With grunts and groans.....my son and I brought the plants in for the season.
It's another rite of passage for fall.
The big palms, sturdy and wiry, went to the garage. They're able to take a few months of low light and cool temperatures.
The soft fleshy houseplants each found refuge in a bathroom.
The spiny cactus was moved to its usual spot in the laundry room.
And the bird of paradise plant... which is tall and wide and for some reason ...weighs so much we can only slide it across the deck versus picking it up.....it landed this year in our family room.
Usually via a handcart, it rests at the back of the garage under a light and far enough from the cold to survive. This year, handcart broken, my son and I could groan it into the house and then we gave up.
It looked wild and big against our blinds....Wildcat ran away from the mega leaves swaying gently from the wind of the ceiling fan and watched it for hours from the safety of her hiding spot under the couch.
The first frost arrived last night.....which split our house in half....the annuals on one side withered with the cold....the annuals on the other side of the house looked weak but alive...probably a difference of a degree or two....enough to equal survive or die.
Now that everything is safely tucked into the house .....the waiting begins over the next few days.
What else came into the house hidden in those huge pots?
One year I found a bright green frog in our toilet bowl.....he was met with a lusty scream..... as I was still early-morning-sleepy and almost peed on him. I presume he hitchhiked in the lush foliage of the lily plant in our bathtub.
Last night I heard a cricket.....but I'm sure my cats will track it down and have a small wild protein treat.
A few spiders might emerge....maybe a gnat..or two (they never seem to travel alone)...hopefully nothing my hunter cats can't handle.
It's strange to see all the vibrant green in the house and to side step huge palm fronds in the garage....but the inner green means that the outer green is almost spent outside.
Fortunately the warm part of the house shielded my geraniums....hooray.....beautiful pink and red flowers blooms for Thanksgiving...and maybe for a few more days afterwards.
The bringing in of the plants....and the turning up of the heater ....means it's late fall and the beginning of winter. I ignore what the weatherman says.....and listen to my plants.
Such a comforting ritual.....the greening of our house with the first frost.....even if it starts with groans and the inevitable questions from the men folks as to why I am growing such large plants in such big pots.....lol....
How else would we know the season changed?
