November Garden

I am really NOT a winter person and this picture can tell you why. It's the end of the gloriously long outdoor gardening days and things are looking rather bleak here in Wisconsin. All the autumn colors are gone, raked into the gutters to be taken away, the sun takes a holiday and the beds are ready for their long winter's sleep.

My dear husband knows how deeply affected I am, and cheerfully takes on the the unrewarding task of emptying and scrubbing the flower pots of death! (And never a complaint. How lucky am I!) The outdoor furniture and the gas BBQ grill are safely stored in the shed and there is only one last outdoor chore left to do. At the end of the month, we have to cover all the tender perennials with straw, making little protective nests around each one, to see it through the freezing, snowy months ahead. (And the freeze, thaw, freeze cycle that sometimes occurs.)

I leave a lot of my dead plant stalks standing throughout the winter. They provide seed for alot of the smaller winter birds, like chickadees and gold finches, to eat. It's great fun to see them flit from stem to stem, gleaning the last offerings the garden provides.

For now, I will have to content myself with dreaming and planning next year's beds. The garden catalogs are already arriving in my mailbox as I write this. Here's to warm breezes, sunshine and the delicious feel of hands deep in the dirt, planting new life.