The Farmer’s Almanac counts down how many days of winter are left. As of today, there are 63 days left until Spring. Whoo-hoo! I have some sprigs of daffodils showing above ground, and this week, when storms knocked over pots planted with tulip bulbs, I saw that beneath the soil, the bulbs had rooted and were beginning to send up shoots. I hope being overturned won’t stunt the growth.
I have no flowers or interesting dried-out sprigs left to display in a vase for Rambling in the Garden – IAVOM. Happily, I do have a few evergreen plants growing in the gardens. I have gathered sprigs of Nandina, English Ivy, Barberry, and Vinca vine inside today’s vase. I also added a dried-out tassels of a Bald Cypress. To add some interest, I plucked Wisteria pods off the bush and added those into the mix.
The bouquet is so-so, but the vase is a treasure I found this week. Searching for unique containers to craft into hanging planters, I stopped at the local Goodwill. Usually, I find junk, and a caution for other treasure hunters; I often have seen Dollar Store items in the Goodwill store marked at $1.99. To be blunt, this always annoys me. I am often tempted to point it out to the manager, but the earnings from Goodwill Industries go to non-profit groups. Many of the stores have very high rents to pay in the shopping centers they are located in. For this reason, I don’t say a word.
Back to the find in the Goodwill, though. I found treasure—two beautiful McCoy Swan Vases. One is pink, and the other is blue. I used the blue vase for today’s arrangement. I do not have an eye for antiques as some do, but I love McCoy pottery, and I am good at spotting that variety.
My beautiful McCoy vase twins are, Whatsoever is Lovely to me—a perfect choice for Xingfu Mama’s Week Two Challenge.
Looking up in the Orchid Room at Longwood to the sky beyond the glass panels.
Longwood Gardens has a lot of construction going on. I hope I am able to one day visit more of the new greenhouse sections. When we visited this week, we saw that they are beginning to reconstruct the water lily gardens.
Oh, Happy Day, even though the sky is grey and cloudy. This week, I found potted tulips for sale in my local supermarket. At the top of the spear of foliage, I could see that they would be the shade of yellow I love. Sure enough, they have blossomed into a gorgeous, pale yellow. I put them on my counter near the window during the day, so they won’t grow too leggy. I also put a bit of moss on top of the bare earth to give it a more natural appearance. These beautiful booms certainly brighten my day and mood.
I’m reading Our Zoo by June Mottershead. The book tells the story of how the Chester Zoo in England came into existence. Goodreads has some interesting comments from readers who enjoyed the book.
I found the book by watching the six-episode series Our Zoo. The series can be found on Paramount, Hoopla (available free through some libraries), and other streaming services. I enjoyed this adaptation of the true story.
The Chester Zoo is still open in Upton-by-Chester, Chester, England. The website has excellent photographs of the zoo through the decades.
Here’s a short video that looks behind the scenes of the series.
Gathering in the green is one way to crawl out of the brain sludge of dreary winter weather. By green, I mean plants, green dreams of gardens to come, and green thoughts of using what is usually thrown away.
Quite a few pieces of ginger you buy in the supermarket are sprayed with a sprouting inhibitor. I recently found, in Produce Junction, a large ginger rhizome with swollen joints. They looked like they wanted to grow. Of course, to me, the sight of that ginger was irresistible. I let it lay undisturbed in my basement, and the swelling grew larger.
Yesterday, I planted it in a large 10″ pot. I hope to see sprouting above the soil’s surface in just a few weeks. I will update on the progress.
Planting indoors in such a large pot might have created havoc with dirt and debris everywhere, but I recently read an excellent tip in Martha Stewart’s Very Good Things: use an under-the-bed storage bin for planting indoors. This tip worked great for me. So much easier to close the lid when I was through and roll it under my plant table until needed again.
The online Farmer’s Almanac has an in-depth article on growing ginger from supermarket rhizomes.
A few of the many shades of blue pansies and violas I have grown in my gardens over the years.
Pansy and Johnny-Jump-Up are a variety of seeds I will be sowing this week. It seems early, but I should have sown them four weeks sooner. I don’t follow the recommended dates on the back of the packets. Earlier is always better if I want to have larger-sized plants for the Spring Garden. If my seedlings are pitifully small, I fall victim to the lure of lusher-appearing plants in the local nurseries.
I purchased several interesting varieties from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at the end of Autumn, and I can’t wait to see if they are as lovely as the photograph on the package. (Dilemma: I don’t remember the ‘safe’ spot I stored them in.)
The seeds of Pansy and Johnny-Jump-Ups sprout with some bottom warmth and humidity but also have one crucial requirement: they must have total darkness. I will put a plastic tray over the top of my flat and also cover that with a dark, wet washcloth. This will seal out any light rays that might interfere with sprouting.
Organic seed starter and sterile organic potting soil are what I use to start my seeds. The plants develop robustly if I fill the bottom 3/4 of the flats or pots with soil and the top quarter with seed starter. The foliage sits against the quick-draining starter, and the roots reach down into the richer soil. Two types of grow-lights work well for me: overhead and adjustable surround wands. A sunny window provides natural light and is also a good choice.
One variety I loved, purchased from Baker Creek last year, was Laeta Fire, a viola with dime-sized blooms perfect for flower pressing. I have a few seeds left in the packet and will grow them again. You can see how small this flower is in comparison to the normal-sized geranium leaf alongside it. When I persevere in my gardening throughout the winter, the process brings me a sense of peace and renewal.
Winter walks always find me looking up. There is much to see in the trees hidden in Spring, Summer, and Autumn.
Polyphemus Moth Cocoon
Last Quarter Moon, glowing in the morning sky, framed by woodland trees.
Bird’s nest. What a perfect display of avian construction skills. It is still holding on after months of heavy rains and winds. The nest reminds me to visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. If you don’t have a bird feeder at home, you can tune into theirs through YouTube. I enjoy watching the Panama Live Cam at this time of year.
I enjoyed a quick walk on this second morning in January. The air, crisp with cold, was stimulating, waking me up and opening my eyes to the beauty in the winter landscape. The limbs and twigs of the trees against the chilly sky are God’s sculptures raising their arms toward the heavens. I could almost imagine them beginning to sing.
I searched for dandelion cones with fluff emerging from their tips. I am partial to dandelions; in fact, I have named 2024 my year of the dandelion. I want to be as productive and as resilient as this beautiful plant.
What do I love about dandelions? Perhaps it’s the color and shape. The flower reflects the Sun. I admire the resilience of dandelions. They will bloom wherever they can and grow lushly, even within the cracks of the street and sidewalks. Just today, I photographed this determined plant thriving in the smallest of spaces between the curb and the blacktop. I have read recently that one dandelion plant can produce up to 2,000 seeds. I hope to be as productive as the dandelion and spread as much GOOD NEWS as possible.
Here’s a fun project to do with children. You can string the unopened pods of dandelion seeds onto a piece of thread, and within 24 hours, they change and open up into perfect spheres. It’s so easy, and if you choose the right place, they will reflect the sunshine and glow and bring a touch of magic into the room. The photos below show the process. So much fun!
The candy is light enough not to break the string but heavy enough to give it a bit of weight. I love bringing a touch of whimsy to winter days.
I don’t have much growing in the garden, but my IAVOM arrangement for the first day of 2024 contains the few flowers and pieces of foliage still blooming.
Contained in the vase is a Bidens blossom. This tiny flower is about the size of a quarter. It is inconspicuous in the garden border during the summer, overtaken by plants that grow exuberantly. After these plants die back in the cold temperatures, the Bidens thrive for several months. The Spruce has a great article on how to grow Bidens perennials in the garden.
One pansy was blooming brilliantly in a terracotta pot in the backyard. Hurrah! It is bedraggled in a few places, but on the whole, it is still lovely and perfect for Cee’s Flower of the Day.
Dandelions are within the vase but opened after I took the photograph. There will be more to come on dandelions tomorrow. I love the spent seedhead. It’s done its job, and the umbrella-like pappus dispersed all the seeds into the air.
Fennel is still filling the garden beds in various heights and sizes. When I picked a few sprigs for the vase I momentarily smelled that distinctive licorice fragrance the foliage puts out. This wonderful herb is one of my major host plants for butterflies. I imagine many Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel come to Spring when I daydream about my 2024 gardens.
Lastly, I picked a few pieces of Butterfly Bush foliage, still glowing blue-green in the grip of winter weather, and used those leaves as a base for the flowers.
Did you know that the next full moon happens on January 25th, and it is called The Wolf Moon? As I write this, the current moon phase is a Waning Gibbous, and the moon is 88% full. I learned these things by visiting the Farmer’s Almanac Web Page.
What do you know about pom-poms? Well, a Farmer’s Almanac webpage is devoted to precisely that: information about pom-poms. Wow! I was going to post about the Almanac magazine and calendar I purchased for myself, and now, as a bonus, I have found this amazing webpage; a freebie to throw into the mix, offering you three good ways to keep up with the moon, the weather, and with all kinds of interesting facts.
I will glom onto each calendar page and visit the website every day. Another newbie today is the word glom, courtesy of One Daily Word Prompts challenge word. I didn’t know that to glom is a term from the Scot’s dialect, glaum, which means to grab onto.
Everything Must Belong Somewhere, the Ragtag prompt for today, perfectly describes how my daily calendar will sit by my computer, prompting me to tear off a page daily. Reading this calendar will enlarge (FOWC challenge) my gardening ability and give me a few conversation starters when visiting my friends.
A Postscript: Try a few of the one-word challenges this coming year. They are fun and get your brain cranking.
Here is a timely ‘playback’ post from 2016. If your Christmas timetable is beginning to crash, and you would like to create a personalized gift quickly, here is an easy way to transfer lettering of all sizes.
Creating this simple ‘PEACE ON EARTH’ plaque was easy and inexpensive. A scrap piece of wood would work just as well as a purchased plaque. I used FolkArt artist pigments for the best possible coverage. Because I wanted the wood to look rustic I only gave it one coat of Napthol Crimson.
The Napthol Crimson alone was a little brighter than I expected; I used Liquitex Transparent Burnt Umber Ink to antique the plaque. It worked perfectly. Quick Tip: Utilize a disposable brush to apply the ink, wipe off quickly to remove the majority of the color.
I chose a font and printed out letters in the size I desired for the plaque. I was lucky; you can see I almost ran out of ink. To transfer these letters to the plaque, I colored a piece of children’s sidewalk chalk over the back of the printed sheet.
Taped onto the front of the plaque with painter’s tape, I could trace around the edges of these letters with a ballpoint pen and transfer the chalk to the plaque. The outline is easy to see, yet any residue left behind after painting can wiped away when the paint is dry.
I used gold acrylic paint to fill in the letters. A swipe of black paint along the right sides gave the letters a shadowy dimension.
PEACE ON EARTH TO ALL MY BLOGGING FRIENDS! A BLESSED DECEMBER TO YOU.
My IAVOM (In A Vase on Monday) floral arrangement has a definite Christmas theme. Although no flowers are left blooming in my backyard, I have many evergreen trees and bushes to use in vases. The vase in this arrangement is a heavy-bottomed crystal bowl. The weight helps keep the long piece of floral foam/oasis steady. I used an entire piece for this project and trimmed the top corners. to a Christmas tree shape.
The bottom layers are inserted into the oasis with a downward curve, the following few middle layers are inserted straight out, and the top layers of greens are inserted pointed upwards. I added a few purchased roses and some baby’s breath. A friend created the tree with me, and it’s interesting how different our trees were when finished.
One caution if you create a similar tree, place the container in the sink for a few hours. Gravity caused the water in the oasis to drain downward. The result was overflow. I also put a plate under the arrangement; a bowl would have worked too.
Here is the same arrangement in color. Both of my sons wore the shoes around the bottom. The little pink slippers were mine as a baby. They look sweet around the Christmas tree; having them out allows me to cherish the memories again.
The baby shoe display is part of Xingfu Mama’s ‘Whatsoever is Lovely’ challenge. I applaud all who take the time to offer challenges for WordPress bloggers, and a big end-of-the-year thank you to the readers who leave such gracious feedback in my comment section. It is appreciated.
I found my first Jersey Shore Shell this weekend. I have placed dozens around the area but was still looking for one. We went to Ocean City for pizza on Friday and then to Strathmere to collect some clam shells for painting. We found quite a few nice sizes and textures. As we were leaving the beach, my husband spied a Christmas tree. We saw clamshells surrounding the base even from a distance. When we approached we saw some were painted, but none seemed to mention being a Jersey Shore Shell, and then, oh the joy of it, the most beautiful of all revealed on the back the treasured words…Jersey Shore Shells. The artwork is amazing! I thank the artist from the bottom of my heart. I am thrilled with this, and I will be keeping it forever. It truly is a wonderful way to spread the GOOD NEWS. Thank you.
Jersey Shore Shells is a group for people who love to collect shells, and then paint those shells and hide them for other people to find. Add a message to the side of the shell that is not painted stating “Jersey Shore Shells on Facebook. Keep or rehide!” Painters can post pictures of the shells they hide. Hopefully people will post pictures of the shells they find.
I enjoy finding ways to display my vintage postcards. I searched my file box and found over a dozen Christmas or New Year’s themes. The artwork on the postcards is often exceptional. However, they range in age from 100 – 120 years old and must be protected from too much exposure to light.
I used some cardstock I had on hand and cut it to 4.5 x 6.5 inches, giving me a half-inch border around each postcard. Glue and tape are definitely banned from attaching the postcards to a display. Instead, I used a paper trimmer and made small slits near the corners. I then gently inserted each postcard in two of the slits, creating a double-sided display for two postcards on one piece of cardstock.
A piece of twine attached through small holes is enough to keep such a featherlight piece of vintage art in place.
I’ll leave the display out for about two weeks, then place them in their file and back in the dark closet. It’s fun to take them out now and then read the old-fashioned, cramped messages. I enjoy daydreaming about the people who wrote them and imagine what course their lives might have taken.
Some projects, like old records, CDs, and classic movies, deserve a playback. I started a new ‘P’ category to repost timely ‘buried’ posts. I found this one posted in December of 2012.* The paper stars I made eleven years ago from Atlas pages are still going strong. A few had to have their centers re-glued, but it’s astonishing how well they have lasted packed in a shoebox without any padding.
I have so much fun making paper stars at Christmastime. The stars can be used for any holiday: New Year’s, The Fourth of July, Easter, etc. They also could be created to hang from an indoor porch or ceiling for permanent decorations. Crafted from glow-in-the-dark paper, they would be a terrific non-electric night light for a child’s room.
My paper stars were created out of pages from an old out of date Atlas. I love the colors and shadings of the maps, and also thought it appropriate that stars commemorating Christ Jesus’ birth included countries from all over the world. I also used pages from favorite childhood classic books to create smaller stars for my tiny Christmas tree.
Since these pages did not have any color to them, I gently watercolored them with pastel versions of primary colors.
I’ll give a quick description of the steps I followed to make the stars, but the directions are condensed. I have included a video at the bottom that shows how simple the stars are to create.
To start I cut the maps into four inch squares. For the smaller book page stars I cut two inch squares. Because the Atlas pages were heavier, smaller stars and squares would not have been easy to fold and glue.
The next step involves folding four times, twice on the diagonal, twice straight across the middle. Along the middle line on each side, snip a cut about 3/4 of an inch for the 4 inch star. For the smaller star you will make a smaller snip. Trial and error is the best way to judge how long to make the snip.
At this point, you will turn the paper over on itself and glue the edge of the star point together. Hot glue made it quick and easy for me, but I have tough fingertips and am not too bothered by the heat. You want to use strong glue to grab hold quickly so you don’t have to hold the star tip too long.
Glue four points from each square, then glue another square into four points. After gluing, the middle of the star will have a raised dimension. I sometimes use a sharp pencil to push the star back into the proper shape gently. Glue two stars together, string a clear thread through the top, knot, and hang.
My star was created from a page of one of my favorite books, Anne of Green Gables. I also used Mod-Podge on these and my atlas stars to add a coating of glittery crystal.
I use books I find at local thrift stores and yard sales for projects such as these. You could also photocopy pages of books you love or copy old letters and photographs with a scanner or photocopier to use. Photographic stars would be a terrific idea for a party with the person of honor’s image on stars hanging from the ceiling or light fixture. Have fun making your stars. I had a great time creating mine. They are easy and inexpensive and are sure to please.
The original YouTube video I had included with the post is no longer available. I wasn’t able to find another with this same technique, so I made me own. I was going to edit out my stumble in the middle of it, and then decided to leave it, since it is the real me, and like me, I’m sure you have erred a bit when you’ve attempted some blog posts. So…I’ll let it stand as is. It makes me laugh.
My IAVOM (In A Vase on Monday) this week contains half garden/half purchased flowers. The foliage from my garden is Pine, Holly, and Aucuba leaves. The arrangement is my revolving Christmas table decoration. As the flowers fade, I remove them and add new stems.
The greenery will last for the entire month and even longer if I keep it. The Aucuba stem has rooted for me in the past, but the bush takes years to become full size, and it is easier to purchase a nursery plant if you want to include it in your garden beds. I love Aucuba greens. They are lovely for arranging flowers. The sturdy, long stems are like a grid inside the vase and will help separate your flowers and hold them steady.
A Christmas Angel and an old antique crystal dish holding extra ornaments are alongside the vase. I have many empty vases and bowls filled with baubles in dark areas around the house. They speckle the dark corners in the house with Christmas cheer.
The red mini-carnations are over a week old and still blooming nicely. They have a mild cinnamon fragrance. The white roses were a lucky find, purchased in the supermarket; it is rare to find roses with such a high petal count and without browning for under $10.00.
Flower Arranging Tip: To choose a bunch of roses that will last, gently squeeze the base of the rose where it joins the stem. If it is squishy, it won’t last. If the feel is firm, the roses are fresh. Slightly open Roses will continue to bloom. Flowers that end in a sharp point are unlikely to unfurl. Cut the stems underwater at a diagonal to make roses last even longer in an arrangement. This technique keeps the stem from forming an air bubble and allows the water to flow into the entire stem.
Are you like me? Sometimes, I gift myself with computer programs that enable me to blog more easily, write with better grammar, and listen to my words read back to me. I thought it would be a good idea to share throughout this week, along with some other reposts, the computer apps I use that make life easier and help me move toward completing goals.
Today’s app is Ribbet.com. The program helps me create beautiful photos with some tweaking for fun. I feel like a child again when I decorate my favorite garden photos with this app. The photo above is tweaked with Ribbet.
Here is my original photograph, a summer capture of Verbena blossoms. It’s very pretty on its own, but I love to play around with overlays to take images from normal to showy.
I uploaded the Verbena photograph to Ribbet.com. Square photos work best on my blogs, so I cropped the image first and Auto-fixed the colors. My computer shows content on the left side and a work area on the right.
To read the symbols on the toolbar, hover over them, and you will see the name appear. I used Effects to add a matte border to my photograph. You can strengthen the matte effect by sliding the strength bar to the right. You can use the same effect twice on the photo to create a strong image. There is also a Text symbol that enables me to add words.
I added some Bokeh lights using the Overlay filter. I did the opposite with the lights and diminished their effect so that they would only lightly highlight the photo. At this point, I was satisfied with the image and saved it to my computer.
I have over a decade of archives. Throughout the year I’m going to pull out a few of my favorites, and a few of yours too. God bless you all throughout the month of December.
Brightly hued-flowers surround me at any venue I visit this time of year. I love them but also enjoy the simplicity of Paperwhite blooms. The fragrance is authentic Spring at the beginning of Winter. The flowers are small, the size of a half-dollar, but they have a strong and resilient scent. Mine have been blooming for several days and they still are very fragrant.
It is gratifying that all the work involved in forcing the bulb was done for me. I purchased the plant already growing, near bloom, and anchored in a sturdy bulb vase. My responsibility has been nothing more than enjoying the beautiful scent.
In another room, I have a Hyacinth bulb beginning to grow. I have done some tweaking to bring this flower into bloom. In early September I bought the bulbs. There are five in all, and I placed them in their package in my refrigerator produce drawer. When I put the bulb in a vase with the water level just touching the bottom, the roots quickly began to grow. I’ll update the blog when the plant blooms.
Whatsoever is lovely in my life this week is flowers blooming in November, filling my home with sweet fragrance.
Writers have written many an eloquent word and quote about the beauty of fragrant flowers, and although the quote below doesn’t specifically mention fragrance, I like the image it suggests. How fragrant life would be if we looked at the whole world as a garden.
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” — Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
