Writing this late in the year, you may thinkstill gardening? But I live by the lake in Chicago. Even when it freezes in the 'burbs it often doesn't get cold until much later lakeside. Last year we can remember some yard denizens blooming till the holidays; we'll see this year.
We got a little wind from Hurricane Sandy but it's not freezing. After giving a big annual party, my visiting relatives helped haul in 200+ houseplants from their summer vacation on the patio or deck or yard. The only creatures delighted about this were my catsall of a sudden, thickets for Arabella to ambush Ambrose and, good God, an in-house "tree" for Silver to dive, panther-like on the always unsuspecting Ajax. And there were jungle pools to sip from just like tigers: pots of papyrus in water with floating water hyacinths. I was worried at first about the hygiene of it all, until I remembered water hyacinths are used to purify polluted water.
So 200 plantswhere to put them? First, group them. I put two groups of elephant ears on either end of a dining-room table (with grow lights on them). Put small plants in the pots of larger plants (on top of the Mexican pebbles to keep critters from excavations). The downstairs bathroom has an unused bathtub full of dracenas. The sunporch has hanging plants: spiderplants (low light) on the north side, light-lovers (geraniums) on the south side.
So many plants surround the fish tank sitting on the porch that, at first glance, fish appear to be swimming in the air behind the plants. Pots of jade plants and ginger can go anywhere. Giant begonias (six feet tall) can do sun or shade, but they're too large for the interiors of rooms. The needle-leaved ficus is so big that the only open place for it is by a north window, but it must not mind since it's twice as big as last year. Its cousin, a fiddle-leafed fig, is 10 feet long (not tall, because it's growing sideways)a dramatic sweep across living-room windows. (Did I plan this?) Rescued pothos from estate sales are scattered everywhere; fortunately, the cats don't nibble them.
My accountant asked me two strange questions: Was I planning to die soon or move to a retirement home? ("No" and "no") So he said, "Instead of kvetching about putting a waterfall in your yard, use some of your savings and do it." So I did it. It's pretty spectacular but I'll need to tweak it with plantings next year.
One adventure I expected but didn't get was that the hateful neighbor refrained from calling the utility companies so they didn't tramp around the yard putting up tacky little yellow flags to show where buried lines were. (She did this last year when a friend planted three, foot-tall conifers for me. He indicated she thought he was a hired workman.)
The adventure that did happen was when the workers were digging to put in cement blocks to shore up the pond's sides, they ran into a rat tunnel; suddenly, my patio was covered with mother rats moving their pups (toward the hateful neighbor?). Glad I wasn't there! A friend helped me put a bunch of potted plantscannas and the liketo simulate how the waterfall will look next year, and they looked just fine. Next year, the 20 or so goldfish get to go out. Years ago, I bought a bunch of feeder fish (piranha burgers) for the pond. Because I picked unusual ones, some have become quite exotic by now. It's just a short winter inside for them, being kitty-kat TV. ("Please come out of that nasty water and play with me, plleaase!")
Folksdon't forget: As long as the ground's not frozen, you can plant fall bulbs. That's most of November for many and, by the lake, it's the holidays. You can also divide and replant hardy perennials (hostas come to mind). And, oh, yes, I used some perennial fillers in decorative pots, such as creeping jenny and varigated euonymous. It's time to plant them out.