the decorator's have returned!! and other added rambles
madgardener
perfect for driving, perfect in temperature.....
.
We'd had a good rain earlier in the week, then the sun had come out and it
had proven to be a good day weather wise. I had the windows down, and was
enjoying the winds. My music was good, and I had no one behind me, so I
wasn't tearing home. These days I tend to slow down anyway.
As I drove thru the wooded part of my street, I saw the large goldenrod
(that
looks like small daisies in clusters on the tips) were bowing down across
the fences lining the pastures. It for all the world appeared that they
were
bending down to see what was up the road! The other goldenrod, the one
that looks like yellow streams of fireworks, was losing the green beaded
look and was starting to take on a more serious yellow appearance, and there
is a white wildflower that lives with the goldenrods in the fence rows that
I need to
stop one day and investigate and see what it is. **
In the lower places of the pastures on another back road close, are
great stands of deep purple ironweeds. They light up the areas in dark
hues. But what was most incredible to my eyes and mind was the dogwoods!!
When did the decorator's return and start painting the leaves on the
dogwoods? I noticed that they were all drooping, and instead of green, they
were taking on the burgandy coloration. And each cluster of berries were
now noticibly red!! Every dogwood tree is decked out in dingles of red
temptations for all the hungry birds to come eat, come taste, save a few for
harder times..
Since the dogwoods are my cue for true Spring each year, I started looking
for the summac's, and sure enough, their seedpods from those fuzzy flowers
were all now deep, deep maroon, jutting up from the leaves like stiff pointy
heads of curious tourists. And their leaves were turning scarlet as well.
Back at the corner of my dead end road, and starting the climb upwards in
the truck, I see past me that the level of the lake has gone down quite a
bit and now I can see the slash of red clay like slight bleeding wounds
above the blue reflections of sky on the water. Around here that
deffinately signifies the
end of the summer seasons.
I slowed down at the mailbox and saw that the two lone prickly pear cactus
pads that bloomed now have large "pears" and the two of them are turning a
reddish hue. Above these are the hairy limbs of the pink locust tree that
volunteered for me from the Spinster's own tree four foot over. They are
taking on a more ratty look, but with the demise and disappearance of the
leaves you notice that the "hair" on the limbs is more reddish hued and
really interesting.
The pastures along my driveway aren't nearly as dramatic as the others along
the roads to home, but I see goldenrods, and notice that the Virginia
creeper is starting to turn. That makes me squinch up my eyes and see if I
see any signs of the poison ivy turning. No, not yet, and I have to admit,
it is a glorious vine in the autumn.
My Zebra grass is deffinately thru with it's setting of seeds, and there
still aren't ripe figs on my tree. :( The quarter plastic barrel I
planted
in coreopsis and primrose, must have gotten one root of eupitoria (the blue
perennial ageratum, or mist flower) as there was a glowing sky blue reminder
of
flower peeking from under this years overgrowth of forsythia. By the way,
side note, pruning forsythia by 1/3 is all well and good, you don't
sacrifice flowers the next springtime. But here in the Southeast, all it
accomplished was it stimulated the bushes to grow replacement arms at an
alarming rate......I will have to do some serious 1/2 whacking and sacrifice
flowers for next year to keep the huge open space I had opened up last year
that apparantly had been swallowed up when I wasn't looking
The crape myrtles are finished, but there are a few white tired paper mache
blossoms hanging on by threads defying the time poking thru the Zebra
grasses and slapping the side of my truck as I pass.
This is now time to slow to a walk, and I peer thru the archway of trumpet
vine and see the green and way too healthy leaves of the magenta 4's, and as
I stop and look, I notice that the stems of them are red and knobby, like
some old arthritic man with a bad sunburn.
The first thing you notice, besides the mess of the southern front beds, is
the PIRKLE cat's whiskers (cleome) that is blooming it's heads off. The
pods are purple, indicating I missed a cold enough night to allow the
fairies to brush the pods with another color over the green.
The next thing you can't help but see is the majestic blueness of the
salvia, although she isn't towering like she had done, (the rains had bent
her lower causing the hummer no end of stress getting to each lip of
delight). Around it, is the fallen Lemon Queen heliopsis that finally heaved
a sign of defeat with the last pounding rain and sprawled about like some
drunken being. The flowers are sparce and random now, the seed heads of
each of hundreds of flowers turning a nice soft yellow tan.
I see that the white rain lilies that Sharon gave me are sending out lots
more buds. They will be a welcome sight at this time of year.
So many textures and colors right now, I can't describe them all. So what I
am going to do is this......
here I will stop, because from when I started this, time has passed with
known reasons in the world, and I will pick it up to where all this is now.
Thanks for letting me share this even though I wrote it two weeks ago.,
There will be an update. madgardener zone 6b, up on the hilltop,
overlooking a quilt of colors on English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee