Burning the Dead and Dying

Before heading out of town, I spent the evenings earlier this week removing the dead and dying, and delivering them to the burn pile.   It began with two Mimosas, a Plum Tree, and an Apricot tree.   All succumbed not to the unusually cold winter, but the also extremely wet winter.

Next was the Silk Floss Tree, and two large Triple Trunk Phoenix Robellini palms.   These did succumb tot he extremely cold winter, our coldest in nearly 20 years.   The palms saddened me the most, but onward we shall go.  Gardens are never static.  They continually evolve with the patterns of the weather, the large and the small, the strong and weak, and the cycle of life and death.  And so do gardeners, for that matter.

The vegetable garden is cleaned out and leveled from the spring/summer crops.   It is ready for tilling so that the fall/winter garden may commence.   Of course I'll put in some late summer plants, too, maybe a few more peppers, some cucumbers, and a few fall tomatoes.   But mostly I am looking forward to the greens that grow so well here all winter long.