With leaves ankle deep and sun shining through the shadiest parts of the garden, I collect seeds for projects with my volunteer groups. There is no need to add more mountain mint, baptisia, or Joe Pye weed to the garden, though plenty of seed left behind will inevitably spread these into any open ground.

Seeds of blackberry lilies dried and were collected weeks ago, and again, there are no spaces for these beyond the few seeds I miss that fall to thicken the clumps. Seeds of the dark leafed castor bean (above) will be harvested when they dry with some planted in mid-spring and others given away.

After a few light freezes, the reblooming Encore azaleas remain at peak bloom (above). The heaviest autumn flowering is typically in late September, but I suspect our continuing drought has changed the timing. I’m overjoyed.

The autumn flowering camellias (above and below) began flowering a few weeks ago, and while azaleas will soon fade in the cold, camellias will continue to flower until overnight temperatures regularly fall into the lower twenties (Fahrenheit). A few of the garden’s camellias will flower in warm spells into January.

I’m pleased that two ‘Marvel’ mahonias (below) will join others that have just begun flowering that will continue into the new year. Several ‘Winter Sun’ are most prominent, with a few growing to ten feet, though another of similar age has been pruned to half this height.