dna drives the season I

hedonistic may be altogether too anthropomorphic an adjective for the way plants behave but reproduction is still front nad center in the gardens this october...plant dna is every bit as relentless in its drive and diversity as any animals so they aren't likely to give up until they run up against a hard frost...and if experience is any teacher some of them will shrug that off and just keep going...the shift of our area to usda hardiness zone 6 isn't because of a static climate and if you look closely enough at the plants in they garden the will confirm this ( and that's what i will be doing over the winter...the garden never stops, just slows a bit..so does the gardener )...the strawberries are putting out what has to be a final batch of blooms...there's still fruit ripening even though the leaves are signaling approaching dormancy and the need for a layer of straw mulch in the next month or so...the ( remarkably hot ) banana peppers are still blooming and growing new seed holders as are the green peppers right next to them ( i notice no critters are disturbing them predation is in the next post )...the hairy vetch continues to bloom and i am still hoping for seeds..but the race with the frost is on...these plants are a perennial that will overwinter and resume growth in the spring and i am not overly familiar with their cycles...it may wait until spring...( and i may just grow some then to insure seeds )...i am going to go out on a limb and call what is in the fifth photo annual rye since it is trying to go to seed and the winter rye ( like the winter wheat in the other bed ) would tend to spread rhizomatically rather than by seed before next season...finally i saw another bee in the garden this evening...heartening and disturbing at the same time since it has become something of an event to see one...obviously there will be more to come...stay tuned if you like.