Silver Glow

Here it is nearly Thanksgiving and the temperatures are in the 70’s again—eventually. The morning air is chilly but fresh, almost like spring but without allergies.

The pear tree’s branches know it’s autumn though with only a few leaves dangling, yet many new buds emerging (I used to think that trees went dormant once their leaves dropped but close observation told me the truth despite the analogies teachers like to make). It could even, like some cherry trees I saw, bloom in the mild weather. I used to be alarmed when I saw such a bonus, worrying about the trees’ spring display but they were fine.

The bougainvillea, though it has dropped a lot of leaves, is producing tiny new ones. To my amazement, the angelonias and pentas continue to bloom indoors; though the heliotrope is still opening a few flowers they’re no longer heliotrope but white.

All, including the two red hibiscus blossoms are enjoying the silver glow of the morning light. Fewer pear leaves means more sunlight that beams into and through the next room! It’s a balm to me as well. I’m beginning to produce more new leaves and flowers too—after dropping some old ones.

Safe Harbor

It began raining last night; I’m sure the water pipe repairmen digging a huge hole in the ground so deep that they had to look up to see out, were glad that they had filled it in before the rain started! Will “inclement” weather prevent them from digging and replacing the next part and leaving us once again without running water? A recorded message at the office hinted so. But I’ll still be prepared.

A fresh breeze blows through the dampness giving the air a comforting feel that reminds me of harboring at my grandmother’s house as a child too sick to go to school. It may have only been one cool rainy morning but the memory stuck as a good one.

However, I prefer to be indoors in such weather; the larger heliotrope plant seems to be happier indoors too. The bougainvillea however, is going through its annual leaf drop. It does well enough indoors, even blooms a little but invariably drops its leaves when its environment changes, then grows new ones. It seems that I’m forever picking up leaves but at least it doesn’t have to have a litter box or be walked.

An Automatic Choice

I always look for Victoria Blue Salvia for my garden. Some years I don’t have to buy it since it is a biennial and returns the next season. Its small spiked purple flowers consistently bloom once it gets started. Though it’s called “blue”, there are very few truly blue flowers in nature.

This year, I planted the Victoria Blue’s in several pots—I got stuck once again with buying a whole pack (of 6) that I didn’t need. (The two big home improvement stores sold only 9-packs and large single pots. I don’t want or need that many. I’d rather buy one or two smaller plants that will grow into their places. With the return to downtown/center city living and the increase in multi-family communities, small gardens are the “in thing”—garden centers take note.) Location mattered. The ones in my long Italian terra cotta pots languish while the ones in the larger, deeper pot are flourishing to the point of overcoming their neighbors.


While the salvias’ arching lean is artistic, they were mashing and shading the heliotrope next to them. This heliotrope (the first one I bought) had enough trouble getting started, having severely dehydrated while riding home from the farmer’s market in the heat of the back window. Over the weekend I got a green plastic-coated heavy wire stake with a partial ring to prop up the Victoria Blue. (You can barely see it in the lower left of the picture) Though it now has an unnatural lean away from the sun, it will straighten its course when the sun returns.

Whenever that will be… We’re forecast to have heavy rain all week from Tropical Storm/Depression Lee. The humidity is bathtub high; the plants love humidity and they’ve got it. I’m not as big a fan though the birds don’t seem to mind. I could barely see the brown birds down the electric line loudly chirping their “call and response” but they looked like thrashers. A distant response answered their call.

Room to Grow

My plant purchases from two weekends ago finally have bigger pots to help keep them from drying out and to give them room to grow. Lack of potting soil caused the delay. I finally got out to the largest corporation on earth, hoping to find plain potting soil. Unfortunately, every bag had fertilizer in it. I have my own, organic fertilizer—I didn’t want all that. At last, I found one that didn’t have fertilizer called “Moisture Control”. It’s supposed to keep the soil from being over or under-watered. I’m skeptical. It was all they had. We’ll see.


I potted the peppermint and a heliotrope. If you’ve ever wondered what the color fashion and interior design call heliotrope looks like—here it is, a medium violet/purple.

We had a pretty strong rare earthquake tremor here yesterday but I didn’t feel it and none of my pots look out of place, so they don’t seem to have felt it either.