[I'd say Yamanbagiri looks startled but he's still a sword in this thread, so there's just a brief baffled tilt at the reaction. It's a fairly common wordplay, but then again, 'common' means something else entirely in this garden.]

Fall or summer. [...] Fall would be better.

[How can you run a garden without knowing the seasons? You don't. Look at this garden, though it's not for lack of trying.

The sword moves a bit closer, in a measured hop or two. All it does is stand on its tip next to Siffrin, colorful strap swaying in the silence.]

... The plants here don't grow normally. Sometimes they'll skip growth cycles, or die overnight, or revive two days later.

Like everything else here, it's unstable. But there's time to wait.