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Friday 24 April 2015

Autumn.

Autumn is here. It's not particularly cold yet, but I have picked the dried beans I left on the vine (butter and tiger), pulled up the tomato vines, cut back the dalias, and the gone-to-seed heads of the Japanese anemones. It won't be long before the oaks start letting go their leaves and I will have my seasonal dilemna: sweep them regularly or have one huge rake-up when it's all over. What is your philosophy I wonder?
Here are some bright colours on my Dad's ornamental grape. With some autumn rain drops thrown in for free.







13 comments:

  1. Rake them all at one go.... and hopefully some wind will have tidied them a bit before you get to them.

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    1. Yes, that's what I usually do Cro. Although I generally just rake them where a benevolent wind would blow them, and the marvelous NZ centipedes, skinks and worms and not-quite-so-marvelous English hedgehogs can use them as duvets over the winter.

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  2. Interesting to hear about fall work at this time for us.

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    1. I guess the weight of mankind is up your end of the world Red, but that doesn't mean that half the Earth isn't heading for some kind of winter at the moment...

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  3. I let Sergio rake the leaves any way he wants to do it. He usually does it once a week when he comes to cut the lawn. If I had to do this myself, it probably wouldn't get done while I was debating whether to do it in increments or all at once, and hoping the wind would take all the leaves somewhere else. Sergio keeps the entire yard neat and tidy, which gives me time to play in the flower beds. He's a prince.

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    1. Ooooh, a Sergio, Jan. If I had a Prince Sergio, he could rake my leaves any way he wanted, too.

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    2. With a name like Sergio I'm wondering if he works with his shirt off displaying rippling muscles and gleaming tanned skin ????

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  4. Red and gold are special autumn colours for me. Lets hope the coming cold front that's approaching doesn't blow EVERYTHING off the trees!

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    1. Alden, it didn't. But unfortunately I will miss most of the scarlet oak's colours as I going away.

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  5. Are you heading north to dodge the dastardly NZ winter?

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  6. If you are heading north you will have to go further than the North Cape of NZ. Might I suggest the Galapagos islands - full of wonderful opportunities for artists included with the warm weather at this time of year.

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    1. What a lovely idea Alden. No, not going far.

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  7. Such beautiful leaves they deserve to be pressed in a flower press and then mounted in a frame on the wall.

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