Paperwhites for Christmas

Paperwhites are such an easy pleasure to grow for Christmas and all through the winter for a nice touch to any indoor winter garden....just pop the bulbs into soil or water and they will produce a gorgeous display with little effort. I plant them in water on top of glass "stones" in various containers. I love to put about 12 in this antique pressed glass fishbowl. This year I water them with a 10:1 ratio of water to whiskey or rum to stunt their growth. Paperwhites tend to stretch and need stalking after a bit....using this ratio did indeed keep the stretching at bay and prevented the toppling over that happens once the plants mature.Paperwhites in our front window facing the pond....this window is also ideal for African violets...the violets continuously bloom in this light exposure.

This antique fishbowl makes the perfect container for paperwhites...

This is a wonderful wintergreen bush...this low grower will be planted on the island once spring rolls in...till then it will grace my little indoor winter garden....

Just a few plants in a window graced with easy to grow paperwhites is a delight to look at everyday...give them a try sometime...they are truly a gift...

Elizabeth

Winter is Here in All Her Glory

Our world changes after a snowfall to an absolute gift for the eye...it becomes a blend of hues of white, black, gray and green...dispersed with silver and ice crystals...
This is the cove looking to the island

Shrubs laden with a thick layer of snow...looks like an over frosted cake

Through the thicket you can see the roof of our day cabin on the island....

Husband hard at work clearing over 12 inches of snow...

Can shrubbery look any better than this?


Stillness....

A look at the garden after snow...


An antique cement urn topped with snow...

The weight of the snow on this white pine tree has created an arbor over the path to my garden room and shed...

The snow on this reed covered fence has created a delightful pattern...

A look across the garden to the storage shed...the snow has created a gorgeous look on the garden wrought iron fencing and the wood fencing next to the shed.

A couple of blueberry bushes covered in snow....


Winter is here and the gift of snow has a beautiful dimension to our world....

Elizabeth

So Much for My Pumpkins

I wanted to grow some pumpkins and squash to place about our garden in the fall. The plants produced some nice fruit but the foliage and vines were enormous. It had been years since I grew these plants and I had totally forgotten the space they required. This garden I grew them in is simply not "equipped" to handle these varieties. One needs a large bed devoted to just this vine crop....I won't be doing it again anytime soon unless we dig up a bed just for pumpkins. I was able to place sugar pumpkins about with squash and some gourds to add an autumnal look to our garden. As cold weather came the pumpkins frosted over...one morning we looked out and saw "holes" in the pumpkins...we initially thought the fruit rotted but as the day went on we saw the real culprit of the "holes"....

Home grown pumpkins and squash decorating an antique cast iron bench and old cement planters that flank each side of the settee...

Ahhh haaaa...a bushy tailed squirrel discovered a tasty treat...our pumpkins!

Boy o'boy this guy sure knew how to attack and conquer...he made a hole and found the plump and tasty pumpkin seeds.

Apparently the stringy insides were not to his liking as evidenced by the pile of "orange" in front of the planter....

Oh well...I got to grow the pumpkins and use them for adding color to the garden...and "ole bushy tail" finished them off....the circle is complete - I put the seeds in and he took the seeds out...the beauty of gardening!!!!!

Elizabeth