Friday, November 28, 2008

Catching Up

Well I really missed a Bloom Day this time, first one ever! My body has been waging war with me lately though, and this time I just couldn't power through it. But things are going better now, so I'm back to catch up with garden stuff. First off, here's what was blooming at my place on November Bloom Day...

...despite cold temps, the window box above was blooming away, and more appropriately these fall-blooming crocus were at it too, despite having to fight through the weeds and grass.......this lantana is protected on the porch, but I was still amazed at the bloom (sorry so blurry, it was windy when I took this).
Of course the houseplants enjoy warmth indoors, so they were blooming also, like this african violet...

...and this begonia, still blooming since October Bloom Day!
This dianthus was still blooming on November 15th, right out in the open, despite the cold...
...and ironically bacopa was blooming almost better than it did in the summer warmth!


Back indoors, here's one for the "almost" catagory-lipstick vine.
And here's "Bloody Cranesbill", living up to its name. I grew this baby from seed, which is exciting for me because I hadn't enjoyed much success with seeds until Kim introduced me to winter-sowing, now I'm hooked!



And in the spirit of starting plants by seed, I collected these poppy seeds from a friends' garden...


...and bought some from this place I found on the internet, "Tradewinds Fruit". They have a large selection, give you a reasonable amount of seeds for very reasonable prices, and my order shipped lightning fast! No ideas regarding germination sucess yet, but I feel optimistic.


I got my first 2009 garden catalog too! I've ordered from these folks in the past with good results, and it's exciting to have a new catalog to look at so I can daydream about next season.

Water plants won't need replacing next year, because I managed to bring them in before they froze to death, along with the fish. I may still get a lilypad though, I kinda missed having one this year. I got in a little bit of planting earlier this month before I got sick. These irises were freebies from my friends, so I made a row of them for now, and I can move them after I see what colors I have. Doesn't the one farthest to the right resemble Mr. Hankey? Heh, well it is that time of year!


And it's also the time of year for a more stark and naked landscape...




....and clouds that look like they may harbor snow...

...and frosty grasses for my morning drive...








....as well as a frozen riverbed by the house...


...and frozen annuals, bidding farewell. I don't mind the change of seasons though, it's kind of nice to have a break in the gardening action. Gives me a chance to reflect on the past season, plan for the next, and enjoy some peaceful snowy scenes. And even though my health hasn't been as good as I'd like, I have optimism for the future because I need to....


...and optimism for our country because of this man and his optimism. "Yes we can"?



Indeed sir, I believe you can, and will! So Happy way-too-late Bloom Day and Thanksgiving folks!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! A title, now I can pick it.

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better (even though I didn't know you were sick). I love you bloom day flowers. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is a nice change of pace, isn't it?

lisa said...

Heh, I'm finally catching on to some of the technological nuances that can improve the blog reading experience for everyone. I'm a tad slow on the uptake sometimes, and just lazy at other times. I must admit that some of the new features on blogger irritate me though...I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole "blogs I'm following" thing. I mean, I already have an entire links section on my sidebar, so why be repetetive? I started to put some blogs on my "follow list", but I think I want to clear them and leave it blank. A lot of extras seem to just slow things down, especially when I'm home on dialup! Thank you for the well-wishes, it's just been a flare-up of the vertigo episodes I've been battling for almost a year. Ah well, we all have a cross to bear, eh?

Carol Michel said...

Your bloom day record remains intact because it is still November, right? Happy to hear you are feeling better!

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Rurality said...

No, no, not slow or lazy... just chillaxed! ;)

I got that catalog too. I was thinking, "Already?!"

Glad you're feeling better!

troutbirder said...

Great pics. Your feeling better. Baron is feeling better (he had giardia)I am more hopeful. YES WE CAN!

gintoino said...

Glad to ear you are feeling better. It always amazes me that you have all those blooms in such a cold weather. LOVED the landscape pictures (not that I would like the low temps hehehehe)

lisa said...

Carol-Thank you for giving me a "pass"...if you say I'm in the clear then it must be true! You're the boss! :)

Karen-Hahaha...yea, that's it! :)

Troutbirder-Glad Baron is feeling better, too. Yes we can!

Gintoino-Thanks, and I understand how you may not envy our temps. In summer I must admit I don't envy yours, either! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Lisa,

I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know that I just got around to adding you to the blog roll.

Tom said...

The images in your first post, except for one, are too wide (and high.)

The post column is about 400px wide. Your first image is:
WIDTH: 612px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 407px;
That should be:
WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px;


The second is:
WIDTH: 540px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 419px;
It should be:
WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px;

The proper scaling for any 1,024px wide X 768px high image is 400px x 300px.

Looking at the second post, back when Blogger was doing the scaling, you were uploading at "medium". The first image is:
WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px;
so they are a little smaller.

If you scale a 1,024 x 768 image to 320, it will be:
width: 320px; height; 240px

Just for reference, Blogger-scaled images are:

small = 200px on long side.
medium = 320px on ling side.
large = 400px on long side.

Tom (TED)

lisa said...

Thank you sooo much!! This issue has been driving me crazy...I sure wish Blogger would have left well enough alone, y'know?