Think Spring!

I can't believe it is Labor Day already. So, what does that have to do with spring? You gardeners know!

I've learned that the early bird gets the fattest, healthiest bulbs to plant for spring blooms. I buy mine when they hit the shops this weekend. Don't even bother planting the ones that are left over and on clearance in late November; the ones with a bit of mold, all shrivelled or mushy. They will only give you heartache. Some parts of the country can't plant their bulbs until it is cooler. If this is you, still purchase your spring-blooming bulbs now and place them in a dry, cool dark place to keep until planting time.
 
It's also time to plant a new lawn or revive an old one. Around Labor Day we rake the leaves and pine needles to plant new lawn walkways throughout our little farmstead.  After raking seed into the topsoil, we keep it moist with hand watering if the morning coastal mist doesn't keep it damp. With warm afternoon temperatures, the grass grows strong by winter.

One of our grass paths lined with
daffodils and rhododendrons

Happy Labor Day...

Happy Planting!

Season of Change

Every withered blade of wild grass, every pine needle, reflects the light as if holding tight to the last of the summer sun. Mornings and evenings are starting ever-so-slightly to close in now. It is the season of change between summer and autumn.

Long late-summer shadows through our pines
on my morning walk

"Did you hear that?" Last night the first flock of Canadian geese passed noisily overhead as my husband and I lay reading in bed. And so it is starting; the remarkable migration of our feathered friends silhouetted in brilliant sunsets or hidden in a morning mist.

I picked the first of my little pumpkins yesterday.
 It gets a place of honor by the front door.

I can't drink in enough moments of this season, lest it pass by unnoticed from busy-ness of the day. This year I will not let the snow cover it until I have been filled to overflowing with the beauty of autumn.

Cool, coastal mornings give way to brilliant blue afternoon skies.
The sunflowers are glorious now!