Tillandsia

Oh wow! I just noticed this change of color yesterday. This would be the "pup" of my origional plant, and according to the Sunset Western Garden Book, "...As plants prepare to bloom, their central leaves redden. Red flower spike appears in late winter or early spring." Oh! I am SO excited!! This must be T. bulbosa. It didn't have a tag when I bought it.

More of St. Francis & the potato vine

THIS is the photo I meant to include in that last post. This particular potato vine bloomed quite a bit too. Nice lavender flowers that looked like...morning glories....duh. Do the green potato vines bloom too? My green ones didn't get as much sun as this purple (Blackie) one did. After discovering just how easy these are to propagate, I filled the house with them. ;>) ok, maybe there aren't THAT many, but there are several just biding time until they can go back outside. Coleus too. Oh my goodness!~

St. Francis and the potato vine

The little St. Francis garden was such a colorful spot in Phoebe's yard this summer. However, the potato vine, which I do love,

started getting carried away. It shaded the petunias. It shaded the Coleus. It even crowded St. Francis right out of the 1/2 barrel!

And it just kept on growing..oh rats! I had a better photo..I'll look for it and add it out of sync. It just got huge!

And then the weather changed. Jack Frost took the wind right out of the potato vine's sails.

Happy Holidaze!

Someone was supposed to get new Christmas duds for these two but Someone forgot all about that. 'Tis a wonder they've got their festive hats!

The Charlie Brown Norfolk Island Christmas tree.

Phoebe's stocking.

A dark and damp December day

I don't do dreary well and since I've been grazing on my lettuce patch rather heavily, it seemed the logical thing to do would be to visit my local nursery to replenish the crop. The lettuce was the main reason for stopping at Windmill but you know, you can't just dash in and dash out of a NURSERY! Ya might miss something!

But dash I did..ok, it was a sprightly mosey..but these Primulas caught mine eyes as I headed out the door with the lettuce. They're just too cute, don't you think? And they are now safely potted up in Phoebe's yard where the deer can't eat them. Dunno why I didn't get four of them, which would have fit perfectly in this pot. The little Billbergia wasn't very well seated with its siblings so it got to move in with the Primmys. Looks rather silly there. I like that.

Phoebe was hoping that I'd brought her yet another treat. Fortunately, she hasn't made the connection between what is growing in the half barrels and what she licks up from my "empty" salad bowl. Yeah, my dog does my dishes. Wanna come over for lunch? (just kidding. She "rinses them" and I do wash them with real soap and hot water.) Really. I do.

This half barrel grew basil and tomatoes over the summer. It probably should have some peas growing in it too.

Remember! Don't drink and drive!

little did I know

that the old poem "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple..." would be changed, in my world to "...I shall grow purple..."

needs a caption!

I need a good laugh. Help me come up with a caption for this picture. Please?

and roses. the roses are still blooming too.

Blooming this 9th day of December, 2007

cleaning gutters

Cleaning gutters used to be kinda fun. I'd just get up on the roof (its flat), enjoy the view, spy on the neighbors, and toss the leaf matter to the ground. But then getting off the roof and back onto the ladder became just too scary for this challenge-challenged gal. I haven't been up on the roof for years. Now I force myself to climb the ladder to "dip"into the gutters and sling the leafage ...only because it isn't really calming to watch waterfalls flow down

in front of the windows when we actually DO get rain.
Gutter compost does not have a nice earthy smell. This particular "brand" smells more like rotting olives. Do you suppose that is because the gutters are filled with olive leaves? Go figure! Anyhow, I finally figured out how to get self-cleaning gutters! You simply don't have them replaced for 50 years!

(In my defense, the sad truth is that the developers who bought this property will tear down the house so there is not much point in putting up a new gutter.)

Safety in numbers

I felt really, really safe one day last week when 8 officers parked on either side of the door of my workplace. The fact that they were all 100' away and enjoying lunch was still ok....their presence was duly noted by all. :>)

Many times a week "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" plays in my head even though these kids have never challenged me.

If only they would pig out on the chasmanthe, the vinca, the Bermuda grass, the nut sedge.. and leave the potted plantings alone!

Buckly only comes to visit for a few weeks in the fall but Doereen and her sister and the kids can often be discovered resting under the rose bushes or between the bamboo grove and the Azaleas or on the front lawn, dining on potted plants. Last week they ate an Aeonium.

little tree hugger

I've half a mind to make a whole herd of these "little people" and attatch them to each and every tree on the place. However, as there are over 200 trees and I have more pressing things to attend to, she will have to speak for all of us.

does that mean....

I was hoping that this sign "Fire Protection Available" posted at the nursery meant that we could look through one of the Firemen's Calendars and choose which fireman we wanted to take home with our tree. Alas, such is not the case. But wouldn't it be a grand idea? "Yes, I'll take three trees and three firemen; June, August and September. Thank you very much."