Neither Snow, Nor Sleet, Nor Rain, Nor Dark Of Night...

We all know how the  saying goes and today had it all!  When I awoke this morning it was dark, but as I sat and stared out the window, I could see that there was snow out there.  When there was light enough for a picture I opened the window just enough to take one.  Well yes, I took two just in case, but then I closed the window. We like to keep that heat inside!  I love watching the first snow fall on the garden, but we were scheduled to go out today.  I was not quite prepared for the change.  By the time we got together our coats, hats, gloves, located the snow brush to clean off the car and started out we were just a bit behind schedule.  Winter driving is one of Ed's special skills.  He's a actual native of upstate New York and he drives like one!  He has many years of experience, but the first snow that sticks on the road is always a little adjustment. There was enough slush on the road to make things interesting.   We arrived at our destination in fine shape and I didn't even white knuckle it once.

By the time we headed for home, the sleet was over and the rains had begun.   The slush that had been on the roads in the morning was gone.  We drove home in the rain. This afternoon's picture was taken through the window.  It was raining too hard to open the window.  You can see the water running down the glass.  Now it is 6:30 PM and it is dark again. Today gave us an October sneak preview of things to come.  Ready or not... here it comes!

Late Autumn Color

Just when you think that it is over you discover that it is not over yet.  In many nearby places the hills are covered with leafless trees.  Where some leaves still hang onto the trees they are a dull yellowish brown.  Moving down into our dead ice sink, I discovered this wild blueberry bush ablaze with bright color.  It is quite a find.

Our new computer has an automatic enhance feature that it applies to all of our pictures.  We turn off that artificial brightening of our photos one at a time.  We prefer to see the colors as they actually exist.  Believe it or not these colors look just like what I saw with my old eyes.

Looking up out of the dead ice sink, my location for taking the recent pictures of our nearby ridge can be seen.  Today I was facing west.  The ridge is behind me to the east.

Sumac is often regarded as a trash tree.  Its soft fuzzy trunk does not inspire respect.  Death is common among relatively young trees.  Deer frequently use the trunks of sumac to rub the velvet from their horns.  Rub scars tend to be large and seem to last forever.  The red leaves seem rather majestic especially when compared with the overdone blueberry leaves.

The still green tree in the background is an oak.  There are many different varieties of oak trees here and we remain totally ignorant of their proper names.  Last week as I drove past Otselic, a distant hill came into view and it was peppered with purple leaved oak trees.  The contrast in colors was stunning but I was not moved to look for the proper name of this seasonally beautiful tree.

Seasonal Beauty

It is my understanding that this is the time of year when hordes of people pay money to ride on buses or trains to see our seasonal color displays.  This is a season of incredible beauty and we find it close to home.  We own everything in the foreground and have the landowners permission to walk the distant ridge.  Twenty-two years ago when we first walked this land, the similarity between this ridge and Diamond Head impacted me.  Here the ridge runs to meadow rather than ocean and we encounter prickers not beaches when we approach.  Ours is without question truly majestic at this time of year.

This is not your typical fall color picture.  The scraggly white pine tree has finished putting on its winter coat.  Fallen needles litter the ground in sharp contrast with the new green needles.  This process of renewal is a true wonder.  The tree is never bare.  New needles push away the old in scattered spots among the branches.  Green is always the dominant color but since no golden brown can be found hanging on the tree the cycle has ended.  Walking on newly fallen pine needles is hazardous.  They are slicker than new ice and show no signs of danger there.

This is diamond head as seen from the high ground to the left in the first picture.  Our numerous briers, as seen in the foreground, are a source of a different color.  They are an invasive nuisance and a source of many scratches but they also sweeten spring air.  The newly opened leaves release a pleasant scent as do the flowers that follow.  It is best to see their good side since they are firmly here to stay.

Here is a long view from the nearby level ground that is close to where the previous picture was taken.  A dead ice sink forms the bowl shaped depression to the right.  Our twisted lumpy land makes for interesting walks.

This picture was taken from the same high ground as the previous two.  My garden by the woods at the far right of the picture is marked by white metal post tops and brown grass mulch cut from what looks like lawn.  It is in fact mowed meadow complete with horse manure!  No one walking on it could mistake it for lawn.

Looking north from the high ground around the dead ice sink, one sees our home.  It is rather easy to imagine the type retirement life that has been ours here.  We feel fortunate to have found this place and treasure our time spent here.

270 Garlic Cloves Planted

Growing healthy garlic in upstate New York is difficult at best.  The natural growth cycle of the plant is totally at odds with our weather.  Prior to its mid July harvest, garlic needs several weeks to dry down.  Our weather at that time of year roars to us from the south and features both high humidity and high temperatures.  Thunderstorms are common then and garlic plants that are trying to dry are repeatedly soaked.  As any Alabama belle can verify, mold is common under those circumstances.

This garden by the woods was opened to provide disease free ground for garlic growing.  Since I poisoned one bed by planting disease ridden cloves there, garlic is rotated through the remaining three beds.  A new bed is planned to be ready in time for next year's crop.

Six different varieties were planted in a bed that is five feet wide and eighteen feet long.  The covering leaves are newly fallen and were run through the lawn mower.  Wire fence was placed on top of the leaves to hold them in place.  It will be removed just as soon as the snow melts.

In an attempt to control disease, we soak and peel each clove.  This is an effective approach as very few of our bulbs are now soft to the touch.  Despite an overnight soak, the wrappers remain tight to the clove.  A well placed tiny scissor snip is necessary to provide a spot to pull on.  After that the most annoying result is a thin transparent skin that clings to whatever it touches.

This clove shows the most infection found this year.  As disgusting as it appears, the bulb felt solid hiding the problems just under the skin.  Had this clove been planted a diseased plant would have tried to grow infecting our soil.  Each of our six varieties revealed some infected cloves.  Many contained only a single small brown spot but all of them found the trash.  The range of infected cloves per variety ran from 5% to 20%.

This wrinkled clove is a new experience for us.  Only Lamb's-quarters presented these.  Four such cloves were planted and their locations recorded so that we can see what grows from these wrinkled cloves.

Having no hint of the outcome when peeling cloves, we need to soak enough to exactly fill the fifty or forty planting holes allotted to each variety.  That produced a large pile of peeled but unplanted cloves.  An old favorite recipe for garlic chicken solved that problem.

It is difficult to adequately describe the feelings that come with planting next year's crop in October.  We did fall plant potatoes but the garlic will begin showing above ground growth soon after the snow melts.  Our next garden is well and truly under way.

The Moonflower That Came In From The Cold: Part Two

I just had to get a close photo of the nectar in the newly opened moonflower.  The scent was lovely if understated.  I think it travels on the breeze when the flower opens outdoors on a warm evening. I love the pale green star!

The flower is large perhaps four inches or more across.  The texture of the petals and the slightly ruffled edges show up well.  How amazing all this beauty is from a flower that is rarely open for an entire day!

I decided to include a picture of the back of the flower.  It is a view not often seen and it shows the pale green star that is formed by the opening bud.  There are two more buds at the flowers base.

As promised I did take pictures of the moonflower in the full moonlight.  Even though the full moon seemed to flood the room with light, the pictures were a total disaster!  It was  a bit disappointing but the future of my indoor moonflowers is bright!  The next bud is looking good and if you look very closely you can see the tiny green tip on the remaining bud.  If I had my wish Amy would be here to watch that one open!

The Moonflower That Came In From The Cold: Part One

Out in the garden the moonflower vines have been getting hit with frost repeatedly.  I think it is safe to say that the vines are now dead.  There is nothing like a clear sky and a full moon to really drop the temperature here in the fall.  Inside the house something more exciting was happening. In the afternoon  this bud looked really promising.  It was green and tightly wound, but something was definitely going on here!

A moonflower opening just in time for the full moon seemed perfect, maybe magical.  The sun was just beginning to disappear behind the ridge to the west.   I was sitting in Ed's chair looking at the moonflower and I swear I saw it move!  I hurried to the other room to get the camera and by the time I returned the flower was open like this.

 It was then that I had the brilliant idea to switch to a video.  I must have been shaking with excitement because the movement of the camera was so bad that it looked like I was filming at 6.2 on the Richter scale.  At the end off three minutes I finally had the good sense to stop.

In three minutes time the flower opened so that it looked like this!  Needless to say I was thrilled.  I had high hopes of getting pictures of the moonflower in the full moonlight of the Hunter's Moon.  That is to be continued in The moonflower That Came In From The Cold: Part Two!

The Moonflower That Came In From The Cold: Part One

Out in the garden the moonflower vines have been getting hit with frost repeatedly.  I think it is safe to say that the vines are now dead.  There is nothing like a clear sky and a full moon to really drop the temperature here in the fall.  Inside the house something more exciting was happening. In the afternoon  this bud looked really promising.  It was green and tightly wound, but something was definitely going on here!

A moonflower opening just in time for the full moon seemed perfect, maybe magical.  The sun was just beginning to disappear behind the ridge to the west.   I was sitting in Ed's chair looking at the moonflower and I swear I saw it move!  I hurried to the other room to get the camera and by the time I returned the flower was open like this.

 It was then that I had the brilliant idea to switch to a video.  I must have been shaking with excitement because the movement of the camera was so bad that it looked like I was filming at 6.2 on the Richter scale.  At the end off three minutes I finally had the good sense to stop.

In three minutes time the flower opened so that it looked like this!  Needles to say I was thrilled.  I had high hopes of getting pictures of the moonflower in the full moonlight of the Hunter's Moon. This is to be continued in "The Moonflower That Came In From The Cold: Part Two!"

Garlic And Arbutus

Mid October is when we plant our garlic.  Most of the seasonal activity in the gardens now deals with plant cycles coming to an end.  A beginning at this time of year just seems special.  My late father's birthday is nearly here and the quiet of planting is a perfect time for reflection and remembering.

The far end of this planting bed received seventy garlic cloves this morning.  The soil surface there is visually different from the rows of marked planting holes.  Five rows of our best variety, given to us by Helen, were planted first.  Then two rows of our marker garlic Guilford purple stripe were planted next.  Most of our varieties are in the porcelain group.  These plants are tall with widely spaced leaves.  Purple stripe plants are shorter with closely spaced numerous leaves.  These differences help me keep the different varieties separate at harvest.

Our arbutus plants were transplanted under white pine trees because we felt that such a location would favor them.  This is the time of year when the white pines cast off their old needles in the process of growing new ones.  We find the appearance of the needle covered wall and ground attractive and natural but a dense cover on the arbutus is not acceptable.  Our friend Jane has spent decades in close contact with woods and the plants that grow there.  She has told us of brushing away the fallen leaf cover to reveal arbutus plants in healthy bloom.  I find this difficult to understand since the life function of these plants requires some sunlight.  So I must carefully remove the dense cover of fallen pine needles.  That is not natural but neither is the galvanized wire cage that prevents wildlife from eating my plants.

This picture shows only half of the arbutus plants clear of pine needles.  The other half are so densely covered that it is difficult to see them.  One other planting was cleared yesterday but two additional ones still need attention.  This up close attention revealed numerous healthy looking bud clusters.  We hope that the snow cover this winter is continuous so that the plants emerge healthy.

Wind will clear most of the pine needles from the top of the stone wall.  Cracks between the cap stones will hold some needles all year.  That too is an attractive sight.

Indoor Moonflower

As expected frost formed last night.  With little moisture in the air the frost was scant on the grass but it did form.  Car windows were coated with a hard white layer.  The moonflower backed by dark clouds did try to open outside but the petal tips were fused together in response to the advancing cold.  Numerous vase shaped buds are visible but they will never open either.

We do not quit easily so some buds were cut and placed in a vase indoors.  At least three buds are in the photo but we limited our hopes to the single larger one.  The entire vase of cuttings looked much stronger after a warm night in our living room.  A full day of bright sunshine on the inside moved the plant parts in the proper direction.

That these tightly wound petals are able to open is as much of a miracle as a new butterfly first spreading its wings.  The thrill at seeing this type of flower open never seems to grow old.

Here we have our first moon flower blossom ever that opened indoors.  We were somewhat concerned that its scent would be overpowering inside but it is really quite pleasant.

A freeze is forecast for tonight.  If that does happen, we hope that it is hard enough to end the biting bugs.  With them gone the days that follow will be some of the best of the year.

Signs Of Frost

Geese have been gathering on the river recently.  Each morning after the overnight valley fog clears, the geese take to the air for training flights getting ready for their migration.  Flying  low and loud in disorganized masses, they command attention from those of us when we are outside working in the gardens.  Their chosen flight path takes them up and down the river valley.  It seems that they are all talking at once as their honks fill the air.

This morning there was no fog so the geese took to the air earlier than usual.  With all of the noise that they create we simply must stop our work and watch these geese fly close by.  That is when we saw high formations of geese flying southward.  Migrating geese fly so high that they appear as pepper grains against the sky.  Were it not for their V formation they might easily pass by unnoticed.  These geese were being pushed by a wind from the north. While we were watching the geese we spotted a pair of mature eagles circling overhead.  When we first saw the eagles they were circling low over our pine trees.  By the time the camera was activated, the eagles had soared high enough to nearly be out of view.  The dark spot in the picture is a bald eagle!

We knew that the surface winds were coming at us from the north.  Seeing the geese riding the high tailwinds told us that we would soon be enveloped in polar air.  Frost tonight is highly likely.  We prefer to remove our tender vegetable plants before frost converts them to a black slimy mess.  Here Ed is filling the wheelbarrow with soon to be dead basil plants.  He started these plants from seed under lights in our basement and was quite proud of their massive roots that developed under our care.  The tree leaves he shredded and placed under the basil plants as mulch helped to carry them through the dry spells and limited weed growth.  Last night's dinner featured pesto made with our basil and garlic.

For us a nearly open moon flower bud signals the nearness of a frost.  We persist and try to grow this tropical plant in spite of the fact that frost regularly ends the plants just as the first flowers were about to open.  There is one bud that is uncurling now and it may be open to greet the coming frost.  Two buds were snipped and brought into the house.  We will watch to see if they manage to produce flowers inside.

A Season of Bloom Ends

These two flowers mark the end of daylily blossoms here for this year.  Looking back, this has been a year of extremes for these plants.  An incredibly harsh late freeze turned their significant new growth into pale mush.  Certain that my daylilies were dead, I turned my attention to other parts of the garden unable to deal with the mess.  The daylilies did recover and flower impressively but their overall size may have been stunted.

This clear bright yellow flowering plant was sold to us as a Royal Palace Prince.  It in no way even distantly resembles that named variety.  We have absolutely no idea about the name of this plant if it is a named variety.   For me the ruffled petal edges and the lime green throat are more than enough to secure it a place in the garden.

Two years have elapsed since this plant arrived here.  It is short now but we will watch to see if it makes a more robust presentation next year.  I failed to check for scent today since getting that close to the ground is not as easy as it used to be.  We will find a location for this plant that takes advantage of its small size if that is how this plant presents itself next year.  We could use it as a foreground plant in front of spring bulbs.

Unlike the dayliies, this cone flower will return tomorrow and for many days after that.  For some unknown reason this single plant is displaying overall young growth.  In that sense it does mark the end of a season of spectacular bloom for this variety.  Cone flowers are overrunning the garden down by the road.  We will have to thin the returning plants and find something to do with the all of new seedlings that will appear like weeds.  As problems go this is not a bad one to face but we have great difficulty composting desirable healthy plants.  A little thing called winter will insert itself here between now and the time to deal with transplants.  We prefer to think about new locations for our returning plants.

Two In One Shot

Butterfly photography can be a frustrating experience but watching beautiful newly hatched Monarch butterflies flitting around the garden was too much of a temptation for me.  The sun was low in the west and getting the light behind you means casting a long shadow.  When these newly hatched beautiful butterflies get touched by your shadow they take off in a flash.  But the fragrance of the butterfly bush was strong and they kept coming back for more nectar.  Finally I sneaked along the path pretending to ignore the butterflies and I got my picture of two Monarchs.  Yes two, you can just see the front of the second butterfly at the bottom edge of the picture.
 

I snapped again and this time both butterflies are almost in entirely in the picture.  No clues are needed .  I was delighted!

Wow!  There they are centered in the picture like I knew what I was doing.  I couldn't believe my fantastic luck. I was ecstatic!

I was so excited when I saw this picture I almost couldn't stand it!  Ever since we have been here it has been one of our greatest pleasures watching the Monarchs fly over the garden heading south.   There numbers had dwindled in the past couple of years.  It is a delight to see more of them again!

Vibrant Dome Aster

Vibrant Dome is anything but a natural wild flower.  It has been crossed and recrossed to produce a garden plant.  Its color is bright pink and its stature is shorter than the wild plant.  Pruning is not required to create a garden sized plant.

Part of the Purple Dome series, it is a registered variety.  Unauthorized propagation is forbidden.  What will be my fate if I decide to move this plant to a more favorable location and it comes out of the ground in pieces?

The untidy appearance of the stems is likely the result of this plant's unruly neighbors.  Crowded by cone flowers, the aster was restricted to a partial shade summer.  We plan to move the aster into the open.  It might then make a presentation worthy of registered plant.

This close up captures what is a somewhat rare appearance here.  Late to bloom, frost usually ends this plant's season here before any blossoms have opened.  Located down hill near the river, this plant escaped our September frost.

This naturally occurring mutation produces brighter lighter colored flowers than a typical wild New England Aster.  These plants have leafless stems now much like the Vibrant Dome but here the unsightly condition is not the result of crowding.  Roadside plants that were cut by the highway department mower are presently in flower on short green stems.  With a little help from us, this plant should make an excellent tame garden specimen.  We really intend to cut back our native asters twice next year.  A plant this regal deserves better care.

Let's Make A Difference

We decided to take advantage of a break in the wonderful rain to get out there and make a difference.  We chose to work in the garden down by the road.  When Ed and I work together on the garden it is always time well spent.  Ed brought buckets of wood mulch  and started on the edge.  The mulch filled trench is intended to give the pasture grasses a place to grow in the direction of the garden without actually entering the garden.  If our weeding is timely, the trench is quickly cleared and none of those horrid white grass roots will have reached the garden.

I started cutting back dead flower stalks.  This patch of red bee balm was screaming to be cut back. That powdery mildew needs to be banished from the garden.  I filled the cart behind my tractor twice.

There is still so much beauty in the garden.  It was a pleasure to spend time giving it air and light.  These bee like insects are unknown to us since we do not recall ever seeing them here before.  Honey bees seem to have largely disappeared.  We are close to several huge dairy operations.  With them comes poisons to favor the growth of corn.  Their corn reached record heights but many of the honey  bees appear gone.

We spent just 190 minutes in the garden. I think we made quite a difference.  Perhaps others who drive by will not notice the change, but beauty has an impact on everyone.  We had a wonderful time!!!!!