I love gardening in autumn. Today was a perfect October day – sunny and warmer than recent days, with highs around 60 F, and a breeze that started out feeling pleasant before the wind started to feel colder. The soil was cool, but my ungloved hands acclimated. A friend helped me with work in the garden this afternoon. We planted the two peony roots (Paeonia officianalis ‘Rubra Plena’ and peony ‘Monsieur Martin Cahuzac’) and the hardy sowbread cyclamen (finally!) – I talked about them in much more detail in my recent post ‘Help! I’m surrounded by bulbs!’ – and some of the spring-blooming bulbs. We planted some of the snow crocuses, a bag of alliums (Allium sphaerocephalum), Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), Turkish glory of the snow (Chionodoxa sardensis), the original grape hyacinth (Muscari botrioydes), and silver bells (Ornithogalum nutans). I love working in the yard in autumn because there are so many fewer fellow cityfolk outside, and it’s easier to imagine you’re somewhere other than right off one of the busiest roads in my town. Today was a beautiful day to be October’s swansong. Happy Halloween, everyone!
As we were finishing up with the bulbs, I looked up and was quite startled to realize a very large bird was sitting above us in one of the backyard’s trees, looking out over the roof of the house to the city spread below. About one minute later, it took off, flying over the roof and out of sight. A short time later, after I was inside, I happened to be standing at a window when I saw it fly back this way and over the house again. I think it was a Red-Tailed Hawk. I had a hawk in my garden! How cool is that?
A Bee in the City 
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