I have been planting bulbs, removing window screens and screen doors, canning, putting away garden furniture, cutting back some of the perennials, stacking wood, clearing the swells above my house,  deer proofing the evergreens, putting tree guards on the newly planted trees, and transplanting.  Phew! But I am not the only one busy preparing for winter. I discovered a bird’s nest in a Rosa Multiflora bush filled with partially chewed rose hips.  A chipmunk has been busy collecting the seeds and made use of the abandoned bird nest to store his winter supply of vitamin C usefully bite sized and ready for consumption when the snow falls.  I see chipmunks around the house these days, cheeks twice the width of their bodies-now I know why! The same day of the rose hip larder discovery, my good friend, Deirdre who oversees the Cloisters Gardens at the Met, came by to collect rose hips for Christmas displays.  Apparently, Rosa Multiflora’s hips hold up for a very long time and retain their brilliant red color. Check out the Cloister’s blog:

Rosa Mulitflora is on the invasive plant list. I have a scrubby field full of them that  is returning to the wild having once been farm land . Introduced to the East Coast from Japan in 1866 as rootstock for ornamental roses it thrives in fields such as this and is the foot soldier to the forest that will eventually follow if the field is left to return to nature. Check out this web site for more information on Rosa Multiflora:

Rosa Multiflora over taking abandoned field

Rosa Multiflora

Chipmunks larder of rose hips in bird’s nest

Nest seen from above