate dahlias come with some interesting names, like Kathy Clark's "Gitts Crazy", and Duthie’s own "Mango Madness" Dahlia.
Marj Dougherty grew this frilly red dinner plate dahlia with white tips and Elizabeth Evans combined zinnias and dahlias in an eye-pleasing arrangement.
Finally, mums the word as frosty fall mornings arrive, as they don't mind the chillier temperatures, like these in Elodia Dixon's garden and this pink and white border of mums in Sunny Holland's yard.
There’s also a row of pink mums makes a dazzling display along Stacie Tully's back fence and gold is a popular color for fall mums, as John Farnham shows us, but Shirley Hall finishes with this dazzling globe of red mum blossoms.
The arrival of fall and winter doesn't mean you can't keep your green thumb in shape. There are still some wonderful things you can grow indoors until spring returns next year. And, as always, You Can Grow It.
As the weather turns colder, we'd love to see pictures of your indoor gardening projects, or just read your advice and share answers to gardening questions, on the 'You Can Grow It' Facebook group page. It's easy to become part of Idaho's biggest gardening club. Just text the word 'grow' to 208-321-5614, and we'll send you the link to join 'You Can Grow It', which now has over 10,000 members.
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