THE TURNING YEAR

I know, it's a fall picture and the background is green. But one, I had trouble matching the other colors, this one looked the best. Two, I finally realized that the trees turn color in pretty much the order they leafed out. The dogwood in the front yard is almost completly red while most of maples and oaks are still nice and green. Three I like green. :-)

It's the first of October and like clock work, it's foggy in Springfield this morning. The land has stored up alll that heat from the sunny days in July and August and when the cool, damp ocean air moves in we get fog. Especially near the rivers and open farm land. I've left the fog behind as I hit the freeway on the way to work and driven back into it on 99 as I pass the airport. Ironically the airport sits on one of the foggiest places in town. Ot maybe air ports attract fog like trailers seem to attract tornadoes, I don't know. It's one of those mysteries. 

Stumbled onto a valley nursury that specializes in plants native to the Northwest. If you're curious, go here. http://www.nwplants.com/ I printed off the shrub catalog and mom's really excited. I'll do the perennials this morning and give her a chance to look at those. I recognized some of the plants from what we've seen in the plantings at the park where we go to walk. Especially a little shrub with light yellow flowers. It's a potentilla. And the Nootka Roses.

Many of the plants do well in poor soils, tolerate dry conditions and generally don't have to have their branches held. Although I;m sure they'll take all the TLC they can get. Some of our original plantings haven't turned out as well as we'd like or did too well. The butterfly bush is a good example. Very pretty, but a pain in the ass. And if we want to lure some of the ground feeders down the hill we have to put in shrubs like the Nootka Rose that they can shelter in. So, it's time to scale back on some and bring in some new things. We've learned a lot in the last three years.

One neat thing about the plant listings. The icons tell you if it's edible, if butterflies like it, that kind of thing, and if Lewis and Clark cataloged it. Kind of a mini history lesson. Fun to check out, even if we don't buy the plant.

And for those of us who love almost all things Celtic, a little something to go on the wall next the garden. Replicas of Irish High Crosses. http://www.oldworldpresents.com/index.php?cPath=231_224&gclid=CIH59trZ1YcCFUpbGAodXUyIqg Click on the picture to get some info about the cross itself. I'm also partial to St Francis and the Laughing Buddha. LOL At least I won't get a hernia or need a fork lift to get these into the garden.