Vermont in the Rain.

11-3-17 VERMONT: I came up yesterday to do the fall clean up, but it’s raining this morning. As much as I want to be outside, it’s hard to garden while holding an umbrella. There was a storm here a few days ago and trees fell, taking out the power and phone service, now restored. Branches rained down on the yard, along with the rain.

Usually at this point in the year, there have been several frosts, but this year only one. Lots of perennials are still green. Only a handful of plants still have flowers: roses, cimicfuga, loosestrife. The pond is full and draining. The pasture has been mowed and looks very tidy. Brady the horse is still here because the grass is still green. The culvert is half full of sand and gravel.

Some shrubs still have faded green leaves, but most of the trees are bare. The beech are holding onto their brown leaves as usual. The Japanese maple that I planted by the edge of the pond years ago is still eking out a living from the rock and is maybe three feet tall at his point. It is incredibly red at the moment.


Vivid red, amidst fading green, yellow and brown.

The Japanese maple, two decades old, and spruce to its left, four or more decades, are both surviving with toe holds in the rock. They are natural bonsai trees. The three hemlocks to the right are all much bigger and younger.

End of the season beds above and below are calling out for a clean up.