Fall - what of the trees in your garden

I count trees as part of my garden because the shade bed includes a maple, a willow, a blue spruce and a smoke tree, there is another but for the life of me I can't find out what it is. The birds love it. Now there is another brand new maple on the far side of this bed. The hosta, lily of the valley, bleeding hearts(two varieties) klonchoes on the fringes, and impatiens all find this a good spot to be. Today a large branch of that willow came crashing down...soon the other trees will have to take over to cast the cooling shade that this one did. My husband says it needs to come down, carpenter ants have eaten a hole in the center of it and it's just a matter of time.

So while cleaning up the garden for fall is still a ways off, October is soon enough--I must ponder the loss of my favorite tree. This year I planted a Pear, a Mountain Ash and an Apricot, and the small red maple - but, none can replace my willow. I may have to borrow the one from my friends book, she painted it for the cover of all three of her books, Willow Walk is SK Hamilton's work to match what God created in the real world.

The Kahill's of Willow Walk will need to take my Willow's place.The Kahills of Willow Walk

Where Has The Summer Gone?

Try as I might, I do not find enough hours in the day to write and garden and the myriad of other things a woman must do. The garden is and has been producing wildly - The corn is nearly ready as the beans (yellow wax) have begun to fade. The late planting of the pole beans is nearly ready.

It seems to be a series of flower bed to flower bed, to vegetable gardens (we have two medium sized veggie gardens) A strawberry bed, grapevines, raspberries (newly planted) plum and apple trees, bush cherries and more. It has been an amazing summer for all of them.

We were gifted with enough hostas to plant everywhere I wanted them - I feel truly blessed. For years I've been accumulating them, but this year what a bonanza. The hummingbirds love them.

Speaking of the little hummers - they are gathering to head south. Our three we've had most of the summer have hung behind, but the flocks that emptied our feeder three times a day - have disappeared. This morning 10 or so gobbled hungrily and suddenly as they came - they disappeared. They were so much fun to watch -- *sigh* But this is the first time ever they have spent a week here - the weather has been so odd this summer...that could be why.

Now I am thinking of my Azaleas and I must consult someone who knows more than I do--how do I winter them over? We live far enough north that they can't do it on their own I don't think, though I have a sister further up north that has one that is so beautiful--I couldn't resist getting them. I think I need rose cones for them while they are still little. I did manage to keep a butterfly bush alive last year by applying a heavy layer of straw - will that work for the azaleas? I'll find and expert and let you know.

Meantime, take a deep breath, enjoy the flights of the geese as they pass over - and the migration of the others as they realize days are getting shorter and school starts here September 1. Where did the summer go?

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Don't Wait For Your Ship to Come in Swim out to it!

While you know you need to get out there and clean up that garden, protect those tender bulbs if not bring them in for the winter - we all procrastinate - beautiful fall days tell us nothing of winter -- yet we know better. Canna bulbs need to come in after the first hard frost as do Dahlia - yet we procrastinate.


In my morning reading today I came across this quote by Jonathan Winters: "If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to meet it."
There was another a day or too earlier that said something, "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." Abraham Lincoln.

In other words, the only thing that will create success, or create that book you've been waiting to write, or create some other printed words you dream to have written, is ACTION. There is no way around it if you don't put your butt in a chair and write - you will never publish a word. You need to banish all fear of failing, of making a mistake -- mistakes are the lessons of life.

This Frank and Ernest cartoon strip says it all. Frank is at the counter at an employment office he has a long long sheet of paper he is apparently reading from to the guy who is taking his application. The caption says--"I don't have any formal education so I brought you a list of the mistakes I've learned from."

Feel the fear and do it anyway is almost a buzz word nowadays, but it's absolute truth. Do not be afraid of mistakes, no one is perfect. Perfectionism will stall you in your tracks. Not that you should adopt a careless, reckless, not-give-a-darn attitude. You should do the best that you can do with what you have at this very moment and let the rest happen.

"You can never learn less; you can only learn more. The reason I know so much is because I have made so many mistakes," says Buckminster Fuller (a mathematician and philosopher who never graduated from college but received 46 honorary doctorates.

Imagine!
Write Like The Wind - Garden like the ever vigilant chipmunk.
Billie
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