Saying Goodbye ...

18 years ago

About an hour before the sun went down, I made my last rounds of the garden to say goodbye. I thanked the Cannas for blooming the first year from seed and giving me such beautiful flowers red, orange, yellow and pink. I thanked the green and black elephant ears for providing temporary umbrellas when I got caught out in the rain or when the sun was too hot. I thanked the Brugmansia for their extraordinary beauty, their evening fragrance and the laughs they provided when neophyte hummingbirds would get stuck in the trumpet before learning they could punch a hole in it. I thanked the Butterfly Ginger for their gorgeous white flowers and their incredible perfume that threaded its way through my garden on warm afternoons. I thanked the hedge of Confederate Rose, now 4 feet tall along the fence whose seeds were the size of a period for giving me at least one flower before the end. I thanked everyone for providing shelter and sustenance for the myriad of birds, butterflies, anoles and wildlife that wandered in and stayed.

It's 11:30pm and the thermometer reads 33 degrees. The low is suppose to be in the 20's for more than 4 hours tonight. My greatest source of joy and wonder will die tonight, itÃ¢ÂÂs hard not to be sad. But IÃ¢ÂÂm one day closer to the marvels and delights of Spring and the excitement and fun of going through my seed tins and planning for next year.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

cribscreek
18 years ago
I really felt your sentiment today when I went out to check my four o'clocks for seed. They were withered away and it made me remember that "to everything there is a season." So now its time to focus on the seed mags and figuring out how much space, or how much money I can whittle out for next year.
limhyl
18 years ago
Only on GW could this sentiment be appreciated by so many. I feel your pain as well. I have not had the inner strength required to go and look at all of my babies since the last two hard frosts. But the seed catalogs beckon and winter sowing is around the corner. Theresa.
Related Discussions
Say Goodbye to Wisk
Q
Comments (354)
HU....6835, This is a corporate business decision on the part of Persil's parent company, as far as jettisoning Wisk liquid detergent in favor of liquid Persil. What we, the consumers think of that is irrelevant to them. To help you recover, the Kirkland brand liquid detergent sold at Costco is a similar functioning detergent to Wisk. I find it works better than liquid Wisk did, if that helps. You may like it very much. It comes in scented and unscented. I use the unscented variety often. I still miss powder Wisk very much, but I had to move on and find other detergents to fill that void. That was so long ago, most folks here won't even remember such a thing existed. :) But yes, I still miss it.
...See More
Saying good-bye to this year
Q
Comments (21)
Wow, beautiful blooms Dave! They look like Augusta Luise. Have to have a couple Versigny. Where did you get yours if you don’t mind I ask? Yes, it’s a weekend/vacation home. We tried to find a big home with some land nearby, but couldn’t find anything we liked and closed to our budget. This place is just a country property nothing fancy but it’s huge. It has 13 bedrooms and 8 baths, learning how to clean a house. Lol
...See More
Getting ready to say goodbye.
Q
Comments (68)
I'm so sorry to hear this. I lost my 16 year old beagle 18 months ago. My vet came to the house and it was a peaceful ending after she had suffered horrible seizures in the days before.
...See More
Saying goodbye to another kitty...
Q
Comments (105)
Thank you all, sweet friends. I woke up feeling like we made the best decision for Pooh. In talking with a colleague at work yesterday, the word we hit upon that keeps coming back to me is "mercy." Sometimes it is merciful to end clear suffering. That he'd had an "ok" day on occasion didn't change the fact that he wasn't going to get better. Facts are so hard to accept, but I know it would not have been a kindness to let him go on as he was. Anyway, this thread has touched my heart and is helping me begin healing. We never forget our little furry friends, and what a wonderful thing it is to carry them in our hearts. Thanks again.
...See More
alicia7b
18 years ago
Yes, well, I'm sure after last night I can kiss my purple salvia and last roses and asters good-bye. Which is why I've been trying to collect winter-blooming plants. Elizabeth Lawrence loved winter-blooming plants and begins her book A Southern Garden with a section on winter. Most of these plants are very fragrant too!
mrsboomernc
18 years ago
sigh. i *had* to look at my frozen, melted gardens along the path to the chicken coop this morning. is anything uglier than drooping, blackened canna? or as pitiful as the perennially cheerful "miss huff" gasping for her last breath? but then, my eye caught some gorgeous-deep-pink ruffly-edged camelia blooms, and the promise in the deep green glossy foliage of the hellebores. i thought, how perfectly timed these gems are - no competing with the riot of summer, a real gift for the freeze-saddened gardener :)
lynnencfan
18 years ago
We have had a hard time saying goodbye also. This years garden will always be very special to my husband and I for it is the garden that we got married in. We put so much into it to make it just right but as you said - we can sit back look at pictures of the past year and dream of future gardens. Our goal is to have the gardens have something in bloom every month of the year and we have started working on that. We have bought a couple camellias and want to get some witch hazel and I did plant out about 20 hellbores earlier in the spring - pansies, violas, dianthus and snapdragons are in containers and window boxes and in stragetic places viewed from the house so I guess in a sense we are not really saying goodbye - just 'take it easy and rest a little bit' :):)

We did save a bunch of seed of all the plants that we could so yep - it will live on next year and I plan to go full tilt into winter sowing and get an early start.
Claire Pickett
18 years ago
OMG, it's a funeral!

Xeramatheum, thank you for your sweet valediction. I sometimes say an adieu and thank you to certain hardworking annuals, but I've never made the farewell tour. What a lovely idea!

I'm really relieved that the freeze is finally over. Struggling against nature is not fun.

claire in sanford
plant_manager
18 years ago
Greetings! I too have done this for years, but this year I was caught unaware of the impending freeze. It is amazing to me to see the different flowers break out of their fatigue of continuous blooms of the summer for one last show of their beauty as it seems they sense their time is near. They topple over one another seeming to shout look at me! My hat is off to the Creator of such beauty who took the time to add vibrant colors and suttle and not too suttle fragrances and textures to appeal to all the senses. I hope I am here again in the spring to see it all happen again!
columbiasc
18 years ago
Although Columbia gets hotter than Hades in the summer, the ONLY reason I look forward to winter is that it brings me one day closer to spring when all my wonerful spring bulbs burst back to life.

As they said in Logan's Run..."Renew!" "Renew!"