What mood is created by the narrator's description of the garden?

In the first paragraph of the story, the narrator describes what the garden looked like in the past, on the day the titular ibis landed in the “bleeding tree.” It’s important to note that the narrator distinguishes this description from the present state of the garden, since the bleeding tree is now replaced by a “grindstone.”
The narrator uses vivid imagery and figurative language to establish an ominous mood. He personifies the seasons when he says “summer was dead,” which introduces the persistent death imagery of the paragraph.
Because the seasons are changing, the garden has become “strained with rotting brown magnolia petals.” This quote suggests that the decay of one plant at this time of year prevents the other flowers from growing. Thus, the garden is rapidly dying, which creates a melancholy mood for the reader.
This mood intensifies when the narrator describes the abandoned oriole’s nest as rocking “back and forth like an empty cradle.” This simile could indicate the death or disappearance of young life (baby birds).
The melancholy, ominous mood foreshadows Doodle’s tragic death after the arrival of the ibis in the bleeding tree. Therefore, the mood created through this first description of the flower garden is central to the story’s message about death.