The Autumnal Garden

12 Nov '06 1:16 am

Today it is rainy and cold outside. I feel sad. I don't feel like working out there.. The garden changes colours..It actually changes colours, or loses completely its colours.. I can't stop feeling dishearted.. I would love to go to walk in the La Hulpe woods, but I don't have sufficient energy...And I have household work, as well.. I think I need to listen to Water Music...

12 Nov '06 8:52 pm

dear Liza! There's magic still in your lovely garden! I see green, lots of them in varying tones, in your shrubs, trees, grass, etc. Remember, nature lover - they're lovely too! Soon, your trees will present you with their assortment of beautiful autumn colours. Look ahead, dear friend! Wink

Sharing here two of my favourite autumn beauties from Flickr photosharing sites: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drawingmonika/291406712/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotlyc/287652851/. Hope they delight you too! Smile

13 Nov '06 12:37 am

Jacqueline!! Not delighted! I am completely in love with them, mystified! If I just had full screen of these photos, and watched them just before going to bed at night, I might wander ...in them in my dreams!...Our beautiful Earth is such a blessing!! Thank you, I am so grateful, really!

13 Nov '06 5:10 am

Dear Liza - imagine how boring it would be if it was all allways perfection - and think of the expectation at the beginning of the next growing season... and think of the cosy wintertime studying of books and the internet...

Here is a link I discovered today when checking up on Madame Caroline Testout which Moosey referred to. I am sure it will bring you joy! I intend to explore it still!

http://woodlandrosegarden.netfirms.com/

13 Nov '06 8:28 am

Oh, Jack ,you are so very right! I mean about the books and the internet..And the changing of the seasons...The problem with me is, that I had this sadness lately , that , together with the Autumnal change in the garden, made things worse in my mind and body...I already feel better... Today I was sad only half of the day...And this huge Rose book worked miracles in me, while I was immersed in it , learning more and more about the oldest , or wild Roses...All this genealogy of Roses , that you arranged so mathematically, so perfectly in the other Rose post...I think, I'm falling in love now with all these ancient and wild Roses ...Shame on me, I have only Reine des Violettes here, and two lovely scented pink Rugosas..All the rest are Modern Roses...I would love to have La France now and this adorable Centifolia, Fantin-Latour, fat , fluffy, and deeply scented! I just want to cheque if she repeats flowering...

And Oh! The photos in this lovely Rose site remind me of those romantic adorable ones of the justourpictures.com... They are so poetic...Thank you, dear friend!

13 Nov '06 12:01 pm

Thank you Jack (one or two ?),for letting us know about this lovely site .I have bookmarked it .I was particularly interested in the 'roses for shady areas '.I have just returned from three days away ,looking at about a dozen gardens on a sub-tropical island in the Auckland harbour .I came back having fallen in love with three roses in particular - all in a beautiful ,natural setting ,and looking wonderful .Ghislaine de Feligonde ,Mutabilis ,and over a rustic pergola -Paul Transon .I have so much shade here ,I would like to get them .
I'm so glad that the beauty of flowers was able to encourage you ,dear Liza.Having arrived home very late last night,at first light this morning I was outside in my dressing gown looking at the flowers .A great way to begin the day !
Dixie.

13 Nov '06 4:56 pm

Liza, the richness of just one leaf, changing its colours for autumn, always makes me stop in wonderment. I know it's just chemical changes, but how amazing the results!Then I imagine a world where people changed colour for different seasons. If we looked down on our gardeners' hands and could see the days shortening, winter approaching, in our own skin. Pretty silly!

So I go back to thinking about trees. I think deciduous trees are pretty clever the way they refresh each spring. Our gardeners' hands just get older, and older, and older....

Aargh! Grab that special heavy duty apres-gardening hand cream!

13 Nov '06 7:06 pm

I agree, I agree,, I know you are right! And these hands of mine, which are hands of a male heavy worker(...), never stop working in the garden apart of the two-three coldest months, December-Ianuary-February ; but , even by the end of February, I start feeding my Rhodos, my Camelia, pruning my Clematis, plant certain perennials and bushes....This very Autumn , though, garden work is going to last well into December...

And , that hand cream!! Really precious!! Thank you, Mary! Really!

14 Nov '06 6:07 am

Dear Liza. I too was sad. Once the temperature dropped and my flowers fell. My garden hasn't look as green and inviting as your since the second week in Sept. Now it is brown, leafless, Cold and sad.

Time to hunker inside with a hot cup of tea.

Christopher

14 Nov '06 9:12 am

Christopher, you know how you and me are very "open" and direct in this Forum...Well, in fact, my grey, cloudy moods are not caused only by the garden , which is naturally preparing itself to hibernate... It is also because someone I care a lot has passed very difficult moments recently, and I have not yet recovered... In case of a sunny, inviting day, I could dress myself properly, and either I would ask refuge in "my" woods, or work hard in the garden , where this year has been a second priority, in my life, since my ...human babies really need me more...That's why I have not finished yet tiding up all of the borders, or protecting the sensitive plants, like every Autumn by now. Normally , I finish my Autumnal gardening work by mid November, the latest... I am very lucky, though, cause the temperatures are still "positive", and I can keep my hopes of the possibilities to still work properly in the garden...And I am going to "lose" one more week of working in there, cause I will go -- I have to -- visit my old and sick mum in Athens the following week...I feel inside, that this is the last time I will see her...

You see, there are a lot of human or motherly worries in my mind, and the garden is only the ..."cherry on the cake"!

Have you noticed , that I don't use the word "blue", but I use "grey"? Well, remember the "blue talk" and photos?? Just concentrate on the new blues that you will grow in your lovely sleeping garden/sleeping beauty!!Use the new internet plant encyclopedias, flowering websites, and start "painting " your garden in blue! Some corners will be blue and white, some spots blue and yellow, some others red and blue, some romantic ones blue and pink! Just close your eyes and start painting ---maybe listening also to your favorite music! Then, go to your computer and start realizing your painting. Early Spring you will start turning all this into earthly, gardening reality! Vibrant reality! Isn't that great??

And here I have something for you and Debby : it is a little part of a surprise present, that a dear, very gentle friend sent me today, this dark, rainy, moody, grey morning. I am sure he will rejoice to know that I I wish to share it partly with a good friend, also in his Autumnal ...greys...In order ...to make his heart sing, like mine did this grey morning!

The Autumnal Garden

The Autumnal Garden

Cheer up...

Such a Paradise on Earth!

the beauty of the seasons

You are So right..

Thank you ,Jack

The Richness of Autumn

Autumnal moods...

Autumn Blues

Grey moods...