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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Monday, September 24, 2018

In a Vase on Monday: Saying Goodbye

On Saturday morning, as I was loading the plant mobile to head to Portland for the Garden Bloggers' Plant Exchange, a nice man from the city was out spray painting parts of our sidewalk.  I asked him what he was marking for.  Turns out that, although the city had put ramps on the sidewalks a few years ago, they are now not ADA compliant and need to have those yellow rubber bubble things on them. (The ones that I always trip on.)  The gentleman was very nice about letting me know that the crew would cut things back as necessary but recommended that I might want to do it myself as the concrete crew was not always very gentle.  He also made recommendations about which plants he though might live through the assault and which should be moved if I wanted to be sure they survived.  Most of Sunday Afternoon was spent digging up plants in the New Zealand bed that was just starting to fill in.  Most of the plants here are now gone and piled up in pots and tubs waiting to be replanted once the job is done sometime in the next couple of months.  Hopefully they'll survive.



Several things in the two parking strips had to be cut back drastically or removed entirely including a nice old rosemary shrub that supplied the neighborhood for years.   Most of it is now in the yard waste bin but I saved a little to dry and use over the winter.  It's easy enough to replace but I'll miss it's winter blooming ways this year.  Rosemary  from the former shrub makes up the base of today's hastily thrown together vase.

Finally coming to the realization that I can't grow every plant in existence on my small urban lot makes saying goodbye to some of them a bit easier.

Saying goodbye to another summer is never easy and as this is the last Monday vase of September, it's becoming ever more difficult act like an annual blooming it's head off pretending that summer will never end.  There were two red-orange blooms still hanging on on Alstroemeria 'Rock 'n' Roll.' I love the variegated foliage of this one but the color of the blooms doesn't really go with the foliage all that well so off with their heads.  Joining them are some coleus cuttings that I'll root and try to keep alive during the winter for next year's fun.  Behind the arrangement is one of the bromeliads that vacationed outside this summer.  After it's cleaned up, the dead foliage removed, it will bid farewell to it's outside digs to spend the next seven months or so being enjoyed inside.  The migration has begun.

Goodbye summer,  September, and  rosemary,   It was fun while it lasted!  Rosemary has long been associated with remembrance and death.  As one season dies, another is born. As the fragrance of rosemary still greets my nose from my hands and clothes, I'll remember the season that was and look forward to the one to come.  Hello pumpkin spice, warm autumn colors, sweaters, bulb planting, and candles.  (I don't much burn them in the spring and summer.)
I'm grateful for so many things, including the wonderful Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts In a Vase on Monday.  Click here to join the fun.

16 comments:

  1. Have to say I loved the first image with the vase chock full of rosemary. When the street crews paint the traffic lines on the street they always paint half my plants as the put yellow paint on the island I plant. A few years ago I had to dig out 2 ft. deep the length of the driveway and find homes for the plants along there if I wanted to save them while the driveway was being redone. Bad enough the way we move things around and change areas in our garden on our own, but frustrating when outsiders make us do it unexpectedly!

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  2. Beautiful vase. Rosemary for remembrance seems appropriate this time of year. Hope your plants thrive when replanted.

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  3. Couldn't they just cut some texture lines in the pavement? Those yellow bubbles make sense for wheelchairs but what about old folks with canes? Grr.

    Your melancholy tone has me looking at the calendar and coming to terms with the idea that I too must begin to take apart the summer garden. Gawd I hate the fact summer is over!

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  4. I can't quick work out why you needed to move so many plants Peter - could you explain more? As always your vase is a perfectly balanced selection of bits and bobs, definitely on the cusp of the autumn season

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    1. To put the small rubber mats on top of the condrete ramps, they have to totally remove the ramps and part of the sidewalks. (It's a corner lot.) build wood frames and repour the concrete. One would think that a foot in from all directions would be sufficient but the nice fellow from the city with whom I spoke said that the guys who do this will tromp all over everything and aren't careful at all. He recommended removing anything that I didn't want killed. Some of the plants removed were in the other parking strip beds.

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  5. A bummer about the well-established rosemary, but I've never had a large one survive being dug up and replanted. I hope everything else that you're trying to save makes it! Just as that area was starting to look really good.

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  6. It's a wonderful vase but I'm distressed that you had to dig up your New Zealand bed when you only just posted photos of how great it looked. I'd have been spitting and sputtering. I suppose it's better to have been forewarned but still!

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  7. It's good that you had a chance to rescue some of your plants from the sidewalk "improvement".
    Rosemary will be remembered.

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  8. Since it's a rare, protected rosemary that survives our winters here, I would probably have put the whole thing into my basement so I could smell it forever. You are so lucky to have seen the marking guy, and that he was so helpful!

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  9. A good thing you happened to be there when the DPW guy came by or you would have come home to a sad state of affairs one day. It is always sad to say goodbye to summer, but your vase is a fine farewell. On to autumn!

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  10. How frustrating, but at least they were kind enough to warn you! I love the rosemary...it's too cold for it here.

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  11. I am glad you were fore warned. Your vases are quite nice with all the rosemary in them. I know you will enjoy the fragrance for some time.

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  12. Glad you got some warning. Even though its still hot here, the plants seem to know it's fall.

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  13. That would have been a bit of a shock if you didn't have a heads-up beforehand!
    Seems you're adjusting well, but I share your disappointment in the approaching gloom (aka autumn, aka death-of-summer)

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  14. Glad you are taking the inconvenience in stride. The Rosemary is a nice base to hold the showy stuff in place.
    rickii

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  15. Mmm. The scent of rosemary is a favourite of mine. I hope your plants survive and the workers don't make too much mess!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.