Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Garden RIP 2008

Well, the inevitable happened Monday night ... after the dramatic passage of the phenomenal cold front on Sunday (and all that brought with it), we had a killing frost. I did look out this morning to see how the remaining toad lilies had fared, and believe it or not, they don't look too unhappy just yet, so we may get some more (abbreviated) bloom time from them yet, as they usually don't give up the ghost until the first hard freeze because they are planted so close to the house. But as for the other tender perennials and annuals more out in the open, they have pretty much said farewell for the year. Officially, according to the Weather Underground (my favorite weather site), it dipped down to 28 F/-2 C last night, thus putting the brakes on much more color for the remainder of the year.

Right in time for Halloween! Although I took these two shots a week ago, you can already see the evidence of just how much things have been winding down around here, as the spooky season barrels toward us ... Fernymoss had already placed several tombstones around the garden in anticipation of Halloween, though ironically, he had to bring them all in on Sunday, lest they blow away with the wicked winds we had on Sunday ... yep, those winds that put an end to our aged maple out back. We're going to replace them today and add some more bones to the display, but this should give you an idea of what goes on in the garden right before Halloween. This shot was taken in the front boulder bed, and the following is a view up the small path to the house in the Woodland Garden.

Here you can see that our magnificent Ostrich Plume ferns have already packed it in for the season and gone brown, though one of our courageous Hellebores (to the left) is still looking quite perky, as are the hollies (see the berries?) and the ivy covering the side of the house. It remains to be seen how much green we'll have in the next few weeks, but I'll try to document the descent into winter deliquescence as it proceeds, as depressing as it may be.... I do think there will be some surprising remainders of color to show off, but they may come from odd sources, because even as I surveyed the wrath of last night's frost today, there are still some bright spots to be seen!

UPDATE ON THE WIND STORM DAMAGE: I've been talking to our insurance company the last couple of days and it looks like they are going to pay for the removal of the tree debris as well as replacement of the section of the chain link fence that was destroyed in Sunday's storm. At least that was somewhat of a relief, because honestly, I've been stressing out way too much about this particular event. In fact, I also seem to have picked up yet another(!) intestinal bug that has made me miserable for the last two days ... fortunately tonight, it seems to be on its way out (so to speak), so I'm feeling a bit better than yesterday. Hearing that the insurance will cover most (if not all) of the clean up and repair from this incident did go a considerable way to putting me more at ease. Now if we can just get the rest of our Halloween decorating done (which should have happened Sunday!), we both can rest a little easier as this week marches on....

And, of course, we are Hoping that we can sleep a whole lot easier come Tuesday night next week. If things go as we all hope they will, it won't be so bad seeing Winter take hold and put the garden to rest for the next several months until Spring....

PS: I'll get back to answering comments from the last few days tonight, and I appreciate very much the kind words of concern and encouragement everyone has been sending! They've made the stress of a very stressful situation much more bearable! So thank you, one and all!

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dear friend. I am so relieve about the insurance! Whew! But I'm sorry to hear that you have been so ill. I'm really suprised that I have any hair on my head and that I haven't been hospitalized for ulcers or some alien being popping right out of my heart.

I, too, can't wait for November 5th but I'm also dreading it. For many reasons. Just now on Democracy Now they are talking about voting machines messing up. We are seeing so much anger even here in a mostly blue city. Tensions are really high about so many things, the election, the economy, the local agriculture due to the weird new trends in the weather. Also many plants here are shutting down but the news isn't carrying it. We still have Nike and Intel and if those go, which they won't, the area would be a ghost town.

As to your illness... I had been having serious issues with a cyst in behind my ear drum. Burst my drum TWIC in a span of a few weeks so now I've been dealing with nasty vertigo. But before that and off an on now for months, I had been having a horrible time with keeping much food ( I won't say "down"... but "IN" me ) A co-work who is a homeopath... told me about probiotics and it seems to help. When we stress out, our bodies stress out, too. And then a bunch of things can start going wrong. I'm still stressing though LOL.

I worry about two things occuring the day after. "The Day After"...eek.

1. McCain wins amidst protests of theft and fraud and people protest and the military units that are now here for "crowd control and other sercurty needs" (first time ever in our history) will be used against us and that martial law will take place.

Why else would McCain state that he will not be at his election party? But holed up with the media.

2. Obama wins due to a landslide that overcomes any theft or fraud and the red areas riot.

I'm trying to hang on to hope. But even my kids are nervous about all this.

Last night at my daughters choir concert they sant Iraqi Peace Song in Arabic and then in English to the accomp. of a cello. It was beautiful and haunting. I have hope for a few minutes then the dread, concerns, worries take foot.

Let's keep close to our loved ones and just make plans for each day.

Untill tomorrow. Love, Janet

Gail said...

IVG,

I am glad that insurance is doing what it is supposed to do instead of claiming 'acts of nature"...

...and I am sorry you have been having the intestinal blahs! Probiotics works!

I voted early yesterday... Have you seen 'Uncounted'? It's a well presented documentary about voter suppression and manipulation in the last election. David Earnhardt is a friend of ours.

In spite of all the things that can go wrong...I have tremendous hope for this country on Tuesday!

Take care.

gail

Shady Gardener said...

IVG, I am relieved for you that you have no further concerns over your tree. Perhaps you should place a marker at that spot, in memory of your former huge canopy of leaves?

Take care! I'm missing your visits!

boran2 said...

IVG, I'm glad to read that the insurance company will take care of this. A big relief.

A second bug? I hope that you are feeling better soon.

The garden will take care of itself and rest until next season. It's time for some slacking.

Anonymous said...

Happy Halloween!

Just got back from dropping off my ballot at the Official Elections office in my county and had to report a very strange happening there. I made an official complaint and someone from the Voter Protection agency... I forget the name... had been there too and had just called in to fix the problem. I can not believe what was going on and had been going on.

A particular political party supporters were parking in all the available parking spots and leaving there cars there for days. The cars were COVERED with a certain candidates stickers. Some had HUGE SIGNS in the windows and in the beds of pick ups. It took forever for me to park and the lady ahead of me in line *yes there was a line to drop off your ballots* said the same cars were there yesterday when she tried to drop her ballot off at lunchtime.

So I reported it... just at the same time an offical spotter for Voters Protection (not sure if I have that name right) had, too. And they opened up ballot drop off lanes for the cars.

I have never seen that many McCain/Palin and even a McPalin signs in one place at one time.

I shared this over at Manny's site and even at Nancy's. I just can't believe it. It's doesn't seem like a big deal. But it was very very odd. And my gut was screaming at me that this was wrong.

Larry Kollar said...

Seems like I remember you saying you don't like pansies, but at least they don't mind the cold weather. I remember walking into an office one winter morning after a heavy frost; the pansies were covered in frost but going "yeah whatever" while everything else was dead dead dead.

The hollies should be reliable all-winter greenery too.

Family Man said...

Hi IVG and everyone.

Glad to hear about the insurance. At least that's one less thing to worry about.

Although it's a yearly thing, I'm sorry to see your garden go. I know how much pleasure you get from it. I on the other hand am happy to see the grass and everything turn brown. Means less work and more slacking for me. :)

I hope that bug leaves you soon, and knowing that Halloween is one of your favorite holidays, I hope you and Fernymoss had a great time.

Take care

FM

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Janet!
I know that ulcerous feeling too, and I won't rest easy for another few days at least. I'm beginning to think that some of these bugs I've been getting are partly due to stress and a depressed immune system. Sorry to hear about that cyst in your ear, and I hope you can get that resolved sometime soon!

I've been worried too about those "deployments" for quite some time, even though from my view, it seems to be a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, but that has never stopped Bu$h before...

We're clearly hoping for option 2 you mentioned!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey Gail,
We got the insurance check on Friday, so now the work to find a service to do the work begins ...

I'll have to look into those probiotics after you and Janet both have mentioned them! I'll have to ask Fernymoss about that too, because he knows a ton about that kind of stuff (though mostly herbal).

I haven't seen that film you mentioned, so I'll have to keep an eye out for it. I still have Recount on the DVR and I've watched it but haven't gotten Fernymoss to see it yet, though it's a very good film. Those memories are still so painful, and honestly, when I watch the beginning of An Inconvenient Truth that deals with that, I cry uncontrollably...

Here's hoping for a dandy Tuesday night, and I'll be hoping for a big surprise from down your way!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Shady!
I was thinking of leaving part of the stump and making it into a bench of some sort, but we haven't really decided what to do yet, it's been such a busy past few weeks!

I'll be by your place soon! Promise... but I'm just sooo behind!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey B2,
We're relieved too about the insurance! I've been on the upswing, but with work getting more stressful (not to mention the election), I'm probably still way too susceptible to anything that blows through town, alas.

I'll slack when the snow hits... but we did get a bunch of the new crocus bulbs in this weekend!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey Janet!
Happy Spooky Day to you and yours too!

Weren't you relieved when you got the ballot in? We went home smiling broadly after we voted on the 24th!

That certainly sounds like a nefarious plot with that parking stuff. You'd think that they would be ticketed for staying so many days! They sure would here if they blocked an official office for more than one day!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey FAR,
I don't know what gave you that idea I hated pansies! Actually I love em, but we just never seem to get around to putting them in in the fall, because their time is so limited, but they're wonderful cool season flowers! Even though we had a mostly killing frost last week, we have some real troopers still blooming, such as Calendulas, Snapdragons and a few others (coming soon).

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Welcome back FM!
I hope you've got your computer problems resolved, because it's been way too long! :-)

Actually, once we've got the rest of the new bulbs in, I'll be relieved the season is over... there are so many things that need to be done around here, that once we get the clean up done, I'll be ready to let it rest for the winter.

We had a very nice Halloween, though it was rushed right up to the end! I'm going to be late with my posts on it, but hey, better later than not at all, eh?

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