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Winter Arrived Early

25.11.14 | Ilona Erwin | No Comments

Blustery Day, Past Year’s Losses

Today is briefly warmer and blustery with high winds and rain, but it is more like a January thaw than the beige autumn Indian summer that we might normally expect.

I don’t know that there is a clear sense of “normal” in our gardens anymore. Still, the patterns of the seasons are not so far off that they would be unrecognizable.

 

Ignore those weeds…. I do

The winds have blown the dawdling leaves off the trees, so I asked my helpers (grown children) to rake up the yard again. The Red Oak still is loathe to let go of his leaves. Despite the fact that part of a gutter and a large branch from a Norway spruce was blown loose.

Nothing compared to the damage from past wind storms which emptied out the Arborvitae of many of its branches, or the bagworm infestation which destroyed a younger Arborvitae elsewhere in the yard. Then there was the peach which blew over this summer, and the Japanese maples which died, and the top part of the Hinoki cypress which was lost. It is still unsure whether this favorite dwarf evergreen will make it through this winter.

So many garden troubles in the past few years.


 

Oops, there goes the gutter pipe

There is still garden work to do if I can catch a break. Like trimming the pyracantha from the window, weeding and cleaning up the driveway beds- they look a mess! Still, the exchange between an organized life inside and a “Better Homes and Gardens” yard is worth it.
Actually, though, I wish I could manage it all.

“Maybe next year”, I say to myself once again.

Nasty Stinkbugs

One of the new normals in my area is the additions of stinkbugs to the previous years influx of Japanese beetles, and prior to that the invasion of Asian ladybugs, and we mustn’t forget the notorious Emerald borers. These are the norm for us now, and so I read up on how to control the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug.

Turns out I have the ideal environment for them. I grow tomatoes and some years have been less than tidy in how I leave my garden. That needs to change.

I also have apples, including a self seeded MacIntosh type that drops apples in the backyard. Now I will have to be assiduous about cleaning up the leavings of those, as well as messy landscape leaves around the foundation of the house. All those places are a drawing card for an infestation.

The bug I found on my lampshade? Carefully scooped onto a napkin, carried outside the door and unceremoniously squashed with the handle of the handy snow shovel.

Just as a warning for other lurkers looking to come into the house from that avenue.

We must adjust to new challenges all the time in life, and the garden is a powerful teacher of such lessons.

 Changing The Subject

I am transitioning to the celebration of the Christmas holidays. Way behind schedule, of course, but ahead of where I usually am by this time.
Still cleaning- I had hoped to be done by Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t look possible.
I brought out all the Christmas decor and am sorting through to decide what goes where. We stuck a few of the outside lights around the lantern, but I need to get something on the front porch. We usually wait until the weather is freezing and the tape won’t stick (sometime about the second week of December). I was really hoping to avoid that this year.
To get in the festive mood,  I wrote a little post on Christmas Greenery. Wanted to get out to the stores to snap some pictures of seasonal garlands and bunches of evergreens, but that will have to be added later. Still it turned out to be a nice page and did the trick: I am officially in the mood to decorate.
Also working on a Christmas projects page, but not nearly done with that yet.
No, I’m not rushing the season. A nice celebration takes preparation. My grandparents made Christmas fruitcakes for gifting in October. I think we forget how the past was full of preparations for the coming seasons.
I don’t make fruitcake- only my Dad and I ate it, and my hips aren’t lying when I say that I should not have any extra calories!
Well, that is enough chit-chat for now… if I want to write more of that stuff I should get a newsletter out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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© 2014 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.

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About Ilona Erwin

I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

DISCLOSURE: I may be an affiliate for products that I recommend. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. Thank you, in advance for your support! Privacy Policy

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Oh, hi there!

I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

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