Nesting for seasonal change

Last week was a transitional week in our seasons and autumn colors gave us pause to take in the beauty. Colors really took on a glow. Is it a beauty maybe only humans enjoy.  Or do others forest denizens see what we perceive as beauty or just feel the change coming and prepare for winter?

At the nursery, we were in and out of raingear all week, got cold fingers for the first time since April, witnessed beautiful clouds, sun, rainbows, leaf change. Many visitors to the nursery talked of the continuous rains. Yes, an unmistakable change is in the air.

With the change of the season nurseries want to draw down inventory because overwintering plants above ground is costly and a risk. This makes it hard for landscapers trying to find a good plant selection when nurseries are preparing for winter.  They’re used to nurseries being re-stocked every week or two during the summer and now nurseries are moving in the other direction.  We’ve started preparing the nursery for the winter. It’s a process we start in mid-October and it will take us until the end of November. As mentioned in an earlier journal entry plants don’t want to live in a pot, especially over winter, so finding a permanent home in the ground is preferred. We have so many gardeners coming to the nursery wondering if fall is a good time to plant. Any time you can get a shovel in the ground is a good time because you are letting the plant out of the cage (pot).

Many of us are preparing to put gardens to bed. As gardeners, whether big or small, we’re looking forward to next season, wanting what’s best to get our plants through the winter.   

At this latitude our internal clock’s shift and we feel it. Some move south as the change happens, both avian and human. Some decide to stay, building up a food sources and preparing homes for winter. We humans tidy up loss ends, make sure our furnace is in good working order, put away our summer toys. It’s nesting, a seasonal change.

We can’t escape this internal clock and the clock always ticks to the next season, winter.  Some of us dread and others find the beauty it brings. We are the land of four seasons and I love them all.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN