Upon returning home from work yesterday, I heard a little voice. It was coming from the garden. In fact, it was the garden! And it was saying “look at me!” So I dragged my weary self outside, and wandered the back garden. At first glance, all I saw were mountains of leaves to be raked – off the lawn, out of the gardens, off the patio, away from the doors and walkways. Since raking leaves is not high on my list of favourite activities, I quickly saw beyond the golden blanket the leaves have woven over our entire yard. Instead I saw bits of summer colours peeking out here and there. A single pink hollyhock flower, growing through the golden needles of the larch caught my eye first. The Fairy rose is still blooming its heart out. Our New Dawn rose has one last flower on it. Some Black Eyed Susans, growing in the lawn, are showing off. Most surprisingly, in the shade garden are three balsams blooming like crazy! How they got there is beyond me! I know I did not plant them. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even have balsam in the gardens this year! In 2006 I grew some in my greenhouse, but they were planted on the other side of the yard. The balsams are one of those delightful accidents of gardening caused by birds or some other little creature stealing seeds.
In the herb garden, the bittersweet has produced only one pathetic little berry this year. I blame that on the person who owns the derelict property next door. Some people were in there this year clear cutting the yard, and they took out the bittersweet that was growing on the fence. Without male and female plants, bittersweet does not produce berries. Next year, I’ll have to purchase a male vine and find a spot somewhere in our garden for it.
In the “hot” garden, there are a couple of Summer Pastel yarrows blooming. The flower heads are small, but their cerise colour still adds interest. The mallow (v. “Merlin”) I planted last year has decided to bloom at long last! It couldn’t have bloomed in the summer when it was supposed to! No, that would have made my garden plan work! A few stunted stems of Tickseed are blooming, but you really have to look to see them as they are at the back of the clump. But, they are blooming and that’s what counts!
The first frost (eat your hearts out Prairie gardeners!) is supposed to hit us next week. When it does, I’m sure it will take out the few flowers that are left. Until then, I have the perfect excuse for not cleaning up the gardens. I can’t cut back the plants while they are in bloom now can I? “No”, I can hear you say (or maybe it’s my little voice), “but you could rake the leaves up!” Not today! It’s raining! Whew! I got out of doing that chore again. For now. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so I’m sure raking will be included in my list of “to do’s”. Unless, sniffle, sniffle, I get a cold. My head feels a little warm too. (If I moved away from the furnace it probably wouldn’t.) But to be on the safe side, I think I should just rest tomorrow, so I’m well enough to go in to work on Monday. Darn! Those leaves really do need to be raked!
In the herb garden, the bittersweet has produced only one pathetic little berry this year. I blame that on the person who owns the derelict property next door. Some people were in there this year clear cutting the yard, and they took out the bittersweet that was growing on the fence. Without male and female plants, bittersweet does not produce berries. Next year, I’ll have to purchase a male vine and find a spot somewhere in our garden for it.
In the “hot” garden, there are a couple of Summer Pastel yarrows blooming. The flower heads are small, but their cerise colour still adds interest. The mallow (v. “Merlin”) I planted last year has decided to bloom at long last! It couldn’t have bloomed in the summer when it was supposed to! No, that would have made my garden plan work! A few stunted stems of Tickseed are blooming, but you really have to look to see them as they are at the back of the clump. But, they are blooming and that’s what counts!
The first frost (eat your hearts out Prairie gardeners!) is supposed to hit us next week. When it does, I’m sure it will take out the few flowers that are left. Until then, I have the perfect excuse for not cleaning up the gardens. I can’t cut back the plants while they are in bloom now can I? “No”, I can hear you say (or maybe it’s my little voice), “but you could rake the leaves up!” Not today! It’s raining! Whew! I got out of doing that chore again. For now. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so I’m sure raking will be included in my list of “to do’s”. Unless, sniffle, sniffle, I get a cold. My head feels a little warm too. (If I moved away from the furnace it probably wouldn’t.) But to be on the safe side, I think I should just rest tomorrow, so I’m well enough to go in to work on Monday. Darn! Those leaves really do need to be raked!
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