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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.

We may be at the end of the road for my beloved morning glories. I say ‘may’ because I was absolutely sure when I returned home last night that they were gone. It 9 pm and dark when I pulled in the driveway. As I walked to the door, I stopped to see if they had made it. All the leaves were wilted, so I figured they had died during the day.

The moonflower, which grew so slowly this year that I never even got a flower, is definitely gone.

But this morning, as I look outside, I see some of the big buds trying to open. Maybe there’s a last hurrah yet in store? I’ll keep you posted.

As I was mourning them last night, I thought about the big fat bumblebees who love them. Like this one, who spent Monday night tucked in the center of a flower and at just about the time I left for the city, was finally waking up and backing out of his temporary lodging. I snapped this picture right before I left.

I’ve seen this more than once this year. As Don says, it’s like a scene from a Disney movie. Big fat bumble bee flies around, chooses a flower, flies into the center, drinks his fill of pollen, then falls asleep. I am absolutely charmed by this bee-havior. I kept thinking about this guy off and on throughout the day yesterday.

I have much to do today – the list seems endless – before I leave tomorrow morning. Because I had to work in the city yesterday, and I’m grateful for the work, I lost a day of prep. After I post this, I’ll make a list.

I was thinking about the many plants I had in my bedroom in the early seventies. It was a jungle in there, with hanging plants, plants on stands, plants on tables – they were everywhere. Anyway, one of the plants that I had forgotten about was the dieffenbachia or dumb cane (because it can numb your tongue if ingested.) I really loved that plant. It’s the kind of plant that was very popular then but one that I don’t see much anymore.

So there I was in Lowes, looking for another Zz plant (there were none) and I saw this dieffenbachia jammed into the rear area of a shelf, looking – frankly – like a lot of plants I see at home centers; root bound, not watered enough, big brown spots on the leaves, as well as yellowing leaves. It was only $5.98, so I told it I was coming to its rescue.

I brought it home, repotted it, and removed the yellow leaves.

One good sign – there are new leaves unfurling.

I remember the one I had back in the day being quite large. This baby is rather modest in size. Let’s see what happens.

Okay. Have to get a move on. Much to be done today and I was up too late last night because I couldn’t have my dinner until 9:30 – so I had to give it time to digest. Unfortunately, my internal alarm clock woke me at the usual time, so there we are.

Happy Wednesday.

Patchy Frost, The Elusive Yellow, and a New Houseplant

October 17, 2017 at 8:44 am by Claudia

I’m watching and waiting.

Waiting to see if the the ‘patchy frost’ – which I can see on the grass – finished off my plants. In anticipation of the freeze advisory for last night, I bought some bamboo poles which were about 4 feet tall, thinking I would stick them in the ground and drape sheets over them that would span the memorial bed and the chicken wire fence bed. I thought that might work to protect the morning glories and roses. But, after putting the poles in the ground and attempting to drape a sheet or two, it quickly became clear that it was too windy. The sheets kept flying off – as did the cover I had fashioned for the porch plants. So I gave up. What happens, happens. Right now, everything looks okay, but that can be misleading. We’ll see.

I keep trying, but the combination of cloudy skies and a kitchen with a lot of windows makes it hard to capture the new paint job. Someday…someday, the gods will bless me with just the right light and I’ll get some good photos.

I have to go into the city today for one last look at the show I’ve been coaching. The cast is so good that I’ve had to do very little. They wanted me to come tonight for the first preview, but that would get me back to my bus station around 12:30 or 1 in the morning. I was not looking forward to that. But then I saw that they are having a run-through this afternoon at 3:30, so I asked the director if she was okay with me coming then instead of in the evening. I got the okay, so I’ll be leaving later this morning. That leaves tomorrow to get everything else done before I leave on Thursday.

My newest houseplant – I had to order it online from a nursery in Connecticut. This particular plant, the pilea peperomiodes, is also called the Chinese Money Plant. It’s very popular right now among houseplant enthusiasts. I can see why. The leaves are shiny and almost succulent-like. There’s a lovely arch to the stems. And it can be shared easily because it grows babies. It came in this small 2-inch pot with instructions to let it sit for two days to acclimate, and then repot it into a 4 inch pot, which I did, after this picture was taken. It’s so sweet.

I also rescued a plant from the dreaded Shelves of Neglect at Lowes yesterday, which I’ll tell you about tomorrow. It brings back memories of my youth.

Okay. Have to get moving.

Happy Tuesday.

Little Miracles

Much to Do

Patchy Frost, The Elusive Yellow, and a New Houseplant

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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