Last week’s rain and wind brought down tons of leaves from my sugar maple. I hated to see them go as they were so beautiful. Many were in my perennial beds so I raked up those in the driveway and added them to the gardens. The red-orange provides a lovely understory for the still-looking-good hostas and begonias.
Plus, it’s a cozy blanket for the winter, not to mention they cover up the weeds I neglected to pull.
I’m fond of the fall color on the viburnums. What a versatile shrub. My son Jeremiah says you can burn ‘em and still they thrive.
Ornamental grasses are looking their best right now. The large plumes catch the low-in-the-sky sun in a pleasing fashion. I like to cut them to the quick before the dead of winter. Otherwise, they break and blow all over the lawns and are a nuisance.
I noticed some St John’s wort blooming at the up-Island Cronig’s parking lot. There are several cultivars of hypericums. I like the one with large flowers.
I went on the Google to find out more information but could only find the medicinal uses. I got bored and quit searching.
Down-Island Cronig’s has an impressive stand of Montauk Daisies. They make quite a statement this time of year. They are very pretty but the smell is off-putting.
The tree garden mum is just beginning to bloom. Clara Curtis, Sheffield Pink or Penelope Place are some nice varieties. They can be hard to find in the nurseries as the “bomb” types seem to dominate — I’m not a fan. The aforementioned are beautiful, come back reliably and spread like crazy.
Last week’s misprint should have read “horse chestnuts” not “house chestnuts.”
The tree redeems itself in late spring with impressive white flowers. There is a pink one in Menemsha after the right turn coming down the hill.
I ran into Terre Young delivering eggs at Ghost Island. She told me that if you start carving a jack-o-lantern and put it in the chicken yard, the chickens will finish the job. How fun is that?
A few weeks ago, I bragged about planting lettuce and spinach in fish totes. The plants all germinated and were growing right along happily. That is until some critters got in and dug them up. Sigh! It’s difficult to maintain a cheerful outlook.
At the beginning of August I planted a package of green beans. In a little more than 60 days later we are now eating some raw in the garden.
One of my many character flaws is my inability to reasonably consider a person’s ability to do something. For example, first thing in the morning I make a mental list of “to do’s.” Then, I get out of bed and hobble downstairs. The acceptance of this aging body completely escapes me and leads to daily disappointment.
My real problem is transferring this expectation to others. I always think the crew can complete a task more quickly than humanly possible. A good example is I mentioned buying some garlic bulbs to plant. They still sit in a bag and the unprepared garden bed still taunts me.
Then, there is the exhausting national and world news.
I’ve always been somewhat of an alarmist ever since hiding under my elementary school desk to be safe during the Cold War. Amazingly, folks believed that would keep them safe.
Now, with the threat of AI we’ve entered a whole new era. I, like many, watched in horror as HAL 9000 took over in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Now I wonder if I should get a robot to plant that garlic!!!