I’ve lied to myself as long as I can. The tall cutleaf coneflower has turned brown. The purple asters in the front yard are done blooming. The front sidewalk is littered with leaves. The growing season is officially over. Today I went into the background and pretended I was doing some gardening but really I was just putting up two bird feeders. Can we call that gardening?
Brooke loves autumn and I do love some things about autumn – jackets, dramatically colored trees, pumpkin-flavored things – but mostly autumn just reminds me of the dreaded next season which is sadly free of gardening for me.
The other week, I produced a bite-sized segment for Pittsburgh Today Live about prepping a yard for winter and I thought you might enjoy it:
Thanks to KDKA’s Jeff Roupe for filming and editing the piece. I was especially impressed with the way he got that shot from the perspective of a rake!
So many people think they need to rip everything out before winter and I was excited to tell people that this is a time when being lazy is actually the responsible thing to do. If you want to read more about the history of the garden clean-up, you can check out my post from last which I dramatically titled, It's Fall! Let's All Burn Our Gardens!
Hold on, I just found a lone intact echinacea bloom in the backyard! Does this mean I can pretend it’s still summer?
Are you all in denial too? How do you cope with this change of seasons?
And one more thing: I’ve got another after-hours tour at Phipps Conservatory coming up this coming Monday, November 6th. There are three tickets left if you want to join. And here’s a great photo from our tour last month taken by the amazing Kitoko Chargois:
Still work to do - mulching perennials after a couple more hard frosts (especially the hardy bananas, crinums, sages and agapanthus here in zone 6b Kentucky) before I can enjoy deserved relaxation time, though the indoor garden will require continual attention.
In Portland, it’s perennial planting season! I’m focusing on adding natives to my garden, but also appreciating the fall color given by my blueberries, hamamelis, and callicarpa.