Here Comes Santa Claus

Merry Christmas, Everyone! Here is Mary's Santa, reindeer and sleigh made entirely from natural materials. (Except glue-who knows what is in that!!) Rudolf leads the way with his red nose. Mary is famous for her natural Nativity scenes and natural angels. I am not sure I can name all the elements, but here are a few:
Reindeer hooves are pistachio shells
Reindeer noses are tiny cones
Bells on reins are crepe myrtle seed hulls
Reindeer antlers-one is grape stems and the other is tiny twigs
Reindeer heads are almonds, bodies are English walnuts

Santa's had is dried okra pod, body is poppy seed pod, feet are pistachio shells, head is pecan, beard and hat trim are some kind of chaff

Slight's runners are locust pods, body of sleigh is an overcup acorn hat, and it is filled with 'toys' that include several  flower seed heads (black-eyed susan?) immature magnolia pod, and some tiny (pine?) cones.

Let's have a big round of applause! This is really a wonderful work of art. Just seeing all these things in the dried materials around her house is amazing, but getting them together was no small task I am sure. What a vision to be able to do this! Thanks, Mary, for a wonderful Christmas present that I intend to keep and display every year!

Reindeer

They came from Ruth’s,

the product of imagination

and empty pockets.

Woodpile walked forth

as bodies,heads, legs.

Twig antlers.

Flattened

Aluminum cans,

Now ears and tail.

Many winters

They  stood

In red neckties

Gazing up the drive,

Waiting for Santa.

Last year Buck

Succumbed,

Legs buckled.

He toppled

Sideways

Watching the sunrise

With wide eyes.

Doe remains

Watchful

Swaying slightly

in heavy winds.

Even Fawn

Braces herself

Wondering

if she may be

Next.

New Again Old Christmas Wreath

Old dried evergreen wreaths can be lightly over sprayed with paint (white, gold, silver, red, or green-I use whatever color I have). Also spray snow works well, and still clings outside in rain. Just add a big jazzy bow, and it is ready for another year.

All of these wreaths were purchased except the one at far right. I am a sucker for wreaths and snatch them up wherever I see them on sale, at stores or yard sales. I thought a display in the garage was just right to show off some different kinds.

Christmas (almost) Cyclamen and Clematis

I bought these cyclamen in late spring this year, after Lowe's put them on sale. They have been blooming ever since. They are not as fresh and pretty as they once were, but I think this run of bloom is incredible. Cyclamen have a tough row to hoe at my house, between squirrels and deer. I had some nice pink and rose colored ones, but after 2 years, the critters finally destroyed them.

This is a lonely misplaced bloom on my 'Ramona" clematis. It had long finished it's bloom and a few days ado i found this washed out flower near the ground. These are the big lavender/purple ones that are so glorious in the early summer and usually again in the fall. This must be a forgotten bloom that was asleep when everyone else bloomed! but I have to admit, this is perseverance.

Donkey House

Christmas wouldn't be complete without pictures of Donkeys. The house above is in a donkey pasture, which as far as I can tell is its only relation to donkeys.  This house was renovated and saved a few tears back. But on to the donkey pictures.

Unfortunately, none of these pictures are of Jerusalem or Christian donkeys. Jerusalem donkeys have darker fur across the shoulders in the shape of a cross. Mary rode a donkey on the trip to Egypt, stopping off for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem just before his trial and execution. The cross is said to be a reminder of the donkeys sorrow that he was not allowed to bear the cross for Jesus at the end.

Hot Cinnamon Whiskey

On a walk I found this bottle flung out beside the road and it sure gave me a chuckle. Seems to me that people are grasping at straws with these weird flavors and scents. Hot cinnamon? And made in Canada?Next it will be pumpkin spice whiskey.

Christmas Yard Decorations

This is a poor relative of the fabulous Poinsettias that are ubiquitous this time of year. I actually posted this picture in September, but with the beautiful big red ones everywhere these days, I thought you might have forgotten where they came from.

In summer I have annuals in several large pots around the yard. I used these pots to stage groups of greenery decorated with ribbon and sprayed sticks. I like the winged sweet gum sticks, but plum twigs with their bumpy surfaces and fruiting spurs are also good. Dogwood stems are also beautiful.  Most of the stems I sprayed silver and one set I sprayed red to look like the red stem dogwood (Cornus sericea). This was a fun and simple project.
 The mailbox decoration used an assortment of local evergreen trees and shrubs as well as some dried berries that I sprayed lightly with artificial snow. The base is a styrofoam block with attached wire usually used for artificial flowers on head stones. It fits the top of a mailbox just right.

Pot Lady Has a New Head!!

I know you have been waiting with bated breath to the point of suffocation to know what happened to the Pot Lady after she was vandalized. She is repaired, mended, and again greeting visitors at the driveway to Gold Hill Plant Farm. A friend who was deeply troubled by her blank stare in the past wanted to give her eyes. In her current state she can stare down vandals and thieves. The Pot Lady Salutes you all and sends Christmas greetings.

Gerardia

Gerardia purpurea is a member of the snapdragon family as you can see by looking at the flowers. It blooms in the fall and added to the colors of goldenrod, asters, and ageratum it is beautiful. It is also called purple false foxglove, or just false foxglove. It is parasitic on the roots of grasses, but judging from the roadsides, I would say it does not hurt the grass much. Each flower is about an inch wide. Once I tried to cut some for a vase, but they wilted right away.

Scheffield Mums

Sheffield mums are a staple of the south in fall. Their lovely pink daisy faces, a welcome relief from all the garish orange, yellow, and crimson this time of year, are a reminder of the glory that was spring. They are  perennial mums, and with only minimal care will reward you every fall. They do need to be divided every couple years to keep them at their best. In the spring, dig them out and replant the newest part of the clump. There will be more than you need, so you can divide with all the people who admired them so last fall. Throw away the older part of the clump. They grow in sun to part shade and like ordinary soil enough to give you a good show. Like all mums they last wonderfully in a vase. they are sometimes called Sheffield apricot, but to me they are just pink. This is another of the plants that was given to me by my mother and it has been around a long time.

Tibouchina

Tibouchina produces flowers for me in late summer and fall. This photograph would lead you to believe it is a royal blue, but actually, it is a wonderful deep shade of purple. It has several common names- glory bush and princess flower.Unfortunately several other plants go by the name of glory bush, so you need the genus to tell which plant you mean. The leaves are fuzzy and  maybe that makes it unpalatable for deer as I have never had them browse it. The leaf veins are longitudinal, and it is a lovely plant even when it is not in bloom. It hails from South America, and some species have become invasive in some places (Hawaii, for example). But here is my zone 7b garden, it never sets seed. It does root easily though, and I usually try to root some pieces just in case the one I have in the ground does not make it through the winter. It is said to be a tropical plant, but it usually winters over for me.The sight of the purple petals laying on the ground around it as they petals shed and more open, is not easily forgotten. I do not know what species this one is, and will not hazard a guess, but will say it is worth growing, and is fairly undemanding. A place in full sun to light shade and ordinary garden soil, with an occasional fistful of fertilizer will produce a happy surprise when most of the flowers begin to fade. It is also easily grown as a container plant, and when I have grown it that way, it gets much larger and blooms sooner.

Variegated Impatience

This is a variegated Impatiens which I originally got from my mother who got it from a friend.  Some people call it Busy Lizzy. Note also that this one is not double. I have been growing it for several years, and it makes a plant about 2 feet tall and blooms all summer. Like all  Impatiens walleriana, it grows best in shade. I often have Impatiens reseed, but not this one and think it may not make viable seed. Never mind though. It is easy enough to root either is soil or water and carry through the winter to make new plants for setting out after the weather warms. Hot sun will scald and kill it. This is particularly true with this plant as it is variegated and this makes it even more susceptible to sun damage. Some people mistake it for Snow-on-the-Mountain, especially if it is not in bloom.  At this point, November 3, we have not had a killing frost and I have 4 or 5 of these that are still blooming beautifully.

Sumac

My daddy often mentioned shoe-make, a shrub I later learned as sumac. He was not concerned with the beautiful red autumn leaves of sumac, nor even with the crimson berries of staghorn sumac. His interest lay in avoiding poison sumac, a plant that he and many others are violently allergic to. Poison sumac ( Toxicodendron vernix ) has berries of a white or dull gray, and it tends to fall into the background, where you may accidentally contact it when you least expect. Many people consider poison sumac the most toxic plant in the United States, worse than its cousins poison ivy and poison oak. If it is burned, the smoke taken into the lungs can cause edema and death. All parts of it are poisonous. 

Staghorn sumac is not only beautiful in leaf and berry, but is a favorite food for birds. A word of warning here, though. Do not pick it and put it out for the birds to eat, else you will find it appearing in your flower beds and its eradication is not something to be taken light-heartedly. Above is a picture of a sumac that grew in my flower bed for a couple of years as a result of my bird feeding activities. Once I realized its intent to consume this bed, I began eradication procedures:digging and herbicide. It took 2 years of constant vigilance to rid myself of it. Lesson learned-enjoy along the road side, don't bring it home. 

Humans also like the taste of staghorn sumac when it is made into a wonderful lemonade. If you would like a recipe, here is a link to a good one.

Tree Frog

While putting my plants into the greenhouse for the winter, I found 2 of these little frogs hiding among the leaves of my elkhorn ferns. The distinctive X on their backs made them easy to identify online. They are spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) and the males make a whistle-like call in the very early spring. Some might mistake their calls for crickets, but crickets only call in the late summer and fall. they live in wooded areas near water and mate and lay eggs in water on underwater twigs.
Spring peepers eat small insects so I welcome them into my greenhouse, along with anoles, toads, and garden spiders. They hibernate in winter in colder areas and can even survive being partially frozen. They won't have that trouble (hopefully) in the greenhouse. It will be like a winter spent in Florida.
Yes, that appears to be either an insect or a spider to the right on the picture. Maybe just lunch.

Poem by ee cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing by E. E. Cummings i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any—lifted from the no of all nothing—human merely being doubt unimaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Pot Lady Vandalized

Someone threw a rock (clearly visible in the 3rd pic) and broke the Pot Lady's head to bits. The force of the rock was enough to shatter the pots into small shards for the most part. Some of the pieces may have fallen on her arm and broke 5 of the 7 pots that made up her arm. Her hat lies on the ground amidst terracotta pieces. It made me very sad. I guess someone was just so jealous because they did not have a Pot Lady that they decided to destroy her. I mean hey! she is on Google Street View!  I can probably fix her head with extra pots, but the arm will be a problem. The arms were so difficult to do in the first place. BooHoo. If whoever did this wanted to make me sad, they sure did.

Perilla and Coleus

Perilla and Coleus are often confused . I was confused myself and did a little looking around to try to find out more about whether they were the same plant or not. They do belong to the same family; both  are mints, both have toothed leaf edges, although Perilla has sharper "teeth". Generally Coleus does best in shade while Perilla does well in both sun and shade, but produces markedly different leaves depending on the amount of sun. But even this distinction is being called into question with the advent of the new "Sun" coleus. The one on the left above in one of the sun coleus and is called 'Alabama Sunset'. The more sun it gets (up to a point) the more red tones appear in the foliage. When grown in shade the leaves are mostly yellowish green. The plant on the right is Perilla 'Magilla' and it's foliage develops more purple in the sun, having more cream and green in shade as the one in the picture does.
The Coleus genus has undergone a lot of shifting in recent years so that plants that used to be Coleus are now Plectranthus,  My mother used to grow a Perilla that she called Blood of Jesus, but if you google Blood of Jesus, you find a green plant with a spot of red in the leaf and it grows in the Holy Land. The important thing to take away from all this naming confusing is that both Coleus and Perilla are great plants in shade and sun and can bring refreshing color to the late garden. If you have procured some named varieties, you can easily root pieces to carry over for next year as they won't stand the frost.  Neither 'Alabama Sunset' Coleus nor 'Magilla' Perilla produce seed  so you will need new plants next year. They will root in water, but why not just stick the cuttings in soil to start with. It gives them a better start and they will actually grow in winter rather than becoming smaller and thinner as they pine away over the winter. They will wilt at first, but keep them moist and in a couple of days they will be perked up and looking like miniatures of their parents.

Fall Flowers in Bloom

Fall is here but many plants are still putting on a show. Seems like some plants save the best til last.I still have lots of zinnias blooming altho the foliage on many of them is very spotted. I planted some  seed in late August so I have some fairly young zinnias also. The Perilla (Magilla-what a hoot for a name) in the foreground looks better all the time It has been lovely all season, but now is creating a welcome fresh point in the flower bed among other plants that that are winding down. It roots easily and I usually just take cuttings so I will have it next year, and leave the big ones in the garden. Behind and to the left of the Perilla is a Tibouchina with purple flowers. It is a late bloomer and adds a fresh touch so late. In the back is one spot of bright yellow. It is Turneria.

Fall Roadside Wildflowers

                                                          Goldenrod and Ageratum

                                                      Goldenrod, Eupatorium, and Gerardia

The roadsides have been glorious these last few weeks. They still look good, even though some of the flowers are fading. None of these flowers would I ever plant, especially in a flower bed, as they are all thugs, but on the roadsides and waste places, they are  just perfect. Golden and blue flowers accented with white and pink.

Blackberry Lilies

My blackberry lilies (Belamcanda chinensis) were really beautiful this year.The flowers are displayed atop wiry stems, and are spotted, resulting in another common name -leopard lilies.  After blooming for weeks in late summer, they set the black seed that gives them their name, and the seed hang on for weeks, too.  These are beautiful carefree plants, once hailing from China and Japan, now happily at home in America. They are persistent, but not a nuisance. They can spread by both seed and rhizomes; they are irises so they grow from a rhizome, not a bulb. Mine are growing in a grassy area and are having no trouble competing with the grass. They grow in both sun and light shade and are at home in almost any type soil. Sounds like they could take over the earth, doesn't i?  But never fear, privet bushes and Kudzu will beat them to it.

October Spider lilies

                                                                     Red Spider Lilies           

                                                      Red Spider Lilies beside Encore Azalea

Most years my red spider lilies bloom in late August and September. This year they were a full month late.TI saw spider lilies blooming in August, but mine stayed below ground. Was it that dry, that they could not bloom? Whatever the reason for their lateness, they are just as beautiful as always. The second picture shows some spider lilies that came up right next to an Encore azalea, and they are close to the same color.

Long Tall Rat Snakes in Alabama

I met up with this 5 foot rat snake in my barn. It had black and grey markings. Yes, I know they are "good" snakes but I just cannot abide snakes of any kind around my yard and barn. It had to go.  Rat snakes are constrictors who feed primarily on  rats, mice, and birds. I knew why this snake was in the barn. It was looking for lunch. After I killed my mouse eradicator, I was forced to put out poison to do the snake job. This is the way crazy things get started.

Wild Poinsettia

Last year I dug this small plant up and brought it home to my flower bed. I was really surprised when  it returned this year, as I had thought it was probably an annual. There is no doubt that it is a Poinsettia, though, even as small as it is. It is called by several names: Fire on the Mountain, Wild Poinsettia, and Painted Leaf. It is in the genus Euphorbia (know it by the milky sap it exudes when broken) and is currently classified as E. heterophylla although at various times it has been called by other species names. On your walks, keep an eye out for this one to remind you that Christmas is coming. My information says these plants can grow to 3 feet tall, but I have never seen any that big.

Sensitive Briar

Mimosa microphylla or little leaf sensitive briar is a commonly overlooked wildflower and is blooming right now (mid-September) along roadsides. It is also know as catclaw briar because of its sharp small thorns. I suppose if you fell into it, it might scratch you a bit, but under normal circumstances, it's not a real hazard. It is however, a real pink powder puff beauty, and an added interesting bonus is the way the leaves fold up when you touch them, hence the name sensitive briar.
It is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae) and like all members of the family, the fruit is a pod. It is a perennial, and spreads in a sprawling manner from about 18 inches to 3 feet.

Ladies Tresses Orchids

I have always thought of Ladies Tresses (Spiranthus) as a rare plant, perhaps because they are orchids. My walks along the road this fall have proven me wrong. I first began to see them popping up along the road sides in late August. and they continue to appear in different places even now, mid-September. They grow right in the grass and weeds on the roadside and many have come up after a recent mowing by the county. When I first saw them this year, they were along one stretch of road, on one side of the road. I counted about 25 plants. The next time I walked several days later, most of those had passed, but there were a few scattered about in other places. Over several days they have opened along the other side of the road over the mile stretch that I walk. The last count was 50 uncounted plants, mostly on the other side of the road from the  ones I first saw. They are not rare, and they are quite tough as evidenced by their chosen habitat, a roadside. I also have several in my "lawn", which I have carefully mowed around.
The flower stalks pop up on naked stems. After they pass, the somewhat fleshy rosette of leaves appear.

Brazilian Verbena

Brazilian Verbena or Purpletop vervain is blooming now in the late summer/fall. This specimen is blooming by my mailbox, a spot that is mostly wild. If it were in my flower bed, I would have already pulled it out. it tends to be very invasive and I learned long ago not to tolerate it there. But in wild areas, I can tolerate and even enjoy it. Several times I have included it in cut flowers, but the blooms do not hold up well.
 There are at least 2 species, V. bonariensis and V. brazilensis, which are not easily separated, at least by me, but for practical purposes they are the same. They both came from South America, and tend to be invasive. Some people do plant them as ornamentals, but those souls enjoy weeding more than I do.  They do make a tall airy screen to view other flowers through, but are not worth the freight to me.

Tickle Tails

The tickle tails (foxtail) are beginning to pass; the seeds are forming and dropping off, so they now look like ragged hairy caterpillars. I recently realized these are NOT grasses, as they don't belong to the grass family (Poaceae). Some sources call them weeds, and I guess they are in some settings, but i love the way they line the roads and wave at me when I go past. I do try to keep them pulled out of areas where I'm growing other things,though, because they can take over quickly with their large course foliage and many seeds (watch out next year!)
The cooler days we've had a few of lately make my roadside walks more pleasant. There are lots of wildflowers coming in now. The mosaic of leaves, especially sweetgum, is a moving sight.

Garden or Writing Spider

Argiope aurantia or the common garden spider is everywhere this fall. There are 4 or 5 inside my greenhouse, and goodness knows how many outside in the yard, flowers, and shrubs. To me it seems like there are more this year than usual. maybe we need them to take care of the mosquitoes, altho from what I have seen they tend to trap larger insects, like wasps and katydids. Maybe they take the mosquitoes for an immediate snack?
 Many, like the one pictured above have already mated, eaten their mate, laid their eggs and covered them in a silky sac to keep them safe through the winter. It is easy to tell the males from the females. The females are much bigger. Males usually have a small web somewhere near the female, for as long as he lasts. It's not uncommon among the spider clan for the female to feast on the male after the consummation. Perhaps his body provides needed nutrients for the egg maturation, or maybe she just gets distracted and hungry.
  Even as a child I felt both fascinated and terrified of  writing spiders. They are so beautiful with their  patterns of yellow and black. They seem to be alerting me to their presence, warning me to keep back, yet tempting me to take a longer look. I wondered what they were writing about . Was it secret spider knowledge? Their address?  Their shopping list? Or is it merely (can Merely be applied to anything as exquisite as a spider web?) re enforcement to the center part of the web?
 Though they may hang in their webs for weeks eating and threatening, catching and winding up their prey, looking out on a world with spider eyes we cannot be privy to, in the end, one day they are just gone.They  leave behind the ball of silk that will break open late next summer to release a new brood into the world. What happens to them? Do they just wear out and die? Or do the birds find them and eat them? Whatever  happens, I miss them as the days begin to drift into cooler territory.

Picotee Morning Glory

I am a fan of morning glories, and this one with the white edge is just perfect. I have 2 or 3 small plants that have volunteered from ones I grew in this spot last year. The foliage on these, both this year and last, is very light lime green. I wonder if they are growing in an exceptionally poor spot (I did fertilize them, though), or if this is the natural color of their foliage. I intend to collect some seed this year and plant them in a different spot next year to see what they do. I obtained these seed from a swap, and after a year, do not remember if there was a name attached or not. This is the beautiful blue color reminiscent of Heavenly Blue Morning Glory.
The beautiful pink and purple morning glories that grew in my daddy's corn field, and caused him much aggravation, were a form of bindweed, a term that most gardeners are familiar with. These were certainly perennial and were spread by plowing. The roots were broken into smaller pieces which then sprouted into more plants. Only the advent of herbicides brought some relief.
 There seems to be some disagreement about whether there are annual morning glories or not. The same plants seem to be called perennials in warmer climates and annuals in colder ones. To me this says they are perennial. A plant with roots that can reach a depth of 9 feet and regrow from those roots is surely perennial. So be forewarned, unless you want to keep the Round-Up handy, and you want to grow morning glories, perhaps the best thing to do is grow them in a pot with a saucer on the bottom to keep the roots from wandering, gather all the seed that forms, or grow them someplace where you don't care if they do take over.
 Aww, but they are sooo pretty!

Butterfly Pea

I see this lavender flowered pea blooming along roadsides everywhere these days. It  winds among the weeds and grasses blooming in happy abandon these waning days of summer. This year the flowers seem larger than usual, maybe our abundant rainfall? It is a perennial wildflower of the legume family and produces seed in small pods that often cling and move to new places in that manner. They are lovely  on the roadside, but I hope you never get them in your flower beds!

White Ginger Lily

Beginning in August every year, my white ginger lilies ( Hedychim coronarium) start a season of beauty and fragrance. I have them planted under the eave drip and near the outdoor faucet so they get a tremendous amount of water. They are water hogs and to grow their best and bloom their longest, they need a steady supply of water. I like to cut several and put them in a large vase for the house. I try to make them tidy in the vase by keeping the spent flowers picked off the cone-like inflorescence. They last several days and continue to perfume.
 The easiest method of propagation is to divide the rhizomes. Cut the rhizomes with a shovel or sharp knife at the obvious joints. Roots grow from the sides of the rhizomes, so try not to loose any more of the roots than necessary. Loosen the soil where you intend to plant, and only partially bury the rhizome in the soil. Just stabilize the rhizome in an upright position til it is established. If there is green growth when you plant it, you will need to cut this back to a few inches so it will be manageable. It will put out new growth soon.
 My plants typically get to be about 5/6 feet tall. I seldom to never fertilize them and they largely take care of themselves, except in dry spells when they need extra water.
They are endemic to  the Himalayas (Nepal and India) but have become troublesomely invasive in some places, notably Hawaii.  I don't believe that is a problem in my zone as they die back in the winter. However the size of the clump does increase, and I divide some off almost every year.

Night Blooming Cereus Cactus

I have several large Night Blooming Cereus cactus which I keep in the greenhouse through the winter. In the summer I set them outside in partial shade. They typically bloom 3 or 4 times each summer and it's not unusual for one to throw a bloom in the fall after I have taken them into the greenhouse. Even though I keep them near the back door where I can easily step out and see them, I often forget to look and next morning all that remains  of their stunning beauty and fragrance is mush. When bloom time is getting close the flowers which grow straight develop a crook so that the open bloom points to the side or up instead of down. This characteristic not only alerts me to the coming flower but also may the source of one of it's common names, Dutchman's Pipe Cactus. The scientific name is Epiphyllum oxypetalum. Another common name is Queen of the Night, which it certainly is.

 Away from it's home range in Mexico,and Latin and South America it never sets seed and altho I have read that it is sterile, I suspect that the right moth or other pollinator is not on hand to do the job. It can be readily propagated from a leaf or stem cutting. Put the cutting in a soilless light  mixture, and water frequently til rooted. This plant  is called a cactus and care should be taken not to overwater. Give bright light, but not full sun. The Plant should be grown in a pot that appears too small, in other words, under pot.  My plants which are perhaps 6 feet tall have to be propped or tied up to remain upright. These plants grow naturally in the bits of organic matter caught in the crotches of trees and branches, so they do not need a lot of soil. If yours is not blooming, too much root room may be the culprit.