|
If the path be
beautiful,
let us not ask where it leads.
--Anatole
France
We often complain
about the lack of a gentle transition between the seasons in this part of the
country as here in the Great Plains the weather systems and even seasons can
blow in or out with remarkable speed. This year was a partial example with a
lingering cool spring that suddenly one day became a long hot, dry summer that
saw me spending too much time dragging hoses around the gardens. Although the
summer stayed quite warm without much relief we didn’t see many days in the 100s
so plants that received a little supplemental water actually did quite well and
there were probably less fungus and insects--especially mosquitoes--than in a
“normal” summer. Then we were blessed with the second fall in a row where the
season lingered and lingered without a hard freeze so that individual trees were
allowed to have week-long sunsets of their own against a backdrop of the
frequently beautiful sunsets we are accustomed to here on the broad horizons of
the plains. Quite a few trees and shrubs that normally don’t have time to color
here were allowed to show what they could do with a gentle fall...
Before fall had
much of a foothold here, we made a short trip to Howard, SD, where my father was
born and we couldn’t have timed it better if we had thought to do so. They have
planted a lot of Amur maple in that harsher than our climate and we hit them at
their peak. The huge cottonwoods were all glowing yellow above the hedges and
windbreaks of Amur maple that rushed like benevolent wildfires of crimson and
flame to the horizon. And the mown and regrown native grasses along the highways
picked up the colors in golds, oranges, bronzes and reds. It’s rare to see such
a striking picture in many parts of the country because the plant life is much
more diverse and so the brush strokes are not nearly so broad.
My brother finally
acquired his long anticipated wetland where the two Nishnabotnas come together
in the southwest corner of Iowa so looks like we will be doing a major planting
of wetland species this spring since we didn’t have much else to do at that time
of year ...
It isn’t as easy to
plan for winter interest in this part of the country as in milder sections where
one can grow broadleaf evergreens and even plants that manage to bloom during
the winter season. But one can perhaps, create a more dramatic picture with a
naked deciduous tree of great character--whether weeping, contorted, hung with
beautiful fruit dusted with snow, or striking bark--against a white background
of snow. I have included in this supplement a number of items to draw the eye or
the nose farther into the “dormant” season: Catalpas with their gracefully
pendant clusters of long thin pods; trumpet vines which when trained as
described in the text make delightful little tree-like standards; Euonymous and
Cornus with their leafless branches of striking fruit frosted with snow; Luffa
with their long shapely unharvested fruits hanging from the trellis; Persimmons
that decorate the trees until the birds or terrestrial animals get around to
finishing them off; Witch-hazel that blooms so late or so early in the spring;
and Fragrant viburnum that can bloom so late and so early in the spring.
--Ed
The average man
does not know what to do with his life,
yet wants another one which will last forever. --Anatole France |
