Diary of My Country Life-October 2nd, 2026

The original source of this blog: https://www.lotusandmichael.com/blogs/diary-of-my-country-life

10/02/2026 Friday 63-86F Cloudy 

The leaves start to fall, a sign for autumn planting—though the air is cooling off to force the plants to go into dormancy; the soil is still warm for the roots to grow underground. 

I finally picked up my gardening. A lot of things need to be done after a long period of rain: My little cherry tree, which had been in my front yard for three and a half years, was transplanted into my neighbor’s front yard. A lot of space was released; as its old neighbors, the abelia and butterfly bush should be relieved. And two azaleas were also dug out and moved into the same neighbor’s yard; in their old spots, I transplanted a chrysanthemum and a tree peony.  

The regal lily bulbs were planted as well. I long for their super fragrant flowers to bloom in summer. I will paint them, then hang their portrait on the wall. 

In addition to all these diggings and plantings,I performed surgery on my Yellow Yao tree peony. It was grafted onto a herbaceous peony and had grown in my garden for three years. This spring I noticed a sucker growing quickly with a big flower bud on the top, yet its leaves looked different from all the ones on other branches. We asked Angel, from whom we bought two tree peonies; she told that the sucker was the herbaceous peony’s and needed to be removed immediately otherwise it would push back the growth of the tree peony flowers. We did and waited to cut off the herbaceous peony’s roots in autumn.  

It was my first tree peony surgery. Before I started it, I specifically checked online to figure out which part was the herbaceous peony’s roots and which part wasn’t. I think I should have cut off the right thing, the swollen part right under the trunk while all the other roots growing above should be tree peony’s.   

I am not sure whether my Yellow Yao is happy with this surgery or not. This morning when I checked it, it didn’t look great. Perhaps I will find out about the situation two weeks later, or perhaps even longer until early next spring.  

I love my Yellow Yao tree peony very much. The flower has humble pale-yellow petals, allover which golden pollen peeks through—it’s not a knockout at first glance, but a beauty in plain clothes. I had waited for three years to see its first bloom this spring, and I painted two portraits of it at the same time, which I never did of any other flowers. If I accidentally killed it, I will be very sad and will plant another one in fall—it means three more years to go to see its flowers again! 

We bought another two tree peony cultivars from Angel: Pea Green (Dou Lv) and Fragrant Jade. They should be delivered next week. So there will be six tree peonies in my garden, that’s it. I have got all the cultivars I wanted; I don’t need more. 

Compared to herbaceous and itoh peonies, to me tree peonies are the best. The number one advantage is that they are not prone to powdery mildew like their two other cousins. Because of this reason, I dug up four herbaceous peonies this year and replaced them with tree peonies. I think I won't plant more herbaceous nor itoh ones. I like the tree version—they grow bigger and taller every year; they accumulate value by time.  

Gardening has brought me a lot of happiness. Through it, I see Nature, I see the world, I see how life completes its circle. Now I have become more patient--I accept how everything goes. If today I saw yellow leaves, I know it’s what it is supposed to be in autumn, and in spring new leaves will grow. Everything has its time. If today you harvest nothing and feel disappointed, it only means it’s not your time yet. All the efforts you made, all the sweat you shed, are not wasted—they are fermenting somewhere you don’t know and will sprout someday in one way or the other. 

I think it’s not only me who enjoys my garden, but also the cats. Yesterday morning after an intense gardening day, I saw a tabby sitting on the porch between my little pepper tree and jasmine. It kept turning its head, observing here and there as if it was trying to refresh its memory about this environment. At last, its curiosity was fulfilled, so it began to sit quietly looking over the flower bed. I believe at least at that moment it felt the same way as I did-It's so pleasant to be here.