Today is Thanksgiving day in Canada, and there is much to be thankful for. In the garden, colours are bright.
Even when the flowers have faded, I’m thankful for work that’s been done. At the Aqueduct the catmint ( Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’) has been cut back, making the bed look more like a monk’s shaved head than the overgrown mop of foliage it was only days ago.
Also looking bare after its annual cut is the Big Meadow. With the hay bales still in place, it looks less like a lawn and more like the farm field it used to be.
Thankfully uncut are the ornamental grasses by the Skating Pond. They are at their best in autumn, particularly on a breezy day.
Usually, fall colours hit their peak at Thanksgiving, but this year the colours are muted, less vibrant than normal. I think this is due to the hotter and dryer days we had throughout September — many days felt like summer. These warm days have continued into October, making fall still seem a distant prospect.
Going through the woods with my granddaughter, fall was more evident. We spotted some bright colours, but they often appeared in isolated patches, surrounded by green.
Poplar leaves glowed yellow or occasionally appeared a blanched out white.
Ferns were clear markers of the change of season. Many have turned from green to toasted gold…
but others, like Christmas ferns (Polystichum) and maidenhair ferns (Adiantum pedatum) still wear their summer clothes.
The woods at Glen Villa comprise different ecosystems. Some sections are full of tall straight trees with almost no undergrowth.
Others are deep and mysterious.
Some places in the woods hint at earlier times, when the land was cleared for farming.
In other places, the hints turn into shouts and the land tells its story loud and clear.
Garbage collection and municipal dumps are relatively new things in many rural areas, including this one. Before they existed, farmers used the woods. This old dump close to a trail contained many things you might expect: tin cans, glass bottles, rusted metal and an old inner tube.
It also contained some surprises.
Even if they are less vibrant than usual, colours still abound in the woods, on branches and on the ground.
Without doubt, though, the most colourful part of Thanksgiving — and definitely the most delicious — was the turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving!
My birches are still green and my turkey was 12lbs and sufficient for one and the rest of the week! Happy Thanksgiving Pat!
Turkey is now soup, and not bad.
Your woods are lovely, how delightful to take a walk with you through them!
Thanks, Judy. Always good to have company.
Wow nice tall ornamental grasses. Like those red flowers Autumn Joy. Maybe the toilet can be used by nature in some mysterious way.
Mother Nature? why not?
Happy Thanksgiving! Our autumn color seems muted as well, but just a few miles down the road it’s more brilliant. Very odd fall, weatherwise.
I agree, Kathy. Colours are brighter this week, and very bright in some spots. Odd weather, summer and fall. Next week is meant to be warm again — mid 60s, which is much warmer than normal.
We still haven’t had a frost. Pinch me, I must be dreaming!
Do you think the strange summer and fall weather will continue through the winter? If so, will it be warmer or colder? more snow or less?
I couldn’t begin to guess intelligently. The superstitious part of me thinks, “We’ll pay for this later” but I’m ready to be surprised and roll with the punches. I just hope it doesn’t turn bitter before I get all my bulbs planted.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I love your white birch trees, golden ferns, and all your other autumn highlights!
Thanks, Jason. Fall colours are my favourites, I think. Or maybe spring colours. Or maybe summer colours. Or maybe… you get the idea.
Colors are muted here, too, and presumably for the same reason — one of the warmest Septembers on record followed by what may turn out to be the warmest October on record. We’ve also had a second consecutive year of summer drought, which I probably reduces the amount of sugars that the trees produce. (If I understand correctly, the red and purple colors are produced by anthocyanins in sugars in the leaves, and plants produce more anthocyanins in cooler weather.)
Our local TV meteorologist has discovered a correlation between warm Octobers here and higher than average winter snowfall, but he is still trying to figure out if the correlation is just a statistical fluke or if warm Octobers really are predictive.
I’m not sure whether to rejoice in the warm October — it’s Oct 21 and we’ve had only one frost — or bemoan the possibility of lots of snow. But I think I’ll stick with rejoicing. Today the temperature rose to 21C and with a bright blue sky, the sunshine made me very happy to be outdoors.