Remind me of summer days

Now that we are headed into the darkness of winter, I need reminders of summer and my gardens to bring brightness to my days.

Early in the summer, I picked and pressed a collections of blossoms and leaves from my garden.  My son-in-law created a fabulous press for me that gives me the ability to press large quantities at the same time.  It is interesting to see how petals retain their colors and identities through the pressing process.  When the pressing process is completed, I enjoy the creative process of using the flowers.  While I'm not an artist, I enjoy crafting with them.  This year, I mounted the petals and leaves on wood letters, painted white.  They made lovely Christmas gifts. 


Of course, I also made one for myself, so while I'm working at my computer on cold winter days, I can gaze at reminders of the blooms that were and that will bloom again when summer returns.

One of my favorite garden annuals is an acutangula luffa vine.  I plant some of these vines on my less than lovely chain link fence each summer because they always perform with very little assistance from me.

This summer, the acutangula vines outdid themselves.  They covered the entire south side of the fence and quietly invaded the nearby shrubbery, as well as my cozy shady hideaway table and chairs. 

I started picking the vegetable form in mid-August.  This year, I mixed them in with the pipianes that my neighbor's vines produced for a unique and delicious mix of Asian and Central American cuisine. 

Of course, with vines this large, I often missed a vegetable and it would quickly grow beyond the eating size.  I ended up with more than 50 luffa sized acutangula to pick when the first frost reached central Alabama in November.

Peeling 50 luffas took some serious effort.  The only down-side to this year's crop was that the same wet summer that produced the massive vines and bumper crop also allowed mildew to grow on the luffas, resulting in some serious stains on them which required an extra step of bleaching.

If anyone wants some seeds, I have collected thousands.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

At 7:00am

This is the first December snowfall I remember in Alabama.  I decorate with a real snow shovel, a toy sled, and a sign that says "we believe" in snow, but I never have any real hope of actually seeing snow in my backyard for Christmas. 

At noon

It started snowing before sunrise this morning with a total of 1-2 inches in the forecast.  I went to work but when the roads started closing at 10:00am, they sent us home.  I was shocked to see more than two inches of snow on my car; the drive home was an exercise in prayer and caution.  I've been away from Minnesota for too many years to enjoy driving in the snow. 

By the time we finished eating lunch, there were a good four to five inches of snow in the back yard.  The only activity that made sense to me was to go outside to build the biggest snowman I could manage.  I soaked through three pairs of gloves but I'm pretty impressed with my handiwork.

My poor southern plants are less impressed with God's largesse.  I went around the garden shaking wet snow off branches burdened to the breaking point and I'm pretty sure the orange tree was begging me to bring it into the garage.

We won't discuss how I stepped into my own garden pond;  the snow had covered the screening I placed over it to keep leaves from falling into it and I was busy framing a photo and not thinking about where that pond was (sigh loudly here). 

Of course, the snow will all be gone tomorrow, this is Alabama after all.

Outrageous oranges

This year's satsuma crop can only be described as outrageous.  It was just as if our little tree felt badly for the abysmal crop of three last year and wished to make up for itself.

I picked 77 oranges right before the first frost.  Although they are not pretty like the ones you might purchase at the grocery store, there is nothing quite like the flavor of a fresh orange picked from your own tree.

Ready for frost

For gardeners in central Alabama, the first frost of the season is a major event.  I've spent the last several weeks making plans and preparations for that date when most of the green, growing things will say "good-bye" for the winter.

Tonight is the big night with temperatures forecast to drop into the upper 20s for the first time this fall. It was hard to imagine this fact yesterday afternoon while it was in the mid-70s, warm enough for shirt sleeves and for our tortoise to play in the backyard while I worked.

However, we are ready.  The fruit is all harvested, the remaining veggies are all picked, and the tropical plants are relocated to their indoor winter windows.  My two-year old grandson, James, was quite delighted to be told that he could pick the peppers and toss them in the bucket.  He proudly counted them as he dropped them in.

We are ready for frost and the beginning of winter.  (Of course, we live in Alabama so winter for us will be frost today and 65 degrees for Thanksgiving!)

Homage to royalty

While choosing flowers to make a bouquet for my daughter, I noticed that there was a cluster of late-blooming purple cone flowers in the back corner of the garden.  I headed over to cut them to mix in with the red roses, ivy, and diamond frost. 

Suddenly, a large brown butterfly flew over my shoulder to land on the blossoms.  Much to my amazement, I realized that it was a monarch butterfly!  I haven't seen a monarch in my backyard in many years.  I immediately ran back into the house for my camera, praying that his (or her) royal highness would wait for me to return.

Not only did she (he) wait, but she posed long enough for me to take some lovely photographs.  I continued to watch her as she tasted several flowers in my backyard before flying on.

There was no way I was going to cut those cone flowers after such a royal visitation.  The bouquet will look just fine without them.

Happy Halloween

We love the fun American traditions of the holiday; who doesn't love to play dress up and acquire huge quantities of candy that you can measure in pounds!

The loss of our cedar tree and Alabama Power's aggressive pruning on our oak tree created a new challenge for our Halloween traditions; where could we hang our happy ghosts?  With a little ingenuity and some fishing line we discovered that we could suspend our ghosts under a street light in such a way that the ghosts appear to be free-floating rather than dancing under the trees. 

Since I no longer have young children to dress up, I've turned to playing dress up with our long suffering pets. 

Happy Halloween from our front yard to yours!