“Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling, the wind is passing through.” Christina Rossetti

Although a strong wind can be very destructive, a blustery fall day in the garden refreshes my vision. It is a head-clearing of sorts; a recipe for observing the movement of air through the spent flower heads. The feathery seeds that are about to pop from their pods will lazily move through the air to find a new resting place. Springtime will find the new seedlings coming up in places initially hidden from view.

Make note of those seeds to watch out for next year. One nemesis is the crab grass plant. When hit by frost, the mother plant will be gone but next year all those seeds will plant themselves in unwanted places. May is the time one must use pre-emergent seed deterrent to keep new plants at bay.

Seeds of the bright orange poppy have moved with the wind to next year’s home while bees hang on to swaying beebalm flowers for the remaining nectar. Knowing that lots of insects winter over in dried pods, be sure to keep some for their winter home.

The tall stems of the dried grasses sway in rhythm with the wind. They will also add cold season interest, peeking through the snow. This off-season interest is why it’s good to wait to cut tall grasses until spring. The remaining white hydrangea blossoms fall like snow now. They hang on in shades of brown to add to the winter landscape. The red delicious apples from the gnarled untended tree at the edge of the perennial bed get tossed here and there by the wind. The deer will soon find them.

The Aspen leaves hang on and chatter in the wind. Old evergreen needles fall to the ground to add to the decomposing earth. The new transplanted seedling trees bend slightly with the air movement, undoubtedly strengthening them as they mature.

Seeds that blow off my large Japanese maples root easily in soft soil. How can I help but transplant them into a raised bed for future landscaping. White birches add such a visual interest to the garden but branches large and small succumb to the yearly winds as they snap from the trees.

The sound of the wind through the maple trees is quietly soothing. A strong wind will whistle an almost musical tune through the allay of trees. That whistling wind will surely send an unsecured birds’ nest to the ground. The occasional gust of wind suddenly quiets the birds’ cheerful songs.

In this fall season while the air is crisp and cool and change is in the air I hope you can find a quiet outdoor space where you can spend some time enjoying the phenomena of the wind.