Summer Good-bye!

Summer has struggled to keep its hold on us as we approach the first day of fall. The sun managed to keep the days warm, not hot, just warm. But when the sun went down, it got cold. Not chilly, cold. On Wednesday morning it was 35° when I got up. The next morning it was 34°. On Friday it was 32° and there was a thin layer of ice on my windshield in the morning. But the earth still holds enough warmth to keep frost off the garden – for a while. Every day I go to three different sites to keep my eye on what the weather is doing. I can see the big freeze coming – that blue blob making its way south on the weather maps. First it was just the northern-most tip of Maine. Then it started creeping down taking all of Maine, then Vermont, New Hampshire, and up state New York. It is coming. Tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox. It won’t be long now.

When I was small I learned a little song that I’ve been singing all week:

Summer good-bye! Summer good-bye!
Winds blow the leaves away,
Autumn is here to stay.
Summer good-bye! Summer good-bye!

Summer good-bye! Summer good-bye!
Roses sweet petals shed
Apples are turning red.
Summer good-bye! Summer good-bye!

Changing leaves.

There are still some happy surprises in the garden during these days of lingering warmth. Several flowers that I thought were done for the year decided to bloom one last time. It’s nice to see phlox in bloom again, and a single spike of delphinium, and one last gladiolus. Even a few poppies have reappeared. And, although they bloom in the fall every year, I’m always surprised when the colchicums pop out of the ground. Their leaves wither away in midsummer and I always half forget they are there until the pretty pink flowers emerge. One of the banes of my garden, sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus), are blooming now. I once planted them on purpose thinking we would eat the tuberous roots, but they didn’t taste good. I never planted more, but they’ve spread all over my garden. They grow to be seven and eight feet tall. When they bloom, they have a pretty yellow flower that smells like cocoa. I’ve tried to get rid of them over the years without success. When they bloom in late summer, I almost think I’m glad I didn’t destroy them all. I’d like them if only they’d stop invading new ground.

One last delphinium.

A double colchicum.

Single colchicums.

One of many patches of sunchokes blooming in my yard now.

I noticed midweek that my rose bush had one last bud forming – the last rose of summer. There are still Japanese beetles around, so I undertook to protect that bud. I placed a net bag over the branch that it was on and tied it at the bottom. But it was all to no avail. Somehow the Japanese beetles got into the bag. When I went to check on the bud later, there were dozens of beetles in a clump where the bud had been and not a trace of the flower. So much for the last rose of summer, but an apt ending to the summer garden.

The trees at the front of our yard.

I took down the hummingbird feeder on Friday. I hadn’t seen a hummingbird visit it in several weeks and the level of the nectar hadn’t gone down and it had fermented. I guess the hummingbirds have gone south. The swallows are all gone now too. The tree swallows left in August, but there were still barn swallows around until last week. I saw them flying over the beaver pond one morning, and the next morning they were gone. I haven’t seen any robins or rose-breasted grosbeaks in the last month. I miss their music. The catbirds are still here and will be until they’ve robbed me of my last fall raspberry. I don’t mind their thieving because they are lovely. I still see turkey vultures soaring on thermals in the afternoons, but they will be gone soon too. Now the winter birds are the only ones showing up at the feeders – goldfinches, cardinals, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and chickadees – my cold season companions. We heard a screech owl the other night calling from the trees across the road. I love to hear the owls.

At sunrise this morning.

On Saturday Stacey, Miriam, and I went into Ulysses to watch the Fall Festival Parade. The borough of Ulysses always holds its Fall Festival on the third Saturday in September. This year it was a special occasion because Ulysses is celebrating its sesquicentennial. The first settlers came to the Ulysses area around 1827. By 1831 there were five families living in the town. The early families had names I know well – Hacket, Monroe, Leet, Cushing, Young, and Lewis. They are all my kin in one way or another. The town, called Lewisville back then, was incorporated from Ulysses Township on September 23, 1869. It was named in honor of the Lewis family who settled there in 1830. The population in 1880, eleven years after the town was incorporated, was 365. Back in the town's heyday, there was a watchmaker, a blacksmith, a hotel, a mill, an academy and a common-school, a hardware store, a clothing store, a general store, a furniture store, a shoe store, a book store, a jewelry store. There were several attorneys, a physician, and a dentist. There was even a train station back then. Although the town called itself Lewisville, the Post Office did not. There already was a Lewisville somewhere else so the official Post Office name was Ulysses after the township. In 1963 the borough voted and changed its name to Ulysses. In 2012, the last year I can find statistics for, the population was 632. Ulysses hasn’t grown much in 150 years. There aren’t many business in town now – the bank, a Dollar General, a car wash and laundromat, a funeral home, maybe a few others. The parade was fun. There were antique cars, floats, the homecoming king and queen (this weekend was also homecoming), fire trucks, and horses. I knew many of the people in the parade and the ones on the sides watching the parade too. That’s how it is in small towns. Last night there were fireworks up at the high school after the homecoming dance. Happy birthday Ulysses.

Scenes from the Ulysses Fall Festival parade.

Today is the last day of summer and, in a fitting farewell, it is a perfect summer Sabbath day. It is sunny, 80°, a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds – perfect. As we drove to and from church I noted how quickly the leaves are changing. The hills are taking on the shades of autumn. Here and there I see an especially bright tree. The trees, and the goldenrod, and the asters, make a beautiful pallette. I hope we have  vivid fall colors this year. Last year the colors were muted and smokey. I want brilliant oranges, reds, and yellows this year. I wait all year for these few weeks of glory.

This week the weather looks like it will be pleasant and I have plans to tackle some big jobs in the garden. I plan to plant a wildflower meadow in my orchard. Right now it is just tall grass and some weeds. I saw on an episode of my favorite show Gardener’s World, that Monty Don is planting a wildflower meadow in his orchard at Long Meadow. It sounds like a good idea to me. So tomorrow I will mow the orchard to begin the first step in the conversion. It will take several years to establish it. It will be a new gardening adventure for me. Yesterday I burned part of the vegetable garden to get rid of thickly matted and weed infested straw. This week I will till it in. I will also plant my garlic this week. I also will finish up canning tomatoes by making more salsa. And I finally have enough raspberries frozen now to make a batch of jelly. So much to look forward to!