Every season in Mississippi is beautiful. Temperatures are plunging to freezing. I left my potted plants out just a little too long and this morning I saw they froze last night. RIP my impatients. I'm not sharing a photo because it's just too sad.
But the autumn colors are nearly everywhere. There are a variety of deciduous trees in my yard. So far I've identified Sweetgum, Oak, Crepe Myrtle, and Hickory. There's also a wisteria vine over the pergola in the backyard and various bushes. I LOVE the natural setting of my yard!
I am fascinated with the different shapes of leaves. I find joy in the various ways I find them resting on my windshield in the morning....
The house I grew up in didn't have many trees. I don't ever remember having to rake up leaves. (Of course, it would have been a chore delegated to my brothers so I wouldn't remember doing it anyway. Heh, being the baby of eight and a girl born after six boys, somehow there were a lot of chores I wasn't allowed to do. I'm not complaining now!!)
My mom and dad still live in the house I grew up in. My dad has done wonders in the yard. What used to be a field of only weeds and stickers, has yielded strawberries, Indian corn, numerous irises, sunflowers, and rose bushes under my dad's care. He also had a cactus rock garden for a bit until one of the grand-babies fell into it, then it was removed.
Now, there are many trees strategically placed around the house to provide shade. Trees that weren't there when I was young and longing for a pile of autumn leaves to dive into, bathe in, and thrash around like a wild child...
.......
Fast forward to today.....
I have no shortage of leaves to make piles!! But I no longer desire to dive in. I am too aware of the little creepy crawlies that take refuge. Instead, I desire to remove ALL fallen leaves from my yard!!
It's too big of a chore to do in one go. So I set a goal of filling 5 yard bags twice a week, sometimes it's more, sometimes I skip a week... lol, it's good to be me!! However, at this rate the job is never going to be done....
I discovered Spider Lilies or Naked Ladies at the house we previously rented. Seems there is a difference between a Spider Lily which is red and a Naked Lady which is pink. When we were at the other house, I dug up and seperated clusters of Spider Lily bulbs. I replanted 50 bulbs around the house. I wonder if they pleasantly surprised the new owners when the magically popped up out of the ground the next year.
I brought a few of the bulbs with me to the new house. This November marks the end of the second year we've been living here. There was no sign of the lilies last year, but I am pleased to see them popping up this year. I'm thinking there may not be any flowers from them this year though. Seems like the flower stalk was the first to pop up before the leaves... But I am tickled that they have already multiplied!! Each spot that I placed one bulb has at least 3 plants emerging!! That's so exciting to me :). It's simply miraculous!
I took my daughter for a haircut at the Brickerton Shopping mall here in Columbus, MS. and spotted these flowers blooming. It's almost mid-December!! It amazes me that a delicate looking rose could survive in these cooler temperatures. I might have to find out exactly what this plant is. However, it looks like something the many deer around my house would love to eat.
As you can see, I continue to be enamored with Mississippi. I am loving the simplest things. I was thinking of the falling leaves as a Love Hate relationship, love the fall/hate the clean up. Then come to realize that I actually enjoy the clean up too! I'm reminded of longing for piles of leaves to run through. ohhh! I didn't mention the woodsy, cedar smell from the leaves as I gather them up!! I love it!!
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