Falling in Love Roses with Veterans Honor (red)
This is no time to write out a list of gardening disappointments. The worst years are good for laughs and comparisons - "You think that was bad?"
Autumn is the perfect time for a garden bargain or two or three. That was poetic.
Who buys bird baths or tools in the fall? I do! My little concrete birdbath, now in the Rose Garden, was bought for $7 in the fall.
I will look for packages of small garden tools to use for bulbs and for spring.
The end of the garden season can be short or quite long here. Hard frosts mark the end, but they can be delayed by the quirks of weather.
Roses are at their best in a long, rainy autumn. The roots are strong, the branches growing from the rain, the blooms lasting in the cool air instead of fading fast in the heat.
God re-arranges the details, so we can find all kinds of wonders at the end of the season. I kept a block of wood in the shade near the faucet so the combination of moisture and rot would help attract bugs and toads for the bugs. I have removed most of the stumps I gathered for the garden (a phase I outgrew), but this horticultural driftwood had to stay. This year I saw that the birds planted one of their favorite foods, wild strawberry on this piece. They love a bit of elevation for protection, grooming, and looking for food.
The dark, fungus softened wood is passing from from its maple tree life to food for birds, a harbor for fruit, and a cafeteria for toads. Creation is a constant transition from one life to another.
Lazarus' sisters said plaintively, "If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died." Jesus responded, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life." Believers pass from life into another, and that is not to make light of loss. We are that much more appreciative.
We only add to the soil in this Eden. Everyone wants to get rid of their leaves, so we gladly take them and let the soil creatures digest them into plant food. It does no harm to have these little shreds of paper, as the leaves appear in time, protecting the roots below and holding the rain and snow above.
The result of all the additions - wood mulch, paper, cardboard, leaves, peat humus - is fertile soil that holds the rainwater and recycles it through all the creatures.
Autumn means finding out how much something can grow in perfect soil. The Joe Pye turned the Rose Garden into the Pye Plantation, so we composted the 9-foot Pye and beefed up the roses with sunlight. The Yarrow grew to impressive heights. New roses are joining the Veterans Honor blooms in a show of color.
We cannot predict the plants or plan how they will grow. Which one is successful? They are all successful because they contribute in some way, whether we realize it or not. When I see a tenacious weed, I remember, "Keep a living root in the soil as long as possible." (Carbon Cowboys) Weeds do their part.
The lowly wild strawberries hug the ground and search for sun in the bare spots. At the end of the season they have provided a mat of berries for the birds, from the birds. They bloom and fruit in the shade.
Wild strawberries work all season to feed the birds.
