Thursday, October 21, 2010

Garden, October 21st, 2010

Garden Diary

Here we are, past the middle of October, and still the garden shimmers and shines in the sunlight, packed tightly with exuberant colour in the chrysanthemums and the remnants of the summer flowers and roses.




Yesterday I planted tulips in the back bed and along the west end of the house, and today I planted narcissus in the cutting bed by the patio, - used up all the bonemeal and luckily found the bulb planter.


The last full bloom and a little bud on the Abraham Darby, - will the weather hold until the bud opens?


The pretty yellow rose by the inner path.


And the shastas tucked away at the back.


Grocery store roses, - so hardy and so beautiful.





and the older yellow rose that grows along the roadway.


The sumac that Charles peers at threateningly because of its wandering ways.

but so vibrant in the fall.



The white rose



and the Prairie Princess



Some shaggy Mums



the scarlet maples are beginning to lose their vivid leaves


and here is the last of the sunflowers


Despite all this glorious bloom I know it is time to start thinking of mulching and preparing for the first frost and the end of Indian Summer

These are the days when birds come back,
A very few, a bird or two
To take a backward look

These are the days when skies put on
The old, old sophistries of June -
A blue and gold mistake.

O fraud that cannot cheat the bee
Almost thy plausibility
Incites my belief,

Till ranks of seeds their witness bear
and softly, through the altered air
Hurries a timid leaf.

O, sacrament of summer days
O, last communion through the haze
Permit a child to join,

Thy sacred emblems to partake,
Thy consecrated bread to break,
Taste thine immortal wine.

Emily Dickinson
Indian Summer


Thursday, October 7, 2010

October 7th, 2010

Fall is drawing in, but even though the Mum's have not yet added their full colour to the garden it is still looking quite appealing.

I post these pictures silently, but a little browsing will reveal which of the sturdy summer and fall flowers soldier on, and the fact that we have removed the sweet pie vines to the compost heap and the sunflower heads to a little pile on the lawn that attracts the small birds.  Soon we will move them along the fence.

You have to look carefully to see the answer to the problem of weeds and grass growing in the garden path, - a vintage tarp from trucking days, cut up and tucked along the pathway.

Tomorrow I will cut flowers to decorate the church for Thanksgiving, - if it is sunny I will have to battle the bees in the large aster plant - at any one time there are probably between 217 and 263 bees, gathering honey......

Pay particular attention to the one lovely foxglove that deigned to bloom this year, - we will have to protect the other eleven through the coming winter, along with the canterbury bells that have put in their first year and are prepared to ring out all over the garden next summer!