SEEN THIS WEEK in the garden (and originally posted on @awaytogarden Instagram):
My “selfish crabapple,” variety ‘Ralph Shay’ (above, with little bluestem grass), whose fruits are way too big when still firm for birds to reckon with or steal, so I get to look at them well into winter, hence the selfish label. After many freeze-thaw cycles they soften, and late-winter flocks of robins or waxwings have at them as the fruit finally yields. We both win, each in our time. The eight smaller-fruited crabs up in the hill? They’re already mostly picked over by migrants who passed through in September and October. #awaytogarden #crabapple #birdfood #littlebluestem
fallen pear, fallen leaves
fallen pear, fallen leavesSAID THE literary leaves and a similarly well-read heart-shaped pear (quoting Hawthorne): “I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.” #awaytogarden #nathanielhawthorne
a white halloween
a white halloween‘I’M DREAMING of a white Halloween, just like the ones we didn’t used to know…” (Come to think of it that’s more of a nightmare than a dream. Someone hasn’t done her fall cleanup yet. Oops!) #awaytogarden #panicmode
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Count me in!
“Fallen pear, fallen leaves” took my breath away! Such a beautiful, seasonal composition. Thanks for sharing it and for linking it to Hawthorne’s poetry. It inspired me to go outside into a pool of Autumn light with my dogs and a book of verses.
Canada thistle is a bear in my woods.
Hi Margaret,
Thanks for sharing your garden photos. There truly is beauty in every season in the garden.
I love the Hawthorne quote. Every day there is sunshine, I’m outdoors as much as I can be!
Alice
Have you tasted the apples on the Ralph Shea crabapple? I’m looking for a large fruited crabapple that I can make sweet pickled apples from, like my great grandmother did. They were so lovely circling the Thanksgiving Turkey.