Reluctantly putting a garden to bed

Daylilies and irises have been trimmed, and now, the tomato and the oriental lilies in foreground. Yet to go: Annual grass in rear, and hostas.

The nights are cool, the sun has lost much of its warmth and it's high time to put the garden to bed.

At our house, I capture as much of the gardens as physically possible and bring several plants back into the home. This year it's the big tropical plants we've owned for years, begonias, coleus, vinca and more.

Last autumn a "Garden Siren Call" blog was published on how to correctly prepare gardens for winter. Find it here:

https://gardensirencall.blogspot.com/2018/10/winterize-iowa-garden-or-two.html

This year I'm admitting to a habit that results in all sorts of gardening work, indoors.  That includes watering, misting, moving plants from place-to-place. It makes indoor air more healthful but there is a down side: Today I found a cluster of insect worms, in a sac, on the scheffelera now located in the living room. Thank goodness I found that and got rid of it; otherwise we'd have more bugs in the house than ever!

Steve cleaned out the part of the yard that we call the "front circle," but since it faces two different roads, I still like it to look nice. So I made him leave a hosta or two, the perennial grasses, a heuchera, and more.

"I'll take care of those, dear!," I said.

Now we deal with patio furniture and toys left outdoors in warmer weather. The room where the items are stored was cleaned yesterday so now we'll put back two umbrellas, the patio chairs and the like.

That's after every item is cleaned and rid of insects, of course.


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