Background Work

At the end of October I dug and dug my vegetable garden plot with the only tools I had—an old army shovel, a plastic trowel and a hand cultivator and my oh so sore back.  We had long since given up our lawn tools as we moved from house to apartment and I was reluctant to replace them since we will move again.  Besides, the owners of the house had had a vegetable garden on that very spot so there weren’t a lot of weeds.  How hard could it be?  Yellow clay hard.

I finally gave in and bought a full-sized shovel.  It was still hard work but not as back-breaking.  I happily sowed my cool-weather crop seeds: kale, spinach and Swiss chard.  I was excited as sprouts broke the surface of the soil.  But wait, what do such seedlings look like?  Hmm…the ones in my online image search kind of looked like what was emerging from my garden…Alas, after a few weeks, I realized that my seedlings would have been much taller than these sprawling specimens and weed seeds must have come in the bags of “good top soil” and blanketed my hard won garden.

Later, I read that I could plant a little earlier if I warmed my soil by covering it with black plastic—my soil and the weeds, which would perhaps be weakened and easier to remove.  Apparently, late October was too late for my seeds to germinate this extra cold winter.

Wonderfully warm and inspiring weather last week provided opportunity to dig again, to start fresh.  The good news was that my labor last autumn was not in vain, because of my hard work, the soil now turns easily.  I added some black and brown “gold” (compost and sphagnum) to amend the soil, turned it under and added a brick path to keep from compressing the soil. 

                                      

It’s ready to plant at last.  But now it’s too late to plant cool weather crops again.  No problem, I have an heirloom tomato plant and some lettuce plants that can go in when the rain, rain goes away.

Dreaming of the New

It’s been a strange winter as we’ve moved a few miles from the Central Piedmont to the Southern Piedmont where we get more snow than our neighbors and a lot more wind.  We’ve broken long-standing low temperature records and even had snow three days in a row.

My sister gave me these pot stands when her cat kept knocking them over. They stand up pretty well here, making strange snowmen.

But shortly after the snow, the air warmed to over 70 degrees and cabin fever pushed me out to garden.  Cutting away the frozen sticks and browned leaves was therapeutic and resulted in a much better view.

I now have a slightly different climate to garden in and I’m no longer gardening solely in containers—I now have a whole yard I can garden if I want.  I’m already dreaming…  

A Whiff of Spring

With an ice storm last Friday and another coming soon, I couldn’t resist the dazzling yellow daffodils at the grocery; a bunch was only $1.69!  They store them, the sign said, “dry” so that they don’t pop open until the customer is ready.  This made it a lot more convenient to carry them throughout our many errands.  I bought them on Saturday but didn’t put them in water until Sunday afternoon; they were beginning to open but most buds were tight.  By bedtime they were all fully open!  Water, just water brought them to life.

The fragrance is heady as I type a few feet from the glowing trumpeters of spring.   Despite the grey skies and cold temperatures, in here it is spring.

Garden Reel

Right at this moment, I have a desire of my heart as I sit in the garden, cool morning breezes wafting, geese signaling, while I type and post. The air and view out here exceeds that of the indoor wall. Of course, other sounds punctuate the air—a car alarm, the muted flow of traffic and a jet soaring overhead; where is it bound? But these have their place just as the unseen noisy crow to my right has his. Changes are in the air too—a bit of upheaval though thankfully temporary. The apartment management has decided that since they are raising the rates exorbitantly they can say, “But look, we’re cleaning and painting the buildings.” Outside that is, and brown. Thankfully, it looks better when it’s dry since when it’s wet it’s dark brown with a hint of green…er…very organic looking. So, I have to bring indoors every last plant, pot, bag of potting soil and the garden furniture. That will be tight but thankfully temporary. According to a famous rabbi story one of my Jewish friends tells—we will be amazed at how much space we have indoors when we move everything back out to the garden again!

I’ve potted a couple plants into “real” pots that were still in their greenhouse plastic pots. They’ll grow better, stand taller and be less likely to tip over—and there will be fewer empty pots to corral. One long Italian-made pot that I’ve carried with me for over twenty-five years has split horizontally. It worked fairly well as long as it stayed in place but I didn’t want to risk trailing soil across the carpet so I pulled a not so decorative Italian pot (ribs rather than leaves) from the wings and replaced it. I guess some autumnal fixing up is good though I wish they cared as much about the inside. But then, that would be major upheaval and I have enough of that for now.

Ever Faithful

I can always count on Sweet William’s brilliant color to be the first to brighten my garden—year after year. I do have to cut back the stragglers and replace some of the plants from time to time but they grow well in my large pot. Their bloom surge is in the spring with another in the fall though they bloom here and there throughout the summer. They make fairly good cut flowers in small vases.

Today is yet another Red Hibiscus Day! I could get spoiled.

The Bells are Blooming

My orange Million Bells are blooming in profusion—amazing, since they stayed outside all winter. Though the winter was milder than usual, we still had some very cold nights in the ‘teens. The “regular” petunias in neighboring hanging baskets are growing fast; though I want them to cascade, I think I’ll need to pinch them back for more blooming since they seem to bloom on the stem ends.

It’s planting time! A garden center I’ve never been to is having a “Spring Opening” on Saturday. I need to put together a list of what I need—and don’t need i.e. already have.

Rain is coming.

A Good Start

Spring is burgeoning in my garden too! Fooled by the extra-warm days the plants are growing like it’s early summer! A couple Sweet William flowers are blooming and the Creeping Jenny is eagerly running but I haven’t yet seen any purple Victoria Blue Salvia buds.

I’m very pleased that I won’t have to purchase any new plants in these varieties. Nor pentas or Angelonias. Nor Tropicana Cannas. Of course, the red hibiscus will go out too. I’ll have quite a garden already as soon as I can be sure it won’t get cold at night any more (it has been known to snow here in the spring); then I can fill in the color gaps.

Parade

The light is already changing in the east windows as the white pear blossoms are replaced with spring green leaves. Sunlight still feeds the pentas, Angelonias and prayer plants from another angle though since the maples and oaks haven’t leafed out yet.

Since the air conditioner is finally on, we won’t need the fan any more for awhile so it’s back in its corner but the bougainvillea that surrounded it is still outdoors. The calendar says it’s the first day of spring but it could still get cold—but probably not that cold. More plants may go out soon.

Over the weekend, we saw lots of red-violet redbuds, yellow forsythias, and added to the colorful parade were the yellow-green beginnings of dogwood bracts, purple wisteria and the palest of pink cherry blossoms. A few pink or orange tulips joined in as well. Spring is definitely here! And though I’m sneezing through it, I love it!

Sooner or Later

The majority of the states in the U.S. turned all clocks forward an hour for Daylight Savings Time on Saturday night—technically early Sunday morning for those who stayed up that late. Everyone I talked to feels a mild jet lag—that is, if they knew about it (if you don’t watch the news you can be an hour off for awhile).

While I’m not happy about having my circadian rhythm thrown off twice a year—“spring forward; fall back,” I had the advantage this morning of being at the window just as the sun shone its pink rays, and I will definitely enjoy having more daylight at the end of the day. The mornings will catch up soon.

Over the weekend while on our errands we saw rows and rows of Bradford Pears in full bloom, yellow forsythia, even my favorite—redbuds, were beginning their beautiful fuchsia show.

A mockingbird came to visit the balcony garden this morning but I didn’t have my camera in hand so I stayed and watched it flip its tail up and down several times before flying away. Sometimes it’s better to be present in the moment than to risk missing it while grabbing the camera.

Full Regalia

At last, the Bradford Pear has fully bloomed. Streets are lined with them but I get to see one right outside the window. That’s the best way to view them—through a window. Unfortunately Bradford Pear trees’ beauty is for eyes only—not noses. They stink!

Spring is on its conveyor belt now—no turning back. Since we have an “early” Resurrection Day this year, we’ll probably still be a-bloom in colorful celebration.

Hope Instead

Where one leaf of the Hawaiian Ti plant had to be removed, six more have taken its place and are growing well. To me it’s a sign of hope that where one thing goes wrong, the Lord Jesus can bring in many good things to take its place. These new leaves are slow-growing but growing steadily.

Cold weather has returned with frigid, blustery winds. After “Noah’s flood”, God covenanted with Noah:

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:22).

Cold (“global warming” notwithstanding) and heat will never go away as long as we’re on this earth so we’d better learn to deal with them especially since they are a promise of good. What a paradigm shift!

Now Appearing

While I was away yesterday, the pear blossoms finally popped open—at least a few did while the rest are “sitting on ready.”


The northern part of town hasn’t shown many signs of spring yet—but these bloodroot wildflowers (in a public garden) were blooming profusely among new fern fronds and an occasional trillium.

There’s no stopping spring now. Even if it turns cold again—and it probably will, or snows (stranger things have happened), according to the plants, it’s still spring!

Time Will Tell

Oregano plants sometimes come back in the spring if they get enough water throughout the winter. Though the cold outdoor weather turns the once bountiful stems into brown sticks overwintering outdoors usually works better than bringing them in since indoor air is too dry.

I always leave some of the dead stems in place to remind me to water and that there are live roots beneath. New growth comes from the roots but I was excited to find lots of tiny seedlings in its pot; wow, I could have a superabundance of oregano—my husband’s favorite cooking herb! But…were they really oregano? I didn’t want to declare anything to you if I wasn’t positive so I searched internet images of oregano seedlings and unfortunately they don’t match very well. They may be the interloping tiny white wildflower I found in another pot—but why such an abundance in the oregano pot and only one other? Time will tell.

Color on the Rise

The Bradford Pear outside our window seems eager to open its buds! I wish I had taken my camera on our weekend excursions! The flowering crabs are in their full soft red violet array. Entire streets are now lined with the young trees!

We even saw forsythia blooming! My husband says, “Now I know it’s spring when the forsythia blooms.” My grandmother used to talk about the lovely bushes with their four point yellow star-shaped flowers but I never saw one outside of garden catalog photos until we moved east. They’re now some of my favorites. Maybe I should have bought the cheery bouquet of yellow-flowering branches; they would have surely brightened this chilly gray day.

Are We There Yet?

The daffodils have bloomed for weeks; the flowering crab trees are covered with diaphanous pale red-violet blossoms—on a recent night I saw some surreal-looking ones with light-wrapped trunks. Today’s the second day with temperatures in the mid-70’s. The birds think it’s spring. Who am I to argue with the birds?

However, yesterday’s happy chatter has turned to nervous twitters. The birds know that the weather isn’t right. We’re under a tornado watch all day. I don’t wish it on anyone else but I don’t want it here either. Please pray.

Singing in the Sun

The natural area is atwitter this morning with crows, cardinals, blue jays and mockingbirds plus smaller unseen birds. A dog somewhere in the distance joined in as did a really big silver bird. They seem to like the warm sunny morning as much as I do.

Though too small to photograph, I found in the outdoor garden two Sweet William buds! The cherry trees in Washington D.C. are even beginning to blossom it’s so warm! No matter what the groundhogs “say”, spring is here now so I’ll enjoy it now, though winter could return at any time. Generally though, later when spring truly comes, cold weather doesn’t mean that it’s not spring since it’s normal for the temperatures to see-saw.

No Bells

On mornings like this when I’m having trouble getting started—the nature of Mondays, gardening along with some lively music helps get me started.

While checking over the outdoor plants (brrr) I found that even the die-hard Million Bells were no longer blooming. However, I did find some new growth. In January. Outdoors.

Even the regular petunias in the same hanging basket have new growth. I’m having to rethink my whole concept of petunias; I’ve always considered them to be annuals to dig up at the end of the season and start over. None have given me any reason before to think otherwise. Yes, this winter has been milder than usual but we’ve also had some very hard freezes—and yet they’re eager to grow. It’s almost as though the petunias knew I was about to give up on them since they were so overtaken with bugs (the Million Bells in the same pot were untouched) early on last summer… I know, I know, as my botany professor said, “Plants don’t think!”

What’s This?

While tending the garden today I spotted this seedling coming up in a spider plant pot! It’s not unusual to find stray “weed” seedlings in outdoor pots, those brought by wind or wing but I potted the spider plantlets indoors with potting soil straight out of the bag. What is it? I looked more closely before I automatically plucked it out (I’m really pretty patient about letting things grow until I can see what they are). It’s a bell pepper seedling but I didn’t plant it! There are no birds or winds in here. We eat a lot of bell peppers for their fresh flavor, vitamins and color and the seeds do turn up in strange places but this is far from the kitchen. Who knows? However it got there, it seems I have a head start on spring planting!

We’re so thankful that not only is the sun back but the “rough weather” including tornadoes forecast for last night never developed because of a rain system to the south. Praise the Lord! Rain without trouble—a good thing.

Pushing the Envelope

Though a number of leaves have fallen—the pot dries out very quickly, this year’s Persian Shield has done better, longer than previous ones. Here in the U.S. Southern Piedmont the handsome purple plant is sold as an annual. For some reason they’re getting harder to find and can be a little expensive, so it’s good to be able to save money by overwintering it indoors. It looks a bit straggly now but in the spring I’ll prune it back—a little at a time since it tends to be slow to grow new branches and Lord willing, it will be even more handsome than before.


In looking on the internet I’ve found that the Persian Shield isn’t at all from Persia (Iran) but Burma (Myanmar). The common name likely comes instead from the shape of the leaves and maybe the metallic look (though I’ve been unable to locate any information on the internet about such ancient shields).

Apparently I’ve been “pushing the envelope” with these plants since they are classified as “tender perennials” and need to be brought in “when temperatures drop below 60 degrees F”, and I’ve found that they can stand up to a couple of freezes. I also read that I should let them dry out between waterings indoors—not unless I want them to completely wilt (http://www.guide-to-houseplants.com/persian-shield.html)! The best thing is to follow the guidelines for plant care to a point, and then sees what works best in your setting.

*That’s an orchid cactus behind the Persian Shield.

Just One

For days, maybe even weeks, this single Angel Face Angelonia has bloomed, just one—alone. It doesn’t make as much of a show as would several spires of purple blossoms, but it’s there, blooming indoors—in the winter.

Loneliness is often the lot of one who is determined to stand for what is right. Often it seems that just one can’t make a difference but history is full of contradictions to that notion. And so what if the difference isn’t huge? It’s right to do the right thing, regardless. So what if no one else is doing the right thing? That doesn’t get me—or you, off the hook since we all have to give an account to God one day for our actions—and inaction.