Happy first days of Fall! Time to collect pretty leaves, study spiders and their webs, and appreciate what's coming into bloom: such as chrysanthemums, holiday cacti, and pineapple sage. The Thanksgiving cacti (Schlumbergera truncata) are early this year, both the big red-blooming one in my kitchen and little white one outside are flowering.

We are still having warm, dry days, so many summer-blooming plants also continue to brighten up my yard. The white dipladenia is particularly lovely; I was admiring the flowery vines adorning the trellis when a dark-eyed junco landed at the birdbath in front of it. I took a video to capture his cute fluttering and splashing: click on the image above to play it.

A Cross Orbweaver spider has built a web between two of my rosebushes near the front porch. I hope this catches lots of flies and aphids! I tend to leave spiderwebs in place, unless they're in a pathway, or I'm tidying up the yard before people visit.

Indoors, not only the cactus is thriving. My spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) has a lot of baby plants (spiderettes) hanging from long stems, and a fresh budding of white flowers. The prayer plant (Maranta leuconeura erythroneura) has new growth and a couple of delicate lavender blooms. This one suffered somewhat during winter, since it likes a consistent warm temperature. But summer's heat, frequent fertilizing, and misting the leaves twice a week have helped it recover nicely.