No frost yet

It's November 19 and this clematis greeted me this morning, a newly opened bloom, although the flower is a bit ragged around the edges. There has not yet been a frost in my yard, and the neighborhood is full of leggy annuals and perennials bravely soldiering on in the face of increasing chill and rapidly declining light--nasturtiums, snapdragons, dianthus, and mums. There is a large bed of mesclun lettuce still growing in the community garden. Last year we had a similar season, with the first frost hitting two days before Thanksgiving. The lateness of the frost makes garden chores difficult, since mulching can't be done until the ground freezes and the piles of leaves we have been collecting are getting old....