Autumn? Is that you?

I just heard the most glorious sound. The sound of the wind blowing the leaves around on the street. I love Autumn! And now it seems to have officially come to Charleston!

I know some of you are saying, "WTF???  It's mid-November!"  But in all reality it's 76 degrees right now as I type this.  Last night my air conditioning was running just to keep me cool enough to sleep (granted I seem to be hotter than usual in my state, but it's still too humid with the heat for me to sleep without a/c). 

I can look out my windows right now and see leaves scattered across my (still very green) lawn.  If I look down the road I can see some actual color in the trees!  Of course what's truly odd about this is to also see the color of the flowers blooming everywhere. 

You know, even having lived here for 5 years, I just can't get used to the odd seasons.  But I do love the fact that if we do have "Winter", it usually only lasts a couple of weeks and isn't cold enough for me to even buy an actual coat!  Plus, my blue-girl rose blooms from early spring until late November!

 

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Speaking of my rose bush...does anyone out there know anything about roses?  I've got a horrible problem with black spot on all of my plants (once again, the Charleston climate has it's drawbacks), and it's almost killed everything I've ever planted.  My rose bush is suffering horribly and has no foliage growing below the end of the stems/branches.  I know that if I seriously cut the whole thing back (like within two feet of the ground) that it will grow back, but does anyone know when the best time to do this would be?  Right now the plucky little thing is trying to bloom (mold and fungus be damned)!