When the brilliant, clear blue October sky is reflected in the Lowcountry waters and the sun is lighting up the rich colors of fall blooming plants, you know autumn is finally here to stay.  The sluggishness of summer is gone and I am ready to get out and dig again.  

Fall is in the air and night temperatures are at a lovely low after the humidity of the past summers’ sticky caress. The roadsides and fields are blooming whites, yellows and lavenders as flowers are desperately trying to attract bees, flies, moths, and butterflies.

Who would have thought that we nice, quiet gardening folks would get worked up to such a furious tizzy about terribly esoteric subjects like “natives” vs “exotics?” Why, we even fight over the definitions! But get us started on whether we are threatening the earth when Lowcountry gardeners plant Lilium auratum instead of Lilium superbum (left), and you’d better be ready to choose sides.