Blooming 11/05/12

 

The Camellias have never bloomed as well or as early as they have this year. My shrubs aren’t that old so they aren’t very large but they are just loaded with blooms. This camellia is named ‘Mine No Yuki’ and it was renamed to ‘White Doves’ when it was brought to the United States. I think I actually like the name ‘White Doves’ better.

 I have two of these in the garden planted in a triangle patter with a third one that’s pink. If I had known the white was going to be so gorgeous I never would have thrown that pink one in there. They don’t bloom at the same time and three of the white would look much better. I found them marked down drastically at Lowes, so that’s how the pink found a home. It’s one of those decisions you make and then rethink at a later time. I would buy a third one to replace ‘Crimson Candles’, but they grow so slow it would take forever to catch up to the other two. If it gets to bothering me bad enough I might just concede and purchase a more expensive larger plant.

I’ve purchased several re-blooming irises, but of all the ones I have/had (I’ve lost a lot of them the past two years) ‘Autumn Tryst’ never fails to give me blooms in the fall. I may dig it up and spread it around a little so I can have it in different areas of the garden. I really hope I don’t lose any more of them. I had some gorgeous, very expensive irises that have fallen victim to this weird weather the past couple of years.

 

While I was walking around I spied a single spike of brilliant blue among the dead Blackeyed Susans. The contrast was so intense it was just begging me to take its picture. I know it’s just a single blue spike, but it called out to me.

‘The Fairy’ is putting out one last flush for me before the cold weather hits. This rose is really in a bad spot even thought its performing well. The poor thing is hidden by a host of other plants.

 

I went away for the weekend and took lots of pictures so I’ll be putting them up in more than one post. The first post will be about another Eden I visited. Eden Gardens on the Tucker Bayou, I'll have the post up in a couple of days.

Halloween is Upon Us!

Recently I made a pact with myself to spend more time enjoying the holidays, all holidays, not just the big ones. With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be nice to put a theme to this month’s supper club. I’ve never really been one to appreciate all the “cute-sie” decorations so this is my version of a Halloween dinner.

 

Once a month we have a group of people that get together for a supper club. The evening usually starts off with a cocktail hour followed by dinner. The host provides the meat and the other members bring the complimenting sides. It’s just a small group and we had a really nice time. This was our week to host so Colvin and I wanted to put a little Halloween spin on it. Everything in the room was done for fewer than 20 dollars and I think it came out pretty well. Not all the decorations are shown, but below are pictures of some of them. I apologize up front for the quality of the photos. I left my camera at the house and these were all taken with my phone. The first photo is of the bar covered in spider webs dotted with a few creepy crawlies.

 

 For the table arrangement I used a mercury glass vase with dead limbs from a little oak in the backyard. I topped it off with a few pine cones and then attached three crows from the Dollar Tree. Also from the Dollar Tree, a couple of rats, a few spiders sprinkled around the base, throw in two un-polished silver candlesticks and voila. You have a Halloween centerpiece. I love the aged look of the candlesticks with the mercury glass. I thought it came out very well.

 

I also discovered this neat little idea too. The little plastic rings make wonderful charms for stemmed glassware. Stick on a couple of decals and you have perfectly decorated glasses for the occasion. I suppose you could do the same for any holiday. I love the little skull and cross bones on the martini glasses!

 

The menu:

Broiled Barbque Porkchops with Mango Ginger Chutney

Pear and Roasted Pecan Coleslaw

Dirty Cajun Rice

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Two people were missing from our group, but we sent them a member’s only video clip of the dinner while they were in New York. Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

P. S. I've been nominated for an award by 'The Lazy Womans Garden' and I'll list the seven things about me in the next post. :0)

 

No Words Just Wings...

My Weekend...

I hope everyone had a great weekend! This was a three day weekend for me and I should have used it to rest, but instead I was busy running the roads with friends. I went to Cuthbert, Georgia this weekend to visit my longtime friend James or as I like to call him Jaybeaux. He bought his dream home six years ago and he’s been committed to a major labor of love ever since. As long as I’ve known him he’s always wanted and been fascinated by grand old southern homes. Well, six years ago this month he finally found one and he’s been working on restoring it. Below are three pictures from his Facebook page that I snagged for this post. This is what the house looked like when he found it. Now, tell me it’s not a determined soul that will take on a project like this.

 

This is no small house either. Behind the main house you can see the ballroom and also the old outside kitchen. It was built in 1853.

 

This is Jaybeaux on the side of the house after he and Ken removed all the shrubs and debris from around the property. This really gives you a good idea of the scale of the house. James told us this weekend he was terribly afraid of heights and he had to make himself climb the scaffolding a little higher each day until he was no longer scared. Let me tell you something, that molding at the roofline is waaaaaaaaay up there. I got dizzy just looking up from the second floor porch.

 

This is the work he’s done so far. Pretty amazing don’t you think? I guess he could see something no one else could. A lot of hard work and love have gone into this house. James is not a construction expert, he's not wealthy, he's just a determined person figuring it all out as he goes along. Making his dream come true one board and one can of paint at the time. I have no doubt he and Ken will completely restore this old house in it's entirety. What an accomplishment...

 

It was a nice four hour trip, two hours to get there and two hours to get back home. It was a pleasant little Sunday drive and was punctuated with pretty scenes like this one. Wildflowers were in bloom all over the place. I don’t know what these purple flowers are, but we saw two cow pastures filled with them.

 

 We got back to Montgomery just as the sun was starting to set. The clouds were making a very unusual pattern that afternoon. I pulled off to side of the interstate to take this picture. Friday night and Saturday with my good friend Carol, Sunday lunch with my dear friend Jaybeaux and nice holiday to rest the following Monday. All in all a pretty good weekend...

 

My Ginger is Blooming!

I decided to walk around the garden yesterday and snap a few pictures for you guys. The feeling of fall is definitely in the air. I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me when turned the corner of the path. After four years of nothing, this year my Red Tower spiral ginger is going to bloom! Look! I actually told the master gardeners to dig it up last year and get rid of it because it never did anything and in error they left it behind. Lucky me I guess. :0)

Not only does it have one bloom on it there is also a second one. I’m very excited and I can’t wait to see what it smells like. I haven’t found a ginger yet that didn’t smell absolutely divine when it bloomed.

 

Another one of my favorites in the garden is the little Dahlia given to me by Monica at Garden Faerie’s Musings. It’s called ‘Bonne Esperance’ and I can’t wait to get a big huge patch of these perfect little pink flowers. If there’s one thing I’ve come to notice lately it’s how much I love pink in the garden. I really think I’m going to incorporate more of it in the years to come. It’s a shame little boys are taught pink is a girls color why should all the pretty colors be saved just for little girls?

 

This little rose is called ‘The Fairy’ and is still producing a few little blooms for me. It really isn’t in a very good place and I need to move it to a more suitable area. I’ll get around to it eventually.

 

The evergreen wisteria is gone to seed. This is the first year it’s made the seed pods like this. I think I’m going to stick some in the ground and see what happens. I’m not going to put a lot of effort into it, either they grow or they don’t. So many people have said they’ve never seen the color of the one I have I thought I would try to grow some to give away.

 

The Peegee Hydrangea has never produced new blooms this late in the season, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. One of the dogwoods started blooming in the spring and here it is September and the dang thing is still full of blooms. I keep hearing my grandmomma’s voice saying, “The good book says the trees will know no season…”

I’d learned from Pam over at Digging that you could cut back these sage bushes in the summer and they would not get so huge they lay on the ground in the Fall. I think Pam usually cuts her plant back in June and for some reason I was thinking it was July. I may have sacrificed a few blooms waiting a month too long, but I’m much happier with the size of it this year and it’s still a little early to judge the number of blooms I’m going to get. At any rate I’m tickled pink at the size it is. It’s much better this way

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Remember the project I have planned for redoing one of the beds? Well here are the hydrangeas I’m going to use to circle the Vitex when I get all the other stuff removed. I think I’m going to get started on that in the next week or so. I had put it on hold for the humming birds, but I’ve since decided to just get a feeder or two for extra nutrition and get the work behind me. I’m excited; it’s going to look so good with that tree limbed up and these lacecaps full grown. Now, to get the work done and be patient enough to watch them grow.

 

Is Progress Really Progress?

Some of you have heard me talk about dropping flowers off of a bridge when I was little and recently about the old swimming hole we use to go to when I was younger. I thought I would revisit that subject for a little bit. Sometimes I think about all the things I use to do as a kid and all the simple pleasures we use to have that my nephews and nieces will never know about. This is for two reasons that I can immediately think of off the top of my head. First these types of places just don’t seem to exist anymore and second people just don’t think that way anymore.

Years ago I was at a meeting with one of the doctors I worked for and she was making the comment that her children were not allowed to watch TV and play videos games. Well, I immediately asked her why not and she said, “I want them outside playing in the yard and doing things I use to do as a child.” I asked her why they should be limited to things she use to do when times have changed so much. I told her my mother use to play with syrup bucket filled with sand on a piece of bailing wire, but she wanted something better than that for us. I don’t have any kids, but I think I understand where she was coming from now. Though, I do wonder if she really wanted her children to experience those things or if she was somehow trying to recapture those feeling and experiences for herself.

On hot summer days we would always head to the creek to cool off with Momma and Daddy. It was on a dirt road filled with old wooden bridges. We would sit on the edge of the old bridges and catch spotted channel cats with cane poles. This wasn’t a short visit, this was an all day event and the entire family was included. Momma would always pack lunch and we have a watermelon with us. Momma would always float the melon in the creek to cool it down. She would tie crochet thread to the little pigtail on it and secure it to the bank to keep it from floating off downstream. Watermelons float very well in a creek, unlike a full bottle of whiskey which is a whole nuther story. That was a very disappointing day for my Daddy, his brother and his cousin Ted…

We had so much fun on those days and it was such an uncomplicated happiness. Sitting on the tailgate of a 1955 GMC pickup truck riding down the dirt road dangling our feet and legs as we rode. It wasn’t unusual for us to spend hours at the time doing this. And, we were perfectly happy to do so.

Some time back, on a trip home I decided to pay a visit to some of these old places, just for the memories and hoping to catch a glimpse of those old feelings. It was very disappointing to see that several of those dirt roads are now paved. No more wild yellow plumbs growing in the ditch, all of the old huckleberry bushes uprooted and torn away to make room for the shoulder of the road. But the old “Creek Road” was still there, only for me to find the scene below at our beautiful little creek and swimming hole. This is the view from the old bridge where I dropped the flower heads in the stream 40 years ago.

 

 

Please forgive the quality of the photos they were taken with an older camera. The old swimming hole was about 30 yards down the creek in the woods. I know we need to have progress and things can’t stay the same, but it seems to me somethings should just be preserved. The Creek Road is still dirt, but it is now filled with people living in mobile homes and most of the land has been cleared. So how do you balance progress and preservation? Seems to me at some point, time should just stand still. Other than medical benefits, how much of it is really necessary…

Something is coming…

The ever so trendy cell phone shot, time to put a face with the blog.

Good morning everyone! It’s been a while since my last post so I decided I better check in with you guys and let you know I’m still alive and kicking. There just hasn’t been much going on in the garden to blog about. I do have some changes planned and I’ve actually purchased some new plants to make them. It’s going to require me to remove a lot of plants that are currently supplying the humming birds with nectar and a small meal for what remaining butterflies there are in the garden. As eager as I am to get the job behind me and be done with it I just can’t seem to bring myself to take away that little food supply from my garden friends. When I do get around to it I’ll take pictures of the process. The picture I have in my mind looks fabulous and I’m sure it will look great when it’s done and the plants have grown in some.

I have all these plans about what I want to do to the garden but life evidently thinks I need to take a break from it for some reason and it seems to have been the universe’s plan for the past three years. The first year was a bunch of personal chaos that bled into the second year, then things went from the frying pan into the fire and I had emergency back surgery. I used the rest of the summer and winter to recuperate from it thinking this was going to be the year I got it all done and get back into the swing of the garden. Well, in May I got double pneumonia with horrible coughing that lasted for three months. As a result of all the coughing I got a hernia which is now preventing me from doing any major lifting or digging. I hope to get it fixed this winter if I can’t heal myself with exercise. I understand it’s possible in some situations, we’ll see. So for WHATEVER reason I’m obviously suppose to do little more to the garden than keep the grass cut or so it would seem.

All this being said I woke up this morning thinking how frustrated and irritated I’ve been by the way all of this has unfolded. I decided it’s time to do things a little differently for a while. You will notice my blogging concerning the garden may become scarce for a while. That doesn’t mean I won’t be visiting yours and reading what’s going on in your little patch of green. Frankly, I keep hearing this same phrase in my head over and over again that I read on Tim’s blog several weeks ago. “Much like that moment when you realize you’ve created a monster of a garden that is no longer bringing you pleasure…” Since reading that post I’ve given a lot of thought to what changes I want to make. The garden consumes so much of my free time that I have little time for anything else so I’ve decided to take a break from it before I grow to resent it.

So here’s the next question: What will I be doing? I have projects that need to be done around the house. Things I’ve neglected because of the garden. I want to travel more… I want to entertain more… I want to spend more time with friends. I’ll still be gardening, but I’m going to alter the way I’m doing things. My aim is to move towards a more maintenance free garden, with a more formal feel and a smaller collection of plants. Meanwhile, I will continue to blog, but you may see a shift in the types of post I do. They may become less about the garden and more about the other things I’m doing. Instead of what’s blooming maybe I’ll show you the latest trip I’ve taken or photos from one of my martini parties. :0) I realize this will be of no interest to some of you, on the flipside others of you may enjoy the peek into my life.

When I walked outside this morning all these thoughts were confirmed by the feel of transformation in the air. The winds of change were blowing through the trees and across my skin. Something is coming. I’ve had these feelings in the past and the results were not always positive, subsequently I felt a little apprehension about it initially, alteration can always be a little scary at first. The uncertainty of it all… I’m ready for something new, different and exciting and I’ll embrace whatever life is about to send. The end result of change is always positive in some form or fashion. I wonder what new adventures are in store for me? That’s enough of my idle ramblings for now, hope this finds you all well and happy.