Putting the garden away

Well, not really. It’s still very much there, but as we basically have a patio/courtyard garden with isolated beds, its formal existence largely depends on the structures (fountain, pots, furniture, sculptures) we use to define it. And now, most of those structures are sitting in the basement. I felt a bit of a wrench as I tore armfuls of still-attractive diascia, lobelia, coleus, and more out of the pots, but they are required for bulbs now. I’ll be filling them all with tulips (and a couple lilies) and storing them in the garage.

The hideous task of leaf-raking remains, though bags of them will come in handy to protect the hydrangea. I have high hopes for hydrangea flowers next year—I bet it’s an on-again, off-again thing. We are also curious to see how the lighting works once the snow cover kicks in. This, by the way, is supposed to be a snowy winter. I hope so; it’s better for the plants. Anyway, if it’s going to be cold, we may as well have snow.

For some reason, the remaining roses have put on an insane growth spurt over the past few weeks. One of the back ones is halfway up the house. It’s as if they know I’m toying with the idea of tearing them all out. Silly of them—the skinny new canes will be the first to go when cold hits.

I have heard that there is less fall color this year because of the hot, dry summer. We did get some interesting reds on the viburnum, though the creeper has not yet turned.