garden — Page 118

Winding Down

October 31, 2017 at 10:33 am by Claudia

After a morning of wind rattling the windows in the den (it’s always louder there) I moved my laptop into the living room. (I felt like I was in the storm scene in King Lear.) Much better. Though it was still unbelievably windy until about 6 pm, I felt much calmer. I guess all this mayhem was due to Tropical Storm Phillippe. I know that many are without power here in the Northeast. I am very grateful that I never lost power. But – if I had – I’d have still been able to cook because we have STELLA! And she runs on propane gas, so we’re prepared for a power outage now. I can still have coffee. I can make dinner. (Coffee being the most essential.)

I arrived home on Saturday to morning glories in bloom. The blooms are limited to this little area right outside the kitchen door. All the other sections where morning glories are planted are either gone because of that freeze or winding down. Today, there are two blooms. Since we are due for a freeze tonight, this may be their swan song. I’m okay about it. If Mother Nature gives me all of October to enjoy my garden, I’m more than grateful. I find I can handle saying goodbye in November. This year, I think the only porch plant I’ll overwinter is my geranium and the potted palm that gets bigger every year and is indestructible, despite having been knocked over by the wind twice this year.

The hollyhock is still blooming as well. I almost didn’t buy this plant because it didn’t look like the previous year’s hollyhock – can you believe it? I’m so glad I changed my mind. This baby has been the gift that keeps on giving. Thank you, sweet hollyhock.

What else? I’ve been reading about houseplants. I bought a book through Amazon – The House Plant Expert by Dr. D. G. Hessayon – that was published many years ago in Great Britain. It’s the “World’s Best-Selling Book on Houseplants” and it’s packed with great information and photos from the seventies. I heard it mentioned on a podcast so I ordered it. Which reminds me: I have to get that list together for you of Instagram accounts centering on houseplants and the few podcasts I have discovered. Now that I’m home, I’ll start working on that.

Yesterday, I was remembering the books I used to have on houseplants. I bought them in that previously referred to period in the seventies. I wish I still had them. They were fun and I learned a lot from them. I wonder if I can remember the titles? Maybe they are available somewhere out there in the vast cyber world? I do remember the books on talking to your plants. Still good advice, I think. I’ve begun talking to mine, just like I talk to the plants in my garden and the trees on the property.

Okay – now I’m determined to find those books. Wish me luck!

I’m debating whether to tackle the fourth and final wall in the kitchen. It’s a bit more problematic as it involves emptying and moving the china cabinet. We’ll see. This would be the perfect time to do it as I have a week and a half before I fly to Chicago.

Happy Birthday to my nephew (Mere’s eldest) who is 24 today. And Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law (Don’s little brother) who is 60 today.

Happy Tuesday.

Little Miracles

October 19, 2017 at 8:00 am by Claudia

I’m writing this on Wednesday evening. I’ll be too busy tomorrow to write a post, so here goes.

Short but heavy on the photos. A little miracle on Wednesday – despite the leaves dying on the morning glory, there were beautiful blooms today!

You can see all the wilted and dying leaves – although some of them are just fine.

But there are many buds still left to open and the week ahead is supposed to be warm, so I hope that they thrive.

Also blooming:

Beautiful October roses.

And my stalwart and dependable hollyhock:

I hate to leave them to the elements! I’ve watered the porch plants. I may put a few on the ground outside the porch to catch some rain. Come to think of it, I’d better do that now.

Happy Thursday.

Three Days and Counting

October 16, 2017 at 10:32 am by Claudia

Another insanely busy day yesterday. I don’t know if you’ve gathered this about me – you should have by now – but when I get an itch to accomplish something, I am not to be messed with! I was very, very tired when I got up Sunday morning and I didn’t see how I was going to pull it together enough to finish the painting. Coffee helped. And a little cry. It was an “I’m exhausted” cry.

But then I got all the painting supplies out again and spread the drop cloths and opened the paint and began to tackle the window trim and the baseboards. In between coats, I mowed the entire front lawn and the grass in front of the corral. Then the second coat. Then cleanup. Then, after an hour, I peeled the painter’s tape off the walls and windows. (I love doing that.) Then after some more time had passed, I started to put things back. Oh, and I ran to the grocery store to get some food.

Yikes.

But I’m so aware that I’m leaving in three days and I had to finish this phase of painting and the grass was quite long. And leaves will have to be raked. And I have to go into the city tomorrow night to watch the first preview of Shadowlands. There’s a lot to be done before I can leave for 8 days. Of course, I didn’t help matters by deciding to paint!

It’s a darkish morning and I tried to get some photos in natural light but they were horrible. So I took a couple with the overhead lights on. We’ll call this a sneak preview until I can take some respectable photos.

This is how the yellow looks under overhead lights. It’s not this bright normally.

Lighting makes all the difference in photos and the lighting available today (both natural and artificial) is dreadful. Sigh. And yellow, I’ve found, changes throughout the day.

Better photos to come. I’m happy with it. I’m not the best painter – I tend to get impatient – but I’m proud of the way it turned out. Of course I’m itching to start the fourth wall, but no can do at the moment. The biggest pain will be the cupboards. I will need to take a deep breath and work slowly, a section at a time.

And now for some pretty photos. Here, one of the zinnias.

And another.

I highly recommend taking on a project of some sort during this time of stress and insanity. Though I wasn’t completely in the dark as to what was going on in our world, I had something to focus on and that helped enormously. I was so tired at the end of the day that all I wanted to do was sit on the sofa and watch The Great British Baking Show. I’ve become addicted. I love to bake, but I look like a rank amateur compared to the British bakers! Amazing.

Happy Monday.

Winding Down

Little Miracles

Three Days and Counting

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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