Hey gardeners! It’s been a minute. Sorry. So much has happened in the past few weeks. I’m not sure where we left off. First I had a Mohs surgery for skin cancer on the back of my head. And then the Mohs surgery led to post cancer reconstruction surgery on the back of my head last Thursday. That was under general anesthesia and quite frankly, the back of my head looks like Frankenstein right now. Maybe that’s appropriate because I’m writing this post on Halloween.

So this unexpected series of events means I am betwixt, between…and behind.

Before the Mohs surgery I planted a bunch of bulbs and day lilies and a peony. I also did a bunch of pruning and clean up. And I almost forgot, I planted a couple of new rose bushes.

After the Mohs surgery, but before the post cancer reconstruction surgery on the back of my head, I endeavored to get all the rest of the bulbs in. So that was a couple hundred crocuses, a few hundred daffodils , and my Asiatic / Oriental / Martogan lilies.

Planting in between surgeries was somewhat daunting, because I really had a hard time moving my head lower without pressure on the wound waiting for surgery. But I did it!

So I have now had the post cancer reconstruction surgery under general anesthesia. What I did was manipulate the skin on my scalp and pull the wound together so my hair grows back I have to admit it was surprisingly painful and I don’t recommend anything happening to your head. However, I am also going to tell you other gardeners out there, that I will not ever be able to garden without a hat again. Because where I had skin cancer is not a place that ever saw sun or sunburn.

Now the reason I planted so many bulbs again is because I’m creating sort of a bulb lawn for what one I have left, which is not much. It’s mostly planted now. I am creating a Stinzenplanten lawn. Here is something I literally ripped out of Horticulture Magazine:

For my Stinzenplanten, no tulips for me. Crocuses, mini daffodils, squill, and little things like that. I have been planting crocuses in the lawn for a couple of years now. They seem to do OK. I stick to older varieties like Tommies. The mini daffodils were planted in a big strip along one side of our driveway. I was going to also plant them along the front on the road side, but then I remembered that my road is up for repaving, possibly next spring, which is enough to make me lose my gardening mind anyway, so I don’t want to lose my bulbs too.

I trimmed all sorts of shrubs, and maybe some might be angry with me next year and not bloom, right, but I have a layered garden, and if I don’t deal with some of the shrubs, like the hydrangeas and viburnum especially, they get out of control.

The fall color is kind of glorious. We have a bald eagle living nearby somewhere tonight we are supposed to get a frost and over the next couple of nights. I hope the frost will be enough to zap my amaryllis bulbs because it’s time to cut off the remaining leaves and stick them into temporary hibernation. and then, of course, there’s trying to find temporary homes in the garage for 25 amaryllis bulbs.

I have to watch how much I do as my head is healing, but I really do have to get the rest of the pots emptied and put away. The bird baths that have to be put away or put away, and the other tops are flipped over for the winter and and then I need to cover them with their covers.

And already I am thinking about spring.

How does your garden grow?