[gardeners] Fall overveiw
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 29 Sep 2001 01:03:03 -0400
George, we tend to think of everyone's weather in terms of our
own, more or less. I don't feel as if we ever had a spring, and
we certainly did not have an ordinary summer. Yes, I think one week
of hot and terribly humid, but in general, nada ...
Right now it is freezing -- our metabolisms must have aged radically
because it has not been so hot that our blood thinned, and
therefore we never should require the heat on in the house, the way
we have it!
The mandevilla and lablab are still beautiful, even with the 45* nights,
as I mentioned awhile back. And the big flower bed looks rather
chaotic since the plants grew into each other, natural style, but it does
give the yard color, and that's welcome. The rhodies we moved a few
weeks ago look wonderful! And down on the end there's an overflow
bed where we put all my extra seedlings, and all those rooted coleus
cuttings which were so late getting into the ground that they had lost
all their lower leaves and looked ratty. Today they are a lush jungle
of color, ALL filled in (they grew fresh lower leaves!) and it looks
wonderful! The bed is fronted by my hundreds of self-seeded volunteer
blue ageratum from last year's big flower bed, some no larger than a
quarter when I carefully scooped them up.. There's yet another bed
back there with more of those volunteer itsy-bitsies which now are
full grown. Somehow it is more fun to see and smile at the flowers
which one has cultivated herself...
But in all it must have generally been cool. The raspberries have
stood still for weeks -- the berries are fully developed, but not
ripening, and this is VERY late for the crop. The other bed of New
Guinea hybrid impatiens stopped growing at half their usual size.
My 2 foo dogs are placed there at the entrance, and normally the
New Guineas grow so tall that I have to add bricks underneath
the foo dogs to elevate them enough to be seen!
I have to be careful what we prune this weekend. The 4 ilex
hedges, yes -- they grow so thick and fast that they torment me!
But wherever I find an azalea which should be removed, I am
waiting until spring. I want the sickly plant to help support its
healthy neighbors from the weight of the winter snow.
Still so much to do -- guess I'd better get out my winter
underwear..
Penny, NY zone 6
.
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