Autumn, Herb Garden

I swear, if I live to be 100 I don't think I will ever be able to find a more beautiful sight in nature than the sugar maple tree that I planted years ago. In the spring and summer it has dark green leaves that throw shade underneath it's boughs. The shade is so thick that there is hardly any grass under the tree, and when I mow I am always kicking up dust. It brings welcome coolness on a hot day. For the past 2 weeks the leaves turned from green to this beautiful mix of yellow, purple, red and a pinkie color.

When the sunlight hit the tree it was breathtaking, a sight to behold, and it was hard not to constantly glance at it. It was almost translucent at times, just hard to describe. The thing is, the photos do not do it justice. One would have to actually be standing there to understand just what I mean. I can be at my kitchen sink and see it. Then over a couple of days it became this blazing red-pink mass of splendor. If I had my back to the window and the sun was shining on the tree, it would be reflected on my stainless steel refrigerator, looking like there was something on fire.

 It reminds me of a torch, the way it is shaped, the way it glows in the sunlight. When the clouds cover the sun this tree is still like a ball of fire. Simply beautiful.

 I love taking pictures of it. I dread what is to come though. I will have to rake it's leaves and there will be a ton. I can no longer get my John Deere riding mower in this part of the back yard. Since I had the new bagger put on it the mower does not fit through the gate. I always push mow this section of the yard.

My herb garden got a much needed taming. You can hardly see the sage plant in the left front corner of the bed after I gave it a haircut. The plant is about 5 years old. There entire bed was so over run with mint, rosemary and basil that I had to pretty much pull and dig it all up. Lesson learned, plant mint in a pot, do not plant it in the bed, it is invasive.

You can see some mint is growing between the back of the bed and the fence. It has these roots that go everywhere. I have garlic chives and just plain chives. They survive the winter pretty well and they bounce back no matter how badly I trim them back.

This last pic is a shot of where the rosemary and basil was. There is parsley, more oregano and leeks on this end. I planted about 10 cloves of garlic. We will see how that does. I have never planted any before, but I ran across an article in a magazine from our electric co-op that explained that this is the time of year to plant it. The leeks are in the right front corner, I have no clue about how I was to plant them. I think I should have separated them individually. I really need to read up on that. So, do any of you have an herb garden, and what do you plant in yours?

Before I end this post I just wanted to thank all of you for the sweet and thoughtful comments you leave for me. I look forward to reading each one and please know that they brighten my days. You are welcome here anytime. If you ever have any questions I will try to answer them. You can always email me. My address is on the sidebar. I hope you all have a great weekend. ♥