Annual Adieu!

The sunny moments of early fall days betray the gardener's heart. All the planning, preparation and visions of the spring plantings have been realized, more or less, throughout the happy summer months. Even though the rains must begin, the gardener wants the season of fruits and flowers to endlessly remain, a testament to hard work, regular grooming and gathering. But the inescapable seasonal changes progress despite the heart's sentiments and leaves begin to fall, flowers fade, vegetables stop producing, spiders leave their webs on insect highways and the signals to put the garden to bed cannot be ignored any longer.

A final harvest

Despite the sadness of cutting down still living plants, the rational decision to begin the process while the weather is dry is the best one. Remembering the slimy wet hostas, the mushy rotting vegetables and the sticky decomposing leaves of previous procrastinations bolsters the resolve to get at it while the sun shines.  The example of a more courageous neighbor gets the yard debris bins rolling. Starting at one end of the border, I clip old perennial growth, pull dried annuals and scatter their seeds about and root out stubborn and persistent weeds such as yellow clover, Johnson grass, the ill-conceived ground cover potentilla/cinquefoil/tormentilla (named for its five leaves and flower petals that torment the gardener by its running and strangling habit) and out-of-bounds ajuga and sweet woodruff.

The yard debris cans fill quickly with stalks of spent digitalis/foxglove, a beautifully amazing hardy Geranium 'Ann Folkard' and its various named associates 'Elizabeth', 'Samba', 'Mayflower' and 'Wargrave Pink', Asiatic lily stalks, daylily foliage, volunteer ferns, Heuchera inflorescence and the intrusive yet exquisite Lady's Mantle. Whew! And that was just for starters. The next round will be grape vines, an exuberant Clematis montana, tall spikes of Crocosmia 'Lucifer' and its naturalizing cousin C. x crocosmiiflora, hydrangea flower heads, Siberian iris, wandering oregano and penstemmon. This will be followed by the challenging load of golden hops vines, apple tree spouts, rose bush prunings and several Clematis vitacellas.

Stalwart wedding dahlia

Once the clipping starts, it takes on its own energy as the yard begins to look somewhat clean shaven and ready to be raked of all the leaves that have yet to fall. The London planetree and a row of maples in a neighbor's yard will dump a load of leaves, filled in by naturalized cherry trees, a purple weeping beech, a flowering crabapple, and a duo of River birch 'Heritage' with their constant twig drop issues. Satisfaction comes as the workload drags to an end. The pleasing thought of watching the clean palette of a yard wait for its spring greening renews my plans for next year's garden. Thinning and moving plants will be high on my list as will sharing a few favorites in some patio pots with a new bride.

For the time being, it's adieu. The seasons will plow forward and renewal will be evidenced in a few months. The seed and plant catalogs should be arriving any day now. I wonder what more I can squeeze into the side yard beds?

Farewell until we meet again