Grandma P's Ramblings Through Life

I have had a picture like this in my mind for much of the day.
That was how it was.......in June. It is our little back garden.
The phlox at the far end have yet to flower. The delphiniums have long gone and the time for those phlox flowers is over.
So what was there on this murky November day?
Dead spike stalks and wilted leaves and crumbling seed cases.
I should have been tidying regularly - keeping things trimmed.
But I haven't been disciplined.
But of course the day came when there was a great deal to be done.And that day was today.
I can't say that my back garden now looks good - gardens just don't look good in November. But much that needed cutting back to allow for new growth next year has been done.
Once again we look forward to seeing the delphiniums and phlox.
The back garden, with its raised bed is easier for me to deal with than the front.

But the front garden was looking very sad and in need of care and attention.
The peonies.......from Bill's family home, were a mass of dead leaves and soggy stems. The echinops were.......well, both alive and dead. There were long spiky dead spears and and an abundance of healthy growing green leaves......with some flower buds.
I set to work.
Which ached first? My back or my hand?
I began to suffer from secateur hand pain. My back felt fixed into an achy bent position and I felt a bit queasy from all that bending.
I needed a rest.
Bill had been out cleaning the car, inside and out - well done, Bill. He was exhausted too.
We stopped for some lunch.
I returned to my task, hoping Bill might join me with some more secateurs; but he dozed instead.
I just couldn't do more than another half an hour; so the work isn't finished.
But I am pleased to see again some of the interesting shapes of some of the plants - miniature tree with curly branches for example.
The garden can wait now until the weekend.

We took 3 large boxes of garden rubbish to the giant compost heap at the local rubbish tip.
We must decide what to do with the composter that we have in the back garden. We don't use it - can't even get to it very well these days, it is surrounded by evergreens.
Anybody local want it?

This evening I dozed. Very weary - but happy to have made a start.