Looking Back at 2007 (Part IV)

Autumn came barreling along on the heels of summer and a few of the perennials and annuals that struggled in the dry heat perked up and put on a fresh show of growth and blooms. While I hate seeing the growing season come to an end, I do love the clear blue skies of October and the crisp cool nights.

The fall color is always a treat, too.




The Children's Garden that Mom and her fellow Master Gardeners have been working so hard to help establish in Van Wert had its butterfly release and ribbon-cutting ceremony in August. In October the Master Gardeners were given an Environmental Award. This award is given by Dominion and the Biodiversity Alliance and Mom, Sue Heappard (Van Wert City Parks Director) and I traveled to Cleveland to accept it.


On the way home from Cleveland, we stopped to visit Schedel Arboretum and Gardens and we were blown away by the beauty of them, as well as the fact that we'd lived our entire lives in northwest Ohio without seeing them. We'll be returning for another visit in the spring.


While in Cleveland, Kim (blackswamp_girl) and I finally got to meet each other in person! We had a great time perusing Petitti's Strongsville store together and I left there wishing we lived closer to each other. When you share a love of gardening the way we do, as well as growing up within 30 miles of each other, you feel an instant kinship.

I'd met another fellow blogger, Martha (Earth Girl), back in February when she was a featured speaker at the Allen County Home and Garden Show. We met again in July, when I visited the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historical Site, where she is in charge of the restoration of the gardens. I enjoyed the personal tour of the gardens and Martha gave me a Cornelian Cherry seedling (Cornus sp.) that is the offspring of the original that Gene planted many years ago.






We discovered wild grapes growing along the creek that runs behind our house and I made wild grape jelly for the first time in October. It was so delicious that I plan to make it again next year and will try it with the strawberries from our garden as well.





We found a Monarch caterpillar on the swamp milkweed in our garden late in September. This was later than usual and I took it in the house where it formed its chrysalis the very next day. About ten days later, it emerged from its chrysalis, a perfect and beautiful female. We released her several hours later and she began her long migratory trip to Mexico.



Fall is a good time for planting many things and we put some garlic in the ground for the first time ever. Of course there were the many spring bulbs that I said I wasn't going to buy (but I did) that needed planting and who knew planting tulips was so dangerous? We purchased two more Japanese Maples and got them put in the ground before the really cold weather set in.



The year closed in December with a major snow storm that provided us with good photo opportunities and insulation for the plants. Inside, we were forced to share the air with a jungle of greenery that wouldn't survive our cold Ohio winters if they remained outside. Life can be tough - what can I say?



And now, as we say goodbye to 2007, we realize how very blessed and fortunate we are to be living the life we do. God has allowed us to be stewards of so many living things around us - trees, birds, plants, flowers, insects, cats - and we do our best to take care of them inasmuch as is humanly possible.

We've shared much of our life this year via this blog and to those of you who visited and read about our adventures and misadventures, thank you for all your kind comments.

Now, on to 2008!

Looking Back at 2007 (Part III)

July came and we were firmly entrenched in summer with hot sun and no rain. Determined not to let one thing expire from the garden, I continued to water. I let the garden go as long as possible without doing it, but when things started to droop and get crispy, I gave them a good drenching. I didn't follow the rules, either. I watered with a sprinkler and I many times watered at night. As dry as it was, it made no difference, not even to the roses.

Ah, the roses...

English Rose 'Crown Princess Margareta'

This summer was my first experience with English roses and for being a rose novice, I had great success. I say "I" because Romie doesn't like roses and will have nothing to do with them except smell them when I drag him over to one and force him to have a sniff. He always says, "I don't smell anything." He's got horrible allergies and they affect his sense of smell. Too bad, because some of them are downright intoxicating.

Take the hybrid tea 'Diana, Princess of Wales,' for example...

Yummyyyyyy.

I'm on my second one, though. It's a temperamental thing, and the one I bought last year didn't make it through last winter. Yes, it was a tough winter, especially for roses, but this rose has other issues, too. I loved it enough to try it again, though, and while it got a shaky start again this year, by the end of the season it was looking really good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will live to see spring this year.

Other favorites were 'Chihuly' and 'Hot Cocoa' which I acquired in 2006. New to the garden this year were 'Disneyland' and 'Topsy Turvy.' Both performed beyond my expectations, with oodles of luscious colored blooms most of the summer, well into fall.

By midsummer, I'd gotten over the fact that I was unsuccessful at growing Himalayan Blue Poppies from seed. Oh, they germinated, but didn't make it much further than that. I've not given up, however, and have purchased new seed just recently, of two varieties: Meconopsis betonicifolia and Meconopsis x sheldonii 'Lingholm.' We'll see if either of those agrees with me.


'Zowie' zinnias were a hit, though! All fifteen seeds germinated and I'm giving them two thumbs up because of their outstanding color, endurance, and healthy foliage. Oh, and they're EASY. No fuss, no muss plants. The flower itself lasts for a month or more and I only deadheaded once all summer. No icky mildew either!


More new bugs were discovered, with my two favorites being the hummingbird moth and the ermine moth. Oh, and The Gold Bug. Now that is one very cool insect. Except for the fact that it adored my convolvulus leaves. Adored them to pieces. Literally. Still, I'd grow them again just to see that bug.


The tomatoes were disappointing. We grew 'Mr. Stripey' and 'Sungold.' We got several 'Sungolds' but only two or three 'Mr. Stripeys' by summer's end. But the sweet corn was exceptionally delicious and earlier than we're accustomed to. It was pretty well finished by the first of August, when we're normally just starting to pick it.

A cairn was built in July and a small pond in Max's Garden in August, proving that a garden is never done, whether it be by planting or adding other interest.


After most of the summer bringing us next to no rain, August tried to make up for it all at once and we were flooded. The gardens were appreciative, but our basement not so much. In the thirty years we've lived here, we've never experienced water like that in our basement and I hope we never do again. The sump pump just quit in the middle of the night and we didn't know it. Family came to our rescue and helped with the clean-up process.




August also brought the annual Perseid meteor shower and a total lunar eclipse. We enjoy stargazing and if there's an event in the night sky, you'll likely find us out in the back yard taking it in. We watched the space shuttle chase the International Space Station earlier in the year, too. (Or maybe it was the other way around.)





More garden trips: Franklin Botanical Conservatory with good friend Marsha, Mulberry Creek Herb Farm with Mom and Dad, a local garden tour with Kara, and three days in Columbus with Mom for the Master Gardeners Annual Conference. There, we visited Inniswood Metro Gardens with a friend of Mom's, the gardens of The Ohio State University, and Columbus Park of Roses. We also had the pleasure of meeting Tracy DiSabato and getting to tour her gardens.


Our family had a celebration of birthdays in September and Mom threw a big party in our honor. Dad was 75, I turned 50, and Jenna hit the quarter-century mark. (She'll love me for that.)

Whew! We had a full plate of summer!


NEXT: Looking Back at 2007 (Part IV)

Looking Back at 2007 (Part II)

The second quarter of 2007 was much more eventful and colorful than the first! With things awakening in the garden, my spirits awoke right with them. Still being somewhat new to gardening, I couldn't wait for the day when I could get down on my hands and knees to dig in and work the soil.


First to awaken, of course, were the spring bulbs, but wait ... there's more! My first real hellebore bloom! Planted in 2005, and apparently too young for blooming in 2006, it was a thrill to see its freckled face. I had planted fresh seeds the autumn before, too, and they were showing up in the seed bed. I don't expect those to bloom yet this winter/spring, but I'm certain they will, given more time to mature.

There were hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, irises, crocuses, dog-tooth violets, and regular wood violets, too. All the usual fare, including the trillium we'd transplanted from a nearby woods. Those were in their third spring in our garden, tucked between the hostas.

Dog-Tooth Violet (Erythronium sp.)

The bergenia bloomed for the first time, too. I'd very nearly torn it out last year because it just sort of sat there, doing nothing and generally looking ugly for me. A change in location must have been just what it needed, because on the north side of the pool house where it now rests beneath the serviceberry tree, it receives very little sun, if any, and it burst into bloom in April.

Unfortunately, a late snow and freeze damaged a few things beyond their ability to survive, and we lost a Magnolia ('Jane') and a pink dogwood that we'd planted last year. On the other hand, the white dogwood tree we'd had for more than fifteen years that had only bloomed once (with three blooms) in that entire time, was loaded with blooms this spring - 159 of them! The effect of the freeze was evident in those blooms, but still ...



Mid-Spring wears its own brand of flowers and if I weren't so hungry for anything in bloom when those first bulbs burst open, I'd say I liked the second round better than the first. This brings things like our tree peony, Paeonia suffruticosa 'Sahohime' which is just about the loveliest, frilliest peony you'll ever see, with burgundy-tinged foliage, too.





The Jack-in-the-Pulpit I planted last fall not only came up, but one of them actually had a Jack, pulpit and all! That brought me to my knees with my camera, and don't you know, our next-door-neighbor just happened to be walking by as I had my rear end up in the air taking pictures. "Whatcha doin' down there?" He'd ought to know me well enough by now...






The ajuga now takes up a fair amount of real estate below one of the maples out in Max's Garden and this past spring I could fully appreciate the purple pillars rising from the dark greenish-burgundy ground cover it provided. (Yes, Kim, this is some of what will soon be making its home in Cleveland!)






'Miss Bateman' clematis bloomed well in its second year.



I don't think anything quite matches the innocent beauty of Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majuscula) and when I first see its white bells appear, I drop down to get a whiff of its fragrance. I've got pink ones, too, although they aren't as prolific as the white.



Mom and I took in our first real flower show of the season by traveling to Cincinnati for their annual show on the banks of Lake Como. Then came the biennial Cleveland Flower Show, which never fails to disappoint. This was my second time for both shows.


While in Cleveland, we took what is now known as The Greater Cleveland Nursery Tour, where Mom and I spent hours drooling our way through several garden centers unlike any near us.

New to our garden from these trips were a green Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Mikawa yatsubusa'), a coneflower (Echinacea 'Summer Sky'), two Lewisias, a variegated Abutilon, an Aruncus, and a vining Jasmine.

I got my fifteen minutes of fame in May, when I was interviewed by MSNBC.com's Diane Mapes for an article she was doing on playing it safe in the sun. She'd run across my blog post on wearing sunscreen. That was pretty exciting for me!




Of course, with the warmer temperatures, it isn't just plants and flowers that come to new life, the insects do as well and we saw many new and different ones than we'd ever seen before. I think maybe we just paid closer attention to them.





Most exciting was getting to witness baby praying mantids emerging from their egg sacs in late May. We had something like 21 egg sacs situated throughout the shrubs and trees last winter.


The first of June, I got to see my first frog ever. I know, that sounds a little bit incredulous to think that I'd nearly gone fifty years before seeing a frog. I've heard them lots and I've seen my share of toads, but never a frog until June.

By this - my second full summer of gardening - I had accumulated quite a portfolio of photographs from the garden and I wanted to do something special with them. I uploaded some of my favorites and "published" my first photo album through Shutterfly. I called it botanica and its subtitle was the geographic coordinates for Our Little Acre, which was prompted by one of our other hobbies, geocaching.


Speaking of geocaching, we spent a warm day in June (weren't they all warm?) caching our way to Goll Woods, which is thought to be the least disturbed natural woodland in our part of the state. It's as close to what our ancestors were met with as they came upon this area known as The Great Black Swamp and does a lot to explain why our gardens are what they are in this area. We enjoyed the walk through the woods and plan to return this spring when the wildflowers will be in bloom.


Spring is typically a time for starting new projects and it was no different here at Our Little Acre. We put in a new flagstone walkway as well as a new deck.


Perhaps the thing that made the biggest impact on our gardening season was the drought we experienced here in the Midwest. So many days with high temperatures and no rain made me feel like I was walking around the yard with a tail (the watering hose) permanently attached most days. Next summer, if we experience the same kind of weather (let's hope not!), I'm going to go easy on the watering early in the season. Not knowing that we'd go for so long without rain, I started babying the plants way too early so I was required to keep it up in order to keep them alive. Lesson learned!

The gardening season was well under way by the end of June, and I was in the height of my gardening glory. So, too, was the garden.

By this time, we'd been enjoying some of the fruits (and vegetables) of our labors in the other part of the gardens. We'd had many a spinach and lettuce salad, bowls of strawberries, and the green beens were flowering. The red beets were just days away from being pulled and pickled.

Max's Garden, June 30th

With our spring work behind us, the days of pure enjoyment of the lush green gardens were upon us. We just sat back, took it easy, and watched things grow.

Yeah, right.

Next: Looking Back at 2007 (Part III)

Looking Back at 2007 (Part I)

As we wrap up the year, I look out the window at the gray, gloomy stuff known as Winter in Ohio. At the moment, there isn't even a nice coat of white stuff covering up the brown and gray. I try to remember that this is much like the thirsty traveler in the desert who eats salty dry crackers so that when he finally gets water, it will be the most glorious quenching of his thirst. We must go through this famine of sun and warmth so we'll be delirious with spring when it gets here.

To brighten things up right now, though, I want to take a look back on the wonderful year called 2007. What did we learn? What were our joys? What new things did it bring to our gardens?

January was a bit cruel. We started out with warmer than normal temperatures only to be plunged abruptly into a deep freeze. Perennials and other living things don't fare well in such conditions. This is where mulch is invaluable in protecting against fluctuations like this. A good snow cover helps, too. Just a couple of weeks ago, I could be seen shoveling snow onto some plants that got missed during a recent snowstorm. Just tucking them in!



I wintersowed a few things, for the second year, and had similar results as the first year. I'll be doing it again this year, starting in a week or so. The first year I wintersowed, I had my doubts as to whether it would work or not. I had a high enough success rate that I'll likely do a little each year, if only for the reason that I'm fascinated by it and it's a chance to try new plants at a low cost.





February brought the first hint of spring, late in the month. We always have some "teaser" days where the temperature warms enough that you're assured that you're not stuck in winter indefinitely. Warmer temps in February means fog that freezes on cold surfaces to form hoarfrost. It happens in late fall, too, and makes a winter wonderland of everything.



Now March is very much a transition month, being filled with various activities and events that indicate we'll soon be out doing what we've not so patiently waited for all winter long. The first garden shows make their debuts. The amaryllis are still giving us inside color and cheer. The first true harbingers of spring - the red-winged blackbirds - returned for the summer. And we successfully raised two Painted Lady butterflies in our family room!

Hippeastrum 'Dancing Queen'

The highlight of the month was our trip to Florida, where we were warmed by the sun and enchanted by the tropical flora. A visit to Marie Selby Gardens was just what the doctor ordered for our spring fever. Just looking at the photographs taken that day, I can almost conjure up the smells of those orchids and the warmth of the sun on our backs.


We returned home to the first spring bulbs flowering in our gardens.

Chionodoxa

Next: Looking Back at 2007 (Part II)

Christmas Greetings from Long Ago

When I was a child, I was fascinated with things from the world of my grandparents and great-grandparents. I tried to imagine what life was like then, knowing it was vastly different in many ways than my own. I often wished I could be a time traveler just for a day or two and be with them "back then."

I don't know how long my infatuation with my family history and the times in which they lived and worked lasted, but it spilled out into the material I chose to read and the objects I selected to surround myself with. My bedroom during most of my growing-up years contained a mahogany four-poster bed with matching nightstands and a massive mirrored dresser that had belonged to my grandparents. It was the bed I'd slept in as a little, little girl when I spent the night at their house. It was the bed where I'd sleepily lay, listening to Grandma read stories from Old Mother West Wind and sing Froggie Went A-Courtin'.

I was so happy when I was able to have that bedroom suit for my very own. It followed me to my college apartment and then to our first and second homes after Romie and I married. It was the first "big bed" that Kara slept in under the Precious Moments quilt I'd made her. We don't have that bedroom suit anymore and I don't remember who bought it, but I hope they realize what a treasure they own.

I also managed to acquire a small collection of vintage postcards. They were purchased when my elementary school girlfriend Cheryl and I would tag along with her parents as they visited antique stores. I was fascinated with the ornate cards so different and much more beautiful than the postcards made in the 1960s. I still have these cards that were sent so long ago to celebrate Easter, Birthdays, Love, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

Merry Christmas to you from ages past ...

Sent December 18, 1913


Sent December 24, 1912


Sent December 21, 1914


Sent December 11, 1912


Sent December 23, 1922

Christmas at the Library

While Paulding County is home to the first county library in the United States to be funded by Andrew Carnegie, our neighboring county to the south - Van Wert - holds the honor of having the first county library in the United States. Having been born and raised here, I've been in both of them too many times to count. Both are beautiful historical buildings.

For the past 12-plus years, the Evergreen Garden Club has been in charge of decorating the Brumback Library in Van Wert for Christmas. As a member of that club, my mother has been involved in helping with the decorations. This year, she asked to borrow Kara's American Girl doll, Samantha, and some of her accoutrements for use in the decorating.



The decorating theme was Victorian, since the Brumback Library was born during that time. According to the Ohio Bicentennial Commission's historical marker sign located in front of the library:

When local banker and businessman John Sanford Brumback left a large bequest to Van Wert County for the purpose of establishing a countywide library in 1897, such institutions did not yet exist, and Ohio had no legal provision for a tax-supported county library system. In response, the Ohio Legislature passed an enabling law in April 1898, marking the beginning of the country library system in the United States. Designed by Toledo architect David L. Stine and built of Bedford limestone in an eclectic Romanesque style, the Brumback Library was dedicated in 1901. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, it continues to serve as a center of knowledge for all of Van Wert County.

Located on Main Street (which is also the Lincoln Highway), just west of the downtown business area and across from Fountain Park, the Brumback Library sits stately in its own park-like setting and commands attention as you pass by. But take the time to stop and go inside and you'll be greeted by beautiful original oak woodwork and library furniture, marble columns, a fireplace, and cozy alcoves for reading. The original mosaic tile flooring and domed ceilings add to the ambience, hinting at the history that has passed through these doors before you.


In 1991, a 10,500 square feet addition was added to the west side of the original building which was also renovated at that time, funded by a gift from Mr. Orville and Miss Ellen Reed.

The Brumback Library currently has five branches located in Convoy, Wren, Ohio City, Middle Point and Willshire.

The Perfect Gift

I mentioned before that Dad and I used to rise early the day after Thanksgiving and hit the streets to shop for a Christmas gift for Mom. We did that for many years, back before that day became known as "Black Friday." It was a fun time we had, just Dad and me.

We would eat breakfast, usually at Bob Evans, because it was close to the mall. There was conversation about this and that - you just never knew what might come up that we felt the need to discuss. It might be important subject matter or trivial, but in my mind it was all of the utmost importance because on this day, I had my dad all to myself and every word spoken between us mattered.

We walked along the mall corridors, looking at this or that. Something would pop out at either of us and we'd debate its merits and whether it deserved the place of honor under the tree reserved for Mom's Perfect Gift. Did I think she'd like it? Would I like it myself? Does she have one already? Think she'd use it?

On we'd go, until the moment we'd been waiting for arrived. There it sat, in all its glory - Mom's Perfect Gift. Always it would be the right size, the right color, and more than once, the last one they had. It was meant to be. Dad would buy it and with our mission accomplished we'd head home before the crowds really started moving in. He'd drop me off at home with Mom's gift and by Christmas I'd have it wrapped in the finest paper and ribbon I could find around my house. Many of our own gifts under the tree were sans bows, but not Mom's Perfect Gift. It deserved special treatment.

It's Mom that makes Christmas what it is in our family. She's now 73 years young and very much a kid at heart when it comes to so many things - Christmas most of all. This is her time of year. She enjoys the decorating, the shopping, the cooking and doing whatever she can to make Christmas Eve special for everyone. She deserves The Perfect Gift.

This past Thursday, Dad and I once again ventured out into the Christmas crowds. It had been a few years since Dad and I had gone to Fort Wayne shopping together like that, what with online shopping making it so easy to choose The Perfect Gift and have it delivered right to your door. We didn't have to brave the cold, fight the traffic, or stand in long lines. It was great!

Or was it?

I had missed that one time of year when I got to spend time alone with my dad. It was different than being alone with him at his house, visiting. Sure, we talked then, too, but the Christmas shopping trip had a magical air to it, as if we were "partners in crime," doing secret undercover work together. And when it came right down to it, the gift wasn't what mattered so much.

I won't speak for my dad, but for me, the excitement and joy of our day spent together is something I find difficult to put into words. Just being together, the two of us, speaking whatever pops into our minds, still getting to know each other after 50 years, finding we've got so many things in common that we either didn't know about or had forgotten, and just the pure joy and love I feel just being in the company of the man that helped make me who I am - that's The Perfect Gift.

Deck the Tree With Halls of Bolly . . . WHAT??

We've had various themed ornaments on our Christmas tree over the years. The tree has been elegant in its gold and silver glass balls and beaded garlands. Other years saw it bedecked with mostly Hallmark Keepsake ornaments with more of a traditional red and green color scheme. I usually asked the girls which tree they wanted each year - the fancy one or the traditional one? Guess which they liked the best?

Since they've moved out on their own, I've given many of the ornaments to them for their own trees. The last few years have seen our tree dotted with old-fashioned blown glass ornaments that I've collected from places I've visited or if I happened to find one that represented something I enjoy. You know, like gardening. Carol of May Dreams Gardens inspired this post, which shows some of my garden-related ornaments, as well as others.

Two years ago, Kara and Jenna gave me this Willow Tree "Angel of the Garden" ornament. They also got me the figurine, which I keep out all year round on my computer desk.

I really love the Willow Tree ornaments and figurines, especially the Nativity set. But we already have a Nativity set in Precious Moments that was given to me when the girls were very small.

The same year they gave me the Willow Tree garden angel, they also gave me another figurine, which was the angel holding a cat ("With Affection"). I've got one with an angel holding a book, too ("Angel of Wisdom"), which represents one of my other great loves - reading.


When one of the online stores had their Christmas ornaments marked down last year - before Christmas! - I bought this blown glass amaryllis -



There are fruits and vegetables...

This past July, I went on a bus trip with my parents and we toured Firelands Winery in Sandusky. I managed to talk one of the sales associates into selling me an ornament of a bunch of grapes from one of their display windows. This spring, we're going to be planting some grape vines of our own.


Have you heard of The Legend of the Pickle? When we toured Swinney Homestead in Fort Wayne, Indiana many years ago, I learned about this and bought one of the glass pickle ornaments they had for sale in their gift shop. I've seen them in lots of places since.


In addition to these garden ornaments, there are several birds on our tree. A cardinal, of course, since it's our state bird and we see and hear them all the time...





And just as no garden is complete without a cat, my tree wouldn't be either, so there are several kitties hanging alongside the birds, such as this Hallmark one.





I'll be keeping my eyes open for other ornaments that may be marked down after Christmas. I can always use one or two (or three) more!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EDIT: Less than 20 minutes after publishing this post, I just "happened" to come across these. A tad bit pricey for me, but fun to dream about. *sigh*

It's A Major Award!

Romie's favorite Christmas movie is A Christmas Story. You know the one-

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

I like it too, and we watch it several times during the Christmas season. We've even been known to pop it in the DVD player in July. One of us loves it so much that they laugh out loud while watching it, no matter how many times we've seen it. So the other one of us thought it might be fun to give the laughing one a very special Christmas gift one year.

Ebay is a great place to find obscure items. Let's say that someone needed a mannequin leg. Or one fishnet stocking. Perhaps a black patent leather stiletto pump. Ebay's your one-stop shopping place!


Now a leg, a stocking, and a shoe do not a leg lamp make. So it helps if you know someone that is pretty handy with a saw, a hammer, a screwdriver, and a little knowledge of electrical wiring. I happen to know someone like that very well and he was more than happy to help with The Leg Lamp Project.






Mom even got in on the act by helping glue the trim on the lamp shade, which I found at Walmart.











There was sanding, staining, lacquering, wiring and assembling to do, and while I assisted my dad, he deserves the credit for actually making the lamp look like the movie version.

If this leg lamp was to be delivered properly, it needed a crate. No leg lamp worth its salt comes without a crate stamped with the word "FRAGILE." So I drove to Middle Point to the pallet manufacturing business there to see if they had any scraps that I could purchase to make the crate.

I explained what I needed and what they were for, and in the course of our conversation, the manager and I found out we grew up in and near the same hometown, which was not all that far away, although at different times. He asked me what length I needed the boards to be and when I returned to pick them up a few days later, I traded him some chocolate chip cookies for the custom-cut boards, because he wouldn't let me pay him a thing. "It's just scrap anyway," he told me. I love small town life!







Dad put the crate together and I spray painted the words on the outside. Now the leg lamp package was complete.











Christmas morning came, and as usual, the entire family was at our house for breakfast and the unwrapping of gifts with our girls. As we were eating our green eggs and ham, the doorbell rang. Romie answered ...









"Fra-gee-lay! It must be Italian!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Christmas Story was released during the holiday season in 1983 and has become a beloved American classic. Set in 1940s Indiana, it's the story of Ralphie and his family as they live life and celebrate Christmas, and is based on Jean Shepherd's book, In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash.

It made a decent showing at the box office, but not great. It became part of a purchase agreement between MGM and Warner Brothers and in 1988, the first 24-hour A Christmas Story marathon was aired on TNT, starting Christmas Eve. It has been a recurring event ever since, in recent years moving to TBS.

In Cleveland, Ohio, A Christmas Story House is open to the public, a faithful reproduction of the Parker family home featured in the movie. Across the street is A Christmas Story Museum. Both are open year round, Thursdays through Sundays, and Wednesdays during the Christmas season. More information here !

Snow Scenes

The sun has come out and the snow is over. We didn't get as much as we might have and that's okay. We started out with snow and wind, then freezing rain and wind, then more snow and wind, so that was enough for most people to slow down and enjoy the beauty that a storm like this brings.

This might just be The Big One for the winter, or it may be the first of several major snowstorms we could get. With us living within eight miles of where we each grew up, we've experienced just about every kind of winter possible for our latitude over the last 50+ years. We won't know how this one turns out until it goes out.

When the sun sets on Our Little Acre, this is one of the views from our front yard as you look southwest across the road and the field. I took this picture standing at our mailbox.



A little closer look shows the neighbor's grain bin and the trees glimmering as the sun shines through the crystal icy coating.



And really zooming in, the woods a mile away show off their icy branches, too.

A little closer to home, Luna tags along as we take a tour of the yard.

Detail of the Euonymus alata ...

Last night, I mentioned the big wind chimes sounding like church bells. Today, they're silenced by ice and snow.



Max's Garden wears its winter coat as Romie and Simba take off for a walk down by the creek that runs a little further behind our house. (Yes, this means that Simba is doing much better!)

Looking southwest from behind the pool house. I carried the pine tree in the center of the photo home from Maine in my suitcase in 1979.

It was really difficult to capture what we saw as we looked at the trees around the yard as the sun lit them up like Christmas trees. Depending on your viewing position, some of them even appeared to have little colored lights on them. They actually twinkled!






And even in the coldest and most blustery of days, gardening is never far from my mind ...

*Click on each photo for a larger view*

Now THAT'S a Snowstorm!

I don't know how much we've gotten and the television weather reports give many varied amounts from as little as three inches to as much as fifteen. But the real story is told by the wind.

With gusts up to 40 miles per hour and sustained winds of 25-30 mph, snow emergency rulings are in effect and many roads are impassable, due to drifting and near whiteout conditions. Our Christmas gathering for today has been canceled.


We're all cozy inside after Romie made pancakes for everyone. One or two are dozing while the rest of us enjoy Planet Earth on Discovery Channel. Oh, and Max is sound asleep on the floor in the midst of us all.

You didn't really think we were going to leave him outside like that, did you?

Snow on a Saturday

The Big Snow started here around noon today. It's been snowing off and on ever since, with winds out of the east, but it doesn't seem like we're getting nearly as much as they said we would. It's supposed to intensify later tonight, though, and the winds are to pick up, so who knows what we'll see when we look out the windows in the morning?

We took my Holter heart monitor back to the hospital and when we got back, things were looking really pretty with a light coating of snow. Before I went into the house, I walked around and took a few pictures, because I knew once I was inside, I wasn't going out again.

Luna accompanied me, and as I looked for subjects to photograph, I listened to first, the woodpecker rat-tat-tatting away in the neighbor's tree, then the wind blowing through the big pine that I carried home from Maine in my suitcase in 1979, and finally, the sound of the snow falling on the dried leaves still hanging on the trees. Yes, you could actually hear it hitting them and I think today was the first time I've ever noticed it.




Remember the pictures of the viola and the Scotch Heather that I posted earlier today for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? They look a little different now...




Just about the only color in the gardens is a touch of gold here and there, like on this Variegated Euonymus...

... and the Campanula 'Dickson's Gold.'

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') looks like an art sculpture with its twisty branches lightly covered by snow. This one is in the front of our house, and we've got a larger, taller one at the back.

The Japanese Honeysuckle that grows on the trellis near the house is covered in black berries that the birds pick at every now and then. This is considered to be invasive in some areas, including Ohio, but it's never been a problem here at the trellis, nor has it shown up elsewhere on the property. I'll occasionally see a seedling pop up around this one in the spring and summer, but that's easy enough to control by pulling them out.







I love how the hellebore leaves look with their little "snowcaps."

The heart-shaped epimediums, too.



The Dwarf Alberta Spruce (Picea glauca) traps the snow in its tiny needles and it always reminds me of a miniature version of the Christmas trees my dad and grandpa would flock before taking them in the house for us to decorate each year, back in the mid-'60s.

Kara and Adam and Jenna and Bella came to spend the night because we have a family Christmas tomorrow afternoon (if the weather doesn't make us cancel it). Adam and Romie watched football while Kara and Jenna goofed off, as usual. It's fun for me to watch them act like they did when they were little, even though they're 27 and 25 now.

Just what were they doing in this picture? Seeing how many Cheesy Puffs they could stuff into their mouths at one time. I think one of them said they had nine. I'm not even going to guess which of them has the biggest mouth. They both have claimed that title at one time or another!

Kara wanted to bake cut-out cookies, so she enlisted the help of her sister. Jenna said she absolutely hates to cook (wonder where she gets that?), and in spite of Kara explaining that baking isn't cooking, the best she could do was to get Jenna to clean up the kitchen after the cookies were done. That was fine with Jenna, because she does love to clean.

Kara let us taste test the cookies and they were both pretty and scrumptious!

Everyone has gone to bed now. I can hear that the wind has kicked it up a couple notches and as it comes around the corner of the house, it sounds much like the train whistles in the distance that we hear on summer nights when we sleep with the windows open. The snow is pelting against the east windows as well as the skylights above me. The giant wind chimes are ringing a church-bell melody under the pergola.

Time for me to go to bed, too.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - December 2007

Call it positive thinking, but I honestly thought I'd have more than two flowers blooming in the middle of December. I know we've had an ice storm and right this moment, a "nor'easter" is about to make its grand entrance, but I still thought I'd have more. I'm not really disappointed though. In fact, it just makes me appreciate the toughness that some plants possess.

I've got two pictures to post of my outside blooms, and they aren't the best quality I've ever produced, but it was windy and cold out there this morning, so this will have to do.



Have a look at this viola! Little Johnny (Jump-Up) has seen better days, but look at its delicate petals sporting that violet and yellow! What a bright spot on the dreary winter landscape. In just a few hours, it will be buried under a warm blanket of snow, so hooray for this one last blast of color! No "calm before the storm" for this guy!




This might not count, but I'm counting it anyway. The Scotch Heather (Calluna vulgaris 'Tib') still has some flower buds. They're looking a little dehydrated, but its identical twin beside it isn't looking so good. Everything, including tiny flower buds, is brown. I got both of these for half-price at Lowe's earlier in the fall, because they appeared to be half dead. I knew there was still some life in them, but now I'm wondering if I'm not seeing another "half" going on. Spring will tell the story.

That's it for me, as far as the outside garden goes. The helleborus is looking vibrant and green while its neighbors are mounds of mush and my sister-in-law has a few purple blooms on her Vinca minor. No blooms on ours, but hers is on the south side of her house, where it's warmer.

Inside the house, we've got a few blooms, with more on the way.

One pelargonium, 'Red Happy Thoughts' is still in bloom...

The Flowering Maple (Abutilon 'Luteus) is still going, with more coming on.
















The Saintpaulia African Violet survived Jilly, although you can see evidence of her presence by the cat hairs clinging to its blossoms. I've got several other African Violets with blooms coming on, too.

The Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii) will have blooms all winter long in its south window location, but they won't be as abundant or deep in color as they are when the plant is outside in the summer.

The hoya is in bloom and smelling exotic. It's got more flower clusters forming and several of them should be blooming at the same time. That may be enough to perfume the entire room.





The Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' has not stopped blooming since I dug it up from the garden and put it in pots to bring inside. It's not hardy to our zone (5) and I thought I'd try and keep them until next spring. So far so good, although both pots did drop a LOT of leaves just after I brought them in. They're not flowering as profusely as they did when they were outside either, but the prospect of them surviving the winter indoors is looking positive.







There are a couple of things that will be in full bloom in the next week or so, such as a brugmansia, amaryllis, orchid, more African violets, and this heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens 'Marine').



And of course, there is the bouquet of Gerbera daisies (Gerbera jamesonii) I received earlier this week, which is just about as vibrant and happy as it gets - winter or summer. As cut flowers, they are technically dead, but it's an amazing thing that flowers can do, this pretending to be alive. But probably no more amazing than the water that allows them to do it.

The Perfect Storm

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM SATURDAY TO 7 PM EST SUNDAY.

SNOWFALL WILL DEVELOP DURING THE DAY SATURDAY...AND INTENSIFY SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 12 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS. NORTHEAST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 30 MPH ARE ALSO EXPECTED AND WILL CREATE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW THAT WILL SEVERELY IMPACT TRAVEL IN THE AREA THROUGH SUNDAY.

Oh boy. This sounds like fun! I don't mean to ignore the fact that storms like this can be dangerous and I hope no one is negatively impacted by it, but a good ol' midwestern snow storm like this one portends, can be kind of fun. It's like the world as you know it just stops and all you can do is stay in, stay cozy, and watch it swirl about outside your window.

That being said, I feel for those that are still without power from the last blast. I've experienced being without electricity for several days and that isn't fun after the first day or so. We are such creatures of habit! In the short days of winter, when it gets dark so early - actually, late in the afternoon - we want to flip the light switch and we're forced to strike a match to light the candles, which provide ambient lighting at best. It's romantic for about half an hour. Then it just gets frustrating. It doesn't take that long before even a nap doesn't sound like fun, let alone another fifteen-hour night.

So as we sit here waiting for the ball to drop, I'm saying a prayer that the coming storm will behave enough to keep everyone safe, yet dump enough of the white stuff to pretty up the landscape. I hope if anyone gets stranded anywhere, it's with their loved ones. And if there are any memories of the snowing and blowing and drifting that are sure to occur, I hope they're only good ones.

That's what I wish for - the perfect storm.

Feline Friday - Jilly

The jungle that is my house right now, can be quite appealing to a domesticated "wild" cat. There is a National Geographic video called Caressing the Tiger that says the cat is one of the only domesticated animals to retain much of their wild characteristics. Must be how Jilly has the agility and skill to have gotten herself situated so well among the African Violets and Jade plant on the baker's rack without harming any of the plants:

Wayside Gardens Does Care

I recently expressed my frustration with Wayside Gardens when I attempted to place an order with them and encountered exorbitant shipping charges as well as alternate pricing on their website. After several e-mails, a lot of time, and a solution that came too late, I ended up not ordering from them.

Dave's Garden has a wonderful feature on their site, called The Garden Watchdog. If I've never made a purchase from a particular nursery before, I usually check the ratings given by other gardeners as they relay their experiences with the various garden centers, before placing an order myself. It works much the same way as feedback on eBay and is really the only way to make a somewhat educated decision on how reliable a garden center is in regard to order fulfillment, quality of product, and customer service.

After my experience, I decided I would leave a brief synopsis of my own, but as I read over the other ratings that had been left, a name kept appearing over and over. It was that of Jay Johnson, Customer Contact Representative. I thought maybe it might be best to contact Jay directly, since any negative feedback left there elicited a response from him anyway. It seems that he is where the buck stops.

I didn't receive a response from Jay, but he apparently received my e-mail and delegated the response to Eva Mathis. It was apparent from Ms. Mathis's response that she had taken the time to read my blog posts about my experience and she/they wanted to make it right:

Dear Kylee,

I'm sorry to learn of the difficulties you encountered on our web site. When trying to place your order originally, the Zombie Amaryllis was a daily special buy 1 get 1 free. As this would give you the greatest savings, the 35% off sale defaulted to the buy 1 get 1 free special. If more than one special offer is associated with a variety, our web site is set up to default to the one that offers the greatest savings.

We had a number of items on our web site that are part of our Holiday Specials offer and when ordering these items along with other items, the Holiday Special offer splits off into a separate order. The shipping cost you saw displayed reflected the shipping for the two separate orders. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

I understand that the plant you were most interested in adding your your garden was the Paris polyphylla. In reviewing our inventory, I found that we do still have this variety in stock for fall planting. As our way of apologizing for the frustration you experienced online, we are sending one out to you at no cost. It is too late to plant outside in your area at this point, but you can plant in a container and them move outdoors next spring when the temperatures warm. Our Horticulturist tells me that when planted in a container indoors, you should see new growth in approximately 2 1/2 months. Please watch for this item to ship after December 10th.

I hope that it will be a great success in your garden and that you will consider Wayside Gardens for your future gardening needs.

Eva Mathis
Customer Contact Representative

Wayside Gardens

1 Garden Ln

Hodges SC 29695

1-800-845-1124

While it was never my intent to garner free product, I feel their apology is sincere and they've tried to make it up to me in the best way they can. I've accepted their gift and their apology and I'm willing to give this business another chance. They do carry some of the most unusual plants and I already have found a couple in their new catalog that I may just have to order next spring.

Thank you, Wayside Gardens, for following this through to the end and making a gesture that shows me you do care about your customers.

And that's how I came to acquire houseplant number 177.

A Gardener's Work Is Never Done

Well, of course it isn't. But sometimes we make it harder on ourselves than we need to. I suppose that's just a true gardener's nature - we love the challenges that are placed before us, dangling like the proverbial carrot. It seems that there's always an opportunity to test our mettle in the garden.

If I told you that Romie and I were outside yesterday afternoon, planting two Japanese Maples that had arrived in the mail, that wouldn't be an unlikely scenario at our house. Except that yesterday was December 12th and we were on the melting side of an ice storm. Good timing, I say! The last couple of days have been mostly above freezing and we've had rain. The ground isn't frozen and in spite of all the rain, wasn't a mucky mess to plant saplings into.

You may recall that I'd ordered Paris polyphylla from Trans-World Plants and while browsing their site as I was placing my order, I had the "misfortune" of discovering they sold Japanese Maples, and at very good prices. I'll take two!

One is called "Autumn Moon" and the other is "Pacific Fire." The first is slower growing than the second, which is actually okay, as far as trees go, because of where I wanted to put them. They'll be fine as young trees there and equally fine as they grow over time.


We got them planted in short order and then mulched. Romie put plastic drainage tile around them to protect them from the rabbits. We've lost far too many young trees and shrubs to those pesky rabbits. You just learn, after awhile.

As I was walking in the garden over the weekend, I saw evidence that the rabbits are out there, searching for tasty young plants. Last year, they chewed my young Dwarf Fothergilla all the way to the ground. It didn't die, but it certainly lost a year's worth of growth.

We didn't plant the Paris polyphylla outside, though. They (I bought two) will remain in their pots in the basement greenhouse until spring. Though they're dormant, I could see the crown of the plant and they look like nice beefy bulbs.

Does this mean my indoor plant count is now 176? No . . . It's actually 177. I was a good math student, so it's not that I can't add. I'll explain the extra plant in my next blog post. It deserves one all its own.

A Bump in the Road

"When you've got your health, you've got everything."

Those of us who are on "that" side of fifty will probably remember the television commercial that spouted that little tidbit of wisdom. Or maybe your mother said it. Well, when I first heard it, it meant very little to me. I was young and invincible and I was going to be in perfect health for the rest of my long life (longevity runs in my family) and nothing bad was ever going to happen to my health. I would just go to sleep one night at the ripe old age of 97, with all my faculties intact, and not wake up the next morning.

None of that incontinence for me. Or high blood pressure either. Forget about cholesterol, mine was always going to be perfect - low even. Diabetes would never get hold of me. I was and always would be the picture of health.

Never mind that my diet over the years has been less than optimum. Love those carbs! Give me pasta, breads, crackers, and the like and that will do me. When I'm hungry that is, which I rarely am. If you never get hungry, then you don't think about eating as much, so sometimes you skip a meal now and then. No harm, right?

Some of my favorite things to eat are fresh fruits. Strawberries, watermelon, canteloupe, pineapple, grapes, nectarines - all are ambrosial to me. But I don't eat them all that often. To buy them in the store is expensive and you never know if you're going to get good ones. I like apples, too, but even those are sometimes difficult to find that taste good.

I don't like raw vegetables, except for cucumbers. I'll eat spinach and lettuce if there's enough stuff stacked on top of it, like hard-boiled eggs, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, raisins, shredded cheddar and poppy seed dressing. I do like cooked green beans, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, corn, onions, peas, and beets (pickled only), but I only eat those a little more often than fresh fruit and I really don't know why.

I've eaten like this all my life, so why I thought I could continue with it forever and ever without any ill effects, I don't know. For a long time now, I've been anemic. I know I need to eat foods that are high in iron and take my multi-vitamin every day. I'll do really well for awhile, but after a few days, I'm back to my old habits. Pass the bread, please.

As I type, I'm sitting here with a Holter heart monitor strapped to me. I'll be wearing it for the next two days. (It was supposed to be three, but the hospital didn't have a 72-hour monitor.) For the last several weeks, I haven't felt well and at first I thought maybe if I did "this" or "that" I could help myself feel better. It's only gotten gradually worse.

Without going into details that no one cares to hear about anyway, let's just say at this point, all indicators are pointing towards hyperthyroidism combined with severe anemia. According to my doctor, all systems are in overdrive, including my metabolism, which explains the 12-pound weight loss I've experienced over the last year or so (with no change in eating habits or activity). It would explain a LOT of my symptoms, but until we get the results from the blood tests I had yesterday, I'm not going to venture a guess as to what is wearing me down.

So why am I blogging about this?

I know all too well what it's like to have perfect health taken away from you. Prior to my having bacterial meningitis in 1999, I was one of those people that was never sick, not even the flu, and rarely a cold. Yes, I've got a couple of bulging discs in my neck due to my many years of doing dental hygiene, but even that is doing pretty well now that I'm not working more than half a day a week.

Since my illness nearly nine years ago, it's been one thing or another. I know I'm lucky - blessed - to even be here and not in any worse health than I am, but I long for the days when all I had was a minor ache or pain now and then. I know there are many, many of you out there dealing with health issues that only you know about. I know there are those that appear to be in perfect health, yet they have chronic pain due to conditions not visually apparent to others. I wish we all could enjoy optimum health, but as we get older (wow, I hate saying that!) we do or will have health issues to deal with. I'm much more sympathetic than I used to be towards others who do.

No matter what the outcome is of my tests, I am really going to make a concerted effort to help myself as much as I can by at least putting good food into my body. I suggest you do the same, if your diet could be improved upon. It's one thing we can control, even if we are the victim of years of bad habits. As remarkable as the human body is, you can only abuse it so long.

I'm avoiding the topic of exercise though, because ... well ... let's just not go there. One thing at a time ...

The Ice Man Cometh

We were warned. The National Weather Service predicted we'd be getting freezing rain and up to a half-inch of ice by noon today, and this time they were right. The rain kept falling and the ice kept building up. While this makes for great picture-taking opportunities, it can also cause car accidents and power outages.

Fortunately, we were able to stay cozy inside, with no interruption to the amenities we enjoy such as satellite television and internet service. We had planned to spend the day with Kara and Adam, but road conditions didn't allow for it.

I carefully ventured out at mid-day for a fifteen-minute photo session with the ice-covered plant life. It was still raining at that time and it didn't take too long for me to become damp and very cold.

I have a hard time keeping this bird feeder filled. I think the seeds are too easy for them to get to and they flick them out a lot quicker, so it's generally empty. Not that they could even get through the icy gate guarding the feeding tray anyway . . .



Come to think of it, most of the birds were in their own cozy hideaways today. I guess they're much like the airplanes that don't fly very well with ice on their wings. It was strangely quiet as I was walking around out there in the cold soupy rain.







We've got a bluebird house that we put up last spring when we saw bluebirds near the garden. I think we were a little too late for the bluebirds, but a wren made use of it. The nest is still inside the box, but we'll clean it out one of these days so it's ready for the bluebirds next spring.




Amazingly enough, there were still some colorful buds and blooms out there and they appeared to be encased in crystal. First I noticed the pelargoniums . . .

. . . then the violas . . .

Remember the Miscanthus in the last picture from Wednesday's post? This is what it looks like now.















The 'Hameln' Pennisetum takes on the look of an otherwordly organism.










The spiraea hedge is entirely coated and I wonder if it will hurt any praying mantis cases that may be there. This hedge was home to seventeen of them last winter.



The honeysuckle (Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet') flower buds that were so colorful in the snow just a few days ago have had the red sucked right out of them now.

The catkins on Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta')
are encapsulated by the ice.

The 'Hot Cocoa' floribunda rose isn't looking so hot just now.

A nameless heuchera's dried flower heads are preserved in ice, looking somewhat like crystal beads.

The burning bush (Euonymus alata) has been nearly stripped of its berries by the birds, but the few that remain received a glossy topcoat.

I forgot to remove the seedheads on the Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), so we'll likely have little seedlings come spring, but I do enjoy seeing the seedheads waving in the breeze. Today, they were "tinkling' as they knocked against each other. Kind of cool, hearing that.

The really only safe place to walk outside after an ice storm is in the grass. Though each blade is coated in ice, it's a cushioned surface, unlike cement, stone, and wood.


We get a little reprieve until Monday night, when more freezing rain is due in, and possibly some snow, into Tuesday. Winter has definitely arrived.

Green Thumb Sunday - Abutilon

Abutilon 'Luteus'

Flowering Maple, Parlor Maple, Chinese Bell Flower, Chinese Lantern - all names for this easy-to-grow member of the Malvaceae family and genus Abutilon. This one opened just today and I love the papery petals with prominent veining. In other colors, such as the red and orange ones I also have, the veins are more noticeable than in this lemony yellow.

In years past, Abutilons were common house plants but they're enjoying a comeback, and are more readily available in garden centers. They don't have high light requirements, but like it best with filtered sunlight. They can grow to be quite large, but kept under control by pruning and keeping it rootbound once it's reached the size you like. I've found that they let you know when they're thirsty by drooping a bit, but they perk up right away with a thorough watering. Let the soil in the pot dry out before watering again. Feed monthly with 20-20-20 and occasionally with a bloom boosting plant food.

You may be familiar with an Abutilon cousin - Abutilon theophrasti. MrBrownThumb blogged about it in July. The farmers around here know it all too well as buttonweed, and I'm familiar with it too, having grown up in this farming community and hearing its name spoken with disdain. This one can be invasive, but it has a pretty flower.

Abutilons are hardy to zone 8.

Join

You Tarzan, Me Jane

I was reading Kim's blog post earlier this evening and I get the feeling she's rather surprised at the number of houseplants she's ended up with by the time she brought some in from outside for the winter. Forty-nine, I think she said?

Kim, you're such a lightweight. And I'm about to make you feel better about having forty-nine houseplants. Or are you up to fifty now?

I didn't mean to amass such a large collection of container plants. It just sort of happened. I mean, eighteen of them are brugmansias that I had to bring in if I wanted to keep them (and I do). How can I part with something I raised from sticks I received in the mail just a year ago?

And then there are the African Violets. (Nine of those.) And the pelargoniums. (Ten.) And the orchids. (Eleven.)

Earlier today, my friend Marsha came to help motivate me to do some organizing in the dining room. It's a formal dining room and we don't formally dine. The room has a door. You know what happens when you have a room that you don't use in the manner for which it was intended AND it has a door, don't you?

Well, Marsha's organizational abilities are known far and wide and she is more than happy to share her talents. She arrived mid-morning in comfy clothes (read: pajamas) and I was in my comfies too as we set to work. Christmas music played on the CD player and a beef roast was cooking in the oven as we organized away. Just before it was time to eat, our friend Brennie arrived and we chatted and laughed through lunch and then wrapped a few Christmas presents.


Marsha left me late in the afternoon with instructions for completing what we'd started and warning me that there may be surprise visits in the future to make sure I was keeping up. She's a stern taskmaster! Just what I need.

She made the comment while she was here that upon entering the house and seeing all the houseplants that it wasn't as shocking as she expected. She's a regular reader of this blog, so she knows that we've got lots of plants wintering over inside. I wonder if she was just being nice by saying that, because when Brennie got here, she asked if she needed to buy a ticket to go through.

So just how many houseplants are there here? A lot. I'd not yet taken a head count for this winter, so I walked through and listed each different plant and how many of each there are.

Oh dear.

Let me show you a few of the highlights . . .


As I said, there are nine African Violets (Saintpaulia). I've got seven regular-sized ones and two minis. I only purchased the seven regular ones myself. Kara got me the minis for my birthday, so those two aren't my fault.



I don't even remember buying this cactus. It's been around for a couple of years and it had just two tall spires when I bought it. It's obviously been happy enough to have sprouted offspring.

I've got three other cacti all in a single pot. Well, they're in their own pots, sunk down in a larger one. I have no idea what any of them are, but three of the four have really sharp spines. The other one is hairy.

I don't know why I even have one cactus, let alone four. Neither Romie nor I even like them all that much. It must have been the middle of winter and I needed a plant fix while strolling through Walmart. This one overwinters in the basement.


Last year, I tried to winter over some coleus (Solenostemon scutellariodes) and about halfway through, they just got so ugly I gave them up. This one, which grew in a large pot on the front porch, along with the sweet potato vine, looked too good to compost, so I'm trying again. So far, so good! I think this one stands as good a chance as any to make it until spring without losing all its leaves. It's in a cool room with a northern exposure.

And who's responsible for giving coleus that botanical name anyway? Geesh.


I've got four Abutilons and this 'Luteus' yellow is just getting ready to bloom. It's from a pot of three that I bought earlier this year and when I cut them back and brought them in for the winter, two of them died. This one's doing great, as are the other three. The other ones are red and orange.

Doesn't this bud resemble a butterfly's wings just before it emerges from its chrysalis?



This croton (Codiaeum variegatum) isn't my fault either. It belonged to Mom and she gave it to me last winter. It wasn't looking real good and she didn't want to mess with it, so I took pity on it. It made it through that winter in the basement greenhouse and thrived this past summer outside.




I'm also not taking the blame for this hoya. A friend that lives in Washington state sent me a few cuttings from hers because she knows I love plants and she said hoyas were very easy to grow. Goodness, she was right! This is about three times the size it was when I got it a year and a half ago. It's got several flower clusters just about ready to burst open. They're so pretty and smell good, too.


Kalanchoe - NMF (you know what it means). Grandma gave this one to me after she tired of it. It blooms yellow and is just getting ready to pop some blooms now.

It's had a rough life. Last winter, just after it bloomed inside, one of the cats (Jack) tried to jump on top of the floor lamp. Of course, he fell through and knocked the lamp over. This kalanchoe got the worst end of the deal. I took the broken parts and potted them up with the mother plant in a large pot and they all took root.

When summer came, I took it out of the pot and planted it in the garden. It didn't bloom once the entire summer. Now it's December and it's been inside for a couple of months and it's got flower buds all over it. Go figure.


This window faces east, which is fine for ivy and ferns. Just a week ago, there were two large vases of brugmansia cuttings rooting in water, along with the ivy cuttings you see in the glass here. Grandma passed those along to me, as she usually does when she trims her ivy that's growing just outside her door. I've got some of it growing outside as well as some potted up inside.



This Kangaroo fern (Microsorum pustulatum) was an impulse buy when Marsha and I were out geocaching one day in 2006. We took a wrong turn and ended up in a garden center. Hard to imagine how that could happen, isn't it?

This is just about the easiest plant ever. Just give it a little bit of water now and then and it's content. It hangs over the stairway to the basement and has a north window for light.


I've got three jades (Crassula ovata), including this bonsai. I bought it at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory in March during a break at our dental seminar. Plants are reasonable there and I think I paid something like $15 for this. I got another one there too, the year before, and it's much larger. I've been known to kill jades, but so far so good on these two. I just have to remember not to overwater. I've also got a small jade that a geocaching friend gave me last year. It's doing really well, too.




These sanseveria were rescued from the brink of death at Walmart a couple of years ago. They've sprouted many new shoots since then. This is even easier to grow than the Kangaroo Fern. Just pot it up, throw a little water its way when you happen to think of it and they're good to go. Makes me wonder how even Walmart happened to make such a mess of them.





I'm kind of avoiding the exact answer to "how many," aren't I? Yes, I am. I suppose you really want to know. It's enough that it keeps me busy each day checking what needs to be watered or trimmed or fed or rotated or repotted or whatever. Sometimes it's hard to keep up, but that's usually a good thing with houseplants. More plants are killed by overwatering than underwatering. Carol at May Dreams Gardens has a great post about houseplant care.

Okay, if you really must know how many plants are living in the house right now . . . Wait. Let me just say that some of them are permanent residents. The others are just occupying their winter home and will go back outside in the spring. The final tally doesn't include the amaryllis that will come and go over the course of the next few months, but it does count the ones that are living in the basement greenhouse, so no, we are not being crowded out of our living quarters by plants, in spite of how this is going to sound. All right. The magic number is 174.

What is my Aunt Kay going to say now ..........

As George Carruth states here . . .

It's Heaven in the house, too.

Some people just call it a jungle.

Downy Woodpecker

A beautiful day dawned, with the sun shining brightly for most of it, but we worried it might not be a good day in the end. Last night, Simba couldn't stand up, and this morning was no different. She didn't seem to be in pain, and we wondered if she might have suffered a stroke. She's nearly fourteen years old, so anything's possible.



Romie came home from work so we could take her to the vet, since I couldn't lift a 60-pound dog into the van by myself. When he lifted her up, she was able to stand, but very shakily. Dr. Kleman checked her over and determined she was having back pain about midway back. A cortisone injection and oral medication for the next few days may be all that's needed. She's already moving around much better!

When we got home, I walked around the yard because it was such a pretty day. Temperatures were in the high twenties and there was barely a breeze, so with the sun shining, it was quite nice out there. I heard a woodpecker above me and when I looked up, there he was, pecking away at the shagbark hickory. We've got many different kinds of woodpeckers here and I could probably hear one pecking away every day if I really listened. This one was a male Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), the smallest woodpecker in North America.


Snow still hangs heavy on most things . . .

Scotch Heather (Calluna vulgaris 'Tib') blooms hold out for a warmer day.

The Woodstock Garden Chimes, bells filled with snow,
make a winter bouquet.

Pennisetum alepocuroides 'Hameln'
is festooned with snow crystals.

Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus'

lives up to its cultivar name.

Japanese False Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera)

The Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora)
is trimmed in hoarfrost.

Radiation frost (also called hoar frost or, sometimes, hoarfrost) refers to the white ice crystals, loosely deposited on the ground or exposed objects, that form when the air is moist, the wind is weak or absent and surfaces are cold. It is often seen on clear winter nights, especially in valleys and hollows. Hoar frost can form in these areas even when the reported temperature is above the freezing point of water.¹

The thyme seems to be unfazed by the snow that's nearly buried it.

At this point, I'm still enjoying the snow. It hasn't yet gotten dirty from cars, or taken on that weary look that it gets after it's been laying there for awhile. No mud, no crusty ice. Just fluffy, pristine, and white - Nature's meringue.

_______________________

¹Wikipedia, Frost

First Snow . . . Day

Just as expected, the morning brought beautiful whiteness to Our Little Acre. Chilliness, too, as it was somewhere around 20° F with a brisk wind. Light flurries were still falling and I went out and snapped photos until I could barely feel my fingers anymore. It's to be even colder tonight (single digits!), so I'm glad for the snow cover that will insulate the plants.






From the looks of the snow piled on the top of the stone benches on the patio, we got about three inches overnight.



One look at Max's Garden at the back of Our Little Acre tells me we aren't going to see much plant life going on there, if any, until spring. This is its second winter and it's still very much in a state of evolution. It may always be, but never more than in its youth.

The tiny Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Mikawa yatsubusa') gets
a new winter coat to help it through its first season in our garden.

The white pine is a natural beauty in winter.


Gaillardia 'Golden Goblin' hangs its head,
its bloom literally frozen in time.

Stonecrop sedum (Sedum sp.), a pass-along from my mom, who has always called it "Live-Forever," in previous years has grown so tall that it got floppy. This year, I cut it by half about mid-summer and it made all the difference between being gangly and unattractive and staying strong and pretty.

For all the brown and drab that occupies space in the garden now, the honeysuckle (Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet') is hanging on to the frozen unfulfilled promise of the blooms that the hummingbirds loved so much during the summer.

The Fountain Grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln') presents
an artistic puff in the middle of the garden.

The Gnome™ Pyracantha (Pyracantha angustifolia 'Gnozam') that we started espaliering a year ago looks as pretty with snow on it as it did last winter.

The Asparagus Fern (Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri')

held its color well, up until the last week or so.

Today, the helleborus hangs heavy with snow, when just yesterday it was vibrant and green, with new shoots emerging from the ground. It's a tough plant though, and survives and thrives in spite of the cold and snow. If winter plays it straight, we'll see blooms in February or March.



Wednesday afternoons require me to make a trip west to my place of employment. I always take my camera with me and today I didn't get half a mile down the road before I had to stop. I put the window down and snapped this image of the south side of the woods that we know is home to deer and wild turkeys. The evidence of the wind's direction shows on the trees. Ironically, it indicates it was from the south.


Back home again, the day's end brings yet more wintery beauty as the sun sets with a pinky glow . . .

First Snow . . . Night

It's 11:00 PM and we're getting our first snow of the season. It's one of those easy, floaty kind. No wind and it's nearly thirty degrees (F), so you hardly notice the cold until you've been out there for awhile and then you see your breath in front of you. I remember the first snow of the year last year was like this, too, and Romie and I went for a walk in it, around midnight.

It's a special, ethereal feeling, walking down the road in the dark like that. Dark, yet even a crescent moon provides enough light to see by as it's reflected off the pristine white ground. The only sound you can hear is the muted squeak of your boots as you are the first one to make impressions in the new snow. The air is crisp and smells as clean as if God created it just that very second. We walked along for awhile, neither of us saying much, just relishing the peacefulness that wrapped its arms around us. We returned home and snuggled down to sleep in our warm bed.



Just now, I took Boo and Luna out to the pool house for the night, then returned to the house for my camera. The new lights on the pergola shone down on the thin layer of snow on the ground creating a romantic glow. I could have stood there for a lot longer were it not for my nose getting colder.


Tomorrow morning will bring a winter wonderland and I'll go out with camera in hand to see if I can capture some of it. As much as I dislike winter, there's something magical about the first snow . . .

The Cat in the Hat

While we're on a kitty roll . . .

Last Friday, as I was driving home from my office Christmas party, I called home to see what Romie was up to. He said the words I've told him I hate to hear - "You're not going to be very happy." This phrase ranks right up there with "I've got some bad news," and "I hate to tell you this, but..." When I hear one of these, I get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and all sorts of horrible thoughts race through my brain at warp speed. If I could just think that fast when I need to.

JUST TELL ME. No preludes, no cushioning the blow. Just come right out with it. I can take it.

Well, this time "it" was the news that a certain little wild thing had apparently gone over the speed limit for indoor cruising and knocked over my giant cat figure. Its ear got broken off and into about 50 little pieces and some powder. I had this cat at our front door all summer, taking it inside when storms blew up onto the porch. I was so careful with it. Who thought it would meet a fate such as this inside the house?

"But you can fix it, right?"

Romie can fix anything and what he can't fix, my dad can. I can't tell you how much money the two of them have saved us over the years with their wonderful handyman abilities.

"Uh ... I told you - it's in about fifty pieces and some of them are so small they're not even pieces. "

Okay, not good. So which of our little lovelies was responsible for the damage? I would have guessed it was Baby, because she's the one that takes a flying leap up onto the half wall behind the cat figure. I thought maybe she had caught it with her hind paws as she was landing on the wall. But it wasn't Baby. It was Jilly!

Romie didn't see it happen, but Jilly was the only one around as he went into the room to check out the noise. She apparently looked guilty, too. And what did Romie say to her when he discovered the ceramic cat lying broken on the floor? "Your mom isn't going to be very happy with you."

And no, I'm not. It's not something I can go out and buy another of. But I was certain that Romie could fix it, no matter what he told me over the phone. He can do anything!

"SOMEbody's in big trouble and I'm glad it's not me..."

So after I got home and inspected the damage and saw that it was indeed bad, I picked Jilly up and asked her what the heck did she think she was doing, picking on a cat bigger than she was? Her response? "Mrrrow," as she rubbed her head against my chin.

Suck-up.




Romie did his best, painstakingly putting the pieces back together as if it were a jigsaw puzzle, until he ran out of pieces. There was still a gaping hole at the bottom of the ear, which you can barely see as long as you don't look at it and stand on the other side.








And there's more than one way to remedy this ...

Tag! The Kitties Are It!

Yolanda Elizabet and the kitties of Team Bliss have tagged the felines who rule the roost at Our Little Acre by asking a few questions. Simon, the senior member around here, would rather not be bothered, but he also won't be shown up by his cohorts, so he agreed to play along.

Favorite 'Songs'

Jilly - Yakkety Yak

Max - Hold Me Now


Luna - Don't Worry, Be Happy

Simon - You're So Vain

Baby - Catch Me If You Can

Favorite Toys

Jilly - Terrycloth catnip-filled bone and my pink mouse

Simon - fleece mouse; my shadow

Boo - mice, birds, bugs ...

"Oh look! It looks kind of like me! I wonder if it will grow up to be a kitty!"

Sunny - the other cats
Baby - the tear-away rings from gallon milk jug lids

Things You Love To Eat

Jack & Jilly - We love that Special Kitty wet food in a pouch.
Wish we could have it all the time.

Max - ditto
Boo - see Favorite Toys
Simon - I'll eat any plant that remotely resembles grass, including the artificial Christmas tree.

Sunny - I'm sure you'll find just about anything in that roly poly belly of mine!
I just love to eat!!

Favorite Activities You Like to Engage In

Max - I like to help Mom in the garden. She digs the best holes. She puts plants in them before I can go potty in them though.

Jack - A cat's life is pretty exhausting work, so whenever I get the chance, I sleep ...

... and sleep ...

... and sleep.

Simon - I keep trying to figure out how to become an only child, but Baby is a tough cookie. I don't think she's going anywhere.

Jilly - I like hanging out with the 'rents. They adore me. They think it's cute when I talk to them, so I talk a lot.

Name Bad Habits

Jack - Climbing is what I do. I'm like those humans who climb mountains. I do it because it's there. And "it" isn't just trees. There's the pergola, the trellis, Dad, and the screens. Oh, the screens!! They're the most fun! Perfect little toe-holds; it's like a rock wall for kitties! They're disappearing though. Dad keeps taking them down and putting them somewhere.


Baby - I can barely remember what it's like outside, so I need to go out every now and then for some fresh air! Mom and Dad go berserk if I run out the door. Do they think I'm going to leave them or something? Are they crazy??? I've got it good and I know it. I just want to run around a little bit and feel the grass between my paws.

Boo - I like to terrorize Max, just because I can. I'm really a sweet, gentle thing but I've got a male ego, too, you know? Even though there's room enough around here for me and seven other kitties, I've got my own turf and I spray it when I feel the need to remind everyone of that fact. Of course, this means I can't come in the house anymore. Maybe I should rethink this . . .

Jilly - I like to wake Mom and Dad up at 4:00 in the morning by licking their eyelids. I think it's a much gentler way of trying to get those eyes open than using my claws, but they complain when I do it. I usually end up out in the garage. I just wanted to play!!

Luna - I just love rolling in the leaves and the garden. The creek that runs behind our house has fun places to play, too. And this big pile of dirt? It was pretty fun. I got really dirty and I didn't bother to clean myself because I was just going to get dirty again anyway. Besides, I got some cockleburs in my fur and it hurts my tongue to lick those.

Blogger and I Had a Spat

After trying to upload several kitty pictures over the weekend so that I could make a post in answer to Yolanda Elizabet's tag and wrangling with Blogger (with Blogger winning), I've given up. Oh, the post will be made at some point (in a couple of days or so), but right now I'm actually sick of looking at it. Forgive me, Yolanda Elizabet! Or rather, please forgive Blogger, because it's all Blogger's fault.

In other news, the weather seems not to be able to make up its mind, which is typical as one season flows into another. Snow flurries fell on Saturday for about ten minutes (and you had to be sure to wear glasses to see them), then sleet pinged against the windows towards evening. Today we awoke to a balmy 54° and the threat of rain hanging in the air.

It's chancy that we'll have this warm of a day again much before March or April, so Romie and I took advantage of it to hang little white lights on the pergola. Again.

Several years ago, we strung them all along the top rails and put a timer to them so they'd come on at dusk and go off around midnight or so. Over the years, the bulbs burned out and we replaced them as we could find the bulbs but of course the time came that we couldn't find the bulbs anymore. This summer, we tore down the old ones and debated whether we should replace them or not.

We missed the ambience that they created and I'm happy to say we once again have pergola lights. With the large windows overlooking the patio area, it is a nice effect to look out and see them twinkling.

The gold and red Christmas balls are also hanging and this evening are actually hanging on for dear life as we are having sustained winds of 20-30 mph, with gusts to 40 mph. Out here in the open, with no wind breaks, it's very loud. The temperature has dropped to 36° and we're expecting snow flurries again by morning.

Like I said, the weather can't make up its mind, but it could be worse and we may as well get used to it.

But inside, we've got blooms! The variegated brugmansia that Mom gave me at the end of the summer is blooming again. This is the second time since October. I had gone down to the basement greenhouse to check on things and before I even set foot into the storage room, I could smell the flowers. It bloomed beautifully shortly after she gave it to me, then once I brought it inside for the winter, it promptly dropped all its leaves. Just as quickly, new ones started pushing out and in no time I could see flower buds forming.

I don't know the cultivar of this variegated one ('Maya' ?), but the fragrance it exudes is out of this world. So, so sweet and dreamy. They should figure out a way to duplicate it because it would be a bestselling air freshener or women's perfume.

And this is why I garden indoors all winter long.