It’s been a very warm October. About 12 degrees above normal for the entire month. And that’s caused fall color to be significantly delayed. The hickories began changing mid-month but until shortly before Halloween it’s felt more like September than October. That’s finally come to an end (I hope) and evenings are dropping into the 30s and 40s bringing out a rapid change in scenery.
And it wouldn’t be Halloween without some spooky decorations, right?
We had 4 maples planted in 2019 to enhance the fall color potential in an area dominated by white oak and hickory. One didn’t make it into the next year so was to be replaced in spring 2020. Then COVID-19 hit and this, like most things, got put on hold. So we were very happy to finally get the replacement sugar maple in early fall 2021.
I was amazed at how large and green this tree was compared with the others we got and was told that the nursery feeds the trees routinely. Guess I should have thought of that and gave the other 3 about 15 gallons of Miracle Gro via slow drip over the next couple days. Since it’s been so warm the trees are still green so hopefully they had time to take it up before starting their long winter’s nap. I’ll certainly continue this process in the future.
September is over and it’s time to get serious with the preparations for fall and winter. Item number one was a trip to the Country Market for some mums. Then I got the graveyard setup. Not as big as what we do in the city (yet) but something to make sure people know we’re here and care about the looking nice for Halloween. The final to-do was to get fire wood together and for that I needed the assistance of Ron and his brother Dustin. The tag-team, chainsawing duo made short work of a couple of dead oaks and with a little supplemental wood that was pulled from Moon Dance Farm we’re ready to keep the hearth fires burning again this year.
