I see SOMEBODY got a little tipsy.  Hahaha!!!  We weren't the only ones!!!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

Remember that storm that knocked down the white oak trees on Beaconhill, the trees I used for my mushroom planting?  Well, this is what Mark and Karen did with the remaining tree stumps.  I think they did it to entertain themselves, but it made me laugh too.

 

Mark told me they wondered who would see it first, and guessed ME.  YEP!!!  Always looking for something to blog about.

 

GOOD JOB, CONDES!!!

 

Look at this beautiful Sycamore tree.  Platanus occidentalis.  This one is in Meeks Park, near the little bridge.  

 

I love looking UP into the sky at the Sycamore trees.  The mottled brown bark flakes off in jigsaw puzzle pieces, leaving the trunk to look like Camo fabric, and exposing the white underbark at the very top.

 

My Peterson Field Guide says that Sycamore is considered one of the most massive of eastern US trees.  They grow 50' to 130' tall, and live to be hundreds of years old.  The leaves are huge: 6-10 inches across.  That's how I remember the botanical name:  leaves as big as dinner plates.

 

The wood is hard and coarse-grained, and used for boxes, barrels, butchers' blocks, cabinetwork, and furniture.  Indians used the trunks for dugout canoes, some weighing thousands of pounds.  

 

Be sure to notice the Sycamores when you're out and about.  They're the ones with the stark white branches poking up into the winter sky.

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

 

 

 

Check out these cute snowmen in Roxanne's rock garden.  They're not much bigger than the rock wall, but they make me smile every time we go by.  Thought you'd like to see them for a giggle.  

 

Best part is they can stay out til March.  They don't have to be put away with the Christmas decorations.  I love decorating with snowmen; and these are so CUTE!!!

 

THANKS ROXANNE!!!

 

Everybody knows these:  Violas or Pansies.  

 

They love cool weather, and we've even seen them survive snowfall.  So, now is the time to plant pansies.  They are available in all the garden centers, and will last until the weather gets warm (like in June.)  Best to plant them in pots on the deck, cause the deer can't resist eating them if they can reach them.  They pull the plants right out of the ground.  

 

Daddy called them "baby faces,"  and Jon calls them "deer food."  Whatever you call them, pansies add cheerfulness to winter grayness.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is Nandina domestica.  It is also called Heavenly bamboo.  These bushes are in Patty's garden, and are really pretty right now.  They are full of red berries and the leaves are varying shades of green and bronze and bright red.  

 

Nandina is an evergreen shrub, although it does show fall color, and drop some of its leaves.  In early summer, it has clusters of white flowers that turn into these clusters of red berries in the fall through winter.  The berries are toxic to birds, so they usually last on the bushes, since nobody eats them.  

 

I have also read that they grow well here, and are somewhat deer resistant.  Good news there. 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Remember a while ago I told you about Camellias?  Well, Nancy has some Sasanqua Camellias in her garden.  

 

These are the ones with smaller leaves, and gorgeous flowers blooming in the fall and early spring.  This one is Camellia sasanqua var. Yuletide.  So pretty. The bush isn't very big, but it is loaded with blossoms, and buds.  It should bloom for quite a while.

 

It just looks like Christmas, doesn't it?  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is what's left in the garden.  A few peppers hanging on, some kale and Giant Red Mustard, and of course the leeks (that pile at the top of the picture.)

 

It has been a fabulous year in the garden.  I guess like everything else this year, it's been out of control.  But hey, in the garden, that can be a good thing.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look how pretty this mustard is.  The big leaves are about 15 inches long.  And the color is so rich.  These plants came from seeds sown this summer when the Giant Red Mustard bolted.  The seeds fell to the ground and planted themselves.  

 

I planted some spinach and kale, and lettuce, but somebody got into the garden and ate it all.  They haven't bothered these bigger plants though.  Bet it's baby rabbits that get in under the fence.  Oh well, we've had plenty, and there is still enough for us all.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I saw this picture on a Vegetable Gardening website, and just loved it!!!  Cabbages and Marigolds planted together.  

 

They said that the marigolds deter the cabbage white butterflies from the cabbages.  I've grown marigolds all over my garden for years, and the cabbage whites still come and lay their eggs on all things Brassica:  kale, turnips, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower.  Maybe I need to crowd the marigolds in closer to the cabbages.  Next spring...

 

Anyway, isn't this a great picture?  Wonder where they walk?  This looks like a commercial operation; they probably harvest by machine.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!