The cold October air has brought a pink blush to the Hydrangea bushes. The clusters of rounded pink and cream petals swirl together, transforming the dreary garden into a soft, romantic cloud.
The fragility and luminous beauty of the wild rose stand in stark contrast to the dreary decay that surrounds it in my October garden. Just like true love, strong and persistent, it is the light that shines in an otherwise darkened world.
What colour would you turn if you hadn't done your job and wanted to go unnoticed?
My blueberry bushes should be embarrassed - they did not produce a single blueberry this summer.
As Head Gardener, I am certainly not going to blame myself, so I blame the soil (not acid enough), the bees (not pollenating enough) and the bushes themselves.
Much as I don't appreciate their poor performance I do admire their in-your-face fall attitude.
I went out this afternoon thinking I should just pull them out. As you can see, they decided to end the season by turning fire-engine red.
My Dragon has not appreciated being relegated to the back of the garden where the tall purple loosestrife have tickled his nose and obscured him from view all summer.
Right now we are closing the garden; cutting, chopping and grinding everything that is above ground and gathering it into one huge compost pile.
Although it is cold and messy on the outside, deep in the center of that heap grows a heat that will break down all that is old, transforming it into something new - into gardening gold.
Imagine if we could take our 'life' garbage, our fears and failures, disappointments and fatigue and mound them into one life-pile for composting.