The start of my garden and Dec. blooms

Good afternoon Folks ~ This morning I was going through some old pictures and came across an instant photo DH had taken of me in March 1982. This is the start of my main garden. It had rained and I was out there trying to save little beet seedlings, and whatever else I had. I didn't have a clue about gardening really and I think someone had given me these seeds. I had a flesh colored bareback top on, and a jean skirt, and I was much younger and thinner then.



Here was this same space in April of this year.
28 years later, my garden has grown from one to several,
and my love of gardening is still growing strong.




This morning I got outside and worked in the main garden for the first time in weeks. Other things have been going on, so it really felt good getting out there today. There was even one lone crepe myrtle bloom opening, along with new leaves coming out.


Below are more pictures I took this afternoon.

This is a pot of Coleus on the northeast side of our back screened room.


Here we have a Bleeding Heart
Clerodendrum thomsoniae



The next two pictures are Russelia equisetiformis,
Firecracker Plants.
I've had the red for years and got the yellow a couple of years ago.






The next two pictures are of two Bougainvillea that I have. The reddish one grows happily with Louis Philippe (Florida Cracker) rose up and over my shed.





Louis Philippe rose



Begonia blooms.



St. Vincent Lilac ~ Solanum seaforthianum


Plumbago


La Marne


Pink Pet or Caldwell's Pink



"From December to March,

there are for many of us three gardens -

the garden outdoors,

the garden of pots and bowls in the house,

and the garden of the mind's eye."

Katherine S. White

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

What a Wonderful World

In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season,
in spite of economic woes,
and bad news we hear every day,
may we see beauty and love and remember what was created so long ago
~ a wonderful world ~.

Enjoy this beautiful rendition of an old song by Eva Cassidy.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Orchids and roses, etc.

We are having a lovely, quiet, gray, with a little rain, Sunday. I am hoping we get a lot more rain as we really need it. Speaking of water, I posted this summer about losing our well, and having to use city water for watering gardens. I don't water like I used to do, even though I was frugal with watering then, but am more so now. This week in our water bill we were told that it's possible our water bill will go up $50-$75 a month, because of the EPA. Oh for goodness sake! What next? Here's what next, we found out in the same days' mail, that our car registration went up around $22 more for each vehicle.

Ok, enough being unthankful. I'm thankful we have clean water and vehicles to drive. Now, where's that $$ tree to grow in my garden?

*****
DH has been sorting through iron collected through the years, some to sell for scrap and some to keep. Well, in his keep pile, I found two smaller heart gratings for windows. I showed the larger one here. As I was sitting here writing this all out, I thought of where to hang these on our cottage, and told DH what I thought. He said it was a great idea. They will hang on either side of the front window on the outside wall of my little space, after we repaint of course. Which is a project for cooler weather. Yippee!




Here come the blooms: click on pictures for a larger view.

Cassia bicapsularis




Confederate Rose ~ A pale yellow, but in this lighting it looks more chartreuse.



Desert cassia



Golden sun



Louis Philippe a.k.a. Florida Cracker rose



Next two pictures are of morning glories.





Pink Pet or Caldwell's Pink in the next two pics.





An unknown, that someone told me the name of recently but I don't have it in my brain yet.



These next tiny orchids I bought many years ago at a local garden event. I lost the tag.





Here is a Vanda I think, given to me by a friend a little over 20 years ago.





Last but not least is a comical picture of our outdoor girl, who is sleeping in a nest in the liv. rm. right this minute. This terra cotta chicken is a planter, but I haven't put anything in it because there is not a hole in the bottom. Anyway, we put water in it and Tork likes to drink out of it.



***

Don't go through life,

grow through life.

Eric Butterworth

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

A Quiet Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving.

We puttered around here Thanksgiving morning. (I had already made the pecan pie with struesel topping the day before.) I got the turkey giblets, and heart simmering along with the neck so that I could make gravy later. Then got the turkey in the oven, and made the green bean casserole. That was such a yummy casserole. I will definitely make it and the pecan pie again.

While I was puttering inside, DH moved a heavy bit of concrete that had been in the ground and had had a 4x4 post embedded for a fence post. The post had rotted and broken off, so the cement was dug up and just sitting around until we could figure out what to do with it. I thought of using it as a mushroom next to our huge frog out front, so that's where DH dug a hole to for the 'mushroom'. This morning I found a piece to put atop the square hole in the cement and like the look. Click on picture for a larger view.



~ Back to food preparation ~

For something to snack on to keep us from starving before dinner was ready, I cooked up the turkey liver in a bit of butter, mashed it all, added a tad of dry sherry, onion and garlic powders, and 4 oz of cream cheese. Mixed all together and refrigerated it until time. I served it with a little sherry and that was nice before the meal.

The spread was served on homemade garlic/onion bread that was cut into squares and triangles and toasted.


This was the best green bean casserole I've ever had. To the recipe I also added sliced water chestnuts and diced celery. I think I'm going to do up a batch of onion rings like in the recipe to have with wine before dinner some evening, as it's much less fattening than battered and fried onion rings. These were delicious.



The pie was made using 2 c. of processed fresh pumpkin, that I'd made up from a pumpkin we bought at the veggie market for $1 the day after Halloween. It was so good and then that struesel with the bits of candied ginger in it. Oh my. The recipes can be found here.



May we all have thankful hearts each and every day,
for our many blessings.

******

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude,

a quiet joy.

Ralph H. Blum

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL