It happened last night.
The elephant ears are drooping, the dahlias are black.
The banana leaves are brown and the Turk’s caps are gray.
The green has left the garden.
Another phase in the life of a gardener.
Clean up the frozen leaves and stems before they turn to slime.
Dig up tubers, corms, and rhizomes that now have no tops.
Pack them in peat moss, haul them in.
Sometimes I wonder.
What would I have done with all that time if I had NOT
followed this same routine over and over again each year?
My nails would be prettier. Maybe my back wouldn’t hurt as much.
More traveling? More money? A career? A cleaner house? More friends?
No matter. I have chosen my flowers. My living rainbow. My green children.
That has been my path. My little world of tiny friends and flowers.
ALL these photos were taken yesterday, just hours before the freeze.
Many blooms were covered with frantic bees. CLICK on any photo to enlarge it.
(The feature image is a pumpkin bloom)
The Frozen FLOWER
floweralley 
The blooms still look beautiful! I too wonder what I would have filled my time with if not for gardening. Even when I was working full-time I coudnt wait to get home to tend to my garden. My husband has been joking for years, that if only our kids could be plants, ‘Mom would shower you with love and attention for hours and hours 😃.” In fact when he comes back from a business trip sometimes when he is in a toungue and cheek mood he’ll ask me “how are your children?” To which I would respond oh they had this test or that activity, and he would say “no I mean your real children, your garden plants.” 😀🌹🌷
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People always ask me “How are the bunnies?”
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I am also garden obsessed and have lots of plants. Today is my “moving day” and will be bringing in all the tenders. All I can say is it could have been cats, of which I only have one.
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Ha. I am totally worn out and no where near done.
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I always thought of your climate as being more benign than mine but you’ve beaten us on the first frost. I have started the greenhouse migration though.
p.s. what are nails?
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Flower, the only answer, you would not have a garden to love and then what? Not possible. Relax for the winter.
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Bonjour Flower, en effet, c’est beaucoup de travail et d’efforts mais la récompense est là. Toutes vos fleurs sont de toute beauté. Merci, j’admire ces magnifiques variétés.
Mes amitiés
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“Clean up the frozen leaves and stems before they turn to slime” – a classical poetic statement about life. What wondrous serenity, just to sit in your garden, perhaps sharing a tea or coffee break in the midst of all work, saying nothing. Just watching time as it goes by.
Ellington
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I have another blog https://wordpress.com/view/seizuremama.wordpress.com. You may like it, but it is not as pretty as this one.
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Your other blog makes me curious, of course. However, I’m afraid it doesn’t open when I click your link.
😦
Ellington
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Wow. Thanks for letting me know. I will check with wordpress.
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I always enjoy hearing from you. Thank you
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https://seizuremama.wordpress.com Please try again.
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Nasturtiums … they turn to slime quicker than anything else. I never catch them in time, even one night. Still your November flowers were wonderfully colourful and varied. I didn’t recognise them all: is the second one in a musa and the one below that mirabilis and two more down azalea? Glad you caught them on you camera!
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I guess I should have labeled them. I will try to go back and do that. Thanks for the visit and the questions.
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