The Fall Dilema
One would think that after 20 plus years in the same garden , the fall regimen would be, if not carved in stone, at least proceeduraly consistant. And yet , every single year as mid-Sept comes around I stare at the gardens indeciseively, as if I'd never considered or performed a 'fall clean-up.' There are plenty of overgrown, bloomed out and floppy plants here but I've come to appreciate seed heads and brown stuff more than I ever did in the past , and find it harder to bring myself to start wantonly chopping and slashing away. So here is the balance: No frost for another month , maybe two, so the tender stuff still prevails, yet I still need to find space for all the cool plants bought at the fall sales , also leaving room to dig holes for the bulbs before it starts to rain every other day and the garden turns into a gigantic water feature.Still have several mature shrubs that I want to remove --mature enough to require (yet unscheduled) hired hands . Grasses must