Bulbs of Hope

| Flower Roberts

When my garden starts shutting down, I have a ritual of planting bulbs for the future. I can think about them waiting patiently under the soil in their fresh holes as winter approaches and retreats.

There are many tasks that must be done to shut down a garden. The ponds must be cleaned and covered. The fire bowl needs to be tipped. Leaves must be raked. Acorns get blown into piles for my foraging friends. These tasks are necessary, but they signify an end.

I plant bulbs as an act of faith that there will be a spring with a beginning on the other side of winter. This small act gives me the hope I need to push through the darkness and cold.

I did not plant many bulbs this year. I ordered bulbs that I have not had here before. Just three Red Spider Lilies, two Magic(Surprise) Lilies and one Oxblood Lily. I read the instructions carefully. I marked each hole. I recorded what was planted where in my gardening journal.

Now comes the waiting. Some of these will not bloom for years. “Be patient with Mother Nature.” the papers say.

I need these little sites of hope sprinkled around underground.

FLOWER (prepping for dormancy)

Stolen Tea

| Flower Roberts

When my gardens go dormant, I turn to my books to keep me occupied. Many of my books are about plants.

For All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose is an excellent account of Robert Fortune’s adventures, undercover, as he infiltrated the Chinese tea trade and stole its secrets and thousands of plants and seeds.

The secret to his success was the use of Wardian Cases to keep the seeds and seedlings alive on the long journey from China to India. These little greenhouses were crucial to his success in maintaining the health of his stolen crop.

Robert Fortune also spied on the picking and processing of the tea leaves. He even discovered that the Chinese were adding poisons to their tea to make it look green. This revelation eventually gave the new crops in India an extra advantage in the minds of the British consumers.

Robert Fortune brought back many other plants and treasures from his years in China. His espionage assignments in China left him both rich and famous.

Sarah Rose did an excellent job of covering the tale of tea. This book gets a 10!

FLOWER

Life Inside a Stick

| Flower Roberts

I gather sticks to burn in our fire bowl. As I tossed one onto the pile, it broke in the middle. I picked up the two pieces and noticed a dark cylinder in the middle. The cylinder sections were wrapped in tiny brown leaves. I knew that this meant a larva was inside.

I took the stick pieces inside to be examined. I carefully unwrapped the dozen or so small leaves from a section.

The first one only contained yellow powder.

The next section squirted as I got to the center. I carefully cut open the capsule. There was a light colored blob inside.

I put the blob on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. This face appeared.

I put the rest of the stick back outside. I do not know what is growing in it, but it was carefully wrapped to ensure its survival and placed in a well made tunnel.

If the stick had not broken, It would eventually have been burned. Sometimes our fire makes whizzing and squeaking noises. Now, I will worry that I have roasted some larvae.

Who knew that such mysteries would be enclosed in a stick?

FLOW

Change

| Flower Roberts

The leaves of North Carolina are glorious as they give up their lifeblood of green and prepare to fall.

I think about this fact more this fall than ever before. The leaves are giving the trees back their chlorophyll as they die.

The result is a crescendo of colors. Folks who do not glance at trees the rest of the year drive here to enjoy fall.

The leaves demand attention as they die. They have been there all along, mostly ignored.

The change makes us notice.

I have driven down this road hundreds of times and have never seen this house until heavy equipment removed the vines that kept it hidden for decades.

We had to take a closer look before more heavy equipment removed it. It is an intriguing liability on land newly purchased.

I knew the boys who grew up here as old men. They are now gone. I hope someone has saved the pictures and the stories.

We got one last look at a jewel that we never noticed before it falls.

I am not a fan of fast change. I am unsettled by the huge waves of development that are washing away the history here.

Every outing brings new lamentations. More houses, more people, more traffic…less trees, less nature…

This old house was built on cleared land many years ago, nature took that land back for a bit.

The vegetation engulfed the buildings, strangling the structures, erasing its human history.

This land will be changed again. We will be changed with it.

FLOW

Fatsia’s Freedom

| Flower Roberts

It is time to set Fatsia free in the garden. After a year of pampering it and potting it up, I finally believe it will be better off out in the ground instead of a pot. It has quadrupled in size.

It is an act of faith to put a plant in the ground. Is it ready? Is this the best location? Will it be beaten by weather or eaten by wildlife?

I must release my friend Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’ and hope it thrives among the Selaginella, Autumn Fern and Orange Epimedium.

A beautiful plant in a lovely spot.

FLOWER

The Muhly Fountain

| Flower Roberts

The rain has transformed the Pink Muhly Grass into a fountain. Its draping stalks glisten with drops.

I petted it and the drops converged and ran to the ground.

It feels like delicate, wet feathers.

The drops sparkle. It is a new kind of beautiful.

Flower

‘It’ll Do’ Herbs

| Flower Roberts

I do not have time to be a picky perfectionist. I do tasks between other tasks.

This is not multi-tasking. This is fragmented tasking. I call it “It’ll do mode.”

I have to get it done now, before some other need shows up and high-jacks my plans.

I know how to dry herbs properly. I have an air-dryer. What I do not have is the time.

I cut off the tops of my favorite Pesto Basil.

I keep this by the walk so a waft of aroma greets folks as they head toward the door.

I washed the tops. Snipped them into pieces.

Dried them on a pizza pan in a 200 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Removed stems and crumbled leaves.

I also took cuttings to try to root them because I never seem to find my favorites two years in a row.

Grab your scissors and do it now. A distraction is headed your way.

I dried sage this morning. I cut it several days ago and left town again. The twigs had gone limp. I washed them off, patted them dry and put them on the pizza pan.

This time the oven was at 170 degrees for one hour. The house smells like heaven. (but is still a mess…Hi Ho!) The branches must be stiff and dry when done.

Crumble off leaves.

Compost twigs.

Sort the crumbs on parchment then smash them some more. Then pour the sage into last year’s empty bottle and change the year.

During the drying time I walked to the mail box, folded laundry, texted my son, called my sister and ordered gifts on Amazon. I usually use a warm oven after baking, but I don’t have time to do that either.

Maybe tomorrow, but today “It’ll do.”

FLOW

Gran’s Green Vase

| Flower Roberts

There were a few things from my Gran’s house that I really wanted. One of the must-haves was this green vase. It sat on the window sill of her dining room. Sometimes it held a Magnolia bloom from the tree by the drive.

When a magnolia was out of season, it held a plastic waterlily bloom with leaves. (It is being washed as I type. It was covered in dust.)

I was happy to have a Snow Country Dahlia bloom to fit the vase today. Rose and I brought in many flowers, herbs, tomatoes and peppers. I cannot predict when I will have time to harvest before the freeze, so we did most of that today. Drying herbs blog will follow.

I hope my family sees this blog and remembers the lovely home of our precious grandparents.

The object is treasured for the memories it holds.

FLOW

My Favorite Fall Color is PINK

| Flower Roberts

The changing leaves are spectacular in North Carolina right now. I love the yellows, the oranges and especially the reds; but the color I look forward to the most is pink.

While all the trees are showing off their leaves, my Jean May is showing off her blooms.

I enjoy views from below and above.

I planted it on the eastern side of our deck. This camellia has thrived in this spot for almost thirty years.

I walk to the railing and stick my head inside its branches. I must be careful. The bees love it, too.

I know from the many buds that ‘Jean May’ Camellia sasanqua will be blooming for weeks to come.

She is like an old friend who visits each fall. I look forward to the arrival of all that pink among the bright colors of fall.

‘Jean May’ Camellia sasanqua

This plant owns a part of my heart.

FLOWER