October
O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes' sake along the wall.
I planted dwarf Fall blooming anemones to add to next year's blooms. This year the asters were a disappointment. I suspect they were affected by an early Spring fungus that also attacked my daylilies. To remedy that in the Spring I'm going to spray with a fungicide.
The star of the late Fall garden is the latest blooming aster 'raydon's favorite'. It spreads nicely and I've divided and planted it throughout my roadside garden, a deer resistant pollinator garden that fronts the entrance to my home.
While it takes the poets to write about the glories of Autumn it takes us gardeners to rake them so it's onward to composting a half acre of fallen leaves and pine needles, some of which I'll leave for mulch but I have to be careful because I've seen signs of voles getting ready to nest for the winter.
