A Season of Change for sure

It was only a week and a half ago that I thought (or behaved as though) summer might never end.  But it is amazing how fast things can change.  A couple of nights of frost and everything is different.  It is time to get the porch and deck plants ready to come in for the winter.  It was hard a couple of weeks ago to even think about the pruning back, cleaning up, digging out, and reluctant abandonment that is inevitable at this time of year. 

The frost on the first night last week was light, and since we covered most important things up we didn't lose much.  I was lulled into complacency, and even though we did cover most of the same things I didn't think we would lose the tomatoes, peppers, cannas, sweet potato vines etc.  But, the next morning had different tidings.  On the morning of Oct. 1st pretty much all of the tender plants in the back yard were frozen stiff, and as the day warmed up they drooped and wilted and blackened.  Ah, well.  It does have to happen. 

Once the shock of the death is over, we can move on to the beautiful season that is fall around here.  And, of course, to the preparation of the survivors to come in for the winter.  I moved the hanging begonia on the front porch into the garage, and am now trying to figure out where to put it for the winter. I took several cuttings, and if they root quickly I'll let the old plant go.  Before the first frost I dug up several geraniums, and will hang them in the coolest spot I can find inside.  (How I envy people who have a real root cellar!) 

I've been spraying hibiscus plants and bougainvilleas for a month or so, and hope to escape the whitefly infestation this year.  Brought in one bougainvillea today for the atrium, not sure where  to put the other.  Also brought in the red hibiscus, but not sure where the yellow one o n a standard is going to spend the winter.  It was way too intrusive last winter. 

At the upper level, on the front porch, I spent an hour or so yesterday digging and potting the Rex Begonia plants that were there.  I've had those for many years, and they would be way to expensive to replace.  But they do come up easily, and seem to welcome their winter comfort inside the light gardens in the basement.  They don't grow much there, but they almost all manage to come through the winter ready to welcome the spring.  I consider them an investment.  I fantasize that I could establish an ornamental plant business with the stock I have.  Probably won't happen.  But I've had the same Zebrina for more than 20 years, refreshed from cuttings each spring.  And many other long lived plants are in this house. 

Last weekend we also cut down the dogwood shrubs in the front of the house, and dug out all of the creeping juniper that was harboring hundreds of voles/moles/mice.  The entire neighborhood is complaining about the number of small rodents we have.  They are in every yard, and most of us are cleaning up the obvious places where they live.  I even found two mice in a birdhouse that was 7 feet above ground in a tree. 

There were a few late bloomers in the yard this weekend.  Some that have been blooming all along, and the the clematis on the east wall that bloomed early in the summer, seemed to nearly die with the draught, then came back and is blooming again with the new moisture we've had in the last month.

Well, that's enough for today.  Maybe it is better to write more often.

Another Summer Past

Oh Well....

Frost happens. I thought, hoped, that maybe we could get through this week without a big frost, but it was not to be. I suppose that an average date of October 15th requires that some years it is earlier, some later.

And even if the frost didn't come, the growing season would certainly end some time around now, as the hours of daylight dwindle. But it is hard.

On the other hand, it is good to begin the cleanup that is inevitable. We cut down the Viburnum bush at the corner of the deck that was imposing itself upon the Forsythia. They have both been hearty, but the viburnum has really been going overtime, and it is time to rejuvenate it.

And then cut down the cannas and the cleomes and the elephant ears in the deck planters. I dug up the geraniums that might be able to survive through to the spring in paper bags in the basement.

The basil, coleus, four o'clocks, zinnias, and other tender annuals became compost fodder. We had two frosts, one Thursday night, one Friday. The Mandeville survived Thursday, and I foolishly hoped it would make it through Friday as well. But it didn't. My decision about whether to bring it in for the winter has been pre-empted. It is now a stump, and maybe I'll bring in the stump to see if it sprouts. My money is on "no".

There is much more space now on the deck. The grill can be lighted without fear of singeing a leaf of some nearby plant. We carted off many of the clay pots to the garage for storage. Put away the spray bottles of insecticide and fertilizer. The final hauling of chairs, table, planters, etc. may be a few weeks away, but winter is at hand.

We also spent a few hours cutting back overgrown and unwelcome woody inhabitants of the creekside and yard. Willows that were dead, Dogwoods overgrown, Buckthorn and Box Elder. A limb here and there from other trees and shrubs. We have plenty for the Town to pick up this week the last time they will do it this year.

But some things are at their most beautiful. The "tricorn" garden really doesn't come into its own until fall. The Duarf Euonymous 'Burning Bush' shrub begins to develop its flaming presentation, the grasses are fully grown, and in a good year they are in bloom. (I'm still hoping they will bloom this year. The tips of the stalks are swelling, indicating flowers inside.) The sedum is blooming and fully structured. This is the picture I see in my mind all year, even if it doesn't really exist for more than a month or two at the end of the season.

Frost Damage Shows Itself

The frost damage is revealing itself all over the yard. Boy, that was really a hard one. The astilbe is done for the year most likely. The leaves will be ok, and it will come back next year, but the flowers will not appear this year. My very favorite hosta, the one that I bought last year at the Gardens of the Fox Cities sale and paid more than I thought I should for, had about 10 leaves killed off. I think it will recover, and I hope it will be the dramatic focal point I want it to be. But this is a setback. I am amazed how hard the joe-pye weed took it - tips of most of the shoots are blackend and weeping. It will interesting to see how it adapts. I hope it won't become a bushy short plant instead of the tall drama queen it is usually. Everywhere I look, something has taken a hit. All of the alliums were drooping yesterday, but they seem to have recovered. The hydrangeas each have nipped leaves. There are several oriental lilies that seem wilted and unhappy. The only way to avoid this would be to plant only extremely hardy plants. And that would be boring. So, I'll do the best with what is here, replace the things that can't hang on, and hope for better years.

The rain is still not here, but all signs seem to say it will come. In fact the predictions are for more than they said yesterday. Lin says she heard up to 2 inches. I've seen 1 predicted. We could use 3 or 4 without any problems, so I'll take whatever comes.

The Orioles were all around the yard again today, I saw them two or three times and heard them almost constantly.

Blooming now for the first time this week: Bachelor's Buttons, Allium, wild Geraniums, absolutely beautiful Dogwoods, Lamium, Lily of the Valley, Columbine, . Buds swelling on the iris and the peonies. Flower stalks coming on the Statice and the lambs ears. Asparagus is providing a meal every three or four days. Rhubarb is still young and sweet.

Frost did come

The frost last night was significant. Even though we covered everything up on the deck and put plastic pails over the cannas that were out around the gazebo, I fear we have lost many of them. Some will be fine, others will just be set back a bit. I do worry about the cannas, and it will be hard to tell for a day or two how much real damage they sustained. Miraculously, the impatiens up on the front porch seem just fine. And the Rex begonias also look as though they came through ok. Would have been a shame to have lost them after bringing them through the winter in the basement under lights.

Saw a beautiful little warbler in the brush along the creek yesterday. My best attempt at identification makes it a Yellow warbler, perhaps a Pine warbler. And nearby a small wren scolded. Lin says the oreoles have been around for a couple of weeks, and we hope they are nesting nearby. I saw the male the other day, singing out from on top of the willow tree, then sweeping down to Lin's grape jelly feeder in a streak of bright orange.

Planters

One beautiful warm day, and I lose all my resolve and go ahead and plant. Did all of the planters on and around the deck yesterday, even though the weather report says this weather won't last. Dad wanted to watch me plant things, so plant things I did.

The planters around the deck are planted thus this year:

In the big new one that Bill built to replace the old hot tub: Cannas - the nicer striped leaf orange flowered ones I bought three or four years ago form the back side which will become the visual screen for the summer. Then the plant I've been bringing in for at least ten years as a cutting, and growing over the winter that grows so strongly all summer outside once it gets hot - I'll try to remember the name - went into the center of the planter. A red and a green sweet potato vine on each front corner. A Victoria Regina Salvia between the sweet potatoes and the ? wild grower. I hope that they will get a good start before the other rampant growers get going.

In each of the two round white plastic pots, surrounded by Bill's cedar encasements I planted a clump of purple fountain grass Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum', with two licorice plants, Helichrysum petiolare, one white, one yellow. And a Lotus 'Amazon Sunset' . It has flowers that are bright orange red, which doesn't really go with my purple and pink and white yard. But they are so dramatic and lovely, and the leaves are so nice and subtle offering nice contrast to the grass and the licorice that I find them hard to resist.

The three rectangular planters at the corner of the deck have been variously successful over the years. Sometimes I overdo them at this time of the year, and they become overgrown early and not very pretty. I've had to try to hold back to some extent, but also to buy good specimens for them. I purchased the sun coleus plants awhile ago in Stevens Point on the way home from the WAPL conference. Now they have been planted out where they will live the summer. I wonder if I should try to overwinter them - But I've not been successful at growing them full and robust inside. Two varieties this year: 'Pink Ruffles' and an unnamed one in shades of green and maroon. Other plants in these planters are Laurentia 'Beth's Blue', Tricolor Rhoeo discolor, Callibrachoa 'Callie Painted Coral'.

In the big blue pot near the grill I planted another Calibrachoa hybrid 'Superbells Pink', Lobelia 'Laguna sky blue', and an African Daisy - Arctotis stoechadifolia 'Summertime Blueberry'

And the little fake pickle jar that fits to the right of the back door has another sun coleus 'Amora', along with an allysum and a Helichrysum.

Now, after all that work yesterday, it is predicted to freeze tonight. I can cover things, but a hard freeze will get them whatever I do. It just doesn't stop this year. Not only is it very cold very late, but also it is so dry that the soil is cracking in many places, the turf isn't expanding into the dead spots and is even showing signs of burning out in some places. This is not a good omen for May. Every year the drought comes earlier lately. I was hoping for a wet year. But it seems not likely.

We put covers over the cannas out in the yard. And sheets over all of the planters on the deck and the front porch. It was kinda fun to try to figure out how to cover things and not weigh them down - we found old plant stakes and circular supports that we haven't used in years. I hope they work. As I write at 8:30 it is still 51 degrees outside.

I took these photos to record the beginnings, and to be able to compare these beginnings with the results in a month or so. I will enjoy looking back at the potential, and remembering my hopes for the future.