As I write this, a burn ban rages across the state. Falling leaves crinkle under our feet, leaves hang precariously on trees ranging the color spectrum from browns through shades of gold to bright yellows, and the earth cracks open in deep, dry crevices.
A neighbor friend says her husband ran the mower over their yard and returned looking like he’d been in a desert storm. She thought seriously of taking the hose to him. The fact that we live on a gravel road becomes more and more apparent as our cars take on a camel shade of dusty dirt. It’s pointless to wash now only to have one trip home cloak the car in the same beige garment.
It’s rare that we turn on sprinklers anymore, having given in to the season. The cosmos have gone to seed. The petunias still look perky, making it hard to pluck them out; the prairie petunias have their blue blooms. I admit I still water them occasionally.
Lack of moisture causes the house foundation to shift and doors become less willing to open, so Sam has taken to watering the foundation. He says they do that out west. Fortunately we have well-water, so watering is not a costly venture.
Just the other day I saw Dr. Harry Sherman at Plymouth Bluff pulling out summer flowers and replacing them with pansies. His flower beds always look so pretty, especially as the butterflies and hummingbirds flock to them. A few hummers are still here. I witnessed one drinking at the prairie petunias. Though I’ve taken in most of the hummingbird feeders, I left one, as Dianne Patterson suggested. You always have a straggler.
Now that vacation is over and the greenhouse raised beds have been re-soiled and conditioned, we are ready for winter crops. There’s rainbow chard. The stems are yellows to fuchsia, and the leaves are large and green. They are a beautiful sight and provide fresh greens for the pet rabbits. There’s kale and cilantro as well and some ornamental sweet potato vines.
A few pansies will go in high places, like window boxes and planters on the porch. Pansies not placed high will be eaten by the deer overnight. A couple of dusty miller plants will supplement the boxes. On the south side of the house they will flourish, and deer don’t eat them.
A few years ago I bought an evergreen and put in a large planter. It was on the bargain rack as half of the tree was dead. I trimmed the dead side off and put that half toward the backside. With this year’s drought the tree succumbed completely. I asked Sam if I could drop it in the lake for fish structure and he agreed.
I purchased a pretty little juniper to replace it. It was fully alive and green all around. Perhaps with a little rain we will all do just fine. As they say, “Into every life a little rain must fall.”
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