25. November 2016
Just now I am enjoying the first blooms on red rose "Mister Lincoln". For me, this rose will always hold a special place in my garden, or any garden. Back when I began my first rose bed, I went to the nursery and picked out a number of bare root roses. It was just far enough into the season that container roses were already available as well, so I went through the rows, looking and sniffing. Eventually I came to a deep red "Mister Lincoln", already an old classic of many years standing. Its one...
23. November 2016
November's GBFD post is necessarily a bit brief (not to mention late!), but I didn't want to miss it altogether. I am sharing a short post on a plant whose foliage is fascinating to me at the moment. The plant is Artemisia "Powis Castle" (above). Its leathery, silver-white leaves stood up beautifully through this year's particularly nasty summer. In a dry garden with many silver-foliaged plants, they were the whitest leaves to be seen. And it grew and grew. I didn't measure it at its largest,...
21. November 2016
Today's little flower concoction is perhaps my fastest to date. Most of today was focused around getting my mother to a regularly scheduled medical appointment, which involved a drive of well over an hour each way, so there was not a lot of time to think about a vase or to arrange the contents. Just before leaving, I snipped some blooms from a chrysanthemum which was tucked into a container in the patio some weeks ago. I brought the three flowers indoors and floated them in a teacup.
16. November 2016
It is the middle of the month now, the middle of November at that! Time for a look at what is blooming in the garden with Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. This is a lush season here in the desert, as temperatures are quite comfortable. It might be even lusher if we could get some rain, but so far that hasn't happened. Perhaps a little later... Meantime, here is what the garden is doing. This month I divided the plants according to seasonality, only to find that...
08. November 2016
The lantana is full of butterflies now. Monarchs (Danaus plexippus)...
08. November 2016
This week we are celebrating the third anniversary of the "In a Vase on Monday" theme with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. For the occasion she set a theme of "three". I decided to combine three sets of three flowers, based on color and, more loosely, type. Earlier I had ambitions of creating three separate vases, but I decided that was a bit beyond my energy level as I'm still getting over the flu. So today's arrangement is a threefold celebration, but in one vase. First of all, there are the...
01. November 2016
This week's view of the South Border was photographed earlier than usual in the day. The grasses are both a wealth of delicate color and texture, and they look perfect with the sunlight glowing through from the east. It was perfect for the miniature rose also.
31. October 2016
This week's vase is made of some of the lighter components of the garden: plants that yield those wonderful airy flowers that often serve as filler and "back-of-the-border" types, along with various grass flowers.
