{"id":5725,"date":"2017-10-09T16:12:43","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T16:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siteandinsight.com\/?p=5725"},"modified":"2017-10-09T16:12:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T16:12:43","slug":"giving-thanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/giving-thanks\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving Thanks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Today is Thanksgiving day in Canada, and there is much to be thankful for. In the garden, colours are bright.<\/p>\n

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\"Sedum

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ lives up to its name.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Even when the flowers have faded, I’m thankful for work that’s been done.\u00a0 At the Aqueduct the catmint (\u00a0Nepeta racemosa<\/em>\u00a0‘Walker’s Low’) has been cut back, making the bed look more like a monk’s shaved head than the overgrown mop of foliage\u00a0it was only days ago.<\/p>\n

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\"Those

Those stubs of nepeta between the boxwood should grow exuberantly next summer. I hope the iris I added will, too.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Also looking bare after its annual cut\u00a0is the Big Meadow. With the hay bales still in place, it looks less like a lawn and more like the farm field it\u00a0used to be.<\/p>\n

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\"The

This year we baled four bales, three of which you can see here. This is one fewer bale than last year. I think a drier summer accounts for the change.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Thankfully uncut are the ornamental grasses by the Skating Pond. They are at their best in autumn, particularly on a breezy day.<\/p>\n

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\"Miscanthus

You can see two ornamental grasses here, Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ in the foreground and Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ in the shadows at the back.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Usually, fall colours hit their peak at Thanksgiving, but this year the colours are muted, less\u00a0vibrant than normal. I think this is\u00a0due to the hotter and dryer days we had throughout September\u00a0 — many days felt like summer. These warm days have continued into October, making fall still seem a distant prospect.<\/p>\n

Going through the woods with my granddaughter, fall was\u00a0more evident. We spotted some bright colours, but they often appeared in isolated patches, surrounded by green.<\/p>\n

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\"White

White birch\u00a0trees are common in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Poplar leaves glowed yellow or occasionally appeared a blanched out white.<\/p>\n

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\"I

At first I\u00a0was quite excited, thinking these were yellow or tulip poplar leaves (Liriodendron) that aren’t typically hardy in this part of Quebec. I knew I was wrong as soon as I check an identification chart.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ferns were clear markers of the change of season. Many have\u00a0turned from green to toasted gold…<\/p>\n

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\"Another

A typical fall scene in my woods, with ferns, ash trees and young poplars making a come-back.<\/p><\/div>\n

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but others, like Christmas ferns (Polystichum<\/em>) and maidenhair ferns (Adiantum pedatum<\/em>) still\u00a0wear their summer clothes.<\/p>\n

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\"Maidenhair

My granddaughter can now identify maidenhair ferns by their black stems and tiara-like shape.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The woods at Glen Villa\u00a0comprise different ecosystems. Some sections are full of tall straight trees with almost no undergrowth.<\/p>\n

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\"These

These trees near the edge of an old farm field are part of a major project I’m working on now. I’ll write more on that when the project is a bit more advanced.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Others are deep and mysterious.<\/p>\n

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\"This

This forest of tall pines was planted about 25 years ago. It always looks ghostly when photographed. I hope someone can tell me why.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Some places in the woods\u00a0hint at earlier times, when the land was cleared for farming.<\/p>\n

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\"An

An old rock pile near an even older stone wall suggests that this was once a farm field.<\/p><\/div>\n

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In other places, the hints turn into shouts and\u00a0the land tells its\u00a0story loud and clear.<\/p>\n

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\"Once

Once upon a time there was an apple orchard here. The\u00a0 low stone wall marked the boundary.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Garbage collection and municipal dumps are relatively new things in many rural areas, including this one. Before\u00a0they existed, farmers used the woods.\u00a0 This old dump close to a trail contained many\u00a0things you might expect: tin cans, glass bottles, rusted metal and an old inner tube.<\/p>\n

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\"An

I wonder how long it took for this rubber boot\u00a0to disintegrate as much as it has. Years or decades?<\/p><\/div>\n

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It\u00a0also contained some surprises.<\/p>\n

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\"This

Once upon a time someone gave thanks for this modern convenience. It isn’t as convenient as it used to be.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Even if they are less vibrant than usual, colours\u00a0still abound in the woods, on branches and on the ground.<\/p>\n

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\"Fallen

Fallen apples in the woods may not be the perfect specimens you buy in a grocery store but they still make very good apple crisp.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Without doubt, though, the most colourful part of Thanksgiving —\u00a0and definitely the most delicious — was the turkey.<\/p>\n

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\"A

A 13 lb. turkey was plenty for 9 people, with lots of left overs\u00a0to share.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Happy Thanksgiving!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  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.\u00a0 At the Aqueduct the catmint (\u00a0Nepeta racemosa\u00a0‘Walker’s Low’) has been cut back, making the bed look more like a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,21],"tags":[186,37,747,332,43],"class_list":["post-5725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-glen-villa","category-plants","tag-autumn-colour","tag-glen-villa","tag-thanksgiving","tag-trees","tag-woods","category-38","category-21","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}