Summer comes to an end each year, as does the warm season vegetable garden, but gardening magazines rarely, if ever, show what that looks like. Why don’t we celebrate the end as much as we do the bountiful beginning and mid-season garden? There is beauty in it as much as any garden when it is flourishing.
We took a walk through the end-of-summer garden to snap a few pictures to showcase the beauty of death and decay. It sounds corny, but there really is much to rejoice about the end of a life span.
Lacinato kale reaches for the sky – 4 feet tall at the end of the season
Ripe tomatoes on a nearly dead vine – taken down by blight
Rose Hips stand out against the wall as roses wane
Green aphids nestle into the red leaves of bolting lettuce
Flowering dill goes to seed – with the promise of volunteers to come
Cosmos seed heads form after flower wither
Remnants of sweet corn stalks remind us that fall is coming soon
Swiss chard sends up its last leaves
Celery stalks, long-since harvested for seed, still release fragrance when brushed against
Asparagus past its prime will serve as habitat for ladybugs to mate in a month or two
The garden is never really done showing off. Maybe someday the magazines will feature this segment of the garden’s life. For now, please share your end-of-summer experiences here.
