Fall has come and gone

Over the last week it appeared that we were headed into Fall. Temperatures had dropped, the leaves on the liquidambar were starting to change and all seemed right with the world. Today, though, my thermometer currently reads 91 degrees and Summer is back with a vengence.

It is true that we often don't have much of a Fall season here in the San Fernando Valley. Usually it simply progresses directly from Summer to Winter. Still, these throwbacks to the heat we thought we had left behind can be a bit disheartening. I guess the plants are probably well adapted to such things, but for us gardeners it is a burden.

I have 2 bags of daffodil bulbs I want to get into the streetside bed, ready for the coming Winter rains, but I can't see sweating into a wet dishrag while trying to do it. It looks like we have at least another week of the heat to go, but I will try to get them in before the end of the month.