The Miracle of Fall

 

 

 With a paint brush in His hand,

He softly touches the tops of trees.

Using rich hues of orange, red, yellow, gold and purple,

He highlights all the leaves.

With a swirl of His brush,

He wraps the Dogwood in scarlet.

Goldenrod He sprinkles with yellow.

A golden bronze the Beech tree’s color He set.

The Bradford Pear He tips with red,

Then slowly envelopes this creation in purple.

Dipping His brush in paint again,

The Sugar Maple sparkles with yellow and orange.

Yellow is His color for the Paperback Birch.

The Tulip tree He paints a mixture of yellow and brown.

Gum trees shine a bright red,

And for the mighty pin oak, a russet is His choice.

Now His palette is almost bare and His brush is still,

But His mountains and hills are ablaze in color.

And thru the mist in the valleys His work can be seen from afar,

As the morning sun dances through the trees.

A miracle He has again brought us.

The Miracle of Fall.

                                  ~Sue Proctor

Here are some pictures from Roberta "Bobbi" Turner's project at the Pegram Community Center.

A Poem

The Glory of the Garden

OUR 'Murica is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.
For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You'll find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dung-pits and the tanks,
The rollers, carts, and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.

And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise ;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.
And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows ;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.

Our 'Murica is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:-" Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.
There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.

Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden.
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
 
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away ! 
                                                                          ~Rudyard Kipling 


I personally believe that this should be the 'Official Poem' of the Cheatham County Master Gardeners.
Especially the "Our 'Murica is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:-" Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade", or perhaps the
"And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows"

Ashland City Library/Health Department Complex Project

Cheatham County Master Gardeners

Ashland City Library/Health Department Complex Project

 

Planting and maintaining the eleven large flower beds, along with the rows of hedges and specialty trees has been our group’s largest project for several years; and we take much pleasure from the colorful result, appreciating the kind words of encouragement from the patrons of those buildings.

Currently the project is managed by Junior Morrow and Gerri Galloway, both graduates of the Master Gardener class of 2010.  Previous managers include Gary Swinger and Sue Proctor.  Junior has been gardening in Tennessee for many years, and contributes not only his understanding of the local growing conditions, but many interesting plants from his own yard.  Gerri is a “transplant” from the Pacific Northwest (where flower gardening conditions are very different!), and is learning what works in middle Tennessee.

Local Extension Agent, Ronnie Barron, taught our class on soil conditions, and instructed that the official category for our local soil is “crappy”.  Clay doesn’t drain well, and rocks flourish.  So, we’re continually amending the soil as we work, and – with financial help from Friends of the Library - giving the beds a good mulching, at least every other year.  In past years, the Cheatham County Maintenance Department has assisted with this

Humidity is not our friend, and we fight back with fungicide on the Red Tip Photinia hedges, Crepe Myrtle, and Zinnias.  One of the beds is yellow Knock-Out Roses, which require annual pruning (February) and frequent dead-heading, dusting, fertilizing, and spraying.  An area parallel to the entrance road was one where not even grass or weeds would grow; just bare clay.  With much amending, we have developed an appealing Day Lily bed, which Junior tends with tender loving care.  Also have reclaimed a bed in the parking lot that was once just weeds, planting Canna Lilies, Marigolds, Ornamental Grass, and Summer Poinsettias – among other things.

The “show offs” in front of the library building are vivid crimson Crepe Myrtle, which we keep cut back to a manageable size, and surround with annuals such as Zinnias, and there’s enough shade there for Impatiens, Hostas, and Coleus.  These beds include a smattering of perennial herbs, as well, with Sage and Oregano in front of the building, and a large Rosemary by the side door.

The entrance bed includes several shrubs, as well as perennial color in the form of Pinks, Coneflowers, and Coreopsis.  This spring we added an interesting perennial that is the bright spot in that bed this time of year, with elongated purple blooms.  It came from the yard of a neighbor of my son, and no one has been able to identify it.  But it was described as “aggressive” as well as drought-tolerant, so we’ll just enjoy it.

Our challenge for future seasons is finding ways to involve the public in our project, using the beds as teaching tools, and having interested individuals work beside our Master Gardener members to create colorful designs that will be appreciated and enjoyed by all who pass by.

~Authored by Gerri Galloway