We've had a nice stretch of clear weather which means that the night temperatures have been in the upper twenties/lower thirties (F) which is chilly for us. For those of you in cold climate areas, you may laugh uproariously now. Go ahead, we'll wait...
In my garden, there has not been the beautiful sparkling frost that I've seen in some areas on my short commute but the temperatures have taken their toll nonetheless. On Saturday, I wandered outside to see how things were doing.
It would seem that Musa basjoo is a little burned on top but the lower leaves are still green.
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I'll miss those lazy green sails that would catch every breeze and sway ever so gently. The Persicaria at it feet is bent on world domination and may just be removed next spring along with several others in various parts of my garden.
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Zantedeschia aethiopica 'White Giant' looks pretty sad. A once huge clump of tropical looking foliage has been reduced to this.
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The Ensete ventricosums are in the totally toast category. I decided not to bring store them in the basement this winter. For some reason this year they were very slow to recover. I may replace one of them next year.
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The glorious warm-colored part of autumn is over and things are beginning to look bare. I welcome the change, the cleaning that winter will bring but still wish that winter didn't have to come so soon.
From the Opera Vanessa, libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, music by Benjamin Britten comes the aria "Must the Winter Come so Soon." Vanessa sings of a harsher winter than what we in the PNW experience but I always think of this aria as winter approaches.
In my garden, there has not been the beautiful sparkling frost that I've seen in some areas on my short commute but the temperatures have taken their toll nonetheless. On Saturday, I wandered outside to see how things were doing.
It would seem that Musa basjoo is a little burned on top but the lower leaves are still green.
I'll miss those lazy green sails that would catch every breeze and sway ever so gently. The Persicaria at it feet is bent on world domination and may just be removed next spring along with several others in various parts of my garden.
There's a smaller clump of M. basjoo in a more protected area which has escaped damage for now.
I didn't venture out to the parking strips where the tetrapanax are/were blooming. They're surrounded by concrete/asphalt and the warmth of cars parked next to them sometimes gives a little protection. However the tetrapanax "weeds" (they've been removed several times- I gave up) inside the garden gates have had their last green days for this season.
Zantedeschia aethiopica 'White Giant' looks pretty sad. A once huge clump of tropical looking foliage has been reduced to this.
The Ensete ventricosums are in the totally toast category. I decided not to bring store them in the basement this winter. For some reason this year they were very slow to recover. I may replace one of them next year.
Or maybe I'll take this one inside. Notice that the Pelargonium "Palace Gem" whose foliage I'm crazy about is still looking perky. come to think of it, so is the foliage of that cordyline shoved in the same pot. Hmmm.
From the Opera Vanessa, libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, music by Benjamin Britten comes the aria "Must the Winter Come so Soon." Vanessa sings of a harsher winter than what we in the PNW experience but I always think of this aria as winter approaches.
Must the winter come so soon?
Night after night I hear the hungry deer
wander weeping in the woods,
and from his house of brittle bark hoots the frozen owl.
Must the winter come so soon?
Here in this forest neither dawn nor sunset
marks the passing of the days.
It is a long winter here.
Must the winter come so soon?