It's not really a day to sit on the garden bench and contemplate. I did take a quick photo of the snow today which officially ended the garden season for me, at least. It has been disappointing overall. The Knock-out Roses never performed well. The groundhog in the spring kept the balloon flowers from growing, never mind blooming. The Endless Summer hydrangea did put forth many large, blue globes of bloom until the hard frost. The butterfly bush was filled with purple spikes through the early fall even though the butterflies were gone by October. The azaleas turned a nice bronzy color, but the peony leaves just wilted away instead of turning bronze in the fall sun.
A couple weeks ago, I went out to cut the perennials back but the daylilies were still green--and still holding their sword-like leaves upright and verdant today, even covered in light snow. I'll have to clip them again some day soon when the morning sun warms me and beckons me out to perform this final garden chore.
Perhaps next year, my garden will pop with red Knock-out roses, white balloon flowers and blue Nepeta on the Fourth of July. For now, I'll just need to celebrate patriotic Veteran's Day with the russets and browns of fall--and a few touches of green reminiscent of summer.
