I always conveniently forget how tired the garden is by the time fall comes around.
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| Even the ornamental grasses are too whipped to stand up straight |
How blown out and blowzy the plants are.
How they've crisped up from summer's lack of water.
Or they're mildewy.
I like to collect seeds, so I try to leave the seedheads on as long as possible.
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| Blackberry lily seedpods -- still waiting for them to open up |
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| Same with daylilies |
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| A sea of hardy geranium seedpods, waiting to fling their seeds far and wide |
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| This was a Shasta daisy once... |
But it's so hard to look at that stuff for long.
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| I need to leave the flowerless lily stalks up as long as possible, to nourish the bulbs for next year's growth |
Fall's decline is as disheartening to me as spring's exuberance is invigorating. There's work to do out there, but it all involves cutting off dead flower stalks and tossing things into compost and yard waste bins.
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| What an appropriate season for Halloween to fall in |
Or putting tools away. Now that October is here, our fall rains have returned, so it's time to start planting again.
But I don't want to.
It's not that I mind working in the garden in the rain, I do it every spring. I've just lost my appetite for it.
