Late Summer Garden

Late August is not a good time for the garden. It seems like it should be, all that hard work and money you put into it in the spring should be displayed in all of its beauty at the end of summer. I have not found it to be so. Yes, there are several plants that continue blooming and producing (like my zinnias), but my other annuals that I so carefully selected and planted in the spring are definitely looking overgrown and a bit tired, as if the summer has been too much for them. It seems like the only plants that actually thrive are the weeds. After a long summer of fighting them, there are still far too many in the yard. They are in the cracks of the pavement, throughout the flower bed, up the hill, and some that are even larger than E. It makes for a bit of a depressing picture as I look out the back door, and I sometimes have to wonder if it's worth it.

But then I cheer myself up by remembering that I can soon plant some chrysanthemums, and that cooler days are at hand. My Japanese Maple will soon be in it's glory, the scarlet leaves covering the tree and the ground beneath it. Bright blue skies contrasting with the reds, oranges and yellows of the trees. I am looking forward to the crisp apple-y days of fall.