The End

Of another growing season. Last night was our first hard frost. Yesterday I picked all my dahlias and made a bouquet. The picture, taken with available light, does not do them justice, since they are beautiful and vibrant. The cultivar is 'Bishop's Children', an "offspring" of the famous 'Bishop of Llandaff'. I started seeds of these dahlias two years ago and now they are starting to bloom. Today I will go home and cut off the withered foliage from the plants and dig up the tubers to store over the winter for next year.

I usually don't pick flowers at all from my garden, since I plant them for the birds and insects, not for cutting. A neighbor of mine has some enormous cup plants and they just cut down all the flowering stems, right when the seeds would ripen for the birds. Too bad.

By this time of the year, I am done with gardening for the year. I am really obsessed with my garden in spring, after a long WI winter. But by October, I am ready to not care too much about the plants. I was thinking of putting in a new herb garden, but I will wait until spring when I can get REALLY excited about it.

I do enjoy the clean up of the garden in the fall, although I leave most plants up for the winter. I like a clean-looking garden. A tidy garden.