smaller sideyard

I've been working over here, too. Clearing weeds again, spreading leaf mulch- mainly because I have leaves to rake up, and the compost bin is full- need to turn and empty that soon- not because the plants actually need protection against the cold yet. I mulched around and behind the joe pye weeds, the black-and-blue salvia, the gladiolas. Had to tie a rope horizontal between the wood against the bank to a metal pole I drove into the ground further downslope, to prop up the glads. Made it easier to reach in there and mulch. 

And found that my soft gentle lambs ears are looking grand! I really feel that the effort I took a while back to pull out all the blackened old foliage from underneath the plants, paid off. It looked to me like had aphid leavings. And now the plants seem healthier. Or maybe the weather just agrees with them more!

The black-and-blue salvia I cut back is flowering again- 

though who knows how long it will last until cold hits. I trimmed back the one on the upper side of the bank, too.

Funny thing, this row of sedums did so poorly in this narrow strip between my driveway and the neighbor's lawn- that in previous years I dug some up and moved to the opposite end of the main front bed. And planted coleus here in between the smaller sedums. But this year they're doing fine!