Tucked in...

Finally, the leaves have all been rounded up, shredded to a point and layered on the flower beds. *oof* (There IS a downside to living in what realtors described as "a park-like setting" with "mature trees".) LOL

But with the new bee beds all those leaves are going to good use. Previously I would just mulch around the house (foundation beds), keep a small heap to use in the winter compost pile and then PAY someone to haul away the rest.

No more of that!

Now I have enough new beds to use every single leaf. In fact, at one point, I was afraid I would not have ENOUGH leaves to adequately mulch the ring bed. But I squeaked by with just enough left over to use in the winter compost pile.

Here's a pic of 4 tucked-in beds: ring, stump, arbor and maple bed.


The bird bath bed:

The privacy bed (which looks really really naked without those gigantic castor bean plants in front of it).


A poor pic of the veg bed:

And, finally, a stitched-together panoramic shot of the whole ring bed. I have not cut back the tall butterfly bushes so I'll have something to look at over winter. But back there the blue salvia and native asters are still blooming away. Yesterday I showed some friends around and we were amazed at the number of bees on the asters. We could actually hear humming, there were so many. I spied honeybees, green metallic bees (sweat bees) and what looked like mason bees (would they still be active this time of year?). It was quite a show - and very rewarding.

Finally, and officially, I'm done with winter prepping garden beds, leaf management, and (hopefully) lawn mowing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! (Although if this nice weather keeps up I may be having to mow into December! *ack*).

Oh, I may wander out and cut back the occasional perennial stalk or remove the (now yellow) hosta leaves, etc., but that is just puttering - no brainers. *sigh* That's about all I can handle now. After all, by this end of the growing season, there's just not much brain left. ;-D