GREEN HOLDOUTS

COMMON LILAC, STILL GREEN...

...BUT ITS LEAVES ARE HEAVILY MILDEWED

OLD FASHIONED SHRUB ROSES, STILL GREEN

Monday, 8:00 AM. 21 degrees F, wind NW, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is mostly blue with a few scattered clouds, except for dark clouds on the SE horizon, the retreating weather system which left us this morning's conditions.  The humidity is down to 69% and the barometer is up, at 30.38".  We had some precipitation last night which resulted in a pebbly ice surface on the driveway and some road surfaces, and a dusting of snow on roofs and lawns. The Farmer's Almanac predicted wet, then fair and cold weather the 8th through the 11th of November and that's what we have gotten.  It was chilly walking Buddy this morning but the sunshine and drier air are a good tradeoff.
   The needles suddenly fell off the two tamaracks in the yard (what we call "the yard" the British call "the garden"an all inclusive term which I like very much but is probably a bit euphemistic in most cases) over night, so I declare fall to be null and void.  It is now winter as far as I am concerned.  That said, there are still some trees and shrubs with green leaves remaining in the landscape, like the ghosts of summer past.
   One such green holdout is the common lilac, Syringia  vulgaris,  a resident of almost all yards or, if you prefer, gardens.  Lilacs can form huge clones if left to grow without interference.  They are perfectly hardy and usually long-lived.  Toward the end of the growing season the leaves often become heavily infected with powdery mildew, but although unsightly it seldom does any real harm.  In our region there can be found abandoned homesteads in the woods, the structures long since moldered away.  But the lilacs,"which once by the door-yard bloomed," often remain, mute testimony to days long gone by.
   Other  green holdouts are the old fashioned shrub roses, which also become very large with age and are nearly as hardy as the lilacs.  Most are very thorny, so there is little doubt what they are.
   Most, but not all by any means, of the green holdouts are of European origin or have a southern heritage, even though hardy.  Most Asiatic (China and Japan) trees and shrubs exhibit colorful fall leaves much as do our own.  Thus late green leaves can be a hint as to not only the origin of a woody plant, but as to whether or not it is native to the northern latitudes.  A hint, mind you...not an axiom.

   REMEMBERING THE VETERANS OF ALL OUR WARS

FLAG OF THE WAR OF 1812