Summer Ramblings - Every Garden Tells a Story (Part I)

Sigh.

This is my last Summer Ramblings post.  Fall begins on September 22, at 10:29 PM.  Chances are I'll be fast asleep when it comes.

I like autumn, once I am dragged, kicking and screaming, into it.

One of the truths of fall here in the Binghamton, New york area is that nothing in our four season climate is permanent.  The sun is rising later each day, and setting earlier each day.  Each time it gets cold, it never gets quite as warm again when the cold front has passed through.

One day I will wake up to a blackened garden, and soon after that, colored trees. Next, the icy winds will start to whip.  Already, I can envision ice and snow on the ground. 

Then the cycle will start again.

Oh, about that garden story....

A couple of days ago, one of my blog readers asked to see my front yard, not just individual flowers.

I am not a lawn lover. I do have grass on my lawn, but because my front yard is the only sunny area my small plot of land has, we have our sun perennials in our front yard.  After all, you wouldn't want to see a bunch of lawn grass pictures, would you?

Please say "no".

So I thought, "why not end summer with pictures of what my yard looks like now?"

I took some of these yesterday evening and others after work today.  The lighting was not perfect last night, with all our clouds.  But, face it, upstate New York sees more clouds than some places.  Well, many places.  Sometimes, we spend weeks in dull light and then wonder what that bright ball in the sky is, when it finally appears.

I will be quiet now, and let my front flower garden tell its story.

First - why is there a concrete fire hydrant in my front yard?  Wouldn't you like to know?

The answer is simple. Some people buy souvenier T-shirts, or mugs, when they travel.  But not me.

I buy plants and other stuff for my yard.  I picked up this concrete fire hydrant in a store in a farmer's market (there, that means a permanent market and not a place where farmers come and sell out of their trucks) in North Carolina.

I saw that fire hydrant and it just called to me.  Why not?   I don't want to be ordinary.

The plants are poinsettias from the last holiday season, which I hope to get to rebloom this winter in the house. These plants are not hardy here. In the back is a hardy mum.

Above, in the lower left, is sedum (the low pink plant). That was given to me by a friend.  In the white pot are heirloom petunias I was able to buy this year from a locally owned nursery. The white flowers are garlic chives.  The red flowers are my dear red dahlias, given to me almost 20 years ago by a work friend who passed several years later from cancer.  We must dig these up each year and then replant in the spring.  It's been an honor to preserve the plants she entrusted me with.

Here, on the left side are purple and green basil, and white marigolds. There are also a couple of pots with tomatoes, and several hanging baskets.

Like my garden's story so far?

Do you own something odd that you display?

I will continue this story in a future post.