Kaseys Korner

A Halloween trick

definitely not a treat ~ this one compliments of Mother Nature.  The weathermen (and women) were right ~ drats.  I was hoping they'd be wrong (as often happens) but unfortunately not this time.  It started snowing almost right to the predicted minute and is still snowing as I type.  So far, we have approx 12" on the ground, (maybe more?) and it's not supposed to stop until tonight.  I took a couple pictures of the birdhouse (standing in my doorway) but haven't ventured out yet.  I'm hoping not to until it stops! 

It looks more like winter than fall, doesn't it? 

The pumpkins are toast.  We can forget about winning any carving contests this year unless we go out and purchase new ones.  Maybe we should just tuck away the Halloween decorations and pull out Christmas??!!  No, we won't go that far but I did do what I often do when it snows ~ a little papercrafting!  Usually I make cards but on occasion I'll still scrapbook like I chose to do yesterday.  I don't know what it is about creating a summer layout (on a wintry day) that makes me feel instantly better?  Maybe seeing, touching, and feeling the pictures transports me back to my favorite season?  I don't know.  I selected the swallowtail photos because we hardly saw a butterfly (of any kind) in the garden this summer.  I thought they deserved to be preserved.   The results of my creative time are below but I did want to say (before you take a peek) that I don't usually have to resort to this sort of therapy until much later in the year! I hope it's not a sign of what's ahead...

I don't know why I did this the old fashioned way ~ scanning and stitching the two halves of the layout together instead of photographing the whole page??  I guess you get the idea either way?  Maybe I'll go back and photograph then edit this post??  Sometimes my mind doesn't work right the first time around... FIXED IT!!  Besides the photos, I really love the June calendar card ~ I added the color to it using chalks.  They were one of those supplies I bought then realized the moment I got home they were already "out of date."  The year on the 12 month set was 2008.  arrggg.  I hate when that happens.  Instead of tossing them, I decided to cover the year and use them anyway.  Cute (and true) message on the card too, don't you think?

 

While we're doing close-ups, let's take a better look at the title:

I'm going to have to keep staring at this layout all day instead of looking out the window ~ maybe it will convince me that we're still in "sweet days of summer?" 

It'll do (for now)

referring to my makeshift winter "greenhouse" which is really my bathroom.  Since I don't have a real greenhouse (still on my wish list) I have to make do with the best light in my house.  Wouldn't you know it's in the master bathroom?  We'll take what we can get, right?  The small hallway is lit up by one large, glass block, south-facing window and one smaller east facing window.  Both windows are letting in considerably more light since my new neighbors revved up their chain saw (the photo below was taken on a cloudy day and you can see how bright it is).  While that's positive for my winter assemblage of bulbs and tropicals, it's still a sore subject with me.  Enough said ~ why did I even bring it up??  For optimum storage, I place both of my 3-rung vintage step ladders side-by-side then load 'em up with amaryllis, clivias, orchids & cat grass (you have to keep the cat happy so he won't chew on everything else, right?):

There's even one tiny sprig of a 'Triloba' passion vine that I'm nursing along.  I hope it can make it indoors since it failed miserably outside.  Passion vines and I did not see eye to eye this year because 'Maypop'  crashed on me too.  Back to the amaryllis, some are new while others are being "nursed" along (because they hardly produced any leaves over the summer to feed the bulbs).  Two in the latter category are 'Sumatra' and 'Night Star.'  Do you remember them from last fall/winter??  

(Sumatra)

(Night Star)

They both have exotic spidery flowers so maybe they need a different treatment than the bulbs I'm more familiar with??  Jump right in if you know the answer ~ I'm a willing pupil.  Otherwise research is in order to learn more about their care requirements.  They were so stunning in bloom that I'd hate to lose them.  All the sleeping my daughter is doing during her recovery has allowed me to get the new amaryllis bulbs planted up & the old ones re-potted:

The four bulbs pictured above are new and will give me something to look forward to over the long winter months.  Included in one of the pots is my first ever double amaryllis!  How fun is that?  Something else exciting is the discovery of a bud on my only 'Paph' orchid.  I bought it for 50% off this spring (because it had just finished blooming) so if I can get the bud to blooming stage, it will be my first time seeing the flower.  Good thing I have everything settled in because our weatherman forecasted 10" to 20" of snow over the next two days.  Remind me again what season are we in?? 

a slow comeback

I first want to say thank you to everyone for the well wishes & messages you sent my daughter.  They are so uplifting and comforting to read.  I think it's going to be a slow road back to "normal" but after one week at home I'm feeling more confident that we'll get there.  The biggest thing seems to be exhaustion at this point.  It's been a long time since she's napped twice a day so I hover and get nothing done!  If only I'd had a crystal ball in June, I wouldn't have ordered all those bulbs.  and then there's the garden ~ it's waiting patiently for me to put it to "bed."  It will happen, just at a different pace this year.  Remember that snow photo I showed you two posts ago??  The next morning (same day my daughter was admitted to the hospital) it looked like this outside my kitchen window:

Does that look like a fall scene to you??  Well, maybe ~ because there's still green foliage on the rose bushes BUT not anymore.  We set a new record low that night ~ 16 degrees.  Whew.  Pretty frigid, right?  As you can imagine everything is brown as a result.  So many trees and shrubs never even changed color ~ they went straight to brown (from green).  I've never seen that happen before.  Also, my poor fish ~ I didn't have a chance to "winterize" the pond or get the stock tank heater installed.  All the water plants froze which makes me wonder if they'll come back next year or not??

I did manage to get outside last week long enough to trim back the foliage and sink the pots to the bottom of the pond.  (I'm trying to be optimistic that they'll pull thru the freeze because they were expensive!)  I also cleaned out the water hyacinths and decaying oak leaves.  The heater still needs to be connected and I need to construct a screen to keep out the remaining oak leaves.  Another reason I needed that crystal ball I guess ~ maybe this wasn't the year to learn about ponds??  If I weren't so distracted, I know I'd be putting more effort into figuring out what I really need to do to keep the pond going over the winter.  Oh well.  That's a curve ball of life, isn't it?  I was also worried that I was holding up the "Gardening by Letter" project I signed up for ~ organized by Anna (flowergardengirl blog).  Our cards are usually due to her by the 20th of each month.  I missed that date but had fun making up for it one cold afternoon.  I thought you might like to see the results (hopefully that's okay to share?):

You probably remember the fall wheelbarrow arrangement??  Good thing I took pictures right after I fixed it because the only spot of color left now is the pumpkin (which is a bit mushy).  Here are a few close-ups of the card just for fun:

and one more with the cute butterfly button:

 

Some of the supplies are older (like the button) but it's fun to pull them out and breathe new life in them.  I enjoyed myself so much that day that I even created a special packet for the hollyhock seeds I'm sending along with the card:

I hope Ann likes the color pink?!

I know it did me good to get my mind off the serious situation my daughter has endured.  I also hope your fall garden has a lot more color in it then mine?  It was an abrupt end to the season for us.  Darn it.  In some ways it doesn't surprise me since we've had a strange weather year all the way around ~  why stop now, right?!!!  Here's hoping next season will be a little more "normal."

ray of sunshine

A quick update for all my friends and family (those that don't already know) and my blogging buddies as to my recent absence from the blog.  My only precious daughter (16 yrs old) came down with the H1N1 virus two weeks ago.  After three days of typical flu syndromes it seemed she was on the road to recovery and we could forget about the scare of contracting it.  Unfortunately, several days later, her fever returned and we ended up in the back of an ambulance, being transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at our local Children's Hospital.  She spent a very long, excruciating week in critical care and I have to say I was scared to death at times that she might not pull thru.  Thank goodness, I can now tell you she is home, finishing her recovery in a familiar, comfortable environment. 

I've never been afraid of the flu before but I can say from here on out, I will have a healthy respect.  The complication of pneumonia is what really took her down.  The hospital was full to capacity while we were there, something they said doesn't generally happen until January and it was so sad to see so many very sick kids.  The Intensive Care Unit was eerily quiet despite every room occupied ~ most of the kids on ventilators.  I said a million prayers during that week and thank all of you who did too.  I am hopeful she will continue to improve each day and we won't have to go back.  The Brugmansia bloom above was waiting for me in the garage when we arrived home on Sunday.  (I put it there before we left to save it from the snow)  Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seemed symbolic ~ like a  ray of much needed sunshine....  

fall surprises

I made a few discoveries yesterday while I was on my hands & knees planting bulbs.  It taught me a lesson too.  I always think I know what's going on in my garden but crawling around at ground level definitely proved me wrong.  The first, very exciting surprise was finding a Lycoris radiata bulb in bloom!  It was actually past its peak too so it had opened a while ago:

Oh boy, oh boy.  How amazing is that?  I was mad at myself last fall for spending money on the bulbs (I recklessly placed an order after seeing photos of them in bloom on other blogs).  What I didn't realize at that time is that they are only hardy to zone 7 or 8 ~ I learned that after planting.  Basically I wrote them off as money wasted (& lectured myself to pay more attention in the future).  Because of the hardiness zones (I'm in zone 5) I hadn't even bothered to look for blooms.  We had an unusually mild winter last year which must explain how this one survived?  However it happened, it was QUITE a thrill for me to find it blooming.

A funny story ~ my neighbor happened to walk by when I was photographing them and wanted to know what I was doing.  When I said I was taking pictures of "naked ladies," he got pretty excited.  His enthusiasm cooled when I pointed out the red blooms ~ I guess they weren't exactly what he had in mind!  tee hee.  I'm hoping to get some better photos today ~ I was so excited to find them yesterday that I grabbed the camera and snapped away despite the glare of full sun. 

Something else interesting was finding a bud on one of the Primula denticulata plants (drumstick primula):

 

I planted three of these primulas earlier in the summer but never expected them to try and bloom this year.  I was looking forward to a spring display but we'll see what happens with this bud.  Low temperatures over the weekend are expected to be in the mid to lower 20's.  I don't know if it can withstand that or not?  Maybe I should cover it?

This little guy better find a sheltered spot to weather out the cold front too:

 

because look what it's doing this AM:

Yes, that's SNOW.  Can you believe it??  I keep hoping I'm having a bad dream but it's not going away.  A fall surprise I'd rather not have...

fall makeover

Poor vintage wheelbarrow.  It's glory days of summer are over.  I knew the time was coming (although no matter when it happened, it would be too soon for me).  Let's look backwards (one more time) so we can "ooh" and "aah" over it in its "prime:"

Wasn't that just beautiful?  It hurts my heart (slight over-exaggeration) just looking at it.

But seriously, it was very sad when I looked out the window yesterday morning to see this:

Boo hoo.  There was no way I could leave it looking like that.  Too, too hard to see.  Replacements were sought:

and replanting began:

Wait, wait, wait.  Something was wrong.  The new arrangement was not coming together to my liking.  It took some standing back, a few "walk-arounds," and an hours rest until I figured out what the problem was ~  the small mums were not to scale.  Very important, scale.  Let's try again and let's also move it around to the front flagstone patio where it can show off properly:

Aaahhhh, SO much better.  Now I don't feel quite so bad about losing my summer plantings.   The sting of dead zinnias has been soothed.  We have moved forward into the season. 

Let's hope we can enjoy it for a while without winter creeping into the picture too early....

the "patriotic" container

A first for me.  I've never used our countries flag as inspiration for a planting combination before but I'm proud of the concept.  Maybe that could be the theme of our container challenge next year?  We could spice things up by choosing either state flag colors or country colors.  I guess we have a lot of time to iron out those details, don't we?  Meanwhile back to my "patriotic" container ~ planted in the black pedestal pot ~ it contains only three different plants; Brachycome 'Blue Star,' White Calibrachoa, and Salvia Greggi 'Navajo Bright Red.'  This is another case where the parts might be greater than the whole?  or the more likely scenario is it was not photographed well.  I should have pulled it away from the evergreen background so the container was clearly outlined.  This photo was taken about a month ago ~ the Brachycome is done blooming so it's impossible to re-shoot.  I wish I could.  Besides moving it, I would wait until it wasn't in full sunlight.  *sigh*  A cardinal sin.  I should know better!

I do think I could "represent" better next year if we choose to use this theme.  I like the individual annuals but I'm not sure they mixed well?  I did enjoy the affect white Calibrachoa made tumbling down the front:

 

and these two photos of 'Blue Star' Brachycome make me smile even tho they are in soft focus rather than sharp:

 

Salvia Greggi is an "iffy" perennial in my zone 5 garden.  From time to time it winters over but the times it doesn't far outweigh those lucky years.  Because of that, I tend to use it as an annual instead of counting it among the perennials.  It definitely won't overwinter in a container so these will be lost:

They look decidedly more pink then red in this photo, don't they?  Let's chalk that up to "fade out" not another photography mistake!   There you have it, my "true to the red, white & blue" container.  I hope you enjoyed it (or at least the idea behind it).  :-)

Autumn pinks

No, that's not a typo.  I meant to type "pinks" even tho I realize the current season is not generally known for this princess color.   However, count on me to ferret some out, if they are there, and believe me, they ARE there.  A plethora of pinks as a matter of fact.  That makes me happy since the rest of my surroundings are turning increasingly russet.  I thought my favorite mode of photography (macro) would be a perfect way to appreciate/view them ~ starting with Clematis 'Josephine' ~ a lone bud in the "birdhouse" container:

I sure hope she makes it thru the winter ~ she's been touch and go since I purchased her ~ causing me a lot of anxiety about her well-being.   I wanted her specifically to be a container vine but I'm not convinced she's thrilled about it?  I've seen her growing in some of your gardens but don't remember where everyone located her?   In the ground or in a container?

I think Catherine has her in a pot (if I remember correctly)?   How about anyone else? 

Two dahlias are next on the list.  The first is 'Bonne Esperance' ~ a miniature single dahlia (blooms about 1" in size) also in the "birdhouse" container:

 

There was some lovely back-lighting going on when I was photographing her.  I think it was to offset the odd angle of the bloom and how difficult it was to get a good focus.  'Rosita' on the other hand, was much easier to capture:

I think she has diva qualities ~ maybe well deserved?!  It's a shame my dahlias waited until this late in the season to produce the most blooms.  Right when frost lurks at every twilight.  Maybe it's a good thing tho?  If they'd been this stunning all summer you all would be sick of seeing them by now! 

Here's one tho that maybe everyone hasn't featured ~ a Begonia anthole bud:

 

Blooms are airy and white but the beautiful shell-looking buds have this salmon/pink cast to them prior to opening.  A bonus I didn't realize ~ it was the large, textured foliage (with a reddish edge) that propelled me to initially purchase it.  Now, why didn't I photograph that?  Oh, I was focused on finding pink.  Maybe I can go back to that?  When I photograph the whole container ~ which includes only one other plant ~ a pale pink fuchsia (that I am too lazy to find the tag & properly name at this moment):

The final pinks are the shrub roses (unknown variety).  I tried something different with them this year.  Instead of deadheading all the spent blooms at the end of June, I only pruned half of them.  I've tried an assortment of methods over the years, from doing nothing to pruning everything.  Last year (when I pruned everything) I hardly had any hips because the frost got to the buds before the second bloom time.  The new cautious approach has paid off ~ I have some fall blooms but also have a crop of hips for winter interest. 

I think I'll stick with this method again next season.... 

Sunday chores

Yesterday was a "bling" day.  Maybe because I spent 3 to 4 hours painting (can you believe there's anything left to be painted in my house??) I felt "entitled" to a little shopping spree?  Somehow I ended up with a LOT of sparkly baubles, I wish they were the real thing, but for now I'll make do with imitation.  ha.  Like there's any other choice.

oh yeah.  That's what I'm talking about.  I warned you I was a "girly girl" in the meme post.  I wore almost every piece to dinner last night except the necklace.  Talk about a sight.  I best quit while I'm ahead.  Today, I think I'll get back to chores, sans shopping.  It's safer, right?  and necessary since my bulb order (from John Scheepers) arrived last week.   I don't want to give any bulbs a chance to dry out as an excuse not to bloom next spring!  One thing that didn't arrive with my order are the new amaryllis bulbs I also purchased.  I try to add one or two to my collection each year.   In preparation for their arrival, I purchased this cool 4 piece pot set with tray:

I think it's going to work great for the bulbs.  I like that 4 bulbs can be grouped together yet the individual pots can be turned independently of each other.  I've planted bulbs together before and invariably one gets leaning too far one way and the others are not which makes it difficult (if not impossible) to keep them growing "straight."  This seems like a great solution and purchased for 50% off retail price.  Can't beat that.  The pots are part of my Sunday chores as well ~ re-potting my existing amaryllis bulbs ~ brought indoors before the frost last week.  The bulbs will receive "haircuts" then be planted in fresh potting soil before being stored in the dark.  It's that time of year.  Then I'll hope like crazy they stored enough energy to bloom again this winter.  I know most of them did because of the number of leaves they produced but one or two have me worried...

PS  I will not be planting bulbs in my new bling ~ just in case you were worried.  :-)

Folded treasure

I realized the other day that it's been forever since I posted a papercrafting project.  What's up with that?  Let's fix that oversight right now!  We'll fix it good too with one of my favorite kinds of cards ~ accordion folds.  Ever make one of those?  They add another dimension to card making and (in my opinion) are even more like a gift than a regular handmade card (which we all know is pretty sweet).  The card below was featured in the hardback book "Fabulous Folds for Card Making" published by the House of White Birches.  I was lucky enough to contribute 10 cards to this wonderful book but "You can do it" was (and maybe still is) one of my faves.  Just to tease you, let's do the full card reveal in stages.  That'll have you sitting on the edge of your seat.  ha.  ;-)

 

Above, is the back top and below, a macro of the middle fold:

 

Don't you just love that bird?  Okay, enough of the teasing, I think we're ready for the whole card:

How fun is that?  Makes you want to get out your craft supplies and try your hand at a folded card, doesn't it?  Come on, say it's so...

The message on the card is also my new mantra for the upcoming months.  "I can do it, I can do it, I can do it" ~ get thru winter that is.  Think I can???!!!!!  I may have to keep this card handy to remind myself!