A Story - "His Wonderful Blue Eyes" and Red Colour in November - Burning Bush and Anthurium

 His Wonderful Blue Eyes

"So you're not seeing Malcolm anymore?" Julie asked Laurel.

"No, we decided to call it quits."

"You don't seem very disappointed."

"Well, that's because I'm seeing someone tomorrow," Laurel smiled.

"That was quick!"

"I've known this fella for while and he just melts my heart."

"Do you have a picture of him? Is he cute? Is he funny? Is he friendly?"

"All of those things.  Here let me find his picture on my phone."

Laurel scrolled through her photos and then with a big grin showed Julie the photo of her special guy.

Julie groaned when she saw the photo and gave Julie a light punch on her shoulder.

"It's a baby!"

"Not just any baby. It's my little nephew and he is just a darling. And he thinks I'm pretty cool, too. As soon as he sees me, he reaches out for me. He loves it when I walk around carrying him."

"Pretty hard for Malcolm to compete with those big blue eyes." 

This photo features two shrubs considered invasive in Ontario : euonymus alatus (Burning Bush) and European euonymus (Spindle tree). The fluffy fronds are native goldenrod gone to seed.  The shrubs came with the property and I am just enjoying them even though they have a bad rap. My bigger concern in the yard is the common buckthorn which makes tons of berries and has thorns. I'm doing what I can to get rid of the buckthorn near the house and letting the euonymus and honeysuckle have free rein.

This bush nearly died last year because it was so dry but it has made a good recovery. The soil is very shallow where it is growing with the bedrock only down a few inches.

After the leaves fell off the big shrub, they made a pretty carpet on the ground.

Worth noting that euonymus are poisonous to pets.

Someone gave me this anthurium recently.  Although I've often seen them in the stores, I'd never bought one. It is an epithetic kind of plant so I treat it similarly to the way I do  my orchid. I sit the inner pot in a container of half-strength liquid fertilizer and let it soak for a couple of hours.  Then I drain it and put it back in its porcelain pot. It is in a bright location (west window). So far so good, but I've only had it for a couple of weeks. This plant is also poisonous to pets.

It's so shiny it looks like it is made of plastic. A real plant masquerading as a fake.