Autumn Antics

 Since I've been feeling a little bit better, it was high time to get back to work on fall cleanup around here.  The first week of November is already gone and I have nothing done.  Good grief, snow could be piled up already and I'm lollygagging around.
 
Carl and I finally did finish planting that bushel of daffodils late on Thursday night.  In case you were wondering how many bulbs actually fit in a bushel, the actual number was 729,332 give or take a dozen.   Oh, our aching backs.  And knees.  And other parts.

 Ok, there weren't that many, but when you plant bulb after bulb and the pile doesn't go down at all, it gets a bit tedious.  When I lifted the daffodil bulbs this spring, I knew it was going to come down to this mad dash in the fall.  But they were so crowded...

The Way They Were last spring.  

It is amazing how many times these bulbs multiplied, the picture above is a mere fraction of what we dug up and there was a nice variety of colors, too.  When I'd first planted a dozen ten years ago they were evenly spaced out in groups of three.  I was thinking about dividing them for a good five years but you know how that goes.....it's a good thought....until the crazy urge passes.  Who needs more work in the spring, anyway?  But my hand was forced this year because we remodeled the garden bed.  Rocks were coming in and though daffodils are tough, they are no match for limestone.   Come spring, we should have a splendiferous display here, there, and everywhere since we crammed them into almost every bed in the joint.

Since I'm just first getting back on my feet somewhat, I eased into the fall work this week.  We had a rainy afternoon on Tuesday, so I decided to clean out the urns since the Bubblegum petunias finally done gave up.

The Way the Urns Were in August

I couldn't leave the urns barren for the winter, so I grabbed my loppers and started pruning cedars, spruces and pine trees and whacked down almost all the Autumn Joy sedums and hydrangeas.  I grabbed a spray paint can and dolled the faded blooms up a little.

Let the madness begin, stuff everywhere.

Yes, when I should have been planting those pesky daffodils, I was goofing around with the urns.  But, hey, it was raining.  (Yes, it was another GADS attack.)

I guess the hydrangeas would look better with more paint on them and maybe not so bedraggled, but at least there's something to look at for the winter.

Urn #2

Urn #3 complete with a dead tree.....

Earlier this summer, Carl and I transplanted an adorable 'Irish Bell' conifer to a new place in the garden.  Unfortunately, the tree didn't survive the move.  I yanked it out of the garden and applied a can of white spray paint to it.  At least it can make a winter decoration, right?

Red Cardinal, a handmade gift from my father-in-law years ago

The chickens had to check out what I was doing.  They do make nice lawn ornaments, but they keep moving.

Out on the end of the driveway

We had some cedars that developed twin leaders, so I pruned them out and plunked them in the urns for winter along with more of the sedum flower heads.  Last year I had dried grasses in the urns, but the wind blew them all gollywockers.  We'll see how these hold up to blizzards.

Matching pots by the back door

More cedar boughs in dark green (Smaragd) and yellow (Sunkist) along with sedums and some sprigs of Russian sage.  I tried to make them matching, but........ok, I tried.

Old water heater stand by back door with another chicken.  My, that's a fancy chicken, isn't he?

Limelight hydrangea bloom  ringed with spray painted Autumn Joy sedums with an edging of Smaragd cedar trimmings.

I still have some more urns to deal with, namely the Big Guy himself, Ernie.  I'm not sure what I'll do with him.  I'm going to take the pots from the driveway out back and see about putting something interesting on the cast iron stands, that is, if I get around to it.  Maybe the grapevine balls will make a return appearance.  Maybe not.

We'll see how far I get this weekend.  It's supposed to very windy which means the last of the leaves will be stripped from the trees.  I took pictures of the 'Golden Raindrops' crabapples out by Aaargh last night.  They were glorious just before sunset.

If we ever get Aaargh done, this would be the view from the south windows.

I'm hoping to have a stained glass window completed for this frame by spring...Gotta get a move on.

Once the leaves fall, the yellow apples will remain most of the winter, hence the name 'Golden Raindrops'.

Not to be outdone, 'Red Jewel' crabapple also showing fall color.

Though I missed so much of the late summer and autumn due to my thyroid woes, I'm glad I did rally in time to see some of the best of the last foliage.

I have high hopes for this weekend.  There are trees to wrap to protect them from the rabbits in the winter and statuary to put away, hoses to deal with and maybe even a Christmas light or two.  But no matter what actually does get accomplished, I'm gonna do my best to appreciate the time spent outside in this crazy garden we so love.

All too soon we'll be crossing the bridge from fall into winter.