Chop Chop

Early this morning.

Later in the day.

There was no snow assist forthcoming and I was ready for the Under Garden to come out. For all practical purposes, the barren time of winter is here.

In that short window of as warm as it is going to get, I got chopping. Chop. Chop. A new garden for winter is born. Looking good all things considered.

It grows more visible from afar by the year.

The roadside vegetable garden got tidied a couple of days ago. There are still root crops (parsnips, carrot and potato) to harvest when wanted.

Not to worry. I didn't cut it all down. There are acres of freeze dried meadow left to catch the winter light. And I am lazy. Let the snow smash it all down. I'll deal with the remnants next year.

Lights Off In The Goth Period

No snow. It was a false alarm.

The Holiday Lights Begin

To see it, I just have to be home when it happens and that is not always the case. Sunshine and a day off have to align.

The Japanese Holiday Tree is ready for winter. It has started to glitter. Seven new bling are hooked and ready to hang.

The plan was to chop everything down today and set the Under Garden free.

But the first snow is going to happen in the night and I thought it would be nice to see the dried meadow covered in frosting before it is all gone. The sun may come back before the frosting melts. It's gonna be COLD.

Tomorrow there will be snow and cold.

On a lovely sunshiny Turkey Day, the roadside vegetable garden got tidied instead. The Under Garden got fluffed.

The winter lights were out today and the full blooming Witch Hazel lit up like it was plugged in.

I played with that image.

Not knowing how it would turn out.

Sunshine on glass baubles is an elusive energy to capture.

I try.

The Crooked Shed lit up when the rays finally made it down to the bottom of the driveway. I stirred into motion with the sun and a rising warmish. When it happens, my full sunshine is 10 to 2 ish these days.

Freeze dried seed heads positively glow.

The crack in the world continues to expand. It is made visible in shadows of dim light.

Stone will last longer, longer than me.

The Under Garden Peeks Out

The freezing nights continue. No snow. The remains grow more skeletal by the day. This is the beginning. A new garden is being born.

Smoke remains in the air as a growing and thickening normality. Are the fires out west still burning? Firewood has always been a normal fuel here. But this?

Many stones have been added this year. The heiau grew taller in inches. How tall will it get before stones cease to gather?

A day will come and the Under Garden of winter will be set free. How much did it grow this summer?

A Bloom Day Stroll In Cold Sunshine.

It was too cold to work last Saturday so I stayed home and looked out from my front porch. A deceptive sunshine ruled the day. The wind chilly wasn't lying.

I had spotted my target for November's Bloom Day a few days ago. The sun was out. I was at home for the event. So I waited for that short window of 'as warm as it is going to get' and went out for a stroll.

It wasn't too cold for the Witch Hazels, Hamamelis virginiana, to be out, not with this sunshine and temperatures above freezing.

My minimum operating temperature is 40 degrees. If there isn't going to be enough time above that, I stay home. That doesn't mean I can't go for a walk in the gardens to visit the Witch Hazels for Bloom Day. The native Witch Hazel is the last bloom of the season until the snowdrops next year. Not bad. The snowdrops wake up in January.

While I was out there during the best part of the day I put a cage around the Florida Torreya taxifolia. Just in case. This is an endangered plant that got stranded in Florida after the last ice age, only 10,000 years ago, that is being assisted in migration back north. One found its way to me. A little research tells me they are already being cultivated successfully in Asheville and in Waynesville at 3600 feet. Will it survive at 4000 feet? Will it get eaten by varmints? Good luck little one.

The full naked forest is almost here, not many leaves left. Some things last and some things don't. Nothing lasts forever.

The killing frosts arrived with thick drizzle and cold sunshine. No snow. That will be along shortly as the Under Garden of winter reappears in a frozen meadow.

This evening a vibration of Monet spoke up, it's Bloom Day. The Last Blue Aster On The Mountain.

Remnants Before The First Killer Freeze

These pictures were taken over the last few days. Keep your eye on the Kousa Dogwood on the right front porch corner. The late turners are having a good showing this year. The first killer freeze arrives tomorrow morning. That will hasten the end of leaves.

I had to record the Japanese Holiday Tree in peak fall color. 

The Rough Bark Japanese maple proceeded to do the same.

The Fothergilla lit up big time.

My Kousa Dogwood is bipolar. It has two trunks that color to their own drummer. There might be a short period of synchronicity during the weeks long process

It's always something messing with my eyes. That is smoke in the air along with passing spells of cold drizzle.

The Waynesville golf club's courses are being remodeled and they have been burning large amounts of old trees and brush in the middle of town for a good week at least. The smoke lingers in mountain valleys. My eyes get puffy. Soft focus takes hold.

The remnants all together on a cold grey smoky day. Note the leaves on the driveway. One last big drop covered it thick top to bottom in a little over 24 hours.

The color intensity in this kind of low light with the near naked land as an infinite background can be other worldly at times. Perceptions are being jolted. This is not your ordinary garden.

I wander out there.

In The Early Goth Period

I love this view of the cozy cabin. Ten years later the front porch bed has grown into something I once imagined in my head. I like it. It truly has four seasons total landscape interest. Most people I imagine would find it a bit chaotic. After spending my days tidying other gardens, it is a breath of fresh air to me.

Two light frosts and the drying process that begins the Goth Period is underway. Even when I think, feel and make an effort to remain steady, my vibration is made visible in this low blue light. My computer eyes may be fading too.

The color fades to small, extremely intense pockets in a drying world. The mood it creates engulfs the garden. That mood is easier to sense in a slight vibration.

Yesterday there was a mowing. The Under Garden will soon be freed using freshly cut paths.

In sunlight there is a bit more clarity, maybe, depending on the vibration, and a different quality of light.

 I go out walking. I pick up sticks. Along the byway rushing by.

Carolina blue skies rule on days with about three hours of warmish surrounded by all kinds of chilly.

Two light frosts and the Rough Bark Japanese Maple went from green to full color over night. I wasn't sure it was going to make it to color before a killer freeze arrived.

In this smoky blue afternoon light in the early Goth Period, clouds of buzzing insects have transformed into hitch hiking seeds that cling to my outer layers. How long will it last? Picking up sticks.