A Story - "Soul Music" and Indoor Lettuce

A Story

Soul Music

The radio host tried to convince the audience that the song he was going to play was good, heartfelt, inspiring.  No, no, no.

I sighed.  Where was the emotion?  The joy, sadness, anger, love?  I missed the days of raw original music not generated by computers.

I pulled up to the church. A friend's son had died.

As a prelude to the funeral, a fiddler soulfully played Scottish laments.  Tears pricked eyes.  The older man next to me dabbed his nose with a tissue.

Old hymns were sung reminding us of grace, hope, love.

We left nourished, comforted, healed.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed some lettuce seedlings in the garden.  They were in really good shape even though we have had some frosts.  I planted up a few of them  and put them under my small grow light. They grew so well I decided to plant some seeds in a container. They sprouted in a day and began growing really nicely. I won't have enough lettuce for a big salad but certainly enough for adding to sandwiches. I've already picked some leaves.  I fertilize with all purpose liquid fertilizer every watering - about once a week.  They are planted in garden soil not potting soil but any kind of soil would do.

I'm so pleased with how this is going that I plan on making regular seedings over the course of the winter. It will be nice to have some fresh home-grown produce and it will save a little bit of money.

This lettuce is a leaf lettuce with red markings that grows very well in the outside garden as well.
 

A Story - "Stealthy Intruder" and some Cheerful Flowers for November

 A Story

She scanned the trees searching for her stalker, but she couldn't see him anywhere.  Was he still spying on her?  She bent down slowly and began to weed her garden, her senses heightened as she wondered where he was.  His threats were becoming a daily occurence.

A droning buzz suddenly circled her.  He was trying to frighten her, but she held her ground.  She continued picking her sweet peas.

Suddenly she was face to face with him.  One foot away, he confronted her with his bright black eyes, magenta throat, and flashy green feathers.

He really was a beautiful hummingbird.

Some random flower photos to brighten a dull November day.  Blue and purple delphinium in front of magenta clematis.

Mullein (verbascum) is a wild flower but it can be incorporated into a garden to give a good vertical feature.  The leaves are soft plush green- grey. It is a biennial.  It can reseed in a garden but rarely is a problem as not many seeds germinate.

A really interesting collection of plants at the Montreal Botanical Gardens several years ago.  The spiky green "hair" is lots of fun.

A Story - "A Dog's Life" - and Some Special Dogs

 A Story

A Dog's Life

From the time he was a young puppy, Marshall was in training.  Marshall had to obey his owner: no chasing cats, no jumping on people.  He always came when called.  His owner gave him fun things to do: searching for objects, playing frisbee, navigating obstacle courses.

From the time she was a young puppy, Molly did whatever she wanted. She chewed shoes, pulled on the leash and never came when called.  Her behaviour meant she rarely played with other people or dogs.

One day Marshall found a lost child.

One day Molly ran into the street as a car came.

Since we are on the theme of dogs,  here are some photos of dogs that have lived and visited with us.  This is Bonnie who was my daughter's dog.  Bonnie was energetic, mischievous and fiercely loyal to my daughter.

This is Bella, my neighbour's dog.  She comes for walks with me.  She looks a bit like the Littlest Hobo from TV fame years ago and she also has a very independent spirit.

Our two Labs that we had for about 12 years.  Ginger and Snap were sisters.  Ginger, on the right, was the bossy one but she was afraid of the vet and couldn't handle car rides.  Her sister Snap loved to play find the Kong outside and didn't mind the vet. I thought Snap would be very sad when Ginger died but we had our son's dog at that time and that eased the transition.

They almost always slept touching each other.

This is Jaws, who my son took in from a shelter.  He was extremely stressed at first but my son won him over and he became a real cuddlebug. He was much smaller than the Labs, only about 25 lbs. but he never felt that he was a little dog and happily played with them. He stayed with us for several years when our son's job didn't fit with keeping a dog.

Sullivan is a newer addition to the family and belongs to our other son.  He is playful, gentle, well-behaved and a bit of a chicken.  A good friend to our young grandson.

A Story - "Wasted Life" - Purple Aster, Red Leaves

 A Story

Wasted Life

September 19, 1970, was the day that Linda decided to waste her life.  It was the day she told her mother she was pregnant, the father not interested.

"You can't keep it.  You'd be wasting your life."

Linda moved in with her friend's family who helped her stay afloat.  Eventually she became a teacher.

September 19, 2015, Linda cradled her delightful newborn grandson in her arms.

"Grandma, play with me."

"Grandma, look at my picture."

The two older grandchildren vied for her attention.  She loved spending time with them.  They were precious.  It was wonderful to be a young grandmother.

The last wildflower to die to a hard frost is the purple aster.  It is the fall bookend to the purple crocuses in the spring. The asters are one of the last food sources for the wild bees before winter comes.

I don't know what kind of tree this is but the dark red leaves are super nice contrasted against the rough cedar bark.

A Story - "Silence" and Dried Flower Arrangements

 A Story

Silence

After the funeral, friends hugged James,  They promised to deliver casseroles, arranged to do chores, shared memories of his lovely wife who had died just before her sixtieth birthday.  His daughter assured him she'd call every day.  His son encouraged him to come with him on holiday.  Robert was glad to see his friend being supported.

Reluctantly, Robert returned home because the carer was due to leave.  His wife was still sleeping.  He mindlessly made a sandwich after noticing the message light wasn't flashing.  Silence engulfed him.  The lonely emptiness of caring for someone with dementia left him swaying precariously.

It can be fun to experiment with drying various flowers.  I was surprised at how well pink peonies dried.  They're the main feature in this arrangement. As well as the usual statice,  some astrantia, sedum, ornamental onion seed heads fill out the arrangement. For some longer wispy accents, I used coral bell seed heads and grape hyacinth popped-open seed stems.

This little posey has quite a few dried roses - some regular size, some miniature. In the back are some ornamental onions that still have petals, some yarrow and some astrantia.

This is a more traditional collection of dried flowers.  I didn't grow them. So there is strawflowers, statice, gomphrena, and a bit of wheat. I have in the past had good success growing gomphrena and the flowers keep their colour for a long time. Gomphrena usually comes in pink, red, and white.

A Story- "The Wolf" and Coleus, Pink-Polka-Dot plant, Geraniums

 A Story

The Wolf

The sheep saw the wolf tiptoeing around the perimeter of the field but they unsuspectingly kept grazing.

Craftily, the wolf plotted his moves but he'd wait for dusk.

Suddenly, a flurry of white and black rocketed into the field scaring the sheep.  They ran, hearts thumping, this way, then the other.  The dog raced in arcs, driving them forward.  The sheep arrived at the pen, hardly knowing how they got there, panting with fear.

The sheep huddled together, worried about the dog.  But he was gone.  They sighed in relief.

They didn't see the wolf slinking off into the distance.

Last spring I started some coleus from seed.  I always find that coleus is slow to grow at first but quite a few of the seeds germinated and I put them together in a large pot on the back deck where they got morning sun.  I didn't pay much attention to them but as the summer progressed and they grew bigger, I started to really enjoy their colourful leaves. It seemed a shame that soon the frost would kill them and that would be the end of them.  I decided to take some cuttings to overwinter in the dining room.

I cut shoots about 4" long and dipped the ends in rooting hormone.  I was feeling cheap and decided to just plant them in 4" pots( reused) in garden soil instead of buying potting mix.  In a week or so, they had all rooted. I'm really pleased that it worked so well.  Because they don't need full sun, they will be fine on a table set back a couple of feet from the window.  In the spring, I will pot them into bigger pots and give them a good pinch so that they branch out more.

It's such a pretty collection of colour.

   I also started some pink-polka dot plants last spring.  This one (actually two) is a red variety. It was much larger but I gave it a real prune and so it's a manageable size again.  I read that pink-polka dots are a short-lived perennial and sometimes die after they have bloomed.  The pink ones I grew, which got to about 12" tall, were starting to bloom.  Again it seemed a waste, after starting them from seed, to just say goodbye to them so I have taken cuttings and am trying to root them in water. Internet advisers suggest that the cuttings be potted in soil when the roots are 2" long.  It's only been a week and no sign of roots yet but I do see some swelling near nodes so I guess the roots will come out soon.  I change the water every 2 days.

I bought these three geraniums on sale at the very end of the bedding plant season from the grocery store.  I only paid .99c each.  I didn't feel like potting them up so I just kept them limping along in the original pots. In February, I will start fertilizing them and get them going more vigorously and then in April/May I can take some cuttings.  I'll pot up the original plants into bigger pots.  

I tried to take some cuttings from larger geranium plants I had in the garden in September but they didn't root even though I used rooting hormone.  I had good success taking cuttings in the spring so I guess with geraniums the season is important. 

A Story - "Drone Flight" and Minnie Pearl Phlox, Evening Primrose, Wild Daisy, Mauve Clematis

A Story

Flying over the Icelandic moonscape, the drone smoothly closed in on the volcano.  At a safe distance, the operator took zoom photos of the lava flows, the crater.  Toxic gases drifted erratically threatening the lungs of the oblivious tourists lounging in the mineral waters of the Blue Lagoon a few miles away.  South of the volcano, Grindavik valiantly tried to hold the lava back with huge earth berms but, in a couple of spots, the black lava dripped ominously over the walls.

The drone's battery became low.  The operator regretfully terminated the dramatic flight over Iceland from his Colorado office.

Minnie Pearl phlox is an early blooming, shorter phlox. It helps to bridge the gap between spring and summer flowers blooming in the middle of June. It's not always easy to find but it is hardy and super reliable.

These evening primrose were initially given to me about forty years ago.  I have divided it and moved it around and enjoyed it every June.  It is somewhat aggressive so it needs to be planted where it can be managed with other strong growers.  If it's planted at the edge of the garden, the lawn mower can keep it in check. In the fall, the leaves turn a lovely dark red. It blooms best in full sun but will still give you plenty of colour in a shadier location.

The native daisies are so pretty I let a patch grow in our back lawn.

Here is a pale purple clematis I've had for several years.  Clematis like to have cool roots but sun for the top growth so you can either mulch the roots with hard scaping (rocks, patio stones, etc.) or put down wood chips.  Another way to keep the roots cool is to plant low growing, shallow rooted plants near it. I have pulmonaria near this one.

There is a lot of hoopla about how to prune clematis.  In my zone 4 garden all the clematis that survive the winter bloom on new growth.  I am very haphazard about pruning them and find they grow well no matter what I do. A little bit of slow release fertilizer in the spring will give them the nourishment they need for the season.