“Nothing lasts.”  That might sound pessimistic to the average bear but to a gardener it’s a liberating, life affirming and exciting truth.

Yesterday a lucky group of gardeners and Blithewold supporters had the pleasure of listening to and laughing with Margaret Roach (former editor of Martha Stewart Magazine) as she talked about 365 days of gardening on her property in the Berkshires.  She showed slides of her garden’s transformation from a steep hillside populated with fallingdown outbuildings and plastic lawn furniture to a steep hillside of gorgeous gardens, meadow and fabulous mountain views.  We were treated to full disclosure of hilarious rookie mistakes, tragic losses, happy accidents and sublime moments – what gardening is all about.  Margaret encouraged us to defy “conventional wisdom” whenever our gardens require us to be more creative.  Question authority (even when the authority is Martha Stewart)!  Be willing to learn from and laugh at the mistakes you make along the way.  And suffer the failures and losses with the hope and optimism of fresh opportunity (new plants!).

Margaret also gently chided us for saying “the season has ended”.  For her, and you can read her philosophy on her blog A Way to Garden, the garden year begins with “conception” and continues through to “senescence” and death.  Nothing lasts – but the whole process is precious.  To ignore or deny the truth and beauty of the garden’s decline is to miss part of the point of gardening – as much as denying a bud in spring.  We gardeners know it’s true and yet it’s a good reminder to hear a kindred spirit say it out loud.  Maybe don’t be in such a rush to clean up, she says and enjoy the fade.  And even if you’re like me – ready for a break, inclined to be indoors when it’s cold out – go back outside – in your p.j.s if that’s what you’re wearing, and take another look at the garden.

This year’s Garden Design Luncheon was a roaring sold out success – everyone involved with organizing it did a fabulous job – and I overheard all sorts of buzzing about how wonderful Margaret’s talk was.  For me, the day was extra special:  Not only did I have the honor of walking around Blithewold with Margaret (sadly, the frogs were chilly and anti-social), but I also sat in the fun-seat next to Layanee and her friend Lois at lunch (it was like being at the kid’s table).  Layanee promoted the luncheon on her radio show (The Garden Guys – and Gal), gave away tickets and also took the beautiful portrait of Margaret shown above.  Thank you, Layanee!

In honor of Margaret’s visit, for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens), here are some of mid-November’s gray hairs at Blithewold:

What’s growing old in your garden?

I think I promised an Ode to Maple Trees post during one of my fall color raptures and let me just say again that this has been the most stunning year for fall color that I can remember.  (Granted, I’ve only been back in Rhode Island for 5 years – but still! And everyone is saying it.)  The Japanese maples in particular have outdone themselves and are going through the final act of their strip tease now.  They’ve flung their clothes in great heaps on the ground like untidy teenagers but even though we have a compulsion to clean up after them, it’s a pure pleasure to tramp through their room picking up socks.  I remember as a kid I would scan the ground on the way to school looking for the most beautiful, most perfect, orangest, redest, yellowest leaves and I would gaze at my loot and wish I could own/be/eat the color somehow.  This year I had a bit of that same sensation walking under our maples – at times, with the sun at just the right angle, it was like being inside a tube of paint (Alizarin Crimson) and I wish I could “keep” the color somehow – maybe if I repainted the potting shed …  I’m always a little disappointed to watch intense colors fade but I do also love seeing the musculature of the trees uncloaked and stark raving naked.  More on beautiful nudes in a later post, I’m sure.

Hover over images for caption and click on for larger view

Things are really looking up around here.  I have to say that I still have goosebumps and this weirdly giddy feeling that must be called “hope”.  Rhode Islanders, regardless of a devastatingly stinky economy (did you know that we now have the embarrassing distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the country?), passed three expensive ballot measures that all look toward what I think must be a brighter future.  (Hope is our state’s motto, by the way and any gardener’s word to live by.)  So don’t let rough roads and bridges keep you from visiting Blithewold – they’ll be fixed and we have even allowed funding for the purchase and protection of open spaces!  And near and dear to my heart, Bristol voters have willingly increased their property taxes to pay for a new animal shelter (all three of my kids used to reside in the current shelter building which is like a festering sore.  Now these two scamps live in my aspidistra.)  It seems to me like a gardener’s mentality has taken hold in the general populace – we gardeners know that we have an active hand in making things grow and thrive and even when we’re at our most cynical, we’re optimistically planning for the future.

Things are looking up here at Blithewold too.  The roofers have arrived with scaffolding and slate and will begin the first phase of a project that will ensure that the house and archives will be protected from rain and snow for another 100 years at least.  The good news for me, selfishly, was the excuse for a panoramic photo op with side order of vertigo.

And there’s so much to look forward to next week when Margaret Roach, famous fellow blogger from A Way to Garden and former editor of Martha Stewart Magazine speaks to us at our annual Garden Design Luncheon.  Again, selfishly, I’m hoping for a photo op and a chance for some heart to heart girl talk about frogs.  It looks like registration for this not-to-be-missed event is filling up so pull up a chair while you still can.  (click here for more info)

Some of what is up must come down:  Nick the Willing shredded the majority of our first fall of leaves yesterday.  The pile pictured is the pathetic looking result of the 2 or so hours of shredding I did earlier in the week.  Nick’s pile is much more impressive and I think we’re well on our way to having enough.  Although, Gail always says “That’s it?  We need MORE!”  And of course she’s right.  Gail and I will use Nick’s leaf pile for mulching all of the Display Garden beds next year and if we’re on the ball, we’ll get some leaves down soon on the paths in the Cutting Garden.  We also spread a leaf and grass mix from the mowers all over Dick’s vegetable bed – he thought it did wonders for the soil last year and was easier to deal with than sowing and tilling winter rye.  In the Rock Garden I spread a thin blanket of pine needles which makes the garden look tucked in for the winter even though we traditionally don’t put that garden “to bed” by cutting things back.  We’ll have to keep an eye on the pH of the soil though since pine needles are especially acidic.

Do you use shredded leaves or pine needles as mulch or do you add your leaves to the compost?  (Don’t tell me you put them out with the trash!  -Some of my neighbors do that and it’s all I can do to not trash pick – I need MORE!  They already think I’m nuts.)