" I would like to live in the same soil as my ancestors, and walk under their trees, and do what they did, and think their thoughts. " - Elizabeth Lawrence. After 4 decades in Sweet Home Chicago I moved to North Carolina where my first Irish ancestor landed in the early 1700's. I'm an artist, garden designer and grandma blogging about my life in this " Southern part of Heaven " as Chapel HIll is called.
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
MARCH MADNESS
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
February Flowers
"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size."
- Gertrude S. WisterDaffodils are the first perennial flowers of February to appear. I need to plant different variety of bulbs such as early tulips and some purple hyacinth to compliment them. Plans for Fall !
This beautiful winter flowering Daphne 'odora ' has a very fragrant smell and is a welcome sight this time of year.
Viburnum 'spring bouquet ' is another amazing evergreen shrub in bloom this month. It is both drought resistant and blooms several times during the season.
Monday, February 19, 2024
JANUARY AND BIG DREAMS FOR THE GARDEN YEAR
He Knows No Winter
Thursday, January 25, 2024
OLD DECEMBER'S BARENESS
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
THE MUSIC OF NOVEMBER
"The wind that makes music in November corn is in a hurry. The stalks hum,the loose husks whisk skyward in half-playing swirls, and the wind hurries on....
A tree tries to argue, bare limbs waving, but there is no detaining the wind."
- Aldo Leopold
Thursday, November 30, 2023
A HUSHED OCTOBER
"O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,Should waste them all.
Sunday, October 8, 2023
A SONG OF SEPTEMBER
"Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow--follow, oh-oh."
In Chicago September was the beginning of the end of summer but here in Central N.C. it is still warm although the nights are getting cooler. The ample rainfall of July has long past and it has been a long, dry, hot summer.
I have turned my attention to the neglected vegetable garden to prepare it for the Fall planting. Tomatoes are long gone and all that remain is green peppers. Below are seeds that I'm planting for cool season crops. In addition I have also planted some collard greens. I haven't been able to find my favorite savoy cabbage yet, but its a favorite.
In the perennial garden I've found some unusual flowers to add : 'matchstick' mum, long-blooming pink wood asters to go with my blues, aralia, brazilian verbena, 'goldrush' blackeyed susans, and more dianthus.