A Garden Walk
Morning Sunshine
It's quiet in the garden, in the soft, balmy air of the morning; the vegetation looks a bit dusty, a bit tired, as it does at the end of the summer.
Leaves started falling, early, judging by the calendar, but nothing else moves in the mellow air, not a breeze stirs, not a bird call, just stillness.
A sweet melancholy takes hold, not exactly sadness, but almost, seeing the fruits of the year spread around in gentle chaos, like a nature's end of season sale.
I feel like I should do something, but there isn't much to do in September, other than watch nature slowly unwind the year's work as it gets ready for slumber.
There is a familiar scent on the breeze, something which hints of vanilla, maybe nicotiana or tuberoses, or maybe it's the smell of fall leaves turning starch into sugar to prepare for winter.
Fall always makes me uneasy. Another year passes, and another. I don't want the season to end and I just remembered leaf season eventually morphs into fall cleaning.
Abuzz
The sunny border is abuzz with bees. They're all over the salvias, and the mallows, and the coreopsis, and the sedums.
I never found out where they're coming from, and how far they need to travel to gather their precious nectar, there's got to be a beehive nearby, unlikely as that seems, but they're swarming the flower borders, especially in the fall, ever diligent in their duties.
Perennials like sedum, catmint, goldenrod, bee balm and lavender, with tiny flowers bunched in tight inflorescences, may not be as showy as the larger blooms, but they are beloved by bees because their nectar is plentiful, easily available and close together, giving them the best yield for their effort.
Mix them in your borders and you're guaranteed to attract these lovely pollinators to your garden.
At the moment my black and blue salvia seems to be the prize, drawing them like a magnet, maybe because it dons bees' favorite color, the purplish blue they can see so much better than we do.
Flower Carpet
Looking for a perennial ground cover that thrives in clay soils and part shade? Plumbago is the answer.
As summer comes to a close, the bright blue flowers transition into maroon seed heads, which create a sophisticated harmony with the ruby red fall leaves.