Crazy Good

It is the end of the gardening season, the middle of the fall, time to enjoy the turning of seasons, and time for a little reflection.

Of course, top of mind, I poured myself into two garden endeavors this year – the daylily crosses and refining and filling up the garden at the historic cemetery.
Of all the daylily crosses I did this year, a whim was the most successful – Pink Tirza X red daylily. 8 seed pods, 60 seeds! What I will do with 60 seedlings of just that cross, I have no idea. And that is just one cross of many this year. I ended up with well over a hundred viable looking seeds, “looking” being the key. The first three hurdles have been passed – successful cross, seed pod survived to maturity, and healthy looking seed. All the seeds are in storage now. But there is much more to go, and at least a few years to see what I got.

This is always a tough transition for me. Friends go south, gardens go to sleep, way more time indoors … but I could probably use a little rest.

And let’s not forget the cabin, yes the cabin. While I was crossing daylilies to make new ones, and doing year 2 at the historic cemetery, my husband was turning an Amish built shed into a cabin. What was just an idea 5 years ago – a brain child out of watching too many videos that looked way too easy, and a long time idea of “something up north” – is now a cabin. Not the Taj Mahal. Not a cabin on a lake – we are terra firma people – but nevertheless a cabin. Yes, crazy stuff. Still an outhouse. Still bears, and wolves, and coyotes, a porcupine, a bard owl, at least one bobcat, deer, bunnies, mice (sorry mice, saying buh-bye to you), red squirrels, grouse, lots of birds, even a nest on the shed porch this spring. But now also a cabin. Better be careful. Maybe a well is next. You never know the crazy stuff we might do.

And the garden at the historic cemetery! Wowsywowsywow! That changed me as a person! It renewed in me that people really do appreciate things. Not everybody – I’m talking to you dog owners lol. Cute as they are, that garden is not for Fourpeds! But by and large, the support has been INCREDIBLE!!!
And, 100% transparent, not absolutely every harvested seed is in storage. I could not resist harvesting one pod from the Stellas at the historic cemetery. For a friend. Not for me. So far. There are still pods that are maturing. Actually, there are still buds that are blooming. Probably because I removed the pods as they formed. We do have a good crop of pollinators over there so I suspect it will an ongoing discipline to remove the pods as they form so we get season-long bloom.

So onwards! No choice, right? The fall candles are being burned, the cozy home stuff is coming out, the garden is going to sleep, the shrubs are being trimmed, the hummingbird feeders are down, soon the garden pretties will come in and be stored, and the seedling box, and eventually the lawn furniture and firepit. But the pictures are available and the fireplace has already been started up, and there are adventures ahead.

For tonight, I started putting button batteries in the tea lights, and I lit a woodsy candle and drank hot cocoa. Fall is definitely here.

Changes a-coming

Besides the daylilies being done for the year and the linden starting to look very fall-ish, and the sedum making me smile, I feel like yet more changes are a-coming.

Sometimes children – grown and tiny bring you along on their journey. So it is that, besides the cabin build-out up north, an enormous gardening opportunity has presented itself, one that, frankly, is even more than I would tackle alone. But the beauty is that it is not mine.

I find myself astonished that I am looking forward to NOT being the owner. What is going on?

And who was it that looked at me oh those many years ago and said, “Don’t let those daylily seeds go to waste! You know you can save them and plant them!” Yes, indeed. In addition to some going up north and maybe some to the historic garden, I think they may look beautiful in your new gardens 🥰

Wrapping up

The hummingbirds have been gone for a week and a half, the geese are flocking up and filling the skies with their wonderful honking, we have had our first frost, the shamrocks are out of the gardens and up by the patio, transitioning to their eventual move indoors for the winter, and the daylily seeds are almost all harvested, and in envelopes, safely stored until February stratification time.

We have also worked through a lot of what we brought back from the little house up north. Some was not worth sharing, but definitely needed purging. We are once again in a “manageable decluttered” state. Not perfect, but back to continual maintenance.

I recently planted the two hostas that were really struggling at that little house up north, back into the garden here, the last transitional piece. As a bonus, we hear from our former neighbors that the new homeowners are very nice. A match, and a blessing indeed. We were blessed to enjoy that wonderful home during its, and indeed our, transitional period, and had wonderful memories there to enjoy for a lifetime, including friendships we carry forward.

Now the fall things at the townhouse remain – cutting back the garden after the color is largely gone, balancing between enjoying the last bit, and getting winterized before significant snow flies. It is part of the cycle, and a good time to wind down the garden blog for the 2022 season.

So I bid you a fond adieu until the gardens pick up in spring 2023. I will post from time to time as “share worthy” things come up in the interim, and will catch up next spring for another garden season.

Take care!

Planting days are numbered

It started yesterday – winds strong enough to make the falling leaves look like a shower. A cold front moving in. By Tuesday night we are forecasted to have our first frost here. Our planting days for 2022 are numbered. Time to get the rootings planted.

This year I rooted two Autumn Joy sedum from breakage (planted them together), one Sundazzle sedum from breakage, and one coneflower from breakage (planted them together). If they survive the transplant and the winter we will have three new baby sedum and a new baby coneflower in the spring.

The two Autumn Joy rootings I planted out front.

The Sundazzle and the coneflower rootings I planted in the corner by the patio, where I was deliberating what I was going to plant there after we pulled out the Patriot hosta last year. (There is too much sun there for the Patriot hosta.)

As an example, these are Autumn Joy sedum rootings, all grown up 🤗

Frost warning

As some of you may have guessed, I queue up blog posts. Many are not time sensitive, so whenever they come up is fine. But this one is actually today. Yeay!

Fall! It’s here! And it’s accompanying temperature drops are coming, fast. We already had a frost warning up north, and we will dip into the 30s for lows here next week. The shamrocks will be coming in some time in the next couple weeks, and it is time to finish up any transplanting. The summer of 2022 is gone.

Life has been a little intense, and I, for one, could really use a weekend in the gardens. Hoping for that. There is a chance of rain late tonight/early tomorrow. But looking good Sat/Sun.

We are also getting antsy with “what does our home, go forward, look like” thoughts. We saw something that was enticing, but before we even had time to think – gone. That is the way it still is here. Snooze, you lose.

We need more family gathering space, and definitely more kitchen functionality, so our thinking caps are on. What does that look like?

And, as always, the landscape v garden issue continues to roll around in my head. I garden. I do not landscape. That is who I am. Our living situation needs to satisfy that. As I shared in a previous blog, I don’t want to go weed at a church on Thursday nights. I want to garden, here.

So lots of grey cells firing. Time will tell.

One thing is certain, we are feeling cramped and cluttered with the stuff from the little house up north coming back here. There will be a lot more decluttering/purging blogs to motivate (and entertain) for sure! In fact, I think there is another one coming up, today. Enjoy!

Bonus – Foggy, almost fall morning

It is a foggy, almost fall morning here in Minnesota. Queue the apple orchards and the fall jackets.

Not quite yet, but soon.

I would leave my recliner and go out in the garden, but there are no daylilies left, I am exhausted from last weekend’s two moves out of the small house up north – one trip to bring stuff to the camper, and then another trip to bring the remaining stuff back to the townhouse. But that is done now, and the up north recliners are perfect for being sluggy, on this damp fall-ish morning. Time time to indulge in an open front door, cricket to bird serenade, with a little side of squirrels playing on the trees. No need to get out the towel to wipe down the lawn chair this morning. I’m good with this.

The dark-eyed junkos are back

On a beautiful fall day, the dark-eyed junkos are back.

Fall Decorating

It’s hard to compete with this. I don’t even think I’ll try.

Huge October

Happy November 1st!

Wow – where do I begin?

October was a huge month for us. Both our sons got married, and we moved into the meat of renovating the new little house up north. Every day was either filled with activities or work or coordinating for upcoming work at the house. It was a time of celebrations and transitions – a time of just being present and not even necessarily being ready to put pen to paper.

Friday night as the work week wrapped up and I looked at options for a quiet weekend moving into November, I began to formalize a project. We live in a moderately sized townhome with minimal opportunity to stow away things and abide deferred decisions. Our laundry room doubles as a workhorse of a storage room. This year it has worked even harder. Everything from extra food storage and supplies to harvested seeds have gone in there from March to September. Then with the October activities, even more items made their way back there. The cluttered state it was in was not good for me – dust catching, unpleasant to look at, and not serviceable to easily access anything. It needed some love – purging and a whole lot of organizing. So you know how it goes – from realization to starting motivation to the thick of it to pragmatism taking over. Today I can walk in there and go “Ahhhhh!” Mid yesterday, not so much. Bonus was finding a 3 wick candle I love, still in the box. Nice!

Today I need to move my attention outside and pull in all the garden decorations. We had a historic (literally record breaking) early snowstorm on Oct 21 and my garden clean-up cadence got a bit derailed. I need to wrap that up before beginning hygge indoors.

My sister put together this wreath for me last year and my mother recently gave me this plate. Going into November, with the temptation to let my energy be pulled away into things that are neither productive nor beneficial, this is a good place to stay grounded.

All done

The gardens, minus the sedum, are all done. The cold and the wind are starting to feel winter-like. We did have a couple gorgeous (high 60s/low 70s) days but this morning the wind is very brisk, the “feels like” temperature is 26° F, and we have snow flurries.

Our guest in the garden doesn’t care at all to be out in the garden this morning so we’ve got the fireplace going and I’m enjoying the hibiscus.

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Hopefully the wind will calm a bit this afternoon and I can get out and cut back at least the Aureomarginatas and the Blue Mouse Ears.

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