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SEASONS OF GARDENING AND GRUMBLING

This hibiscus brought a splash of sunshine indoors in October.

By LADYBUG

There are two seasons in Canada, newcomers learn in their early days. Winter. And road repairs.

If they are gardeners, soon enough they learn another way of describing the seasons: Gardening. And grumbling.

I indulged in a lot of the latter these past few weeks.

I know I have to put my garden to bed in October. Cut down perennials except the ones I leave for seeds for birds, rake, clean up...

I also have many tropicals, that are taken out in late spring each year and hauled in each fall. Last year, and again, this year, we were hit by early frost. In mid-September. I kept my plants going by covering them up in large plastic sheets and draping over those with fleece blankets for good measure. Which prompted remarks such as, “Mom’s putting her babies to bed,” from my son.

Laugh, I thought with a diabolical chuckle. Soon you’ll be hauling said babies inside! Because he’s the one voluntold to bring them all in and distribute them by sunny windows around the house.

“Oh, your son must really love ya!” said a neighbour, when I shared this with her.

Seriously, though, it’s a task on a war-footing. Before coming back in, the pots all have to be dunked in tubs filled with soapy water and sprayed with insecticidal soap to minimize bringing in creepy crawlies that may have made themselves at home in the soil or on the plants. Dunk one, let it soak for a couple of hours, remove and let drain while soaking the next. And so on. And on.

A motley collection of tropicals by a sunny window.

My collection of tropicals has grown significantly over the years and I have gone from being someone who never met a plant she didn’t want to reminding myself of what happens each fall. I am learning to be stern with myself when I am tempted by new ones. When my son called from a store he was at to ask if he should pick up a beautiful yucca for me that was on sale, I declined. With much regret. I also walked by a fig at another store.

But what is a woman to do when she is running out of space for the plants she already has? Specially when their time outdoors seems to be getting progressively shorter. I used to take them out in the first week of May and start bringing them in by mid-October. This year, May was cold – we had a snow storm mid-May, so they went out only by the end of the month. And in September, we’d already had days of frost.

Is it worth the effort, I sometimes wonder. Should I just give some of them away? And I have given many to anyone who will give them a good home.

But even so, if I stop to count all the little, mid-sized and large pots that this has to be done with, it seems a tad overwhelming. So I just do a few pots a day and keep my focus firmly on the joy they will bring in peak winter when a Brahmakamal or an oleander will bloom indoors. Or when I will reach out for a sprig of fresh curry leaves and breathe in the sharp fragrance. Reminding myself that spring – and the process in reverse – is just a few months away.