I admit to still looking about fearfully but so far so good.
I did find one that had passed on.....Gross. I am shuddering with horror. I really do not like rodents. For everyone's peace of mind, I did not take a picture. Grim.
The lovely flower eating deer seem to have found greener more welcoming pastures as well. I am really happy because my Toad Lilies are having an incredible show even though the deer chowed them down over the summer. They recovered. I love them amongst the fall colours.
My garden is still doing beautifully even on October the 15th. The air is cool and the wind blows. You can hear the crackling of falling maple leaves when you stand for even a moment outside. It is quite an experience. So often, it is pouring with rain and everything is sopping wet but not this year. We have had days of sunshine...in a row. The green, purple, brown, burgundy, gold and silver of foliage is simply stupendous. We live in paradise. It may not be warm and balmy but it is visually a treat every single day.
This maple tree was given to me and my sons when their father died. It is exquisite and very meaningful to us. He passed at this time of year when the maples are changing colour and dropping leaves.
As the trees shed their leaves, they open up to a form, texture and shape. I love seeing the peeling bark of an arbutus or maple tree. Or the gnarled limbs of a magnolia tree. It is a different aspect of garden beauty that I admire as much as the bright hues of summer flowers. I would argue that in buying a magnolia tree, it is for the beauty of the shape of the tree as much as for the flowers.
The birds are still singing and chirping. Some of them are quite bold...they just hop over to stay out of reach and keep on looking for food. In fact as I am writing, there is a Blue Jay loudly complaining outside of the window. Oops, now he is picking through my basil pot and throwing stuff about. Hmmm.
There used to be a bird that woke me up at the crack of dawn every single day. He would shriek Uh Huh and harass me (not really, but it sure felt that way) to the point where I could not fall back asleep. Now I miss him. He must have found another tree and another poor sod to taunt in the morning. He will probably come back when my kids are grown up and I can sleep in again. Sometimes that is just the way life works!
My friend and gardening helper and I, have attempted to put the garden to sleep but to no avail. This fantastic weather is messing with my normal timelines and I am just fine with that. We did put mulch onto parts of the garden that seemed too dry during the summer, divided some irises, moved an Sambuca Elderberry tree, dead-headed some hydrangeas and pruned things back which looked a bit wild after the summer.
The Elderberry went into the garden that I have been re-working. It is perfect there! I did not like where it was because it blocked the view of my honeysuckle, clematis and jasmine (evergreen). Now I have to find a new beauty to go into the vacant space. Yeah! I hope to hit the sales and find something exceptionnal.
My personal philosophy of pruning is not rooted in the right way or perfection. I just do what I feel like and sometimes have to learn the hard way. I research pruning on plants that I am crazy about like my PeeGee trees where I really don't want to kill it. Otherwise, I snip away for maximum form, air movement and re-growth. Actually, I am so scared of harming my huge, glorious PeeGee that I haven't touched it for three (yikes) years. It is so huge that the flowers trail on the solid. So not good.
I only dead-head those hydrangeas where the flowers have turned brown and look like they are rotting or if I need to pull up the bottom for maximum air movement. We really love the look of the dried hydrangea flowers over the winter. They add to the winter landscape in some odd way. I dead-head all hydrangeas in the spring once the new buds appear. Some of my Annabelles are looking rather huge so I will likely take off some of the flowers.
My enormous PeeGee tree.
So my big plan for the day is to hit up my neighbours for the maple leaves which cover their front yards. For some reason (figures), the leaves do not fall in my yard and I am the only person on the block who actually wants them. Oh, the fun.
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