As summer officially comes to a close next week, I continue to revel in the Wonder of the garden. Plant communities mix and mingle and become jumbled into a delightful tapestry of foliage and bloom. The bees continue to do their thing and I allow plants to ‘do what plants do’ at this time of year. Patio and paths are absolutely engulfed with foliage and bloom! There are still so many ‘ah-ha’ moments.

give the pruners a break and stop apologizing!

I hear gardeners across New England fretting about their gardens being ‘a mess’ and apologizing for things looking unkempt. That used to be me. For years, I attempted to wrestle control of the fall garden, pruning and cutting back and frantically attempting to ‘tidy up’. It was exhausting. In the end, I found that the garden frequently ‘looked worse’ after my attempts to dominate it.

overcoming garden ocd

About 8 years ago, as I started paying more attention to the life in my garden and learning more about the over-wintering needs of our beneficial insects, I gradually ceased with the obsessive ‘fall cleaning’. I wrote about this here in 2019. With every passing year, my gardens expand and become more complex ~ more packed with plants. Yet, I ‘do less’ in preparation for winter. It is liberating! Instead of spending the remaining weeks of fall obsessing and feeling pressure to ‘clean up’, how about spending those precious moments soaking up the beautiful weather (now that it has finally stopped raining! ~ oh rats, it’s raining again, but the sun comes out tomorrow!) and observing the life in your garden. There is still so much to relish!

what’s happening now ~ the planned and ‘unplanned’

Every fall, I document what has worked and what hasn’t. The photos are a great reference if an area needs to be ‘adjusted’ the following spring.

This year, I have added a ton of gaura and umbellifers (read about adding these incredible plants to your garden here). To prove that there is still a LOT of beauty in the garden this time of the year, I share these pics from my garden this week. Yes, most are NOT your run-of-the-mill plants (some are even ~ gasp! ~ WEEDS)! I just love how engulfed we are among the various gardens.

small business focus ~ tiny tile mosaics

Over the past year, friends and I have had a blast learning ‘how to mosaic’. Our teacher is Crystal D’Abbraccio, owner of the Chelmsford, MA studio Tiny Tile Mosaics. With Crystal’s guidance, we’ve made trivets, lazy Susans, house number plaques, table tops and more. It’s so fun and such a great creative outlet.

As gardening season gradually comes to an end, I am excited to shift focus to creating more mosaics for the garden. This year, I made this little coffee table top for my new garden seating area. I encourage you to visit Crystal’s studio to see her incredible mosaic art in person and to learn more about the fun parties and social gathering opportunities for all age groups. Tell her ‘Barb sent me!’ I hope to see you there!

hospice house call for volunteers

One of the perks of ‘semi-retirement’ has been the luxury of spending more time giving back to the community. This summer, I have officially joined the incredible team of volunteers who tend to the health and well-being of the Community Hospice House gardens in Merrimack, NH.

As the official ‘Garden Coach’, I work with the volunteers to plant, prune and primp the gardens that are so important to the clients, families and staff of CHH. If you can offer even a couple hours per month, we would love to have you join us. No gardening experience is necessary! To learn more, email Jean Abramson at jean.abramson@gmail.com

client garden focus ~ michele and carmen’s makeover

During the summer of 2022, I helped neighbors Michele & Carmen transform their front (and later back) gardens. We expanded planting beds, repurposed existing shrubs and added dozens of new trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers. One year later, their gardens are filling in, supporting native pollinators and creating tapestries of color and texture, framed by funky conifers ~ of course! See their garden journey here!

I hope you all can fret a bit less, relax a bit more, and enjoy the show as your gardens gently slide into Fall. Until next time!

~ Barb