i am midway through the 2 biggest weeks of work before christmas.
unfortunately, the summer really only started in earnest 4 weeks ago, and the annual flowers and tropical plants that had been languishing in toronto's unseasonably cool summer had finally gotten enough heat and sunshine to bloom and thrive. rather than the sad, leggy, spent flowers worn out by a hot humid august, i am pulling out lush and beautiful blooming healthy plants.

the level of waste appals me, as it does every year. container plantings, street level beds and doorway urns are never deep enough, wide enough or insulated by snow to allow any perennial plants to survive the ravages of a city winter. the frequent freeze-thaws, the blasts of hot dry air from open doorways, the salt and sand and city grit is too much for most plants to handle. so we plant ficus, palms, birds of paradise, dragon trees, boston ferns, agave, oleander, hibiscus and philodendron every summer. fill in with impatiens, geraniums, sweet potato vines, coleus, ivy, petunias and begonias and then rip it all out in the fall.
i drag home as many plants as i can, and i try and find homes for them. some places, where lots of workers drive to work everyday, i can convince the staff to take home most of the plants and flowers. but i still have so many trees and shrubs that need new indoor homes.
at least 20 ficus, ranging from 3 foot single stemmed ones to 4 and 5 foot braided topiaries. birds of paradise, both the small 3 foot kind and the giant 6 to 8 foot monsters with leaves as long as my arm that wave like banners. oleanders nearly as tall as me in white, pink, and buttery yellow.
we joke about needing to get rid of our furniture to make room for more plants. why have a table? we can just ring the dining room in hibiscus and throw down a blanket and sit under them like it's a picnic! we can sleep in an imaginary jungle, covered by the palm fronds with the leaves of the big birds arching over us along the ceiling.

i wish i had a greenhouse.

anyone need some houseplants?
free to a good home - must be able to pick them up at my work or at my home.
it's getting colder at night, i have to find everything a warm house with a window to live in before the frosts.

the fall plantings, of cabbage, kale, grasses, chrysanthemum, and heather look wonderful. the frosts will intensify the colours of the kale and the cabbages. they will last until the end of november, when it will be time to pull them all out and stick in cut boughs of pine, fir and spruce for christmas.

the days keep growing shorter. the seasons keep on changing.