July 20, 2018       Fragrance in the garden

         I love fragrance in the garden and I specifically plant for it.  I’ve a ‘Little Gem’ Magnolia tree with big waxy white flowers that starts blooming in the spring and then intermittently through the summer and into the fall.  Just snapping off one blossom and bringing it in to lay on the coffee table fills a room with its sweet smell.

I plant more and more lavender each year – even though I often kill it.  Not enough sun, too much water, not enough water . . .if I knew how I was killing the lavender I wouldn’t have to expend so much money each year replacing them.  But finally, this year I got the variety called Phenomenal which is supposed to be just the plant for this hot, steamy plant zone.  When in bloom I cut long stems to make lavender wands or I just snip the blossoms to tuck into sachet bags and hang on lamps switches.  When I turn on the lamp, I brush the sachet and it releases the fragrance.

I have several Lonicera fragrantissima bushes; common name, Breath of Spring or Winter honeysuckle, that fill the yard with fragrance starting in winter and continuing through late spring.  They can stand the heat and the drought and some people think they are invasive.  I just cut them back and let them grow out again.  The birds love to nest in them and the long stems make great additions to floral arrangements.  A handful of bare branches in a vase during the dull days of winter will burst forth into bloom and quickly chase away the winter doldrums.

Every year I try to plant Moon Flowers – Ipomoea alba – which have heart shaped leaves on a vigorus vine and huge blossoms that open at dusk.  The fragrance is incredible.  The white blooms attract humming bird moths at night.  If you have kids, or just for the-kid-in-you, you start them from seed early and set them out below a strong trellis and they will climb well over 10 feet if given support and consistent water. This year I got a lovely stand of them and can’t wait for them to start blooming in late summer. They bloom after dusk, opening at night and closing in the morning sun. Not only are they extraordinarily fragrant – but watching the flowers open at dusk is awesome fun.  A little bit of patience is well worth the delight.  The bud will wiggle a bit, then turn up and slowly unfold.  If you haven’t the patience, you can witness this on You-tube . . . but then, you’ve really NOT experienced it appropriately.

Then there is the gardenia bush with the shiny leaves and haunting fragrance that lingers in the sultry evening.  I bought two new plants this spring and so far one likes its location and the other one doesn’t. [I believe I will move it today.]  I hope that one or both of these new shrubs will mature so that I can cut arms full of branches and bring them into the house for their fragrance.   Hopefully, one or both will grow to become a fine specimen and I can take it off my “garden plant bucket list.”

But, I feel the grand dame of all fragrance in the garden is the white Lilium ‘Casa Blanca’. It has beauty, stature, and fragrance – what else can you ask for? Their recurved blooms are often eight inches in breadth.  Given the right location, they will please you for many years.  It is wise to stake them just in case you have high winds in your garden.  I have successfully grown them for several years in different locations.  I find that here in North Carolina they prefer morning sun with a bit of shade.  I haven’t been able to grow them in full sun as they like cool soil – so 6 to 8 hours of sun works best in my location.

Visitors to my garden always notice the fragrance and can’t seem to get enough “sniff” of them. I often pick one or two stems as they come into bloom to bring into the house as a personal treat.  Their fragrance actually fills the whole house.  My one other word of caution besides staking, is to be careful of the anters.  Those pollen laden tips inside the blossom.  It is almost impossible to remove the stain from linen or clothing.  It does no harm to pull them off gently before you arrange them in the vase.

         If you are new to gardening, I suggest you plan to include as much “fragrance” as you can.  It is one of the main reasons I garden. . . . to experience the fragrances that only fresh trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers possess.

You can obtain the lilies from:

https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/381378-product.html

July 19, 2018 – Colchicums – A fall surprise for the Garden

         Colchicum – pronounced KOLL-chi-kum – is one of those little know treasurers in the garden. 

         I had always admired them in the bulb catalogs that come out in late spring and summer for fall planting.  They are pretty and bloom in the fall when we have little excitement except for Chrysanthemum or pansies.

         At my first home in North Carolina, I splurged and bought some. The bulbs are “pricey” compared to tulips or daffodils. I planted them near the front steps so that I would notice them.  At the same time, I sent some to my parents as an anniversary gift.  My Dad said it was only half-a-gift; I should have delivered them in person [with a visit] to dig them in.  I teased him, “The bulbs cost so much I couldn’t fly home to dig them in.”  I remember he belly laughed at my hyperbole.  I told him they would bloom in the fall as their yearly anniversary gift.  He'd never seen or heard of them before, so he was looking forward to the blooms.

         In September, I phoned and asked Mom to keep a look out for the blooms.  Every few days during my daily phone calls to Mom, she would report.  I was hoping they would bloom near their anniversary and when I called on their anniversary, Mom reported, “They are blooming!  Smart bulbs, they know the exact date!”  The next spring Dad reported the long strappy green leaves and when they died down in the garden. 

Every year for many years, I would call Mom and every year, like clockwork, they would be in bloom for their anniversary and my birthday.  One of those gifts that keep on giving.

Then I moved and I didn’t get a chance to dig up the bulbs to take with me, and I have been without any Colchicums for many years.  Mom moved in with my brother, Ken, so that she could be cared for and that year I had him dig up her Colchicums while in bloom so that Mom could enjoy them.  My brother showed Mom the blooming bulbs then plunked them in his garden.  Later, when they were dormant, he sent me half of what he'd dug up. 

That was a few years ago and I didn’t have any idea where I really wanted them on display so I plunked them in my vegetable garden in a vacant spot and babysat them for two years.  The first spring the leaves didn’t look that great, and the second year, they weren’t much better. I knew they were planted in the wrong location.  This summer, when the leaves turned brown and dried up to a crunch, I dug the bulbs and brought them in the house to rest for a month or so, in order to replant them by August at the latest.

I intend on setting them out in four different locations to make certain I find the right location.  I no longer take a chance on planting important specimens all in the same place.  I hedge my bets, like my Mom used to say, “Never put all your eggs in the same basket.”

I will report in late September when I expect them to bloom and maybe even chat about them in the spring when the strappy leaves are storing food for their fall flower dislay.

I purchased my original Colchicum Waterlily bulbs from:

https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/901590-product.html

        

         The very best horticulture article I have located is at:

         http://www.hortmag.com/archive/colchicums_by_the_yard

Additional information:

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=244395

https://www.finegardening.com/plant/autumn-crocus-colchicum-waterlilly

        

Index February through July 14, 2018

February 4, 2018	A latest trending word – pissant
February 6, 2018	Kissing Dutch Couple Statutes
February 8, 2018	My Funny Valentine
February 9, 2018	Heart motifs
February 10, 2018	The pot calling the kettle black
February 11, 2018	“Come-to-Jesus meeting”
February 12, 2018	“That’s cheating,” she said
February 13, 2018	The Valentine’s Day game
February 14, 2018	Writing in the margins
February 19, 2018	Hit the Wall
March 6, 2018	PotMaker – to help save the earth
March 7, 2018	72% of people say they sleep better in a clean house
March 8, 2018	My mushroom box has arrived
March 9, 2018	French Women Don’t Get Fat
March 13, 2018	Givenchy
March 14, 2018	Fashion twin?
March 29, 2018	The foot-in-the-Door Job Interview
March 30, 2018	Disappointment and surprise in the garden
March 31, 2018	You’ve probably wondered where I’ve been
April 1, 2018	Was it jealousy, envy or simply low self-esteem?
April 2, 2018	Dewit Dutch Hand Hoe RH
April 3, 2018	The keys on the red plaid ribbon
April 4, 2018	Baby Bella Crimini
April 5, 2018	I missed something this Easter
April 11, 2018	Drum roll please! Mushrooms
April 12, 2018	Isaiah Hankel PhD – Book Review
April 13, 2018	Recent wiregrass skirmish
April 14, 2018	Being defiant and finding a delightful surprise
April 17, 2018	Be your own Powder Puff Mechanic
April 20, 2018	Bletilla straita – often called “Hardy Orchid”
April 23, 2018	Second flush of mushrooms
April 24, 2018	Rain, weeds and a surprise visitor, little Raccoon
April 25, 2018	Do It Yourself – again I am at it.
May 7, 2018	New Coffee Maker
May 9, 2018	Chrysanthemum Cuttings
May 10, 2018	Inexpensive Tool Basket
July 7, 2018	Charles Krauthammer – 1950 to 2018
July 8, 2018	I’ve been absent for several reasons
July 9, 2018	First on my travel log: The Bodie Lighthouse, Nags Head, North Carolina
July 10, 2018	The Tray
July 11, 2018	Second reason for not blogging, “I’m out of action”
July 12, 2018	I can only hope so long on one foot . . .
July 13, 2018	Third and fourth reasons for not blogging
July 14, 2018	The Metaphor/simile project for writer’s class.

July 14, 2018 – The Metaphor/Simile project for writer’s class:

OUR PROMPT FOR JUNE WAS TO LOCATE A HOLIDAY FOR JUNE AND WRITE SOMETHING THAT INCLUDED A METAPHOR OR SIMILE

The following was my project:

National Eat your Vegetables day – June 17^th

         Yesterday was “National Eat your vegetables Day” and I celebrated by enjoying the incredible taste of sunshine and butter of just picked yellow crookneck squash.

         A few years back I grew Daikon radishes that are both delicious and fascinating.  You might have seen them visiting a health food store and wondered what they were. The cylinder white roots usually weigh in at one to two pounds and are as thick as your wrist and as long as your forearm.

         My experiment started when I planted tiny round seeds in the soft rich soil on a break-in-the-weather January day and immediately popped a cold frame over them to make them cozy in the days to come.

By mid-April, the Daikon radish leaves were a fountain of two-foot green ruffles cascading over the sides of the cold frame.  As the heat soared in early May, I removed the cold frame to cool them off and give them elbowroom.  The leaves grew flush to the ground until they waltzed towards harvest size when the white roots shrugged upwards out of the soil as the roots expanded in both diameter and length.

         Then one day, after a warm lush rain and afternoon sunshine, bare white shoulders slipped off their soil shawls in order to garner attention and fill their dance cards.

The last paragraph was a simile before I worked it into a metaphor. I actually prefer the simile better.  It is below – see what you think.

         Then one day, after a warm lush rain and full day of sunshine, I knew they were ready. Their bare white shoulders much like a coquettish woman in a sleeveless evening gown slipped off her soil shawl in order to get attention and dance requests.



More thoughts on the subject.

We all recognize: 

The world is a stage and we are all actors upon it.

-Shakespeare

Great, but to write a metaphor, I found it extremely difficult. I researched and located a thought provoking one but failed to jot down the author.  It is not mine.

Life is an hourglass, and I’m about to turn it over once more.

I could use that phrase to describe the many different jobs I’ve taken over the course of my career – tack one way, then another way.  Try to fit into what sort of jobs are out there and transform yourself to fit.  Yes, shame I didn’t jot down the author, it would be useful in the future.

That got my brain to working and I’ve a few more attempts below – that are not really that exciting, but I made a stab at something I find almost impossible to do.

      This ride called life is a traffic jam; where is the off ramp?

      In the high-speed traffic called life, I’m looking for an off ramp.

      My past maybe carved in stone, but I want to recut all the grooves.

      She is a little black dress adapting to all occasions.

And this one I am still working on.

Someone suggested it would be the good opening of a story:

      The willow bends and does not break. You acquiesce to others demands.  Yet, I’d like to uproot and be replanted elsewhere. - Given an option, perhaps I need to be uprooted and planted elsewhere. [I’ll need to tweak this, it is a work in progress.]

         Today’s blog ends in a challenge to you.  Go out and write a metaphor or two or a simile – or better yet – both!

July 13, 2018 – Third and fourth reasons for not blogging

         The second reason was out of order – the torn hamstring I noted July 11 and 12^th.

Third reason: Depression after my brother’s visit and my vacation

I was tired when I got home from my vacation with my brother, Ken, in middle May.  I guess I am out of shape.  Eight-hour drives are not the usual thing for me anymore and I had two of them within a four-day period.  I used to drive long hours daily when I worked for First American Title visiting title offices and training staff all over North Carolina.  That has been a dozen years ago and I am out of practice, but that long drive to Kill Devil Hills brought back many happy memories and stories.

         I abused my poor brother by talking too much.  It was a mixture of a fresh audience, happy memories, and owning a husband who is deaf.  When Ken said, “You sure talk a lot!” I knew he was maxed-out and I tried my best to shut up.

         Then, we both spent half a day in the blazing heat replacing the storm door at my front door.  The door is beautiful and as I watched my “jack of all trades” brother magically install it, I was astounded. He knew how it all went together including how you have to turn the door upside down in order for it to open from the left on the outside of the house compared to the salesperson at Lowe’s telling us that they only make opening from the right doors. 

Of course, Ken squinted at me in the store when the salesman said this.  Me, naïve that I am, couldn’t imagine that you don’t buy a left open door or a right open door for the situation. The salesman also told us we’d have to drill holes in the metal in order to switch it from right to left opening.  How my brother knew what to look for at the display model is beyond me.  But, Ken figured the salesman didn’t have a clue what he was talking about and that it was “interchangeable”.

It was one of those 95-degree days we get early in May and Ken was not used to that blazing sun or steamy heat and neither was I.  It tuckered us both out and we had to take a long break before the project was done.

I am always like this after vacations.  I am tired as well as stressed getting laundry done, things put away, and I become sad, because I have to wait for the next vacation and it will be a few years before we have another good time.

So, like many, depression got me down and mixed with the plagiarism issue, the end of May and early June were a struggle for me and the blogging went by the wayside.

Fourth Reason:

When I finally got into the swing of life again – in couple of weeks, I decided to get serious and get my gardens in order and start reducing them and/or making them easier to take care of.

I had a full width of English Ivy on the north end of my house and very often have to trim it back as it wants to climb the house or head out to the lawn.  I will no longer “trim back things” 4 or 5 times a season.  I don’t have the stamina to do this anymore or even consider doing it into my 70s, 80s, and 90s.  Now is the time to rectify this, not when I’m 70 and have to pay someone to do it.

Day one, I cut back about half of it and hauled it away.  I then rested a day and on the second outing, I did notice poison ivy, but I was being very careful cutting it out.  It being hot, I didn’t haul it off as soon as I cut it back or pulled the ivy, I tossed it on the lawn as I wanted to get the project complete.  If it didn’t get to the debris pile that day, I could take care of that the next day. I wanted a cleared out space.

That was where I made my mistake, the next morning, I’d forgotten about the bits of poison ivy here and there in the pulled ivy and I picked up the limp vines and hauled them off – three tarp loads to the woods.  Then I puttered around and did other work in the sweltering heat and humidity.

Worn out, sweaty and dirty by midafternoon in the heat of the day, I showered and then noticed my forearms were itchy.  It was then that I remembered there had been some poison ivy in the English ivy and I scrubbed with poison ivy removal stuff.  WELL, too late.  Within hours, the itchy became serious red blisters all over both forearms.  The next few days I slathered on poison ivy medicine and it did not improve. Day three, it was the worst case I’ve ever had. I went off to the health food store and latched onto a bar of special poison ivy treatment soap.  That was the only thing that calmed it down and started me on the mend.

It took a few days to get it under control and it looked awful for over two weeks.  Itchy forearms don’t like resting on the desk top to type so my blogging was non-existent.

What I learned about this? Obviously, I am more susceptible to poison ivy now or it might have been sumac.  The leaves are similar, but I would need my glasses to tell the difference. I can no longer be lackadaisical about poison ivy, and pulling it up and tossing it in a pile was not the thing to do.

All reasons/excuses fessed up now.  I am back to blogging. 

Needless to say, it has been one heck of a summer so far and we are only into early July.  There is a lot more summer waiting to be lived.

July 12, 2018 – I can only hop so long on one foot . . .

         This may all sound funny to my blogging friends, and in retrospect it is sort of amusing;  but, at the time, it was not amusing in the least bit.

The blue walker we used during my husband’s heart surgery recovery [about five years ago] only takes one to the doorjamb of the bathroom.  I hop on my good foot to the toilet.  This is dangerous . . . I’m not a teenager.  I’ve never really had good balance. I could easily twist this ankle, I could teeter, fall, and break an arm, or a hip . . . this is not a good situation. 

It is early morning after the emergency trip to the clinic last evening. 

         Idea!  I have this garden seat on wheels that I use to roll along the avenues to pull weeds or pick beans.  I have the husband bring it in – red clay mud on the wheels and all.  I use that to wheel myself in and out of the bathroom.  Doesn’t work to well as it is in a straight line only. I have to stand on one foot and readjust its direction to get it where it needs to go.  Need to RE-THINK this!

         I am a prisoner in my own house . . . my husband’s hearing is just about non-existent.  It takes a five-minute discussion that turns quickly into an argument when I ask him to bring me my cell phone, my purse, and then the charger cord.

         Of course, he does not know where the charger cord is.  Will he listen to what I am saying?  NO!

         “Just look at me,” I snarl. After this foolish snarling and spitting to get his attention he eventually he does turn to look at me.

         “I am pointing to it – that lamp – no – where is my finger pointing?  That lamp.  The black cord is wrapped around the middle of the lamp . . .”

         In less than two waking hours with no cooperation or assistance, I know I am in a crisis mode.

         I am guessing his theory is, ‘I’ll leave her to it, and she will eventually get up and get what she wants . . .’

         An hour slips by.  I did get a cup of coffee at about 6 a.m., but has  he returned to offer me any breakfast?  NO? It is after 8 a.m.  I am hungry, why wouldn’t I be?  I didn’t have supper the night before.  I am propped up on pillows and can see the top of his head down the hall in the living room in his lounge chair.  I take the metal water bottle, now empty and start pounding it on the metal walker leg to get his attention.  He can’t hear that?  He can’t hear me yelling at the top of my lungs?

         Well, my cell phone is now charged enough. I dial my home phone that is in the kitchen about 15 feet from him.  He gets up and answers the phone. 

         “Hello,” is all he says and in seconds hangs up and goes back to his chair. I am talking to him and he hangs up on me? WHAT?

         I am stunned.  He really can’t hear. I guess he is clinically deaf and won’t admit it. I knew he had trouble with the telephone but I am screaming at the top of my lungs in the bedroom forty feet away and he honestly can’t hear me?

         I dial again.  He answers the phone.

         “Hello,” is all he says and hangs up again.

         I throw a few books at the bedroom door and a plastic bottle of aspirin.  Still I do not get the attention of my husband 40 feet away.  I am more than angry.  I am incensed.  

         I imagine you reading this think it is amusing – it wasn’t to me!

         No help within this house, I guess I better call for outside help. It is too early to call most of my friends  – but this is ridiculous.  I dial one friend and leave a message on her answering machine I imagine she is still asleep.  I wait a few minutes and then dial another friend who is more of an early riser and she answers.  I ask for a favor.

         I rarely ask for favors – I have always prided myself in being “self-sufficient”.  But, I am in a pickle. I am in a serious situation. 

         I quickly explain my predicament and that I need one of those scooters that people put their knee on when they break their foot.  It has to be skinny enough to get in and out of the bathroom door.  I shared with her the five-minute useless dialog and ensuing fight with my husband about a telephone cord – I was not going to repeat it with the scooter situation.

I also told her I’d phoned him twice and he hung up. Then I said he would only bitch about the cost and come home empty handed or come home with something that would not fit through the bathroom door jam.  My friend understood completely and said she’d be at the drug store in less than an hour and reconnect with me via my cell phone to confirm my wishes.

         An hour later my friend delivers my prescription and advises the scooter will be delivered by the drug store van.  She also assesses the bathroom doorjambs and agrees they are surprisingly narrow.  When we bought the house we were unware of that issue.  Only during my husband’s heart surgery did we become aware of their smaller width.

Thank God, I have an astute angel for a friend.

         A few hours later, the drug store delivers the scooter and the driver adjusts it to my height. But, I must say, the scooter barely slips through the doorjamb by only two inches or so on each side.

         OH, glorious wheels – wheels to get to the bathroom and back to bed.

         Now I don’t have to hop on one foot – I will be safer, I can stay off this leg!  This too is a learning curve . . . has a strange turning radius, but have wheels will travel. 

         Day one – TCM movie channel – we have musicals all day.  Some I’ve never seen.  I am already bored. Mentally exhausted I nap during the dull parts.

         The seriousness of this situation is clear to me, but the husband, he is in denial.  He thinks it is a 24-hour set back and I’ll be fully functional by morning.

         Au Contraire.