I'm fickle. That I'll admit. Ask me my favorite month, and it changes year-to-year, and probably month-to-month.

In January I like June. July's favorite is December.

There are some months when everything seems perfect. The month of May is one of those. Everything is fresh and clean. Colors abound. October comes close as temperatures cool and colors abound, but for a different reason. October's only negative is that it's more "clean-up" than "putting in."

February and March are just as fickle as I am. They never make up their mind. You could almost throw April in there, but at least it makes a stab at doing something other than just sitting around.

November is along the same line as March. It might be bright and sunny one moment, and dreary, dank and cold the next. Like March, there is more of a promise of something than an actual deliverance. In the case of November, there's less of something to deliver than something to finish up.

Which is why November is now my least favorite month — as of this writing.

If we're lucky, there may be some last vestiges of color hanging around on the trees. One of the main reasons to plant Ornamental Pears is that they do keep their color for a good part of November and even into early December. The same with Virginia Sweetspire (Itea), though few people plant this great plant, which can put a burning bush Euonymus to shame.

November is too cold to really plant anything. October was better. You might get by with putting some bulbs in the ground and then mulching them with 6-inches of loose leaves or straw. Some trees might be planted, though it depends on how soon the ground will freeze. If you can guarantee me a couple of weeks of warm soil temperatures, then you have my permission to stick a tree in the ground.

Some people find solace and relaxation in raking leaves. Unfortunately, they aren't my neighbors. That means I have to rake my own leaves, which would be easier if I had more lawn and less landscape bed with flowers and shrubs that seem to catch every leaf and hold it like a dear child.

Once I get all the leaves raked into the middle of the yard and forego the childish urge to run through them and kick them everywhere, I power up the mower and go over them three, four or five times until they are the size of peas.

Then, I put the bagger attachment back on the mower and suck the leaves up to be deposited in plastic bags. They'll be around in the spring to add as compost to the soil or to use as mulch.

Whether or not to leave frosted perennial foliage around for the winter gives me mental grief from day one. Usually, with the thought that there will be something interesting during the winter in the garden, I leave it. This year, the current fickle thought is to remove it to make everything look fresh with a blanket of snow. Of course, when it actually comes to cutting everything and putting it in the compost pile (re: WORK), I may change my mind again.

Of course, November is the month to be thankful for what we have. We can be thankful for the bountiful crop of flowers, fruits and vegetables. We can be thankful for not throwing out our back when building a new retaining wall that turned out a zillion times better than expected and still causes me to almost break my arm patting myself on my back.

Every gardening year is a learning experience for me, trying new plants and new methods. Unfortunately, one lesson keeps rearing its head in November. And fortunately, it is completely forgotten by March.

Remember, one of those laws of gardening physics. It says that no matter how careful you are in planting new stuff in your yard, the area does not expand as fast as the plants do. In fact, the land never expands unless you have nice neighbors.

But winter will bring another wish list of plants from the numerous catalogs and another blind eye to the actual amount of "plantable" land.

David Robson is an Extension Educator, Horticulture, at the Springfield Extension Center, University of Illinois Extension. P.O. Box 8199, Springfield, IL 62792-8199. Telephone: (217) 782-6515. E-Mail: drobson@uiuc.edu

16 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING www.aiec.org