Donna at Garden Walk Garden Talk has offered the word, repose, for Word for Wednesday. Repose is such an appropriate word for this time of year when the garden is slowly moving towards its rest period. We, as gardeners, are winding down our weeding, planting, and garden maintenance. Although I like the flurry of activity in the garden during the spring and summer, I welcome the shift to a slower rhythm once autumn arrives.
Although autumn is a time when things slow down, it is also a time for goodbyes. Nests have been abandoned and saved for next year's nestlings.
Hummingbirds make their annual migration south and say goodbye until next spring. With the cooler weather, they even seem to find time for repose.
These delicate, yet robust, creatures bring me such joy in the garden. I will miss their elegant beauty, that puff of their wings as they sprint by my ear, and that high-pitched and quick chirp they make as they dance around the blooms and the feeders.
Even the butterflies say goodbye as they search for sheltered spots for a chrysalis or they migrate south as the Monarch. Because I could not sufficiently support the Monarch when my butterfly milkweed plant was damaged in the hurricane, I was not sure I would even see any this year. How elated I was when one showed up to give me an autumn goodbye kiss.
A falling leaf landed on a branch of leaves to offer another form of repose.
Repose = restfulness, calm, leisure, peace, quiet, restoration...
Another goodbye to the Hope Grows Day meme. Hanni at Sweet Bean Gardening has turned Hope Grows Day into Hope Grew. She has decided to end this meme's run. Thank you, Hanni, for hosting Hope Grows Day. I will miss thinking about my garden hopes month after month. My hope for October is that the serenity and repose of autumn continues throughout the season.
©Michelle A. Potter
