Some Like it Cold

There's snow on the garden and change in the air. Pleased as punch I had the foresight to play hooky yesterday. Did absolutely nothing productive. Simply savoring what was likely the last warm autumn day to be had around these parts.

Apple Blossom Amaryllis

I keep marveling at our weather. How it's strangely predictable this year. Woke to snowflakes gently falling, and silence, having been abandoned by my sweet as pie, yet aptly named, Bad Dog.

I hear him on the hill, behind our house, barking like crazy... Perhaps in celebration of his favorite season. (He dearly loves to slide down that hill, head first in the snow. No one believes me until they witness it, first hand, but he really does do that!)

Try to find Amaryllis bulbs that have just barely started to grow.

Here I sit... sipping tea in front of a fire with grand plans to turn my house into an Amaryllis warehouse by day's end. I love Amaryllis bulbs ~ and, they make highly affordable holiday gifts.

Who can resist such big festive flowers? Plus, you gotta love a bulb with such chutzpah. She'll sprout in a dark box, without soil, or water, or TLC of any kind.

They lean to the sun. Rotate the pot each day so stalks don't bend.

I began this Amaryllis tradition awhile back, when I was beset by a bad budget. Spotted bulbs at Walmart for $5 a piece, and thought... hey! The bulbs, of course, don't look like much. But my little trick is to plant them 6 weeks before Christmas... delivering, not the bulb, but a pot of dinner plate size flowers inspiring lots of oohs and aahs.

To make them behave...
~ Plant in super small pots. About an inch or two bigger than the bulb. They'll grow faster and bloom quicker.

Carefully follow these steps to make sure that $5 Walmart bulb isn't dead as a doornail.

1. Wait until the shopping aisle is empty.
2. Open the box!

Patience is a virtue! It takes about 6 weeks from bulb planting to first flowers.

You can buy larger, higher quality Amaryllis bulbs from nurseries and they will produce bigger flowers. But, these are affordable. And, they're gorgeous. Therefore I think they'll do the trick.

Odd Bulbs

I'm a sucker for Camassia

Most definitely a first...

Allium Hair

I hesitate to acknowledge this...

Fears of jinxing and such...

Allium Fireworks

This weekend, it felt as if Mother Nature was on my side.

(At long last! :)

Minutes after I'd given a loving pat to the soil, covering the brand new bulbs that I needed like a hole in my head ...

Grey clouds stretched across our blue skies and a quiet rain finished up this last project of the season.

Monsella Tulip

It's been a dry autumn. I'd regretted turning off the outside faucets.

How very kind of Mother Nature to water my bulbs.

Replete Daffodil

This time of year, most every gardener I know is a card-carrying member of the I Dread Winter Club.


I'm a bit of a rebel in that respect.

I'll confess, I'm looking forward to some lazy days. Curling up with a good book and enjoying a whole lotta quiet time.

Allium Schubertii

My gardens were a ton of hard work this summer.

Flatly refused to plant bulbs because of that.

But, there's always somebody stirring up trouble. 

Allium Unifolium

Sat down, over coffee, with a friend of mine who was clearly in cahoots with every  bulb company on the planet.

Brightly colored catalogs stacked about her kitchen.

All I gotta do is look at a picture and bam! I'm slapping down a credit card for one gotta have it, or another. No matter how crowded my gardens, seems there's always room for new bulbs.

Tip: Mountain critters hate Alliums (onion) bulbs but they dearly love a good Tulip. I plant rings of Allium bulbs around the Tulips and it works like a charm. They can't find 'em! I'm pretty sure I heard those rodents groaning when they saw what I was up to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus Photo :)))))

Aftermath of Halloween:

My oh, so, creative darling daughter was Tippi Hedron, this year.

You remember her, don't you? Star of the Alfred Hitchcock thriller movie that L calls The [Angry] Birds!

Wordless Wednesdays: Antelope Island

There's no Antelope on this island. Go figure.
* For more Wordless Wednesday participants click here!

Big Beet Night @ the Bondes

You can tell a great cook by the way she stocks her pantry.

I'm feeling very lucky today, having just returned from a visit to Hot Springs, South Dakota. Huh???

Oh, it's the cutest little place, even if it is in the middle of nowhere. Home to a remote Wild Mustang Sanctuary ~ a bucket list item, a place I'd always wanted to visit..

Bustling about her cozy kitchen.

AND - it's also home to my good blogging friend, Gloria, of Dakota Garden. Who dropped everything she was doing and cooked us up a fantastic dinner when she heard we were cruising through town.

October garden, alive with bright color

I've been feeling a bit guilty over this, ever since I got home. We showed up late, empty handed and filthy from a long afternoon of stalking Spanish mustangs on the South Dakota prairie.

That's not like me. Oh, stalking horses, yeah, for sure. But showing up empty handed? At the very least, I'll be sporting a bouquet of flowers. (Gloria ~ if you're reading this, they are on their way. Making amends albeit a day late, and a buck short. :)

She's still got roses blooming!

Gloria has been very influential to me and that's half the fun of being a longtime blogger. So many wonderful, kindred spirits we meet along the way.

Last year, was my 'sick year' in that I came down with two bouts of illness that really knocked me for a loop. Both times Gloria provided some wise advice that put me on the road to recovery.

Fishies in this pond are freezin' their little fins off!

For years, I've drooled over her garden, through pictures on her blog. (She did all the stone work herself.) The pretty arbors her hubs, Ted, built are enough to make any gardener green with envy.

So, it was quite a treat to get a real world tour of her backyard.

She kept apologizing that the garden was 'done blooming.' I couldn't get over how much color she had this late in October!

When the sun set, and the autumn air grew chilly, we headed into her charming kitchen for a home-cooked meal.

Where we noshed on heirloom tomatoes and the BIG BEET, which took center stage. It's as big as a dinner plate! Or, it was... rest assured, we made short work of that homegrown beauty.

The BIG Beet was as large as a melon.

Thanks, Gloria! For inviting us into your cozy home. And, for wowing us with your amazing gardens. I'm looking forward to your visit next year.

* Click here to visit Gloria's spectacular Dakota Garden.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day ~ October, 2011

Haunting my October Garden...

Rising From the Dead New Columbines.

Ghostly White David Phlox.

Blood Red Crab Apples.

 

Probably Poisonous Euphorbia.

Badly Bewitched Blanket Flowers.

 
Plus! 
One scratchy Black Cat.

For more serious Blogger Bloom Day tours, pay a visit to Carol at May Dream Gardens.

And, Happy [early] Halloween!

Wordless Wednesdays: Leaf Peeping

"Autumn is...

A second spring...

And...

Every leaf...

A Flower!"

~ Albert Camus {Quote}

For more Wordless Wednesday participants click here!

Mish Mashin' Mondays

Perennial Snapdragons, one of the cheeriest flowers in my autumn garden.

May I just say...?

This was one glorious autumn weekend! Though I had to fight tooth and nail to make it happen.

Over-achieving John Cabot Roses are still budding ~ into their 4th flowering month.

I'm odd [on many levels] but my top oddity ~ the one that makes other people c-c-c-crazy ~ is how sometimes I desperately need some down time.

As in, alone time.

Helianthus, perennial sunflowers. Had I deadheaded, she might have gifted with more blossoms.

I imagine that's the introvert in me. Hard to explain to those extroverts skulking about. Doubly hard to explain without hurting those dear friends' feelings.

Thankfully, wild Coneflowers saw the need for more color and came to my rescue.

Do you ever feel like this?  How it might be awfully convenient if cell phones were never invented? ('Cause, unlike landlines, they know you're not picking up.)

At the very least, they should offer a 50% off plan for weirdos like me who prefer to make calls, not necessarily receive them.

Blanket flowers, Catmint, and one last Pincushion threatening a bloom.

So, I'm feeling a tad bit guilty about saying, Oh, sorry... Super busy! (When I wasn't at all.) But, sometimes a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do.

And, that scheme was a huge success. I managed to schedule absolutely nothin' for the entire weekend. Which gives most normal folks the yawns. But, I haven't had time off like that in... well, never.

Which means there's nothing worth reporting. Except for this...  

Mind-boggling science experiment!

Most beloved kitty: Bright eyes now match his bushy tail.

My sweet kit cat, Buddy, has been battling an eye infection. And, I've been battling the need to take him to the vet -- because visiting the vet really stresses him out. (And, I've got the scars to prove it!)

So, I tried that home recipe of 1 TBS apple cider vinegar rubbed into the nape of his neck. And, whaddyaknow. It works! Trust me, I was more skeptical than you are but 1) it worked on a pretty serious eye infection. 2) in 48 hours and 3) for some odd reason he didn't try to fight me when I poured that stuff on his head.

Hollyhock seeds: Want some??

Last but not least!
I've harvested a ton of Mom's heirloom Hollyhock seeds. Want some?

Tip: If you experience rust on hollyhocks, remove the stalks and all debris early in the fall, after they are finished flowering. Rust is a fungus that overwinters in hollyhocks, causing problems the following summer.

* Mish Mash Mondays is the brainchild of my dear friend, Monica ~ whom I haven't chatted with in awhile. Because she, like me, is ignoring her phone. :)