Living Souvenirs
I’m not much of one to collect things from my travels as I don’t like to keep a lot of stuff around the house. We do buy patches at the National Parks and I’m finally amassing enough of those for a quilt for the Tiny Trailer. If I find a great handmade item I’ll buy that, when we were in Seattle I found a beautiful birds eye maple spatula. Generally I prefer to buy a plant when I’m out traveling, if I can find a good one.
While traveling through Florida a few weeks ago, we passed tons of little greenhouses. If we weren’t going to be on the road for 2 weeks I would have purchased a palm tree or something, but that wasn’t really feasible with our car packed to the roof with equipment. When we stopped at Naples Botanical Garden they were having a plant sale. I debated for a while but finally settles on this beautiful kalanchoe ‘Fantastic’.
This plant will be added to my living souvenir collection, which already contains plants from a few other trips, including the lemon and lime trees from my visit to Monticello a few years ago.
What kinds of items do you like to bring home as a reminder of your travels?
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Hello Spring
It’s officially spring! We’re certainly having the weather for it already; it’s been pretty warm for NE Ohio. The soil is still really soggy so I can’t work in the garden, at least not doing anything major. As a result I’ve been spending my days doing some spring cleaning outside: washing the windows, scrubbing the siding, painting the shutters, cleaning the deck, etc.
Dexter is enjoying the spring weather just as much as I have, though not by doing anything useful. He lays on the porch in the sun while I work away, occasionally coming over to rub on my legs to command some attention.
Hopefully you have a chance to get outside to enjoy spring today or soon!
Does it feel like spring in your garden yet?
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OOOOOPS
Yesterday was a beautiful day, so of course I was working outside. I wan’t working in the garden, scrubbing the house was the task of the day. Into the garage I went to grab something I needed and OOOOOPS there were 2 big pots that were filled with tulips that I potted up to force.
The poor things were all pale from the lack of sunlight and kind of sad looking. I quickly carried them outside and gave them a dose of water. They should green up within a day or two.
The funny thing is that they’re not any farther ahead of the tulips that are planted in the ground. So I guess forcing them to bloom early didn’t happen. At least nothing will be lost, they’ll still bloom, just not as early as I had planned!
Have you had any OOOOPS moments in the garden lately?
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Quote of the Day: Joan Dye Gussow
Nature is a difficult co-worker: She won’t allow you to postpone things, and she is often ready for you when you aren’t ready for her.
Joan Dye Gussow from This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader
I was thinking about this quote earlier this week when I was carrying all of my seedlings up to the front porch to harden them off. Spring is a really busy time of year and it seems that everything needs to be ready at the same time.
This year spring kind of snuck up on me, I’m really not quite ready. Winter was not nearly long enough for me, there are still a lot of things not crossed off of my to-do list.
I don’t mind though, I appreciate the need to get out and spend every spare minute getting chores done around the garden.
What’s your busiest time in the garden?
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You Asked for It
I’ve been watching and trying to figure out when the flowering bulbs in the front lawn would be a peak. It started a week and a half ago with the early blooms in lavender, light blue and even some soft pink crocuses. About a week later the late ones started to emerge in their shades of dark purple. The same day, I noticed a mini daffodils as well. I decided yesterday was peak, the early blooms are starting to fade and a good number of daffodils were in bloom. I found myself taking photos to share with you since you all asked to see it at peak. Here’s what my front lawn looked like yesterday.
You may think I planted these because I love crocuses. They do look lovely, but my main reason for planting them was for the bees. Crocuses are one of the earliest sources of pollen and my lawn is abuzz with honeybees madly collecting pollen as an early spring meal. I’m happy knowing that I’m giving them a better chance of survival with an early source of food.
Have you spotted any honeybees in your garden yet?
