Endings and New Beginnings

It's been some time since I updated.  Maybe it's because I was busy preparing to get married on a beach on Maui!  The experience was everything we had hoped for and we look forward to many happy years together.

While we were away, many changes were taking place out in the yard.  The leaves of the bittersweet vine climbing the pergola turned a brilliant shade of yellow.  The aspen tree is almost bare now and it's leaves litter the landscape.  We mowed over some and then added them to the garlic bed as winter mulch.  I planted 40 cloves of garlic in two equal rows.  One row is cloves I got from my dad and the other row is cloves that I grew earlier this year.  The cloves from my dad were slighter larger than my own so I thought it would be fun to monitor both rows and observe any differences.  Sadly, I have already forgotten which row is which.  Figures. 


As so many plants are beginning their long Winter sleep, others are just hitting their stride.  The goldenrod I planted last year bloomed for the first time.  It adds a gorgeous pop of color to the Fall bird garden.

Ripening crab apples and winterberries take center stage.  The berries on my "Tina" crab apple tree hang from bare branches like tiny little Christmas ornaments.   I planted a "goldfinch" winterberry shrub last year along with a male pollinator. At the time it had maybe a dozen berries on it.  This year it has settled in nicely to it's new home and berry production has increased tenfold.   I like this shrub so much that I am thinking of adding a couple more next year.  It is popular to use winterberry branches in Winter floral arrangements but I just can't bring myself to clip mine yet.

Plants aren't the only changes taking place in the yard.  Summer birds have moved on to their Winter homes while new birds have taken their place.  We have lots of woodpeckers and nuthatches.  They are year-round residents but their numbers increase at the feeders this time of year.  Both enjoy feasting on peanuts and scaling the aspen trunk in search of insects.  I typically see downy woodpeckers in the yard but have recently been receiving frequent visits from a red bellied woodpecker.

Last weekend we celebrated Halloween.  There was a hard frost that morning which made for a fun photographic opportunity.  Midday we ran to town to stock up on candy for trick-or-treaters.  Then we rushed home to begin carving our jack-o-lanterns.  Such a hyphenated holiday! :)  Jeremy passed out Halloween candy to all of the excited children while I snapped a few photos.  Then we delved into our stash of "premium" candy we'd set aside earlier in the afternoon.  And thus commenced the season of over-indulging in tasty treats.