Posted on Sep 22, 2014 11:07 AMWhat a gorgeous day yesterday was, so beautiful I wanted to just grab hold of it and never let go. I watered and weeded and took pictures and did so much of nothing really, but it was an amazing day. A golden day, a once in a lifetime day; just free and easy and with a breeze that carried the hint of distant music. The only sound was the rustling of cottonwood leaves and maybe the red maple and the occasional musical tone. It was a day to just 'be'. Just be still and look and listen, to not think or worry or work. Just one great big beautiful day. I think maybe I could stay in that kind of day for a year or two and never want for another thing.
People talk about the weather all the time, particularly now that hints and rumors and suggestions of climate change have been on the tips of so many public tongues. It really isn't a new topic, I grew up knowing that our daily existence depended on working hand in hand with the weather. Get those bulbs, blooms, tomatoes, whatever in before first frost or they would be blackish mush by morning. Plant that last crop of half runners as soon as last frost or there will be no green beans to put up for winter. It's all a part of living and surviving. At that time we knew what to expect from our weather at any given season, it was predictable. The difference now is that we have no clue what to expect, and the unthinkable is happening. My Golden Raintree is dead and the Southern Magnolia I started from seed is not far behind. I see no sign of damage, no sign of bugs; they're both young trees, so I'm blaming last year's winter weather.
Both pictures were taken earlier this Summer when the Raintree looked fine and the Magnolia bloomed right along with the Crepe Myrtle.
Now things are different and I have some chopping to do. It's going to change the looks of things around here when I lose those young trees. When we first moved here 40 years ago, there were only 3 small trees on this half acre. It had been farmland in years past and large farms needed lots of sunshine. That's what we moved into, lots of sun and not much shade. So over the years with the hot afternoon sun in mind, I planted and I planted and I planted. Trees. And more trees. Now that I'm living in what sometimes seems to be a forest, I guess the loss of a tree or two won't hurt anything, but it surely does break my heart. I seem to be one who gets terribly attached to things I have planted.
Not many blooms here in the first week of Fall, but the days have been so glorious it doesn't matter much.
The hibiscus, way over my head, always brightens up that little corner, just as the crepe myrtle almost blocks a walkway. And the tiny coleus, it suddenly appeared at the edge of the front walk; I haven't grown that particular coleus in a couple of years, and how this one survived the past winter while the trees did not, I have no idea. Magic, I reckon!
Of course the sedum blooms on and on and yesterday I noticed there might be a bloom stalk on one of the Elephant Ears that came with those from Xeramtheum. I've never had an EE to bloom for me before. Exciting! Gloriosas, beautiful! And a morning glory here and there.
So it's Fall and there are changes, but on the other hand, there's always goldenrod with ragweed not far behind.
I think I smell hickory smoke in the air. It's probably a good time to chop down a dead tree or two.
