fall has sprung
September 7, 2007
For many Texas gardeners, I suppose fall is like a second spring. It lasts long and has the mild weather that many 'spring' plants love. My husband and I spend a good portion of our summers abroad and so I usually come back surprised to see what's made it and what hasn't. Summer here is a beast, and leaving my plants to its beat-down heat and sometimes drought for an extended period involves a lot of trust (both of the friends who water and watch out for things and trust in the weather).
This year couldn't have been any different from last summer. Obviously it rained, sometimes too much. Things look overgrown and stringy... many many bugs, and lots of rusty moldy looking stuff. Sometimes extreme wet heat is worse than dry heat. Last year so many things died from the heat and drought I was forced to reconsider what I wanted out of my garden. I wandered around my neighborhood when I first got back last week, looking at the plants in people's yards that survived. Cosmos, zinnia... and a yellow trumpet flower bush I can't remember the name of right now. So I know I'm not alone even as a new gardener. "Stringy" is the look everywhere. There's just not much you can do.
But in any case the nice thing about leaving and coming back is that I don't have to deal with 'garden-itch' all summer long--looking outdoors, wanting to plant. When I arrived back home last week, it was already time to start ordering bulbs, plotting new plants, starting vegetables etc.