The End of the Season

Well, with our first freeze finally here, it seems a fitting time to add a final entry for the 2010 garden season. After a cold, wet and miserable September, wasn't our October a wonderful gift? Warm, sunny - a true delight. And with our first freeze 3 weeks later than normal, not coming until 10/29, we had such a nice long end to the growing season. I think the whole season must have been several weeks longer than normal. A fluke, or a sign of change? Time will certainly tell. I can tell you that our season is longer, although not always as long as this year. We used to not plant tomatoes until Memorial Day; now it's May 15. I'm told lilacs used to last until Memorial Day, too, but now Mother's Day is generally their peak.

The garden finished out the year well. I lost a few of the new plants out front, but that's to be expected. I already have plans in motion to replace them. Here's one that exceeded all expectations - the asters. They're huge, and a lovely addition for fall.





Another plant I just love that comes into its own in the fall is the flame grass. Joe got this wonderful shot of it. It will hold onto these seed heads all winter, and it's gorgeous in the snow.



As promised, our apple tree has tiny, tiny apples that won't make a mess in the yard. Of course, we can't eat them, either, but that's a tradeoff I'm perfectly happy to make.





The burning bush is just a nice green bush most of the year, but come late summer you can sure see how it gets its name!





As mentioned earlier (at least I think I did!), we got a garden plan done for our back yard last year. We put another part of that into motion a week ago, when we planted hydrangea bushes. These are the old fashioned kind, with the big white blooms, which both fit the age of our house and will look wonderful against the red brick.



A last note for my southern friends: When we have young trees here, we have to wrap the trunk in the fall to help preserve the bark through our harsh winters. Believe it or not, we need to keep the bark cold. If the sun hits it and heats it up, it can start growth in the cells of the bark. If the sun goes behind a cloud or building or some such, the temp drops so fasts it doesn't just stop the activity, it kills the cells. That gives you a big dead patch in the bark. Enough of those and the tree dies. It also helps save them from hungry critters! So here's what that looks like. We'll take it off in the spring.

Well, the growing season might be over, but the work sure isn't. Time to go pull all the deal annuals and do some clean up. I tend to leave a lot of my perennials around for the winter. It gives us something to look at in the snow, and lets me in the garden to do something in spring before it's safe to plant!