Good Bye, Autumn

The Autumn has gone by in a flash. First, the spiders were telling the garden to “wrap it up” ...


... then the glory of the leaves decorated the neighborhood ...


... and then came the drop ... both in temperature and in foliage. I have trees on property that drop leaves ... only to reveal a whole new “suit” of stuff beneath ... the redbud with its pods, and the crabapple with its crabs (or apples). Interesting.



The holly has more berries than it has had before ... wonder why.


And now the holidays are upon us. Much in the garden has not yet been cut down. The Brussels Sprouts await a big frost ... as do the callicarpa berries. And the bulbs in their bags call out, “Plant me! Plant me!” ... sigh.

I’ve a whole new box started for the new seed catalogues, and I look forward to introducing three new things to the garden in the spring: Asclepias physocarpa, Centaurea macrocephala, and Leonotis leonurus.

This doesn’t really reflect my thinking, but it’s apt, just the same:

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,

No comfortable feel in any member -

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,

No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds -

November!"
- Thomas Hood, No!