It is a bit early for the usual fall preparations, but this has not been a usual fall.
In preparing for Hurricane Florence, many potted plants had to be moved for protection.
Vines on trellises had to be trimmed and tied.
Limbs and leaves of the tropical trees had to be preened off to lessen wind resistance.
Now that Florence has passed, I find myself dragging plants in big clay pots back out
just about the time they should be prepared to be moved in for winter.
So this fall, the transition has been complicated.
As the clay pots come out of the shop after Florence, their plants are being popped into a plastic pot of similar size.
Some late acquisitions are being put in the ground.
This is the first fall ever that I have considered tossing my FLOWER status.
It has been one calamity after another in my garden this spring and summer.
I have never worked harder nor had this many failures.
I am carefully considering the future of each plant and my position as their gardener.
Florence brought in the winds of change.
Where will the FLOWER blow off to?
FLOW
floweralley 
Please don’t give up! There is a purpose for all endeavors! Hope you are having a good weekend.
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Thank you for your words of encouragement. My family sensed my frustration. My son helped me complete some much dreaded tasks. Then my husband and son forced me to have fun this afternoon. I am a nose-to-the-grindstone personality. I must be dragged from my work kicking and screaming. My next post will be about our adventure.
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Looking forward to the post! Take care.
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Glad you didn’t suffer any significant damage, save for a sore back and arms by moving all those pots!
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I was amazed at how sore I was from the lifting and moving my many pots. My shoulders hurt for days. Another assignment for my poor trainer. Instead of making progress. I hobble to the gym to be repaired like an old worn out automobile. She keeps me going. I can’t believe all the things I carried up our hill this afternoon. I usually have trouble getting myself up.
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I have two thoughts on that…change is not always bad and I sometimes feel the harder I try with some plants, the worse they do. The last two years, I have had “life” and not to mention Harvey interrupt my gardening effort, but luckily my old stand-byes just grew into a massive jungle, which is why you only see close-ups of my plants. Hopefully, it will all work out for you.
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Ha. Let’s not share our garden blogger secrets where everyone can read them. I never do long shots of my yard either.
I am seriously considering the fate of some of my non-performers. I move my “extras” across the drive to the bank below the vegetable garden. These plants are still watered and weeded, but not babied. It’s the do-or-die part of the garden. It may get really crowded over there after the summer I have had. I feel like the Old Woman in the Shoe, only I have so many plants I don’t know what to do. This is the first fall that I have welcomed ever. Thanks for your comment. I am glad to know real people are really out there.
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Hey, I’m another blogger who’s discovered the secret of the close-up.
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That’s how I feel with our hundreds of daylilies & trying to keep the beds weeded and mulched in addition to our other flower beds. I do love them in June, but do I love them enough?
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Exactly!
This morning I woke up with one thought…annuals. They bloom all summer then die.
I did not even see my daylilies bloom this year and my hostas are still ugly naked stems.
I am wearing myself out with the needs and the weeds. Reminds me of teaching middle school.
I have never sweated this much. I think Florence brought in a new crop of mosquitoes….Whine…Sigh..say good bye.
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Embrace change, you do too many high maintenance gardening tasks, stop and smell the not frost hardy plant material that will grow in your garden. Love from the SQ.
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I knew I could count on my friend SQ for a reality check. Thanks.
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