I wish it was spring, but not for the usual reason. Whenever I am having a tough time or experience loss, I go out in my garden and work, and I find that it helps tremendously. Our sweet 13 year old labrador died suddenly last week. Since there is still snow on the ground, and it is January, there isn’t much gardening I can do. My dog loved the garden. She rolled around in the grass or snow, chased rabbits, deer and turkeys, helped herself to their leavings (ugh), posed for pretty pictures, and kept me company. She just loved to sit on the back step and sniff the air. There is a big hole in my heart and in my garden. These are a few photos of happier times.

Happy 2020 from my garden to yours. There have been many visitors to the garden the last few days. There’s always lots going on even though the garden is at rest. May the bluebirds of happiness visit you often in 2020.

It snowed… a lot… 17 inches worth. There was quite a frenzy to complete all the garden clean-up before the storm, and we finished just in time. Now we have winter wonderland for a few days until the next storm washes it away.

After 2 1/2 days of snowing, the sun came out

I got a lot of indoor work done during the storm though…here’s one of my decorations. Merry Christmas to all.

It was such a beautiful fall. We lingered in the warmth; we admired the still blooming flowers. Then boom… it got cold.. .real cold. So the clean-up is still not done. I cut back most of the stuff that gets mushy – irises and daylilies. But there is still much to do

Most of what is left is the woody stuff, and I will leave some of that until spring.

The meadow got mowed just in time

Although the flowers are gone, the frost on the foliage is delightful

Decorative globes shine in the morning light

This is another reason to grow Epimedium – wonderful color on the foliage in late autumn

And finally a spectacular sunset from the other night…

No snow yet..but its coming.

The growing season is about over in my neck of the woods. There are still mums and asters and a few other things blooming, but I’ve begun the seasonal garden clean-up. The garden looked like this in mid-October.

It has been a beautiful autumn. There’s always lots of work to do when putting the garden to bed for the winter, but with all the visitors and pretty colors, the chore has been more enjoyable.

The veggies were amazing this year. However, the retaining wall separating the two tiered raised bed had been eaten away by ants and was rotting away. What to do? Garden club friend Celia was replacing a retaining wall and had stones she did not need! So we rescued them.

October has arrived and here are a few photos from the perennial garden. Its darn pretty out there.

The colors will be gone soon and the tedious clean-up will begin, but in the meantime, ahhhhhhhhhhhh