Goodbye to the Garden~

The trees and plants were in their last glorious days, making the goodbye evermore bittersweet.

I wandered the grounds yesterday, peering skyward at the honks of the last Canadian Geese rushing south before the frost line. The tiny sweet Mums were bright, the last roses smelled lovely. I had waited until afternoon and rushed as the sky turned dark to the North and the wind began to chill.

I dug the Caladium bulbs.... the soil was cold and damp and they are lucky to be drying in the laundry room, preparing for their winter storage.

I gathered the flats of the unplanted pansies to the warmth inside where they are crowding the window sills, waiting for warmer weather to be planted. As the sky continued to darken and inched closer and closer, the wind picked up and I hurried my pace.

The last of the Tropicals and Geraniums were rushed via the little red wagon to the shop to avoid the inevitable frost. I picked the remaining cheerful Geraniums and brought them to the house, apologizing to the doomed parent plants.

Back inside, I made a nice cup of steaming coffee and held it as the warmth of my cup made my hands tingle a bit as they unfroze.

Overnight the wind howled and the temperatures fell to the teens... and it was over. The summer and all the joy that it had brought is now in the pages of memory. Every still-green leaf has fallen this morning as the Sun began to shine ...
Winter is here!

Poor Annie is terrified of the sea of leaves... she is tip-toeing through them!