Cincinnati, Ohio
November 3, 2024
Dear Marianne,
I don’t know about you, but I garden a lot more productively when I’m rushed and surly. And I’ve been both lately. Having a hard deadline is why. My hip replacement will be on December 4th, so I’m feeling the urgency. And the pain of a destroyed hip.
Leave the leaves? Precisely. Actually, leave them but in a precise manner. Same with spent perennials. No time for indecision. No time for clever. No time for doing things by the book. Just plow through. Actually, mow through, and my electric Stihl mower is up to the task. Leaves? Mowed. Perennials? Mowed. A blown in paper bag? Mowed. Even a coat hanger that somehow found its way into my yard got mowed, and, boy, was that disturbing.
An Acer miyabei’s worth of leaves mowed, blowed, and off my plate.
I should mention that Michele has been helping out in the garden a lot more than before. Very helpful. I used to worry anytime she went into the garden with anything resembling a tool, but not so much anymore. I mean, I’ve been going into the garden with just a mower and a determined look on my face, so how much worse can she be with a pair of pruners? I’m learning that gardens are actually pretty resilient.
Still a lot to cut back. I’m usually selective about how I go about it, but I know I’ll have limited mobility going into spring. From past years, I know that plants can take a fair amount of abuse this time of year and come back just fine.
Softening my mood a little has been beautiful fall color and crystal blue skies. This is my favorite time of year. Heat on for the drive to work in the morning. A/C on for the drive home. Every year, people find some reason to doubt good fall color will come. Every year, good fall color listens and laughs before eventually asking October 18th to hold its beer. In fact, this afternoon Michele and I took a few hours and enjoyed the beauty of Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum. Past peak, but still quite good.
Cornus florida (top left), Acer rubrum and Ginkgo (top right) Nyssa sylvatica (center), and Ilex opaca (bottom), all at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum
With a new hip in place, I’m hoping to hand my beer off to April 1st and attack a couple of beds that I hate worse and worse every time I pass them. They have become like junk drawers–random collections of flotsam and jetsam, an assemblage of plants that are of small sentimental value or were at one time of enough interest to keep. But now, looking at some of these plants in the context of a time crunch, while surly, in pain, and after a long, hard drought, I just want them gone. Abducted into a car. Whisked off. And never seen of again. And, yes, surly is my new favorite word.
I’m becoming jaded about small perennial beds. Sometimes it feels like a mile of perennials by themselves makes more sense than a 10’ x 15’ garden bed of them. In such spaces, more and more, I’m thinking a single mass of one selection is the way. Maybe, three different groupings. But dabbling with individual perennials smattered around is just a mess. Maybe a small shrub or two can give them some underwire support, but I don’t know.
Thank you, by the way, for the very nice letter last time. Such a contrast to my previous one, which was pretty rough. Surly even. And I so enjoyed our time together at the Southern Garden Conference in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Although 80% of our time there was a mad scramble to assemble our first ever talk together, it was still a lot of fun and so many laughs.
The work station.
Marianne Willburn at work.
For a first ever such talk for either of us, I think it went well enough to be encouraging. It certainly got laughs, and with a little work on the narrative, I think we could deliver enough horticultural knowledge and insight that people would go home both entertained and informed. I propose we perfect the hell out of it and hope people ask us to present it at their conferences. It would give us more opportunities to hang out and, maybe at future events, we won’t have to spend so much time working and can laugh even more than we did.
Yours,
Scott
We are all busy this time of year. I have all the geraniums in the greenhouse for another winter.. Have lost track of how old they are but decades..Every year I say, This is the LAST year to bring them in, then stock up on water inside the greenhouse as we have the water turned off in there for winter, and then drag them out in the spring.. But they won’t die! And the salmon pink colour is perfect.. And so it goes. You can take a break and go get a bowl of Cincinnati chili for a refreshing lunch. Have to make my own here in Virginia. My last BIG job is to get about a dozen huge hostas transplanted. Waited a bit too long I fear. I hope the ground is not too hard as we have not had rain in ages.Soon we can all sit back and enjoy a few months of rest and reading plant catalogs and drinking green tea. Cheers!
That’s impressive to have kept your geraniums going for that many years. You must have it perfected, so why stop now? Speaking of perfection, Cincinnati chili sounds good right about now. And, yes, looking forward to some downtime to get caught up on catalogs.
I’m dying to know: what is “Cincinnati” chili??
Okay. This will take some explaining, because Cincinnati chili is very near and dear to my heart.
It is a chili that was created by Greek immigrants post-WWII. It is very different from the kind of chili most people know. It starts with a big plate of spaghetti, which is then topped by the chili and usually a big pile of shredded cheddar cheese. Beans and onions can be added. They are ordered as 3-ways, 4-ways, and 5-ways, depending on how many items you want. You can also get the chili on conies.
The chili is very thin. Some would call it a sauce. It is finely shredded seasoned beef. It is not spicy, as in hot. The seasoning includes cinnamon and chocolate. The flavor is unique.
I have found that if visitors are told what to expect ahead of time, they like it. If they are not, they tend to react in horror. Whatever. In Cincinnati, it is very popular. Actually, kind of addictive. There used to be several different family owned chili companies, and I guess there still are, but Skyline Chili has emerged as the absolute leader with many locations. It is not uncommon for “Skyline chili” to be used as a synonym for “Cincinnati chili.”
Wow! Thanks for the explanation. If I’m ever in Cincinnati I will definitely look for it!
Scott, there obviously aren’t many Italians in Cincy otherwise who ever invented that stuff would be drawn and quartered. To ruin pasta is a mortal sin. My ancestors heard me reading that description and are trying to crawl our of their graves to wreck havoc. Chili is meat, tomatoes, chili powder, onions preferably a lot of them and some peppers if you desire, I do not.. You can add sour cream and cheese as a topping. Beans are a no no especially if you live with someone. And if you are having your hip done, beans are the last thing you need to be eating. Just to rub it in a bit, GO STEELERS! We’ve even rooted for the Browns. Lol
I too mow leaves, but I also do the bulk of my fall clean up in March, when I’m itching to get into the yard but there isn’t much that can be done besides prepare for the coming season. Good luck with your hip replacement – mine was a lifesaver (ditto the two shoulder replacements).
Thank you!
I really enjoyed reading this! November can be such a busy month in the garden, but it’s always rewarding to see everything come together before winter truly sets in.
Thanks for sharing your November garden insights—it’s inspiring!
And thank you! Yes, a busy time. I usually leave a lot of this work knowing I’ll be bored to death and itching to accomplish tasks on those better winter days, but this year is different. So, adapt!
Ohio has had a brutal summer. Same thoughts on my perennial bed. The husband has wanted a garage for his truck. We have a perfectly good garage except it’s from the 1920’s and not long enough for his truck ( which is not a behemoth). I suggested getting a smaller truck. You would have thought I asked him to cut off some appendage. So we are building a bigger garage. Where most of the perennial bed is And I don’t care. After this summer it can all go.
Except the bulbs. the lilac from his childhood home. The paperbark maple that’s just taking off. I see lots of transplanting in my future.
Good luck with hip surgery and do your physical therapy!!
We had such a nice spring, and then paid for it from July on! Ooh, it hurts to see good garden space lost to a big truck, but as long as you’re good with it. You know, spouses.