Farewell, Winter...

We should have a Going-Away Party for Winter. We could build a bonfire out of snow shovels. We could toast the removing of the tarp from the pump house. And we could give gifts ... of heavy coats ... to the closets.





I have a feeling that it wouldn't be a tearful, sad farewell, though. Everyone I have spoken to is long tired of cold and dreary Winter. The "So long 'til next time" would probably be more like "Good bye and good riddance."




However, I must admit that we should give Winter a hug and say thank you for the chill that helps some plants grow better. And the extra little bit of nitrogen that the snow added to the soil. And especially thank you for helping us to more fully enjoy the beauty of spring.


Have a beautiful day!

Chickie update

Winter cheer...

O.K. So I'm wondering… would you mind if we just go ahead and fast-forward the rest of winter? I mean, really, haven’t we seen enough of browness, greyness, snow, and cold? Aren’t you ready for spring, too?




What do you do to get through winter? Stay inside by a cozy fire? (I can’t really do that: no fireplace.) Make turkey pot-pie for dinner on a snowy evening? (Did that tonight.) How about a cheerful pot of flowers for your table? (Duh!)

{Primula malacoides}

I think fairy primroses are so enchanting. They are one of my favorite flowers. (Although, I confess, my list of favorite flowers must be miles long.) I went to New Garden Nursery this afternoon specifically to find a fairy primrose to adorn my table for the week-end. And, of course, this charming little plant will also help get me through another couple weeks of winter.


Have a beautiful day!

Snowy vignettes...

Today is cold and dark and drizzly. It is the kind of day that makes me think that winter will last FOREVER. Even the snow doesn’t seem very pretty, only frozen and dreary.

{Vinca minor}

Yesterday, though, in the sun, the snow appeared much more cheerful. My little hummingbird wind chime stood out in all the white. A couple of years ago, I decided it needed more color, so I added the glass beads. I did have it adorning a pot, but I redid the pot and it has been in the ground for months now. It hangs on small shepherd's crook sort of thing.



Now here is a cozy way to spend the winter, completely oblivious to all that is going on while waiting (and waiting and waiting) for spring to come. I have lots of them all over the garden. If you don't know what this is, leave a comment for me and I will tell you in a comment, so be sure to check back.

{Buddleja davidii var. nanhoensis 'Nanho Blue'}

Of course, you knew I would put in a photo of my ever-joyful Johnnies. The snow and chilly temperatures don't bother them a bit. Oh, that I could feel the same way.

{Viola tricolor}

Apparently, Tiger likes Johnnies as well as I do. Maybe for a different reason, though.


Have a beautiful day!

Winter...

Tell me again why we have winter. Why the ground gets so cold and hard that you can’t work in it if you want to. Why the sun goes away and everything dies and turns shades of brown and grey. Why there are no flowers to cheer me up.


It is so depressing. And please don’t tell me to play with my houseplants in an effort to assuage my desire to be in a garden. That is like offering, oh, I don’t know, a carrot to someone who is craving deep, rich chocolate. It is just cruel. Not that I don’t like houseplants. I do. But it is simply not the same.

{Salvia officinalis}

Winter is cruel, too, to deprive me of color and consolation. To leave me cold and desolate and longing.

{Juncus}

Yes, I have my Johnnies. Without them, I would go completely crazy. But, you know, if left to themselves and not tricked into it, they, too, wouldn’t bloom until spring.

{Quercus laurifolia}

Spring. Ah, spring. Maybe that is why we have winter.

Tiger

Have a beautiful day!

Winter worries...

With the temperatures falling into the lower reaches of the Zone 7 range, I worry about my plants.

{Artemisia 'Powis Castle'}

I worry about the new ones, the ones I haven’t learned enough about yet, the one that my not be established sufficiently to withstand this cold.

{Tradescantia virginiana}

I worry about my plants in the greenhouse. Are they warm enough? Do the 2 sheets blanketing them actually make a difference? Am I going to loose treasure ones?

{Erigeron karvinskianus}

As I was flipping through the pages of a seed catalog, it seemed unreal. These plants couldn’t really grow. It’s not possible. Spring, at this point, is just an impossible dream.



Right now, I feel incapable of making a garden. Winter does that to me. It taunts me, laughing at the hopes I have for a beautiful garden.

{Weedii invasiacum}

Moving through the cold and wind, I feel numb. Not only my fingers and my face, but my very soul. I long for the warmth to return and I ache to be able to once again work in my garden.

{Nepeta x faassenii}

Have a beautiful day!
P.S. Just so you don't worry, all the plants pictures above should be just fine.

Depressing...

It is freezing outside. It is muddy. There is still some snow on the ground. All (well, lots, anyway) of the plants are dead. Did I mention that it is cold? This is so depressing. Everything looks so brown and so messy. And so sad.




I am aching to go out and clean up. To remove the lifeless stuff and plant little Johnnies. To make it clean and neat and cheerful again. Unfortunately, it is not a good idea to mess in clay when it is sopping wet. And the poor little violas, to be thrust from their cozy little six-packs into sloppy, chilly soil. I know they would endure it bravely, but I don’t want to put them through that.




I will just have to wait for another day. Not only for the plants’ and soil’s sake, but I have other responsibilities today, so the pleasures of the garden will have to wait for another time. Maybe in a few days things will have dried out a little more and I will be able go out and de-stress in my garden.



Have a beautiful day!
P.S. I have added a link in the Hoya carnosa post to the article about houseplants cleaning the air.

Red...

Earlier this week, my neighbor brought me a poinsettia. The timing was perfect, because once winter arrives, I crave red. The rest of the year, I don’t really care much for red flowers. Well, except for the ones for my hummingbirds. Yes, I know. The poinsettias don’t have red flowers; the red is actually the bracts and the flowers are inconspicuous and yellow. But that doesn’t matter. It is still red and adds additional warmth and cheer to my dining room.




Even when I lived in California, I wanted red in the winter. But here, it seems to be a necessity, not just a desire. It gives such a glow of warmth and comfort when everything is cold and grey. So, between my Johnnies, and bits of red here and there, maybe I’ll make it until spring.




I was a sucker. The plant had reddish leaves and red berries. It sat there and called to me. How could I ignore it? I didn’t know what it was, didn’t know its requirements, and didn’t know where I would plant it. But did that stop me? No. It had to come home with me. I decided it would look charming in a pot, which is a really good thing because, when I looked it up in my Southern Living Garden Book, I found that it cannot tolerate clay. Guess what my “soil” is. Clay. It will look so nice in the seating area under the laurel oak. What, you ask? Do I have a seating area? No. But someday I will. And my little Gaultheria procumbens ‘Red Baron’ will add nicely to the ambiance.


Have a beautiful day!

Barbara...

Last evening, I received word that a friend of mine has died of a heart attack. Barbara was always so genuinely cheerful and smiling and friendly. She was such a beautiful person. And this was in spite of the fact that she was confined to a wheelchair (which her husband always pushed for her). She was an older lady and had health problems, but that was not what she focused on. She was out-going, responsive, and wanted to share with others. She was such a joy to be acquainted with and I will always remember her fondly.




Winter somehow seems to fit with death. The cold, the dreariness, the absence of so many alive, green things. It can be a long, lonely, empty time. But after winter comes spring.




Out of the dead of the cold, new growth and new life starts again. Renewal. Hope. There is a resurrection. And there will be for Barbara, too. I pray for her husband’s comfort, for the two were inseparable, and I look forward to seeing, once again, my friend Barbara.


Have a beautiful day.

Anticipation...

As fall darkens into winter, the bleakness increases, drawing me down. It is easy to think that months must pass before there are any signs of life and newness reappearing in my garden. But I have noticed, if I look carefully, I find niches of hope for the coming warmth. Even as the leaves of a hydrangea are falling, the beginnings of young ones are emerging.




New leaves of Iris pallida are forming.




Hidden bulbs are starting to show, telling me to hang in there, that spring will come.




The tendrils of sweet peas show the promises of a much larger vine and of the fragrance of the blooms to come in spring, while the little Johnnies will bolster me through the coming winter.


Have a beautiful day!