Packing the greenhouse this past weekend became a family affair since Kevin was home from college for Fall Break and one of our nephews, Chris Rinek, was out visiting for the day on Sunday.
I love getting the greenhouse ready for winter because we pull in all sorts of plants from huge bay standards to small geraniums and other assorted annuals--the last holdouts from summer that will provide a few more breaths of color a little while longer.
The warm, moist atmosphere in the greenhouse encourages even more bursts of color and growth to the many hues of the green plants protected and stored in here for the winter. It's a happy, peaceful place now filled with some of my favorite plants, most of which, I have grown from seedlings and cuttings through the years.
The greenhouse smells "green" to me, too. The aroma of bay, rosemary, myrtle, lavender, Eugenia and scented geranium all mingle together with fresh potting soil and the earthen, terracotta-tiled and pea gravel floor. It's bright and sunny and cozy in here--still a bit early to turn on the electric heaters. Freezing weather seems too far away to take seriously because everything appears as it was while the weather was warm and "summerish." On sunny, cool days during October, November and, occasionally, even early December, here at Blooming Hill, you can walk into the greenhouse and still get a good dose of summer memories.
Columbus Day Weekend usually marks a turn in the weather and, for Peter and me, general gardening pretty much comes to a halt. We turn our interests to the cleaning up of beds and borders and maintaining the plants, transplants, cuttings and seedlings in the greenhouse in anticipation of next spring. It looks as though I still have room for more in here and, by February, it will be filled with plants anxious to get back outside. But, that's a long way off. For now, I'll just enjoy the greenhouse--maybe even bring in a chair, prop my feet up on a pot and read a good gardening book, in between watering and pruning...Maybe!
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