TAKE DOWN with Bagheera

 Never fails, I head outside to dig and delve and cats show up. This time it's a new one. We named her Bagheera. Of course. The black panther from  Jungle Book. Only she doesn't roar. She purrs. Incessantly.

 Time to lay the garden to rest. For the most part. Sad. Everything has bloomed so well. But things are starting to get woody, or gooey, or yukky. Even though in a photo they look perfectly fine. Ohhhhh the power of the lens......What you see is not always what is there...

So, there it is, one last look at the corner unit. What's left of it. I've been picking at it for a couple of weeks, pretending like fall is not around the corner.

  Cordelia. High above. Watching Bagheera. ( Well, that's what I imagine her name to be) . She showed up a few weeks ago. Silly thing. She was trying to eat the bird seed on the ground. I couldn't help myself.....gave her some treats instead. She's about 8 months. Someone's lovely little pet.  Silly thing. Bounces around like a ball.

 All pots, all flowers torn up, uprooted. Stuff to put away.Looks so barren.It all gets packed away in the greenhouse, or at the back of the porch. I even save the dirt in the pots.

        I did keep a few geraniums out. Just a few. Just for the week. So I can pretend that it's still growing season. I took time out to watch Smokey plop in front of the new cat. He wasn't sure what to make of her.

       Time to tackle the porch. The begonias have grown stalky, and slightly gooey. I don't over winter much any more. I've tried all the different techniques; stuff in a paper bag with just the roots, recut, soak, stuff in soil. No thanks.   Time consuming, and half the time  they don't make it to spring. They end up rotting, or falling apart.
 Years ago I would line up pots of geraniums, all over the house. Every window had geraniums.  Place started to smell mouldy. Cats dug in the dirt, looking for bugs and worms. Dirt everywhere.

So, now I choose about three to save. Ivy geraniums, repotted, on the windowsill in the upstairs bathroom. Last year they did GREAT. Chopped their leaves and stalks back after wilting; by Feb  regrowth started, and flourished. With the door closed the cats won't start excavating. Much.

   The front bed  I left almost as is.Ripped up some to give the roses air. Shame to tear it all down. But the back is bare . Manageable. I dislike "manageable". It's so so so dull.

  Bagheera was ever so helpful. Never stopped purring. And the back is much larger than I remembered. Still with some geraniums to wilt and wither. So I will know when fall hits. And it WILL hit with a gale storm. Or ice pellets. And the cats will no longer be hanging about on the warm grass, chasing snakes and slugs. Or purring. Not loud enough to hear indoors, over the raging rain.