When I was growing up in suburban New York, my mother would store our out-of-season clothes in a big cardboard box on a high shelf in her closet. As summer (or winter) drew to a close, I’d become bored with the wardrobe I'd been wearing all season and excited to get the big box down and see what old favorites still fit, and of course go shopping for new school clothes in the fall. There was a seasonal smell I can still remember, an intoxicating mix of new wool clothing, new leather shoes and fallen autumn leaves suspended in cool fall air.

Wintergreen with berries and Heuchera

I remembered about the big box and the twice-yearly wardrobe change recently as I contemplated the overgrown summer annuals in my pots, and surveyed the purple, chartreuse, and marmalade and rose-colored heucheras, evergreen grasses, and winter pansies awaiting planting. The annuals are still looking good, and most will until first frost, but I'm itching for a change, just like when I was a kid excited to wear my new fall skirts and sweaters.

Calluna 'Firefly', blue fescue and pansy