There’s still a week to go before autumn’s end, yet Chicago finds itself already wrapped in the cloak of winter.

After a bout of snow and bitter chill — with more in this week’s forecast — my cold-tolerant plants can no longer tolerate the harsh reality of our plummeting temperatures (smile).

I had wished for my balcony garden to last through Thanksgiving. Thankfully, it did. The first photo shows the garden a week or so after that holiday; the second, the day before.

Let the hibernating begin!

Meanwhile, I’ll content myself with indoor plants and, of course, thoughts of spring!

Though I don’t plan on ordering any seeds till February, it’s not too early for visions of color schemes to dance in my head.

My bias toward blue will probably always reign in my garden, but I’m going to look for some different ways to accompany it next time around, as well as experiment with some new blue varieties.

One thing’s for sure — I will definitely grow the Nigella again come spring. Not only is its flower true blue, but the foliage is quite interesting, too — delicate and lacy. And, the fact that it lasted all the way through Thanksgiving means it can do double duty in the summer and fall garden.

And, even after the Nigella gave in to the cold, large seed pods remained (you can see one in the lower left quadrant of photo three), gifts left so the plant could fulfill its role in the process of sustainable gardening.

And, one of my garden blogging buddies informs me that another benefit of collecting seeds from plants that performed well in my garden means that they will likely produce plants that do better in this specific climate than new seeds purchased from a supplier.

[As this fourth photo shows, the seeds that issue forth from the Nigella pods are diminutive and a rich, velvety black. (Click on photos to enlarge.)]

So, while 2010’s garden is still in the conceptual stages, some seeds are already being planted in the fertile plains of my imagination.

What are your early thoughts on next season’s garden?