An abundance of acorns, as has happened again this fall, can be annoying for humans – they make it hard to walk in the garden and may require you to clean up a lot of oak seedlings next spring. But they are an excellent food source for birds, squirrels, chipmunks and other creatures. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer

Our gardens were almost normal this year. It was wonderful.

Only three times did it get so dry that I hauled out the hoses and watered, which is about average in our yard. The four rain barrels never ran out of water, so I was able to water containers and transplants when they needed it. There was plenty of sun and no memorable heat waves.

It was a better year for flowers than for edible crops, but that is the way it should be. At this point in my life, beauty is more important to me than than saving a few dollars on the grocery bill.

The first crocuses showed up in our snow-free yard on March 8, and Iris reticulata and I. cristata followed a week or so later.

I mentioned the good start for all hydrangeas in my July progress report in this column, and their splendid show continued all season. Whether the blossoms started out as blue, pink or white – depending on the hydrangea variety – as the season progressed, they darkened and developed distinctive shades of maroon or purple or dusty rose. The ‘Endless Summer’ cultivar put out a few blue blossoms as late as mid-October, when we had our first frost that nipped some tender flowers like dahlias – also wonderful this year – but left alone other annuals like cosmos and calendulas.

Other flowers were also striking: rhododendrons, azaleas, daylilies, Siberian irises, coneflowers, back-eyed Susans, poppies and others came out early and lasted a long time.

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One major disappointment was the peonies we planted three years ago in the spot where we’d pulled out a bird’s nest spruce by the main entrance to our home. They produced very few blossoms. The peonies in other parts of the garden did well, so I will be patient and watch for blooms next year. Maybe by then the plant’s roots will be large enough to produce blooms.

The magnolia that we planted to replace the peach tree that had died the winter before last had a few blossoms so we have hope for the future.

The highlight of the late season has been the asters. They have been huge and prolific, growing in the flower beds as well as where we have allowed them to self-seed in the vegetable garden. We know (or at least my wife and fellow gardener Nancy knows) which cultivars most of them are, but some seem to be cross-bred plants that self seeded.

We also had more cardinal flowers in blossom this year, and that pleased me.

Columnist Tom Atwell has been taking photos this season of insects in the garden, like this monarch butterfly on the Asclepias tuberosa.

In addition to gardening, all season I’ve been trying to get photos of Monarch butterflies, as well as other butterflies and bees on our flowers. I snapped pictures of Monarchs on the Asclepias tuberosa, which I’d expected, but most often I actually found them on the asters. The bees seems to prefer the coneflowers, Joe Pye weed and black-eyed Susans.

The food crops, as I said, did not put on their best show. We picked enough strawberries and raspberries to enjoy them for breakfast for about five weeks, but the crops were much smaller than normal. Nancy didn’t have enough to make jam – which is OK because we have a lot left from last year. Our blueberries barely produced.

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Both shelling peas and sugar snaps came early, but also stopped producing earlier than in most other years. We got a few cucumbers, summer squash and beans but some hungry animal lurking about managed to get more than we did. We had about a dozen slicing tomatoes early in the season, but those plants stopped producing quickly. The bite-sized tomatoes produced until hit by frost, as did the peppers. The crops of peppers, garlic, onions, potatoes and carrots were smaller than usual, but except for carrots we had all we needed.

We also had another bountiful crop of acorns, which we didn’t need, but I am trying to be charitable as apparently other types of wildlife does.

As always, gardening provided me with pleasant, relaxing times as well as the opportunities to take photos in the gardens and post them on Facebook.

Tom Atwell is a freelance writer gardening in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at: tomatwell@me.com.

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