Monday, August 13, 2012

The Garden In August

 The garden is probably at its finest right about now. The standard plantings that survive the brutal heat and daily rain are thriving and everything else has gone by. That's ok because I know I can depend on these beauties to come back year after year. Once the first hard freeze comes, all of these girls will be cut to the ground and will appear to be dead as a doornail. Not true! Come spring, there they come a little at a time until they are glorious and sweet and most attractive to the hummingbirds and butterflies.
My twenty bales of pine straw have been spread onto the paths and in about another week, I'll pull up all the old bean plants and toss them into the compost. My one solitary pepper plant is still producing so it will remain until it gets tired and lazy.

Yesterday morning, very early, I noticed that the clouds were very high in the sky---a foretaste of fall. There was a slight change in the light, something my daughter LeeAnn and I look for each year as a predictor of relief from this brutal heat. The weatherman was talking about a front bringing drier air.....soon but not quite yet. On the first fall day, the first REALLY fall day, I will call LeeAnn and we will reminisce that when she was very young, she and I would go to the park and gather pinecones on the first fall day of each year. And we would open all the windows in the house and let the air blow all around us.

School begins today for many in the surrounding counties. Teachers return to work today in this county. Once school starts I know that summer's days are numbered. So even though I complain about the heat and perspire profusely at the slightest outdoor chore, I will enjoy the blooms and the birds and the daily rain showers. Yes, and even the weeding and the trimming, all the while looking forward to those high clouds, drier air, and cooler temps around the corner.

2 comments:

Shannon & Elizabeth said...

Your garden is always awesome and wild!
I remember the feeling of Fall in the the Florida air. There is nothing quite like it.

Connie said...

Seasonal change is so subtle in Florida. It's fun to notice it. Years ago I did a Christmas letter on the signs of the season; one of which is fog and mist in the morning and newly planted strawberry fields. It was my family's favorite Christmas letter.
I'll be waiting to hear when that first dry, cooler day arrives!