I had a 'curb appeal' maintenance project on the agenda for today. But first, I took my usual stroll around the yard to see what's going on.

I've still got a single bloom on the Chinese Snowball. I've also got a straggler of some kind growing in front of the Frostproof gardenia. I don't know what it is or where it came from.

This bloom appeared in September, and is still going strong.

If it behaves like the single bloom I had last year, it will hang around into the spring.

The two Cleyera Bigfoot shrubs are alive and well.

I've been adding to my ivy pile for the next Leaf & Limb collection.

The Variegated Shell Ginger is still doing well. Thankfully, we haven't had a cold snap yet.

The October Glory Maple tree seen in the photos above and below has the distinction of being the first new resident of my front yard, thus kicking off my Annual Yard Adventure a decade ago.

It's reached the point where it turns a beautiful dark red for the fall.

The dark red looks great against all the contrasting greenery.

So far, so good for the Anthony Waterer spirea.

The three Mine No Yuki camellias are also doing well.

I believe I'm seeing buds forming, like it may bloom soon.

Ever since I removed the rotted landscaping timbers from the backyard at the beginning of this season, I've struggled with the notion of what to do about the resulting downward slope that was left behind. I thought I could smooth it out once the timbers were gone. But this hasn't worked as well as I had hoped. It looks like I'll eventually need to get some fill dirt and smooth everything out properly. But for now, all I want to do is make it look a little better than it does.

I decided to relocate all of the Monkey grass from around the Pieris Snowdrift. That way, I can use a combination of black and homemade mulch like I do with everything in the front yard to separate and create borders.

I broke out the mower and mulched all of the nearby leaves and pine needles.

To fix this properly, I'm going to need a lot of fill dirt. But this will work for now.

I'll add to this as I can during the rest of this season and see what happens next year.