GET GROWING!

THE QUIET BEAUTY OF A FALL GARDEN

By LADYBUG

I used to think of a “fall garden” as a bit of an oxymoron. While the maples are putting on their autumn colours, the flush of blooms from early spring through summer is mostly done.

But beauty lingers in hidden corners in raindrops on columbine leaves. Or in the whiff of a quintessential scent of summer – honeysuckle! Still blooming, inexplicably, in October. And the monkshood that got a second wind on being cut down after a spectacular bloom in summer. Hydrangea blooms going strong while a few are getting ready to move into dry flower arrangements.

This bouquet of mums picked on November 24 last year – well after the tall stems had been flattened by two successive snowfalls.

Such is the beauty of fall. Yes, these, too, will soon go dormant, to sleep under a duvet of snow. But memory of this beauty will sustain me until my garden awakens next spring.

The beauty lingers in hidden corners in raindrops on columbine leaves.