For gardeners, this is a melancholy time. We are already missing the splash of color from our favorite perennial flower, the scent of fresh soil, and the highly gratifying feeling of slicing our own garden-grown vegetables. Alas, another growing season has passed. What are we gardeners to do?

It’s October, and our Colorado weather will soon chase away our flower-filled gardens. The temperatures will freeze our vegetable plots and make them a distant memory. Now is a good time to start planning for next season. Rock gardens are a great choice that can be a mix of plants, flowers and rocks that seconds as a work of art.

If you grow onions, now is the time you are enjoying the harvest. Lucky you! Who can resist the wonderful scent of sauteed onions cooking in the kitchen, or the fresh bite of pickled onions on a favorite sandwich. If you haven’t grown them and you have a lot of direct sunlight in your yard you might want to consider this.

Voles, pocket gophers, squirrels, and snakes live right alongside us Coloradans. As gardeners we have absolutely no interest in “sharing our space” but the cold hard fact is that we really have no say in the matter. But, maybe, just maybe by the grace of God and with few Hail Mary’s we can learn how to manage these creatures and live peacefully.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” exclaimed a very concerned Dorothy in the classic 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.”

Here in Colorado, gardeners are just as exasperated by our “wildlife vs. garden plants” situation.