Where's the Color?

Fall color has been disappointing.  After all the rain and good weather all summer I really expected a spectacular fall, and it's been dull. 

 This is the prettiest tree in the neighborhood, but not it's usual glory.

Leaves are dull and brown, not red and yellow.  Many of the trees that I count on from year to year have just faded this year.  Even the Bradford pears didn't do their red-kissed Marilyn impression.

 My favorite tree every year.  It's owner let it grow up in the same spot as the shrub, which is evergreen, so we always get this pretty two-tone for a couple of weeks.  Not so nice the rest of the year.

Boring, boring, boring.  Guess it's Mother Nature's way of reminding us we can't have it all every year.  We need to be thankful for the summer we had and wait for a great fall some other year.

Wednesday Workday

 So much left to do and so many fewer hours!

There's a lot of satisfaction that comes from cleaning up the beds, getting plants ready for their long sleep and watching for the process to start over again, but there is one part of my garden that .... well, doesn't exist.  

Bulbs

 

I love tulips and all the little beauties that come up in early spring and summer - freesias and ranunculus - but there are very few in my yard.  One clump of daffodils has bloomed since the first year and there are two small clumps of tulip that have survived for several (three, maybe) years but I drive around and see tulips everywhere in April.  Other people have lots of little things popping up and i have little or no luck with them.  

This lot is heavy with clay - dark, gray, slimy clay!

So, I'm trying something new.

I have filled my biggest pot with bulbs!  Way too many bulbs.  There are tulips [Valentine Candy blend], scilla [Siberica], chionodoxa ['Pink Giant' - don't know what it is, but pink!], freesia and ranunculus [rainbow, pastel and picotee] all layered, fed, watered and snuggly nestled down for a winter's sleep. A total of 85 bulbs!  I know they won't all come up, but i will be  thrilled with a quarter.

Hope Springs Eternal.  Or is it, Spring Hopes are Eternal?

I Hate DST

Daylight Saving Time.  I hate it, hate it, hate it.  

Most of the year I just don't like the philosophy.  It made some sense 75 years ago - before air conditioning, and electronics, and lots of things that make our modern life better but as an energy saving strategy it makes no sense today.

This time of year, tho, i hate it because like the cows my body just cannot adjust.  I'm still waking by some circadian clock that overrides the one on the wall.  You know ... at 5:15 instead of 6:15.  And the 

darker evenings make me sad and lethargic.

I had such good plans to get out in the garden every afternoon for an hour or so, but all I want to do is plop in my chair and read.  What do you think wins?  Reading, it is!

Fortunately, on those afternoons when it's a bit warmer [you remember that i don't do "cold" - right?] I have done of bit of clean up in the yard.  As always Mother Nature has a little something to raise the spirits.

 

The roses are still going strong in their pots.  Both the David Austin 'Sister Elizabeth' and the unknown mini that just soldiers on!

But there are surprises, too.  Like the snap dragons that just bloomed this week - what?

 

Or, the salvia.  When I cut back the heavy, dead parts I found newly blooming shoots underneath.  And, don't you love the fragrance of salvia?

 

And, not one but five iris trying to rebloom.  One has made it so far. 

 

 If the cold nights don't kill them, we'll have more for the house ... very soon.  

Thanks, Mom!