Hi there! It’s time. The garden is resting after a super productive year. Actually, it probably started resting last month, but I’m just noting it now. I’ve gotten much better at leaving as much plant material as possible for bird and critters over the winter. I used to love clearing everything away for my fall ‘clean up’. But for the sake of wildlife, I will surrender my need to clear and leave lots of goodies for whatever creature wants it.

This fall did have one lesson in store for me. You should *not* leave plant material to overwinter on structures. My pumpkin arch did not survive one of our recent storms, due to having a mass of sweet pea greens on one side of it. I am sure it would have survived had I cleared the drying plants away. Lesson learned!

I have not spent much time in the garden lately. Lots of different things going on, and when I have had time, the ground has been too wet to work with. But I like to do ‘walk abouts’ now and again, to note any changes and take a picture or two. I loved seeing the last, yellow, leaf on my Strong Annabelle hydrangeas! It provided such a great contrast to the brown beech hedging. And I was so surprised to find lovely blue flowers on my mop-head hydrangea! Most of the hydrangea flowers have turned brown with the cold weather. But there are still a few very small flowers, on this semi-sheltered shrub, who are as pretty as can be!

The picture of the sunflower was taken in November, as can be noted by the orange leaves on the cherry tree in the background. But the sunflower is still standing in the garden today. The tiny blue hydrangea flower is also currently in the garden! There are a handful of tiny flowers still alive on this shrub, which is such a treat to see.

There of course is wisdom in resting, and not just for the garden! While I started my ‘rest’ a bit early for the winter, I think it has done me a lot of good. I hope you will also enjoy some type of break this winter. 🙂

In Peace,
Dana