For the love of Indian summer...

Nasturtiums are pleasing to the eye and peppery on the palate.

It's been autumn for almost a full week now, but it's still feeling quite a bit like summer. We were forecast for a record high today! This is a perfect time for visiting local tourist spots that are too busy in the summer and will be inundated with leaf-peeping tour buses in October. It is also a wonderful time for embracing the last hurrah of the summer garden.

I'm still harvesting a pint or more of cherry and plum tomatoes every other day. And I'm still pinching back the suckers on the tomato plants - the tomatoes clearly still think it's summer.

The nasturtiums are also capitalizing on the balmy weather. After a very slow start this spring, the nasturtiums looked anemic for months, but managed to survive and even started blooming about a month ago. Now, they are absolutely covered with blossoms and are crowding out the basil. It's just beautiful!

The red light district for pollinators - complete with fringe and fishnets.

And just in time - the bees and hummingbirds love to visit the nasturtiums and our other late-blooming garden flowers. The hummers are getting ready to fly south for the winter, and the bees need to stock up for their overwintering as well.

I do anticipate a frost in the next few weeks, which will wipe away all remnants of summer... but until then, I will soak up the sun, wear sandals as frequently as possible, eat fresh tomatoes and nasturtium flowers on my salads, and smile at the extravagant profusion of orange flowers and variegated green leaves every time I pull into the driveway. Long live Indian summers!