It's inevitable. The garden still looks fairly presentable. We haven't yet had an overnight killing frost, but it's on the way. Each morning I look out onto the front gardens and my eyes are soothed by the still-fresh colours of begonias planted in all of the garden pots. The hydrangeas still have that look about them of puffed-up self-satisfaction, even if the earlier-blooming blue and pink ones have faded.

It's not that I've entirely ignored the need to begin tidying up the garden for fall. I haven't been completely remiss. I've cut back, for example, the foliage of the peonies, the lilies, the irises and pulled some of the annuals that were languishing pitiably. Those of the many hostas that grace our garden which began to appear past redemption were also cut back. So a little bit has been done.

But now, it's the serious work of emptying the garden pots of their waning blooms, cleaning up the begonias to save their bulbs to overwinter until next spring, and the same with the canna and calla lilies. I won't keep dahlias, however. I had intended to when I planted  them in the spring, but they've been such poor performers I just won't bother; their replacements next spring are plentiful.

All of the hostas will be cut back, along with the many Annabelle hydrangeas. It's time-consuming, but also invigorating once I'm out there, committed to doing the work. Usually it's all done by October 31, but we've had such wonderfully mild, sunny weather, there didn't seem to be any great hurry this year. Because simply, everything has retained a look of complacent beauty. And I hesitate to disturb it.

Yesterday was my  second bout in the backyard, and I took the opportunity to trim a few globe cedars, as well as upright ones beside them; because they had grown so robustly over the years they were beginning to completely obscure the garden statue of Discobolus that stands between them.

Today is another relatively mild day at 17-C degrees for the high, with little wind and full sun, destined to become cloudy as the day wears on, with showers in the offing. If I have the opportunity after our ravine walk, I'll devote some hours to seriously cleaning up the gardens in the front. Painful though it is to nip the flowers that still flaunt their colour, texture and loveliness.