Bloom Day Meditation

The weather has been delightful. Today and the last two evenings were spent being in the garden, in a deliberate effort to check out from all the noise. I highly recommend it.

The garden was needing me again and this is last call for big flower displays until the snowdrops emerge. Mums and asters take the garden into frost. The first one could happen this week.

As the meadow thins and bends, the paths close off once again. The Under Garden begins to peak through.

I ambled through the garden cutting mostly spent flower stems to make ambling along the paths that much easier. I began the clearing process around the planted plants, many which constitute the Under Garden, so that as the meadow falls down, it won't fall on those plants.

When you wander there are fall blooming crocus to be found.

I attended to a number of chores in between bouts of sitting and being in the garden. And the truth is I am an old man now. Joints are creaking. Parts are failing. My age is settling in. The engine is in fine working order. Some parts are beginning to fade. There will need to be some adjustments.

Sheffie Mums bloom out there in the wild.

I picked up lots of sticks and branches after the hurricanes, but otherwise the garden didn't need me. It was somewhat thrashed, but doing just fine. That will be a nice feature to have in the garden in the years to come, long periods when the garden can just be.

I clipped and wandered, opening the paths, and once again as the paths opened up, all was well with the garden. Even this late in the season, clear, visible, easy to traverse paths are the key to calm in the wild cultivated gardens. When the paths are open, all else can be forgiven.

The Shasta Daisy are doing a late flush of bloom this year.

I did ID this aster some time back. Once again, it is an unknown.

The Blue Wood Asters are well past peak. Cheery remnants remain.

The Sisters will be arriving in a couple of weeks to take Bulbarella south. It is berry near the end.

I sat and strolled and clipped and wondered. The Sisters are going to get a simple and easy gardening lesson while they are here. I hope the weather cooperates. It is possible that three old bodies might equal one that is a bit more intact.

What good are berries if they are buried in the Lush?

Editing for Beginners - Keep the paths open. Better to see the Tatarian Aster.

I did step off the path a number of times and clear out around many of my baby trees and shrubberies. The planted plants have been growing. They are becoming a substantial feature of the garden. I can see a time in my decrepitude when the Under Garden is the garden and the meadow is an easy side note.

I am really looking forward to seeing the winter Under Garden of a low mounding tapestry of texture and color this year. The plants are looking very good. Patience. The meadow will fade on its own time. The client's gardens will be put to bed. Then my main garden chore of the year can begin, cutting three acres of wild flowers down. I start around the dwarf conifers on the slope below the cabin and move out from there. I have all winter to do it.

It's not quite over yet and the fading meadow has a charm of its own. More so when the paths are kept open.

The big bloom is gone, but Bloom Day lives on at May Dreams Gardens. Stop in and have a look around.