Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

Welcome to Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, sponsored by the lovely and talented and generous May Dreams Garden. If you’d like to find out what’s blooming all over the world (yes, the world!) go visit and learn to Embrace gardening in all it’s glory and hard work.

The geranium is still blooming. It’s entering it’s third winter now, and is a little worse for age…still…I wonder how long I can keep it alive?

The Mexican heather is in full bloom still and the bees are buzzing around it during the day. There are so many of them, the bushes actually hum.

The butterfly weed is blooming, almost for the first time this year, as it’s been munched on pretty steadily by caterpillars.

The hibiscus have been happy, especially with all the rain the last week.

Note the color of this bloom. All four of the hibiscus bushes I have bloom in THIS color. Why is that important? Well, look at this:

I think I may have a sport! This really is the color of this flower. It’s a pretty color, but rather unusual. I’ll have to wait for more of the buds on the same branch to open (if they do), to see if it’s a one of a kind, or a branch that’s sported.

The hyacinth bean is winding down, after putting on a big show a couple of weeks ago.

The pods are ripening……

and turning brown with the ripened seeds. I’ll have a good harvest this year of the seeds. Alas, I didn’t get many seed pods from the moon vine this year, so I’ll have to buy some new seeds for this Spring.

The Pinata rose is blooming. They positively glowed this afternoon. Even later on this evening, as the light was dimming, they were incandescent

It’s as if they’re lit from within.

Can you imagine my surprise this afternoon when I found that the fig tree was actually putting on FIGS??? It’s never done that before…ever. I wonder if they’ll ripen so late in the season.

One of the fuchsias I thought I’d lost a couple of months ago is also putting on more blooms. I do believe Ike’s affects are lingering in the oddest of ways.

This morning glory wasn’t on a trellis, or a wall. It was smack dab on the ground. The vines run everywhere. I swear, someday, if my house goes missing, it will be beneath a blanket of morning glory vines.

I’ve always known this plant/flower by the name “Wandering Jade” or “Purple Jade”. Sr. Medina says that in Mexico, it’s called “Pico de Gallo” (rooster’s beak). The leaves do look a bit like a chicken’s beak.

The Texas tarragon, or Mexican Mint Marigold has been blooming nonstop since late September. It attracts bees, butterflies and a fair number of different kinds of wasps.

I tried to take a rather prosaic picture of this calendula, but I had a rather unexpected and, I think, a spectacular photo. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. I was using the old Nikon coolpix 4500, on a very bright, sunny early afternoon sun, on the southern side of the property. I’m not sure how to reproduce this happy accident, but I’ll accept the gift.

The bougainvillea is now blooming on the variegated foliage branches….at last. It’s been almost 3 years since it’s done that.

New in my garden, for this month, are a selection of violas. I like this little face. Oh, note the little bruise on my poor thumb…it’s where I missed when hammering in a nail. Well, actually it was more than one nail…and more than one miss… and more than one Bad Word. I had to say it in my head though, as the West’s little girls were nearby.

Another extreme picture, caused by the bright sun. I think the camera is stuck on a fairly slow shutter speed. I kept trying to adjust it, but it wasn’t accepting the instructions. Sigh…. I love my old Nikon. I want another one.

And, another charming face coming out of the light…

The little Barbados Cherry plant is blooming. It really is a small plant right now, only about 7 inches high and perhaps 8 inches wide. The plant tag doesn’t say that it’s a dwarf plant, but I wouldn’t be unhappy if it turned out to be, as it would fit the scale of my house and yard best. It has had a few ripened fruits. I tried one and it wasn’t too bad… mostly seed, and probably not worth fighting the birds for, but not bad.

The Angel Wing jasmine is blooming still, and looks as if it wants to bloom for a while longer. It’s growing through the fence, into the front yard, which faces south, so it might just get to do that for a while longer.

Most of the roses in the front yard are on pause right now, between bloom outs. The bad thing about having had all of them in bloom all at once after the storm, is that they are now all on the same hiatus for a bit. But, isn’t that a handsome bug? It’s not a particularly welcomed one, but it’s handsome, in its own weird way.

Ms Belinda is still blooming, of course. She just never stops. However, honestly prompts me to say that this is just about the only branch still blooming and I think it’s just a little behind the rest, as it’s a brand new branch. I need to give all the roses a hair cut.

The Mealy Sage is blooming, weakly, as usual. I need to 1) re pot the plant and 2) feed the dickens out of it.

Right now, a lot of the plants in the back yard are under a frost blanket. It’s not supposed to get down to freezing, but better safe, than sorry. Besides, I had Sr. Medina and son here today and we made a green house.

Yes, we did!

That story is for tomorrow.

Lady SpitFire’s Relative

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

more animalshere

Stolen from HERE.

Obviously, Lady Spitfire has some relatives.

I think this one is my all time favorite LOL cat, ever.

Things Are Gonna Hurt

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

Things are not looking good, all over. Are we going through a recession, a depression, or just a temporary downturn.

Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to be temporary either.

So, Depression? Someone (I can’t remember where I’ve read this) said, “Recession is when your neighbor loses his job, Depression is when you lose yours.” So far, that means recession for us, depression for my neighbor. Gulp.

More and more, people will be looking for Debt Relief of one kind, or another. ‘Pup and I have a plan (baring another hurricane hitting us and taking down more fences), and we should be out of debt in a year and a half or so. I know others won’t have that ability to get out from under things.

There are a lot of programs out there, offering payment plans, and negotiated settlements. Freedomdebtrelief.com promises something similar, with the ability to consolidate the different debts into one payment. Just being able to negotiate a lower amount to pay back would give some lightening of the load, and a shortening of what has to seem one of the longest roads one can face.

Mostly, I think the secret is facing what you owe and then taking action to change things that make you fall into deeper debt. It’s not easy to give things up that you’ve come to enjoy. Me, I miss movies and cable TV. Oh, well.

Friday Afternoon Club

Submitted by High Altitude Gardening Blog

This late in autumn, you don’t see a lot of people touring the Red Butte Gardens. They’re missing out on some spectacular scenery.

Blooming flowers have gracefully bowed out of the picture, letting wild textures, bright berries, seed pods and native grasses steal the show.

We weren’t visiting Red Butte to get a lesson on texture gardens. It caught us by surprise, too.

We were on a mission of a different sort. It’s Friday. Time for another meeting of the Friday Afternoon Club. When we get together for a long hike and a little bit of photography.

It’s more on a whim than being well planned. Like today, when we impulsively turned left onto a trail that ultimately defined our afternoon. Look close at the photo below and you might see our final destination… can you spot the tiny cabin tucked away in the hills?

We hiked up into the wild lands behind the Red Butte Gardens. Trails go on for miles and miles.

We made it to the abandoned cabin.

We met a little fish who knows how to stand out in a crowd.

And, we adapted a new credo on the walk back down the mountain.

Advice from a Butterfly:
Get out of your cocoon and catch a breeze.

- Ilan Shamir

This was a good day.

Merry Christmas…Plans.

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

At the risk of having another, “wonderful” Christmas, like last year and the year before…. I’m still preparing presents. Call me a sucker, but I remember some special gifts I got from my grandmother that were unusual, and not what I’d expected…and were delightful. I’m trying to do that for my nieces and grandnieces and nephew.

Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment.

For sure, this year, we’re going to get there when we feel like it, and that will be on or perhaps the day after Christmas. No more going down the night before and being told when to show up. Last year was the last year we’re going to put up with that.

At any rate, I am trying not to repeat things too much, though this year, the presents involve some boxes again, and some individualized gifts. The boxes are bigger, and that means I’m going to need some more ideas to…if not fill, then at least make sure things don’t rattle around too much.

I’ve been looking around online. One site I’ve seen (Celebrations.com) makes me wish I were a little more social, or had a reason to get a little more elaborate in my decorations. It also makes me wish ‘Pup and I had kids. Parents get a lot more stress during the holidays, I know, but y’all get a lot of the fun too. Perhaps in a couple of years, we’ll feel better about going down to my mom’s house earlier and doing some of the activities and crafts with the younger kids. Maybe.

The site has good ideas for Christmas Food and decorations, gift ideas and crafts. It’s got some good ideas for Thanksgiving too. The drink tips section has a very elaborate and, I’m sure delicious..(but yikes the trouble to make it!) drink that involves a shot glass made out of ice and a mini wreath of mint and cranberries.

Looks like you can post your own ideas there too.

I think I’ll stick to the presents. It’s about all the pressure I want to put on myself right now.

Ho, ho, ho!

The Return of the Medinas

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

I’ve blogged before about a gentleman who, well, pretty much made a lot of the hardscape of the yard that I’ve had anything to do with… some of it was already here, put in by ‘Pup and a room mate. Sr. Medina put in our walkway (pictures tomorrow), a patio, and a couple of garden beds. We’d not seen much of him lately, as he’d had a full time job (or 2), and couldn’t come as often.

Today, he came to visit! His jobs are dwindling down, as the construction boom is fizzling out. He’s a hard worker, and I know he can work many younger men (like his sons) down to the ground.

Houston is lucky, in some areas, as we have both energy (as in oil and gas and alternatives), and the Medical Center as economy drivers. Both of those may slow down in a recession or depression, but they’re pretty much essential.

All those companies ‘Pup applied to, and was turned down for a job…..so many of them are just… gone. Eaten up by others, or in the case of AIG, imploded, some of those companies would have been very short and stressful. The mortgage companies around here are hurting as well, and one of our neighbors is losing her job as of Dec. 31. Merry Christmas, huh?

Sr. Medina will be coming back on Saturday to help us (finally!) get the new beds done. Right now, the soil is so wet, EVERYTHING is so wet, that we’ll have to hope for a little time for it to dry out, or not, as I’ve just heard on the news that some more rain is coming from the south…sigh.

I’m glad he’s coming. He’s always felt a bit…like he owned part of the garden. I guess he does. A lot of sweat and hard work went into things that have made it possible for me to keep gardening. Some of the things I’ve asked him to do, I didn’t have the Spanish to explain to him, so at times, he’d just do what I asked him to do until he figured it out. He learned to enjoy surprises.

Today, as he came into the back yard to look around… he just shook his head. Sigh, we’ve still got some construction debris from the fences and piles of materials for the new garden bed, and things need putting back together and trimming and arranging.

Gonna be a busy Saturday. Maybe it’ll act like a fat burner for me. I’ve still got some steroid puffiness to lose. One of the things the rheumatologist noticed about me is that I’ve got the almost typical “steroid” shaped face… kinda square, with puffy cheeks. Fortunately, the steroid shots he gives in my knees isn’t metabolized like the oral meds, so I can have them when I need them.

At least, that’s what I am hoping he’s saying.

Defying the Dead Zone

Submitted by High Altitude Gardening Blog

AND THE WINNER IS:
Pincushion Flowers!
Take a bow, Scabiosa. This is no small feat. You began blooming in late June. Here it is, November 12th, and you’re still at it. (Defying more than a month of freezing nights.) Lord knows we can’t credit the gardener for this one. She was so dang lazy she never even fertilized you.

Wish I could muster this fighter attitude that my flowers seem to have. I’m sad about the coming winter.

Normally, I’m in good spirits during this time of year.

It’s exciting to schlep the skis over to the ski tune-up place, hand off the snowboard to those snowboarder tune-up people, and drop the snowshoes off at the snowshoe place where God only knows what they do to those things…

This year is different.

Snows came in the pesky way they do sometimes: too early!
Chopping an entire month off gardening and horseback riding and I’m mad about that.

During this ‘early winter’ Curlicue Sage (right) has grown an entire foot, though it is wilting as I’ve never seen before.

Years like this we never know what’s up. It snows, next morning it melts, that night it snows again, so on, so forth.

We’re like little piglets wallowing in the mud until Mother Nature makes up her mind that winter has officially begun.

After bloom: Seed balls of Purple Coneflowers turn red in the winter.

Autumn Pruning: Some experts are big into this and so I always obeyed. This year I didn’t. Not so much because I’m a rebel. Mostly because the height of the dead flower stalks encourages more snow to drift around them. So, I did not lop the heads off any of my perennials and it’s providing a really pretty late autumn garden.

Granted it’s a fairly spooky garden, but it’s still kind of cool…

Yellow Heliopsis (perennial sunflowers) turn bright white after fading.

* That very long, skinny photo is of the winning heirloom Hollyhock. She topped out at 15.5 feet (If I sent you Holly seeds, expect some very tall things to happen next summer!)

Scabiosa (Lavender) Pincushion flower is often sold in gallon pots at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. A fantastic staple for the perennial garden.

* Pincushions: I have at least 20 of the Lavender variety. Mixed in with that: blue, black, deep purple and hot pink. The hot pink is my absolute favorite. She puts on a spectacular 2-month show of flowers. Most Scabiosas are USDA zone 5 or 6.

RAIN and Random Ups and Downs

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

Sigh, so much for planting today.

On the upside, when it stops raining, the soil will be easier to dig in!

On the downside, it’s not going to stop until Friday!

On the upside, I’m OFF on Fridays….

Downside: I’ve got more doctor appointments!

Note to self, I want to get more calendulas, as the ones I got Sunday are so pretty, but there needs to be more of them.

Good news, I discovered yesterday, that my lemon balm, which I thought I’d lost, has started to rebound and is now just beginning to grow again. If I can keep it mulched this year, it should be there this spring. I have trouble with lemon balm, as it gets black spot. Much like the roses, it prefers dry air.

My knees are feeling pretty good today. (crossing fingers)

I used my wheelchair today at the Houston Garden Center. They’re having a 70% off on most plants sale, and I wanted to see if there was anything that needed to come home with me. The upside to it being a drippy day, and the middle of the day, is that I got a helper to pull my wagon as I loaded it up.

I like the wheelchair. I get around, using my own muscles, but it doesn’t hurt the knees or back or legs. I do need a pair of leather gloves though, as I don’t want a blister on my left thumb. Why the left thumb and no where else? Ya got me… I’m not sure.

Bullfrog Bucks at Nelson’s Watergardens

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

It’s been a busy day.

‘Pup and I started things off well, deciding to go to Sandy’s Produce for brunch. I had an unbeatable omelet, fresh fruit, Japanese yam, oatmeal, coffee, and tea. By then, they’d started changing out to the lunch part of brunch…. (we got there at just the right time to take full advantage of the food!).. and I had some roast chicken (free range, locally raised), some locally grown turnip greens, mashed potatoes and yes, more tea. I took small portions, and we were there for a while, enjoying, not only the food, but the cheerful atmosphere. Since we’ve been there last, they’ve expanded the number of tables they have scattered throughout the store. Each of these tables is for sale, by the way… and many are some very nice pieces of antique furniture. It has a home cooked and homey feel… because no table is butted up right against another, but it gives some real people watching opportunities.

What I like about the food is that it is freshly made with the same produce and meats that they carry in the shop. There are no mystery ingredients, and nothing comes pre-made and frozen.

From there, we went to Nelson’s Water Gardens to spend some of my Nelson’s Bullfrog Bucks. I had a rather lot of them built up over the last couple of years and we pretty much were able to get everything we bought for 1/2 the price, even the things that were already on sale. I still have some left…. and I’ve another 3 weeks to see what I can find…yipeeee!

I’ve not been able to do much gardening lately, because of the knees, but I managed to get everything we bought today into the ground. I still need to finish cleaning up afterwards, some pulled weeds and some plastic pots to clean.. (they’re good for starting plants from seed). So, I just planted a dozen violas, two calendula, a peach sage (new for me!) and a pineapple sage ( to replace the two I lost), a Barbados cherry, six nasturtium, a thyme, an oregano and…humm.. I’m forgetting something…

Even with the improvement I’ve had with the knees, I still had to be oh, so very, very careful. Uneven surfaces are not my friends, and I’m going to have to come up with even more adaptive behaviors and alternative ways to do things. ‘Pup and I have a new raised bed garden planned, and with any luck, it’ll be done before next Sunday. I think I’m going to have to raise the level from the 18 inches we’d originally planned to closer to 24 inches. The extra six inches will make a big difference as to my ability to work it, but it’s going to cost more for the soil, as we’ll have to buy some.

Tomorrow, after I get back from the podiatrist, with my new shoes, I’ll plant the garlic and onion sets. I think I’ll plant some radish and carrots and even venture on some beets, though I may be a little late for them to do much. But, baby beets would be good to eat. I’m even going to plant some turnips, mostly for my mom… she loves turnip greens. With the fences fixed up, I can get to the raised beds without being concerned about having things trampled.

I still need to find some inexpensive trellis, for the side fence. I’ve some money left on one of the gift cards we’d loaded for Mr. West to use to buy materials. ‘Pup and I wanted him to keep it and use it to buy more materials for his back fence, but he’s insisted on giving it back. I’ll use it to help finish off the rehabilitation on the back yard. It has a LOT to fix up. ‘Pup and I have a lot of work to do.

All in all, I think I can claim to have worked off a lot of the calories I had for brunch.

Now, if don’t eat more than some chevre, crackers and an apple for dinner, I’ll count it as a good girl day… did I mention that I was told to eat more calcium? It might as well be tasty!

By the way, have y’all tasted an apple called Honeycrisp yet? Oh. My. Goodness. The dang things are addictive. I’ve found them at both HEB markets and the Krogers I go to. I had been looking for them in the markets for a month before they got here, about a month later than they had last year. They are definitely a seasonal apple, I’ve noticed that they disappear sometime in the winter. I understand that they’re a new enough variety that they’re still in limited amounts as the trees that grow them gain age and numbers.

This has been a rambling post. Thanks for reading so far down the page!

Lifelines

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

What with all the doctor shopping ‘Pup and I have been doing, we’ve become all the more…cognisant of the state of our health. And, with our investments doing a nose dive, we’re not going to be getting cable anytime soon, nor will we be getting a new television. We’ll be doing some traveling… ’cause some things are important to have in your life… and friends are one of them.

That makes everything we have as income all the more important. Our bills are low, but, as with the need to rebuild fences, we’ve got some credit card debt. If one of us were to suddenly be gone, the person left behind might have a hard time.

Our mortgage payments are low, and we owe far less than the house is worth…for now at least. Still, it would be nice if we both knew that, if something happened, things would be taken care of, at least monetarily. We’ve both tried to get mortgage disability insurance, however, as we are already marked as disabled…they don’t really want us. I wish we could have done it before it was impossible for us to do.

We tried for mortgage protection insurance from another company, and were turned down. We’re too old and we’ve got…medical issues.

Don’t let things wait too long, mortgage insurance, like life insurance, can be a lifeline for those you leave behind. NAA Life’s insurances are not just a pieces of paper, they’re peace of mind.

We couldn’t take advantage of it, but I hope others can. We’ve had to take and make other arrangements, including some extra life insurance on both of us. We’re belt and suspender people. I just hope neither of us has to use any of our lifelines.

Lulu’s Menagerie

Submitted by High Altitude Gardening Blog

The whole sticking out the tongue thing is how Fred tells you he’s happy.

“Howsabout a retirement commune? Nothing crazy religious, or too hippy/Woodstock. Just a whole bunch of like-minded people who own land adjacent to one another?”

Harold has a hard time with open spaces. He gets nervous on the evening walks.

“You mean… your family has a couple acres and my family has a couple acres? Would there be a gate with a lock between the 2 places? Because at first it could be fun but I might end up shooting you. You’re way too happy in the mornings.”

At first I wasn’t really picking up what Sandy was putting down. Then I met Lulu.

Imagine my surprise to meet the gal who’s living my life! She’s got the barn, the horses, the gardens, the pasture, happy dogs, curious cats and a couple of goats for good measure.

Lulu was gracious enough to let me ride her gorgeous Arabian pony, Monsoon.

That’s it I thought to myself… When I retire, I don’t want to golf. I want to ride horses and goof off with my friends. Sort of. As long as a few of those friends are of the 4-legged variety. I want a hobby farm!

Look close and you can see baby Harold giving Lulu a kiss.

Meet Lulu, the owner of High Star Ranch ~ kind of like those golfing communities though infinitely better. Because there are no golf courses. Lots of gardens waiting to happen and plenty of horse trails.

We’re a long ways from retiring. I suppose retirement is the topic of Sunday morning discussions since we’re dreading the idea of going back to work tomorrow.

A Perfect 6.0

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

I’ve been having some really bad trouble with my knees lately, especially my heretofore GOOD knee.

Yesterday, I was home, and it started raining. Remembering that we’d left a new piece of gardening equipment out that should have been put in, I scrambled out. Well, not so much scrambled, as limped…

I got the equipment (a subject of a future post, thank you!) under cover and considered…..”hmmmm….self,” thinks I,”you left out your brand new shiny hammer out there and a couple of extension cords and wouldn’t it be a good idea for them to come in too?”

“Good thought,” thought I.

I picked up the first extension chord, and a work light I’d almost forgotten about, and started to roll up the second cord.

“Oh, Shoot!*” thought I. “It’s caught under a ‘misplaced minion of the devil’* rock by the pond!”

So, I put down the other things and limped over to the rock and cord and untangled the cord.

Somehow, in doing the above task, I did something my left knee (the heretofore GOOD knee–hereafter to be named: HGK) buckled on me and I would have fallen flat on my face, save for a (Oh thank you, munificent Deity) fortuitously placed bench.

“OH, UN COMPOSTED MANURE! OH, MISBEGOTTEN MALE OFFSPRING OF A FEMALE CANINE!”*I thought.

“AAAAAAAWWWAWWWWWWCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!” said I.

Yah, it hurt. Hades consigned HGK.*

All day yesterday, I couldn’t walk well, sit well, or lay down. I had to call into work and tell my Good Boss that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to work. I’d have had to use a wheelchair. Not cool, and painful to boot.

I ended up taking rather more of the pain pills the good Arthritis Doctor prescribed than was actually prescribed. (I took 2 instead of 1 at a time) They helped a little. Not a whole lot, but a little.

Luckily, I already had an appointment with the good doctor this morning and he stuck a needle in HGK. I should feel better tomorrow. He also confirmed that I did, indeed, have osteoarthritis, and I would probably do well to lose some weight… sigh. Also, I do have some bone loss, and I’d better step up my calcium intake. He’ll be monitoring how it goes.

He did share a bit of GOOD news though. My A1c came back as a perfect 6.0. That won’t mean a lot to most of you, but in a nutshell, it means that my diabetes is under good control. The really good part of this is that the test came about 1/2 way through a round of steroids.

So, the lesson to this convoluted attempt to explain why I’ve not been gardening much, while still maintaining my blog’s “G” rating is(*= my attempts to stay G rated) : Make your husband put the gardening tools away for you.

I’m just sayin’!

OH… and I’m not going to be able to put more gardening off, as I’ve FINALLY got my garlic and onion sets in and they need planting.

More about that, another time.

I’d like to be a perfect 10 someday, but until then, I’ll settle for a 6.0.

The Case for Heirloom Bulbs

Submitted by High Altitude Gardening Blog

HEY LOOK!

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

We have red leaves!!

Okay, there aren’t many of them and they aren’t as vivid.. but hey. In a sea of green, they do stand out.

These are some smaller saplings, about 5 feet tall. The older, taller trees aren’t showing much color yet. This weekend is supposed to be cooler and ‘Pup and I will take a drive around the area to check things out. I’d like to go and get some new crop pecans, some for me and some for gifts.

So, what’s going on around you?

Have You Ever WISHED You Needed Gas?

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

Remember this? It’s my most favorite sign in Houston. Go Free Enterprise! When I passed by the intersection (Hwy 529 and Eldridge Pkwy), the price for gas was $1.86. That’s even lower than I’d paid two days ago.

Then, I went home.

Yes, what you see is correct. The Chevron was $1.78….so the Shell would have been $1.77. Dang my Saturn’s gas efficiency! I don’t NEED gas yet… though I may just have to stop and top off the tank on general principals.

I wonder what the price will be today? Lower? Higher? The same?

If this keeps up, it’ll be cheap enough to drive to the Disney vacations some of my friends had been planning and then given up on because of high gas prices and higher plane fares.

Me? I won’t be driving anywhere that far, but it does bode well for airplane ticket prices. Maybe they’ll at least stabilize and it will be possible for me to afford to fly to where I want to go this year.

OH!!! I almost forgot! I WILL be driving a fer piece this spring. I’m going to a wedding in Louisiana!

Keep your fingers crossed. Low gas prices…low gas prices…low gas prices……..

Flying High

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

I said, in the post before this one, that one of the American Gothic Chicks had gotten married. It was a birthday present.

No, really, it was.

Her dear love ( a great man ) surprised her with a trip to a romantic location. Before he picked her up, he went shopping. He got a white dress, some shoes and a beautiful pashmina. During this shopping trip, he was frantically texting Val.. who was online with me… for advice about size, items needed and what in the name of heaven was a pashmina anyway. Neither Val, nor I knew that the items were needed for a wedding. The rat didn’t tell US either.

We did, however, speculate on just why it had to be a white dress.

They were married on the beach, at sunset. I’ve got some great pictures, but I can’t post them… as I’ve not asked permission.

It’s not the official wedding, as he’d have had to gotten her to sign a licence and that would have spoiled the surprise factor of the trip.

Val and I are trying to figure out the best time for them to throw the reception/formal wedding. What? You think V. as the bride should decide such things? Okay, yah, and probably Mr. V will have to have some input as well…

Anyway. We’ve discussed the fact that I will be out of Houston the last weekend in may for the Chicago Spring Fling , and so, I could combine or extend that trip to include the one to the wedding. At this point, WE don’t even know what state the formal ceremony will be.

I wonder if we could lobby for a Vegas vacations package. Vegas is really cheap to fly to and easy to find a flight for, from just about anywhere. Naaaahhh…

I’m hoping for California….but Ohio or Michigan would be okay too.

The Friday Afternoon Club

Submitted by High Altitude Gardening Blog

Most people dream of gorgeous, decked-out mansions, but I could live happily ever after in a tiny little cottage such as this one.

Once in a blue moon, I feel as if I have some control over life.

Take last Friday, for instance, when we hiked to the not so Spooky Hollow.

It being Halloween and all, I was thrilled that the weather cooperated so beautifully…

Dark clouds hung ominously in the sky. Blustery winds awakened dead leaves, spinning them in chaotic little circles.
Crazy bikers haunted our every move. Eerie, tin can sounds clanked quietly in the sound sculpture garden along willow creek.
The sound sculpture garden is a funny little place, plunked down ~ for very good rhyme and reason ~ in the middle of nowhere, along this pretty trail.

It encourages contemplation of your own self and the world around you:

“Everything & Everyone
has a voice
and a sweet spot.
Seek gently & find it.”
- Frank Thompson

* We hatched the Friday Afternoon Club as a way to decompress at the end of a busy week. We explore a new trail, catch up on life, and take lots and lots of photos along the way.

When I invite other people to join us they generally say they’re too tired. That’s a lousy excuse, if you ask me. We’re all mentally fatigued these days, but it’s a rare instance when we’re physically too worn out to take a walk.

I never feel tired after a walk in the woods. In fact, quite the opposite. I feel energized and excited and a whole lot more capable of tackling the challenges that face me.

Like this one! When I arrived home, I was accosted by a Lady Bug demanding Halloween candy and I had forgotten to stop at the store.

Confidence

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

I just had an interesting conversation with an online friend of mine (one of my American Gothic Chicks ). We were talking about confidence and how that made the difference when people decided that you were attractive, or…not.

me: and go to get my new shoes (diabetic, with orthopedic inserts–sexy eh?)
V: sexy is comfortable walking
get that swagger
me: lol
mine’s more a stagger than a swagger
V: work with what you’ve got
me: but I have SO MUCH
Valerie: confidence!
me: and it jiggles
Valerie: Vi has gained weight and she’s never looked more beautiful than she does in those wedding pics.
( oh yeah!! one of our Chicks got remarried.. to a guy that is pure deee wonderful to her..and she deserves a lot of happiness!)
me: happiness will do that for you
Valerie: and confidence
you’re going to make me use your own line:
fake it til you make it
me: yes ma’am…
I shall ma’am
V: lol
some day I’ll have confidence…then I’ll be unstoppable
me: yah, ’cause you are already pretty and sexy and smart…
you could wipe the floor with most women
V: lol…no
me: just occurred to me: confidence must work…’cause sure as heck… Paris Hilton ain’t got nothin’ else
V: there you go
V: I’ve never been particularly successful in anything I’ve done
with a little confidence, maybe that’d change (that’s BS, btw–she’s brilliant, Phd, got a great hubby and the cutest little girl, and is generally successful at everything she does)
me: time to get up on that horse and let’r rip
V: lol
you’re coming with me
me: sigh..
I’d like to go horseback riding again.
I was pretty good
V: I’ve never ridden a horse…successfully
me: it’s not really hard
V: I either can’t get the horse to move or I can’t get it to stop
me: you just have to balance and pretend you’re bigger than the horse and in charge.
Horses like to know who’s in charge
and it best be the person in the saddle
V: that’s an apt metaphor
me: yep
****************************************************************************
I really would like to ride a horse again. I really was pretty good. I rode western most of the time, but when I was put on English saddles I rode well. I’d only read about the way to ride on an English saddle, but I knew I was supposed to post.

I was on a Girl Scout trip, and we were visiting a in Kentucky, where we got to visit a trainer/breeder of some fine horses. They asked for a volunteer to get up on the horse, and I raised my hand. I didn’t tell them it was the first time I’d ever been on an English saddle.

When things seemed to be going well, they let me tell the horse to speed up. I remember the horse had a surprisingly rough transition between his trot and lope, but it didn’t bother me too much. As we slowed down, I was ready for the rough bit and had figured out how to ride through it.

As I got off, they asked me how many years I’d been riding. “Oh,” says I, “mostly I’ve ridden western. This is the first time I’ve ever been on an English saddle. It was very interesting and I finally got to post! I’d never done that before, just read about it a lot.”

The trainer and the owner ( a girl a little older than I) got really quiet.

I do like surprising people.

In The Fall, Red Rules in My Garden

Submitted by May Dreams Gardens Blog

Do you plan for fall color in your garden?

I have so much red in my garden right now, that I’m going to claim I planned it that way! Who would know otherwise?

Forget that I don’t really like red flowers. In the fall, red rules in my garden.

This first red shrub is Viburnum carlesii, the Korean Spice Viburnum. I actually got it because of the fragrant spring blooms, without thought to the fall color, so this is a happy red surprise!

In the backyard, the Red Maple, Acer rubrum, is a perfect red right now.
I’ve already noted that I don’t know if this is ‘October Glory’ or ‘Autumn Blaze’. But if I were a betting gardener, I would go with ‘Autumn Blaze’ because this is far redder than the Red Maple in front. (This would also mean that I did NOT do something ridiculous like plant them in alphabetical order from front to back to remember which was which.)

Here’s a close up of the foliage of that maple.
That’s red.

Another red shrub in my garden is the native Sweetspire, Itea virgiania ‘Henry’s Garnet’. Like the Korean Spice Viburnum, the Sweetspire also has good spring blooms.

Over at the neighbor’s house, this flowering dogwood, Cornus sp., complements the red in my garden.
I always think of the writer Henry Mitchell when I stop to admire this small tree in the fall. There’s no time in the fall, as he noted, to be ‘lolling’ around admiring the dogwoods turning red. There is way too much work to be done in the garden for that!

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, there are some Burning Bush shrubs, Euonymus alatus ‘Compacta’.Thanks to search engines, the post I wrote called ‘The Truth About Burning Bush’ is the most read post on my blog.

Even my wheelbarrow, standing ready to assist in fall clean up, is red.
Me and my wheelbarrow go back a few years, 20 years to be precise. It sure has hauled a lot without complaining. Other than needing a new tire a few years back, it hasn’t asked for much in return other than a dry place to rest in the winter and an occasionally hosing out.

What color dominates in your garden today?

Small, Medium, Large

Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog

Up close, the blossoms of the Mexican heather, where the honey bees are finally making their appearance.

The medium, a rather large bloom out of the angel wing jasmine.

And a large, up close dive into a rose.

Happy Election Day to you all…

Now, if you haven’t already… go vote.

Embrace Garden Blogging for a Happier Life

Submitted by May Dreams Gardens Blog

This is the 1,000th post on my blog.

Who could have imagined where this walk down the garden blogging path would take me, and take many of us garden bloggers?

I started this blog “officially” on September 26, 2004. In my first blog post, I wrote about wanting to mow the lawn and about deciding what to put in my empty terrarium. I am still writing about mowing the lawn and my terrarium is still empty, showing that maybe not much has changed since that first post.

Well, some things have changed. I did start slowly with the blog. In fact, sometime before that first post, I actually started another blog but ended up deleting it. I guess I didn’t like it. It was like a plant you just have to have in your garden, but once you plant it, you decide you don’t like it after all, so you rip it out and toss it aside.

And at first I wasn’t very consistent in posting on my blog. Through 2004 and 2005, I posted a grand total of nine times. But something must have happened in January 2006, because from that point forward, I started posting more frequently and now here I am writing this 1,000th post.

In between post one and post 1,000, a lot has happened on my blog and in real life. I don’t know what I thought would happen once I started my blog, but I can tell you I was and am still surprised by all the good things that have come from garden blogging.

That’s why today, on the occasion of this 1,000th post, I encourage all gardeners to embrace garden blogging for a happier life. Why?

You’ll connect with other gardeners who are as passionate and enthralled with gardening as you are.

You’ll get answers to some of life’s greatest gardening questions from other garden bloggers.

You’ll be encouraged by others in your gardening endeavors, be they a few plants in a humble container or a massive estate garden covering acres of land.

You’ll feel less self-conscious about being a gardening geek or just a tiny bit eccentric with your gardening, when you find out through garden blogs that others are the same way, or nearly so.

You’ll have a more enriching gardening experience because of new friendships with other gardeners, friendships that transcend geography and cyperspace.

You’ll increase your overall understanding of the plant world as you see what blooms from month to month in different parts of the world.

You’ll be able to put your own challenges of location, climate, and soil into perspective as you read about the challenges that other gardeners face where they garden.

You’ll discover that there really are garden fairies and some very nice gardeners out there, too.

I would like to thank all the garden bloggers and others who have stopped by here at May Dreams Gardens, leaving comments and emails along the way that were always encouraging, helpful and supportive through all the seasons of this blog.

May all your flowers bloom when you need them most and may your own garden sustain you for years to come!