Today was a tidying up day in the garden. I trimmed some wild hydrangeas (as in wild growing), these crazy tall Oakleaf hydrangeas at the edge of the woods. Also some Panicule hydrangeas. These hydrangeas are particularly winter hardy, but I had to finally trim them this year or they would get too leggy and too rangy and I want them to have a shape.

I also trimmed up more roses and reinforced their structures for winter. I use rose obelisks and tuteurs. I generally speaking source them from Gardener’s Supply Company or Amazon or eBay. They always stay in the ground perfectly in catalogs and gardening books and magazines, but in real life? They require tweaking on occasion and even additional staking. Suffice it to say my rugosa rose “Blanc Double de Coubert” is an extremely vigorous grower, and was a challenge to control today. But it’s so gorgeous it’s worth the gauntlet gloves! (this rose is extraordinarily thorny.)

Today was also cut back and remove dead cane day for the raspberries and blackberries. Hopefully I didn’t take too much off but I forgot to clean them up last year and they needed the work.

I also had to plant fall my membership dividend from Scott Arboretum. This year the gift was a nice amount of Bellevalia paradoxa or giant grape hyacinth. I have mentioned before I belong to two arboretums, Jenkins Arboretum in Devon, PA and Scott Arboretum in Swarthmore, PA. Wherever you live, I encourage you to belong to local arboretums. The wealth and breath of knowledge they share with everyone on a daily basis is amazing and their gardens and properties are truly magical.

As the growing seasons wind down there is more time to just admire plants in my garden. Even in this last bit of the fall I love looking at the plants. Right now the Japanese maples are becoming a riot of color. The weather’s been a little weird so the colors are bright but subdued. The tea camellias are blooming and budding. And my native witch hazels are blooming.

The leaves of the oak trees in our woods are starting to rain down from the tippy tops of these very tall trees. It’s actually kind of special to sit and watch them waft through the air as they come to ground.

Every season has something to watch and see in the garden if you strive to have a four seasons garden . There is beauty in all seasons.

Happy gardening!