Leaves

How do you feel about leaves?

It is fall and I have seen many different re-actions regarding leaves. My husband and most of our neighbors are piling them up to haul off to the dump and get them out of the area. To them, leaves seem to be a nuisance but what are leaves, really?

A leaf is the manufacturing area for all plants. It is what feeds this plant and keeps it healthy. They come in all shapes and sizes and for the most part, they have some differences yet look very much alike. Most people see them as all the same. They have the ability to combine the moisture and minerals found in the ground and hauled up to where; with the sunlight, they can create all the things that the plant needs to survive.

I remember taking a sensitivity class once and we were asked to hold a leaf in our hands. Then we were told to closed our eyes and travel inside the leaf that we were holding. Before doing this we had done it with a small block of silver and a few other things like a block of copper. While in the silver block, I remember when I said "Hello" it echoed all over the place but when I did this same thing in the leaf, there was no echo. In fact the sound was very muted. I found myself between the bottom of the leaf and its top. I could wander around in a catacomb of large cells that were very hollow. The light filtering through was a muted yellow-green. It was a very comfortable place to be. It reminded me of being in a forest with green all around and not being able to see anything else.

The leaves in my yard today come from a lot of different plants. These plants have all stored their food in their roots for the winter and dropping these leaves.

Today's problem stems from the fact that I think these leaves should be left on my gardens and most people think these leaves should be hauled off.

Today I took a rake and borrowed some leaves from my neighbors to cover the areas where the plants had already gone down.

The Hosta leaves died back and have been put into the pile of stuff headed for the dump but for some reason, I want some maple leaves covering the bare ground where these roots are sleeping. I want to tuck them in for the winter with Grandma Maple's quilt of different colored leaves for their winter's sleep.

I know that this will mean more work in the spring to uncover them but it is important to me. In the spring we all feel great about things coming alive again so it isn't a problem to take the "quilts" off the beds and watch the new plants coming up.

I borrowed leaves to cover the St. John's Wort that has a small rosette of green at the base of this year's growth, which has been cut down already. I borrowed leaves to cover the Ginseng plants and I will have more than enough time to clean that off next spring as Ginseng is a very lazy plant. She likes to sleep late and won't wake up until the trees have enough shade for her. I borrowed leaves to cover the two Goldenseal roots that I planted lately, that were sent to me by my cousin from a plant rescue group. I borrowed leaves to cover the Black Cohosh and the Blue Cohosh with her vibrant blue berries still on the dead stocks. There were other things that I covered because I wanted to give them a head start and maybe this is wrong but when I covered the peppermint, I could feel them snuggling down for the winter.

There were some plants that didn't need a "Quilt" but this year I had planted two Russian pink lilacs and as they are really small yet, I decided to tuck a "Quilt" around their base.

I admire the hardy plants but we all need some attention from time to time so if these plants ask me …. What a silly thing to say, as they usually don't ask when they want something, they scream at me. Sometimes I try to explain why this person got this and you didn't but for the most part, they are very understanding.

I have a few that I need to talk to yet; Garden Sage and the Roses need to be talked to. They struggle through the winter and do it very well. I will probably cover the roses with evergreen branches.

Leaves to me are the frosting on the cake. They are there for a reason and not just to be taken to the dump. One year using an edger, the kind with the plastic line that whips off plants that are not wanted in an area; along with a plastic garbage can; I pulverized and dumped them on my gardens. That was a lot of work. I also used to have a compost pile but haven't for a while as we don't have a space for it now.

Do you have some nice leaf memories too? Remember when we raked leaves into a pile and jumped in, laughing and giggling. My husband's nice memory is the smell of burning leaves. To him it was the smell of fall. I love to watch individual leaves blowing across the road as I am driving. I love when I am walking through leaves and hear the crunch mostly because I am shuffling instead of walking just to hear the sound.

Isn't it amazing that each plant, no matter how small it is, is loaded with leaves?

Above my fireplace is a collage of leaves that I found three years ago and pressed. Then pasted them to acid-free paper and framed it. The fall leaves have already lost their chlorophyll so they don't loose their color as quickly as green leaves do.

Leaves are so much more than what we think they are. They decorate our world with different colors at different times and some can even make you smile. That first yellow/green that peeks through in the spring, will lighten any heart. That yellow/red/orange that hangs on the branch in the fall will brighten any day.

As Martha Stewart would put it, "Leaves are a good thing."