Fall Is Here, It's Time to Gather Provisions!

Winterthur in September

 I visited Winterthur’s garden the other day, and the weather was perfect. The leaves have not yet started to turn, but other signs that fall is here were evident.

The first sign was a noisy chirping sound that I thought was a frog or peeper. It turned out that it was a chipmunk, which is not usually found around the March Bank, but was apparently disturbed that I had found where he was stowing away provisions for colder weather.

Then, around the Quarry Garden, I found a lovely silvery swirl of gossamer threads that looked very familiar--yes, it was the fruiting stage of a clematis (center of collage), just waiting for moths to stop by and feast.

Then, covering one end of a  greenhouse, a great cloud of hyacinth beans, their purple pods shining in the sunlight, tempted passers-by. But the mature beans contain cyanogenic glycosides, so they must be cooked a long time, so I’ll bet the local animal life avoids these beans when they mature unless they have access to a slow cooker!

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