The drying winds of Ike left an aftermath not only of broken branches, but dried leaves that are prematurely falling from the trees. No color, directly passing to the phase of dried brown leaf litter. It has not been a good year for my trees. Those not skeletonized by the plague proportions of Japanese beetles are now dropping their dried out remnants of drought wizened leaves. It is just plain sad, but some years are like that. You take the good with the bad.
My container plants look downright ratty. I am keeping them watered and alive in the hopes that I will retrieve some of the plants for wintering indoors. Again, some years I am better at this task than others, but it is time to choose my pots and plant them for indoors. I want to keep the pelargoniums and the double impatiens.
I’m trying to make some hard decisions about removing or attempting to move some large bushes that are misplaced. They just don’t give the good effect I imagined years ago… I just am not sure I have the energy to move them properly and I don’t want to lose them, but they are too large for where they are planted. When they go dormant I may just cut them back to a foot high, move them, and hope for the best.
We started work inside the house and that is taking most of my work time and energy right now, but I hope to get those fall garden chores done and prep for next year.
Next year always seems to hold hope and promise for me. In my mind’s eye, the next years garden holds perfections of flower and fruit that might yet come to be.
