Chickadee Gardens

 The autumn color is nearly finished for the year and I wander the garden this day wondering what winter will bring. So far we have caught up on some of our rain deficit and we have yet to have our first hard frost. Are there any surprises this November? I observe a few oddities. All of the leaves from Quercus garryana , our native white oak, have completely fallen. This usually doesn't happen until well into winter, often many are still hanging on even in spring. I observe the conifers are still shedding needles by the zillions, that mushrooms are super-abundant this year and (I'll kick myself for saying this) the moles seem to be merciful. Some of our veggie garden had unusual patterns; for example, the purple cauliflower I've grown every year never formed flowers. It's big and gorgeous even still, but no flowers. I'm leaving them where they are to see if we get some winter surprises.    All in all the garden looks fine for this time of the year. With that I give