State of the garden - Labour Day weekend

Pea vines have turned brown, potato plants have keeled over, and a few squash vines have been chopped up for compost.  At the same time, scarlet runner vines continue to grow lush dark leaves and bright blossoms, parsnips are having a spurt of their own, and Jerusalem artichokes reach skyward, showing no sign of flowering yet.  Life cycles are all over the place.

Bee balm, borage, sunflowers and clover continue to nourish "our" bees.  Wasps seem to be more plentiful every day, hunting among the vegetables for prey for their young or chewing on the greenhouse wall to furnish their nests.  Delicate cabbage moths flutter about in twos and threes, pretty if only we can forget for a moment what they do to our crucifers.  Dragonflies hover, pace, and dart about within their invisible boundaries.  Haven't seen what they are eating.  It's a lively place.

September 2 brought the dreaded phrase "frost warning" back into our life.  Although Lethbridge was not mentioned in the report, there was a warning for Calgary, Okotoks, Magrath and Cardston.  Hard to see how it would be any different here, and the forecasted low was 2C (with "feels like -2C").  We survived unscathed and seasonal overnight temperatures have returned.  Sigh of relief.  I didn't think this would come so soon.