Mourning the Loss of a Tree

As the rain brings the brightly colored leaves to the ground, I can’t help but become nostalgic for a great, old tree. How old the tree was, I have no idea. But probably a lot older than me. It was a huge tree that shaded half of our back yard. It was a focal point of the back yard. When gardeners talk about the “bones” of a garden, this would’ve been the back bone, the spine, the bone that held all other bones together.

It was the large tree on the right, next to the house.

It was at its most magnificent in the fall. The green leaves would turn a bright golden yellow. And when the leaves would fall, they would carpet the grass in a warm, golden hue. Yes, it was a lot to rake. It was almost too pretty to rake.

Golden leaves covering the ground.

I wish I knew what kind of tree it was. I’m not good at identifying trees. If I had to guess I would say a sugar maple???? Heck, I have no idea what I’m talking about. Whatever tree it was, I loved it and I miss it every year at this time of the year.

Yellow leaves everywhere.

I took the photos above in November of 2007. Less than a month later the tree split in half and half of it ended up on the house. It was a sad, sad day.

Now, the left half of our back yard is an overgrown eyesore - with a huge stump buried in the mess. Something I have yet to tackle, but it’s in my plan for next year.

Overgrown left half of the yard, minus the big, old tree.

Late Fall in the Garden

Well, so much for that snow. What you saw on my last post was the extent of what that October snow brought to my area. Not that I’m complaining. I didn’t want snow in October anyway! But since it’s now November, I guess I’ll have to pull out the ole longjohns and prepare for the inevitable winter.

Here’s some photos I took on November 1st. This first picture is of the flower garden, looking from the back of the garden towards the front where the shed is. The hydrangea may be all dry, but it’s still an interesting feature in the fall garden. The pineapple sage is still showing off it’s red blooms.

Flower garden in late fall.

That annual Texas Sage is also still hanging on as long as it can.

“Lady in Red” Texas Sage

The Kitchen Garden is looking pretty sad. Some slugs or something have attacked the broccoli leaves, the Swiss chard is wilting, the tomato plants are brown, and the purple hyacinth bean vines are withering. Raking leaves from my gravel paths is proving to be a bit challenging. (Note to self, would you plant something tall to shield the neighbor’s play-set already?! Sheesh.)

Kitchen Garden in late fall.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted a picture of this wonderful shrub yet – the Beautyberry Bush that I planted last summer. It wasn’t looking too good after I planted it and I wasn’t sure it would survive, but it did and the purple colored berries have been gorgeous late summer into fall. The color of these berries against the bright green leaves truly is stunning. I planted it along the (invisible) fence that my neighbor behind us has yet to put up that he said he’d put up over a year ago. Yep. The Fence Farce continues. I should start taking bets as to whether or not that fence will ever happen.

The bright purple berries of the Beautyberry Bush.

This random tree is in front of the shed/workshop. Maybe it’s a Sassafras tree??? Not sure. But the bright yellow leaves in fall are a favorite, even though it’s in an odd spot. I actually cut it down accidentally one year and it came right back as if nothing had ever happened. This whole area in front of the shed was a problem spot for the first couple of years we lived here. It was an overgrown mess of weeds and weed-trees. I cleared it out and kept adding compost and organic matter to the soil until I could get stuff to grow other than weeds. It now houses a couple of Knock-out roses, a clematis, sedum, a hydrangea, Joe Pye Weed (not seen in this picture), daylilies (also not seen here) and ornamental oregano (aka wintersweet, wild marjoram or Origanum Herrenhausen). Of course there’s still ivy because that just keeps coming back. Then on the left of the path is some small English boxwood and a rhododendron that has never bloomed since I planted it. Maybe one day it will.

Plantings in front of the shed/workshop.

Here’s the front porch, looking a bit Halloween-ish.

Potted plants on the front porch.

Mum with sweet potato vine.

As much as I love fall colors, that brisk chill in the air reminds me that fall is fleeting and winter will soon arrive. I tend to hibernate and become a bit hermit-like in the winter because I am not a fan of cold weather. But winter is my time of planning. Soon I’ll be busy sketching out my veggie garden plans for next year, thinking of how to solve the dilemmas in my problem areas, and scheming on what to do with the overgrown area by the screened-in back porch. You can put the garden to bed for the winter, but you can’t put the gardener to bed. Always too much to think about for next year!