I’m Not Gardening

That’s right… it’s cold and wet, and I have no desire to do the work this year. Tsk -tsk is the proper response.

We are doing the leaf raking, and I suppose I will have to get out there and do some pre-winter prunings. but I am ready -earlier than usual- to hole up and plan the garden in my mind for next year.

Hopefully we will get whatever Christmas decorating lights up over Thanksgiving weekend. I don’t think we will do the whole house this year…but maybe we should since all the family is coming (except my pregnant daughter- and even that is being discussed).

I see ads for Christmas wreaths and door charms, etc etc… and I really want to have them early this year. I used to trim my evergreens and make my own, but now they are fairly cheap and have sprigs of cedar and other things I can’t grow here. My plan is to buy them and add my own little red bows or whatever. Also- if you trim the tips of your evergreen trees- many types stay blunted at that point, so you have to be careful how you prune them.

I haven’t gone foraging to collect hedge apples this year. We have already had hard frosts, so I’m not sure I should at this late date. They don’t last as long if they’ve been frosted, but maybe I’ll pick up a small baskets worth- I love their chartreuse green piled up in a little garden trug- and they smell nice.

November turns to that gray and beige palette, but bright red berries spark it up, not with the stark contrast of winter snows but pretty, anyway. Cotoneaster, and crabapples ( especially the Prairiefire ones) have the cheeriest red. The pyracanthas are heavy with their orange berries, usually turning brown quickly during early winter. I don’t know what causes that- but they shrivel and lose their bright color. The ones that escape this, are eaten by birds later, when there isn’t a wide choice of forage.

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