Fast Asleep

Last night was the monthly KIP Meet-Up at Starbucks. Besides talking about knitting and chick stuff, we got on to the conversation of gardens. No, I'm not a food gardener. I have tried over and over and over again. For some reason I can't make them work. I don't know if I don't harvest enough or what. I love seeing the seeds sprout in the spring and the plants grow up tall, but after that I get bored. My gardens are all about the plants and the constant change of blooming periods.

The saddest gardening season is fast approaching. The last hints of color are in the mums and a few leaves are still on the spirea, forsythia and sumac. We had our first hard freeze two nights ago (even a couple of snowflakes), and the elm trees and osage oranges are responding by covering the ground in their last leaves.

This photo was taken in the first part of October when all was still green and the plants in the Big Garden were mature from a summer of growing.

I have to remind myself that the gardens need this. It is a natural cycle and keeps the insects and disease at bay. It is hard to walk out in the dead of winter and see naked trees, beds that look barren and devoid of life, and wilted planters.

Soon though...in just a few months...all that is sleeping now will reawaken into bursts of color and life. Buds will appear on the apple tree in the Fruit Garden and the tulips, long forgotten, will pop up again and surprise me with their vibrancy.

Thank goodness for knitting or I would never make it through the sleeping season.