God Bless You on this Easter Day.
Author: Timelesslady
Married with children and grandchildren. Reader, writer, painter - maybe a bit of an artist. Gardener... Led by the Spirit.
Perspective – Remembrance & Reminder
Today, Good Friday, I wanted a reminder from nature of the Cross of Christ Jesus. Venturing into the woods, I fashioned a cross of twigs, fastened it with hardened twirls from thorn plants, and set it within a rustic stump. A good remembrance I thought as I snapped my photo.
I began to make my way out of the woods and felt a pull to turn instead in the opposite direction. As I walked, I glanced down at the trail below my feet and there before me lay a perfect natural cross composed of tree roots.
I was reminded again that all so often God has the perfect moment, word, or circumstance waiting for me if I just heed his spirit and walk in the way he opens to me.
I have found this verse from Isaiah a blessing throughout this past year…perhaps you will too. It’s a good one to memorize as a reminder that God is willing to lead all of us if we will but listen for his voice.
“And if you leave God’s paths and go astray, you will hear a voice behind you say, “No, this is the way; walk here.” Isaiah 30:21
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Perspective – Rain and Rainbows
Rain or Rainbows – What a terrific subject for this week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. I went to one of my favorite places over the weekend, Fortescue, New Jersey, on the Delaware Bay, only to find that the weather was contrary to what we had hoped for when we left home.
The sky was cold and grey and the temperature reflected it. The rain pelted those fishing off the beach; we think they were trying to hook some winter flounder, striper or bunker. We saw a fishing rod bend with a possible bite, but whatever nibbled at it got away.
Where there is rain you will find rainbows. Although I didn’t see a rainbow in the sky, the upturned oyster shells scattered by the surf on the beach reflected a brilliant iridescence, the only rainbow I found.
When they dry, the oysters are plain and bluish-gray in appearance.
The last rainbow is a throwback photograph and video of last year’s vacation in Jamaica. In the early morning, on the way to breakfast, my husband spotted this amazing spider web, damp after the gardener’s early morning watering; the web’s moisture captured the sun and reflected it as a shimmering rainbow.
My 30 second YouTube Video will give you a good look at the spiderweb as it danced in the wind and reflected rainbows.
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Praise – Palm Sunday
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
~ Romans 5:8
“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’ ”
~ Billy Graham
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Perspective, Pheathers and Phascination – Hello Friends!
Today I conceded that WordPress Blogs are the most user-friendly, and paid the fee for my blog’s overabundant media library. This will give me another year blogging at WordPress. I suppose I should say…I’m back.
I’m sharing the Cornell Lab Bird Cams as a start-up post. I’ve been especially intrigued with the Hawk, Fruit Feeders, and Savannah Osprey Cams. I’ve included them in my post. The bird cams are one of my favorite places to visit online. Enjoy!
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Quote – Generosity
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Planting – All One Color/Moss Gardening
Over the last few months I’ve been collecting moss. A bit from here, a patch from there, I find it in places where motorcycles have created ruts on woodland paths, in deep holes dug by children for their games of war, in low places on the side of the roads I travel. Earth seems to heal her wounds in deep green moss.
I thought moss was a good entry in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge for this week. CFFC: All One Color
Collecting mosses is easy. I always try to take a piece that is not in an area where people walk or gather. I don’t want to blight the beauty of the landscape by being greedy. Since I’ve collected only bits at a time, the moss garden has taken about eight weeks to complete. The area is shady, the main job in maintaining and nurturing the patch will be to water, water, and water. I must be diligent in this area if I want to have success. It will still be a long shot. When the summer weather nears one hundred degrees even the hardiest plants begin to wilt.
Most mosses have very shallow roots. To plant I use a trowel, rough up the soil a bit, lay the moss on the stirred up ground and water.
I isolated a few of the greens in the mosses, there are surely dozens more, but this is a good representation of some of the tones the moss contains. If you are interested in moss and growing a moss garden take a look at these sites.
Moss and Stone Gardens
Moss Gardening
Growing Moss
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Quick Tips – Five Tips on Tuesday/In the Garden
Here are a few quick garden tips. I have probably mentioned a few of them in previous posts, but they are worth repeating.
1. Are your hands too dirty to even touch the doorknob to get into the house? A net bag, think onions, potatoes etc., can be a terrific outdoor soap receptacle. I used some of my favorite flexible garden ties for this tip, wrapping the bag and attaching it to the hose spigot with the same tie.
2. Are you having a problem with ants getting into your hummingbird feeder? Wrap tape sticky side out around the hook post.
3. Are your hummingbirds tired? Just kidding—had to show this sweet hummingbird swing my husband gave me for Mother’s Day. Yes, I was thrilled with the gift!
4. Have your gorgeous tea roses reverted back to a deep red flower? Your rootstock has lived and the grafted on hybrid rose is gone. Since I think these wild roses are pretty in their own way, I will allow them to grow until they begin to look scraggly. The hybrid rose will not regenerate on this root stock. The only solution you have if you dislike the wild rose is to dig it up and replant a new hybrid rosebush. I’ve decided I’m going to enjoy the wild rose this year.
“Grafted roses, commonly called budded plants, are plants where the desired rose is grafted or budded onto a rootstock of a different type. The point where the desired variety and the rootstock meet is called the bud union.” ~ Houzz.com
5. Are weedy plants growing in the cracked areas of your sidewalk and concrete? Boiling water will kill them just as quickly as chemical poison sprays and will keep our world safer for upcoming generations.
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Pleasure – Mother’s Day
My daughter-in-law created this amazing ‘Nanny’ shirt for me for Mother’s Day. Do I need to say I LOVE IT? I’m saving it for a special occasion – a family barbecue. She sells through Etsy, and creates custom orders, and has a wide array of beautiful bows, baby items, jewelry, etc. You can reach the shop through this link – BooBooBean LLC, or through the icon located on the right-hand sidebar of this blog.
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Phamily – Four Generations
My great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, and the little one is me. This photo was taken about 55 years ago. Happy Mother’s Day!
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Plants – Herbal Teas
I’ve lost count of how many years I’ve grown the herb lemon balm. I use it mainly for tea. The butterflies and bees love it for the delicious nectar in its tiny white flowers. I have near two dozen plants growing in several gardens surrounding my home. Why do I grow so many? Well they self-seed, make excellent tea, are linked to longevity, will grow where other plants would succumb to bad conditions, new sprouts are easily transplanted to a new location, and most important, I find the plants pretty.
The batch above is growing strong around my Square Foot Garden boundaries. In some areas it has inter-mingled with spearmint that has also run rampant and multiplied from one plant.
These two herbs, steeped in just-boiled water make a lovely, invigorating, yet calming tea. If you find these plants in a garden nursery and have room to grow them, give them a try.
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Posies – Creating a Large Bouquet
Creating a large bouquet for special occasions (Hint – Mother’s Day is coming!) can be easy, if you choose the right flowers. I used hydrangeas and roses for this simple-to-assemble bouquet. You will need a large vase, 10 – 12 inches tall, for this arrangement. Remove all foliage from the stems that will fall below the water line. Fill the vase with water 3/4 full. Add flower food if your flowers come with a free packet.
Place your hydrangea stems in the vase first. These are heavy duty stems with beautiful leaves. Hydrangeas are temperamental. I didn’t do anything to condition mine and the blooms on one of them wilted overnight. A good way to condition hydrangeas is to burn the end with a candle. This seals the milky sap inside. A spray of water on the petals is also a good idea. I found an excellent in-depth post on how to condition these stems. If you are going to make the bouquet and use hydrangeas please check out this article first. Hydrangeas in the House-Tips for Making them Last!
The stems of the hydrangeas are strong. I used four and criss-crossed them within the vase to form a grid to hold the roses.
White roses are the next addition. They come packaged in packs of 12, but I used only eight in this arrangement. (I used the others for some corsages…the story of these will be told later in the week.) You could use any tall-standing flowers in place of the roses: lilies, carnations, spray roses, alstromeria, Dutch iris, etc. Cut all stems at an angle to allow them to draw up as much water as possible. Place the roses into arrangement within the criss-cross of the hydrangea stems. There you have it, an easy and beautiful bouquet for any special occasion.
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Plant – Chives
It’s a day of heavy rain here in the Northeast. Before the drops came down too hard I snuck outside with my camera and quickly took a photograph of my prettiest blooming garden plant: a beautiful bunch of lavender pompom blooms topping my chives. I enjoy using fresh herbs in my daily cooking, and chives add a bit of pizazz to many dishes. This week I used a few of them in homemade cream of potato soup. It was delicious, and the chives added some pretty color to the rather bland appearance of the soup.
Chives are easy to grow. Even the potted herbs you find in grocery stores will grow all season if you plant them early enough. My bunch of chives returns without fail every year, bigger and better and with more blossoms.
I’ve read you can pick and dry these blossoms. I think I will give it a try. Updates will follow. 🙂 Chives fit perfectly into my gardening lifestyle.
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Plant – Cinnamon Fern Fiddleheads
Cinnamon Ferns (Osmunda cinnamomea) have unfurled during the warmth of the last few weeks. I love walking along woodland paths bordered by these feathery green plants. The fronds appear stately as they hold their spiky ‘cinnamon’ spores high; a scepter covered with the possibility of new life.
Quite often I will find Cinnamon Ferns and Skunk Cabbage growing in the same area.
“The Osmundastrum cinnamomeum fern forms huge clonal colonies in swampy areas. These ferns form massive rootstocks with densely matted, wiry roots. This root mass is an excellent substrate for many epiphytal plants. They are often harvested as osmunda fiber and used horticulturally, especially in propagating and growing orchids. Cinnamon Ferns do not actually produce cinnamon; they are named for the color of the fertile fronds.”
~ Wikipedia
Cinnamon ferns are called fiddleheads in the beginning stages of their unfurling. Here are a few photos of the stages of their growth.
Chefs can create gourmet dishes out of fiddleheads. I’m not sure which variety of fern they use, but think it must be a well-remembered dining experience by anyone who tries this culinary treat.
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Quote – Wisdom on Wednesday/Prayer
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Project & Phlutters – Butterfly Feeding/First Swallowtail Part II
Creating my butterfly feeder was quick, easy and inexpensive. I had much of what I needed on hand. A dollar store windchime with four attachments where the chimes hung was the perfect piece of mechanics for hanging a shallow container filled with Gatorade or boiled sugar water. (4 parts water to 1 part sugar)
No instructions needed, use what you have on hand. The secret lies in the wire and plastic container: a plastic dish scrubber. The butterfly can land on this and use his long proboscis to dine on the nectar. I created holes in the plastic dish with a hot ice pick.
When I added the wire for hanging I let the end curl upward. These make the perfect spear for rotting/old fruit. I was going to use a strawberry, but remembered they are heavily sprayed with insecticide. It is better to use fruit that is within a peel unless it is organic.
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Phlutters – Butterfly Feeding/First Swallowtail Part I
I watered a patch of newly planted grass yesterday, and was delighted when I saw the first yellow swallowtail butterfly of 2017 ‘puddling‘ in the dampness.
He fluttered around the yard searching out more patches of damp earth for sipping, making use of the nutrients, salts and amino acids the earth contains. I was surprised upon searching the Internet to find products to purchase for ‘puddling’ butterflies. These butterfly feeders are easy to make yourself. Today, I’ll gather up some materials and post my creations tomorrow.
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Quote – The Lily of the Valley
I love this beautiful old hymn. Yesterday, I was reminded of this description of Jesus, and the Bible verse it was based on, when I noticed the first flowers blooming in a nearby patch of naturalized Lily of the Valley. Years ago, I first noticed sprigs of it that had taken hold after someone dumped their garden clippings at the edge of the woods. Those small sprigs have multiplied over the years into a large swathe of plants. As is so often the case, persistence wins the day, and the Lily of the Valley has thrived.
The hymn was written in 1881 by Charles W. Fry
“I’ve found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll. Refrain:
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.”
~ Charles W. Fry 1881“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.”
~ Song of Solomon 2:1
This Bluegrass rendition of the hymn is by The Cluster Pickers.
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Pheathers – Oh Happy Day!
This morning I spied him/her for the first time. The hummingbird circled around the shepherd’s hook where the hummingbird feeder hung last year. I shouted out the happy news to my husband. When I’m finished this post I’ll take my feeder off the garage shelf, soak in hot sudsy water, rinse it well, fill it with boiled sugar water, and place it back on the hook. Oh Happy Day…the hummers have returned.
While I’m readying my yard for hummingbirds, take a look at the Cornell Lab West Texas hummingbird feeders in Live time.
