Today in the Garden.

Growth:

Cucumbers:  The perfect  spiral.  The beginning of a vine that will bring length and produce. And the bud of a yellow flower that will soon unfold into an elegant silk beauty.

Dill: The tiny flowers add just the hint of color. My dill plant itself is also over a foot tall!

Succulents:  Of all my succulents, this plant has noticeably grown the most! Almost an inch in             height!

Viola: For growing flowers, my thumb hasn't been the greenest, but after the seeds in this container have been sown for over a month and a half, my viola plants are finally sprouting!   Those five tiny leaves show me I did at least one thing right!  However, out of 20 seeds only five have sprouted even the faintest green leaves, but hopefully the ones that have will continue to!

Color:

     Sunlight. 

          As it is the one thing that provides all life, it also has amazing additions to other parts of life.  As I mentioned in a previous post, full sunlight can change the shade and color of certain succulents.  Here is the plant when I first bought it, and now what it has grown into on the full sun porch after three weeks.  It went from a dark plum only on about a third of the plant to now a brighter maroon that cover three fourths of the leaves.  Not only has the plant grown but the color has deepened into a much richer purple.

                           Before...                                          After

Today in the Garden...

Morning Dew:  The morning freshness was so beautiful this morning!  It hung like little crystals momentarily held before the light of day absorbs it into its warmths.

Cucumbers: This summer was a great learning lesson on my first try growing vegetable and trying to establish them from seeds.  My cucumber leaves have been turning yellow but this morning I noticed that they've begun to sprout feelers and vines from their new leaves so I'm hoping to see them grow a little more before it gets to cold.  But now that I've had this experiment, when spring comes my garden will be far more lush and varied!  

Lovage:  My lovage plant is already getting new stems to it after two weeks since the last one sprouted and unfolded.  Do lovage stems always come up in pairs?

Fairies in the Garden

          Today I was given a little magic in my garden.  I recently brought from home my old fairy post that I used to put in all my plants when I was little.  It really must be about twelve years old from when my seventh birthday party was elegantly planned by my mother in a fairy theme.  I put it in one of my cucumber containers and a few days later this is what I woke up to...


          As legend goes, centuries ago, the sudden appearance of a circular pattern of mushrooms in people's soil had them believing that fairy rings were in the making. The English believed that fairy rings were where fairies came to dance and celebrate, the mushrooms of the rings were used as stools for the fairies to recuperate during the evenings festivities. Some believe that building their home in an area that had fairy rings would bring good luck to the family that settled there. Some believed that the fairy ring was the spot where fairies had chosen to bury their treasure, one catch, you needed a fairy to obtain the treasure. When dew formed on the outer area of grass, young maidens would use this moisture in love potions or as a remedy for complexion problems.

       I seemed to have welcomed fairies with my old garden post in this container!  And theres not a single mushroom in any of pot.  So dance and sing, and celebrate life!

Today in the Garden

          Today I walked out to the porch and started to notice several more beautiful things happening...

 

LOVAGE:  My lovage sprouted a new stem and the leaves finally started spreading out and unfolding!

Medieval Magic & beliefs: Lovage was commonly used in love potions. In addition the plant also acted as a sentry of the home; if planted in front of the house lovage was supposed to keep off all evil forces, such as plague, snakes, insects etc.

Historical notes: Given the plants medical and magical powers, it is no wonder that lovage was an extremely important herb during the Middle Ages. Therefore a garden without this plant would be very rare.

BASIL-Since basil is one of the few annual plants in my little garden, it's almost time for its leaves to fall.  But I did get one last flowering of little white petals!

And it looks like I'm expecting my first flower from my succulent plants!  or at least some new petals opening!

Succulent Garden

          Planting succulents, which are generally hardy and low-maintainence can really add a modern look to your home or garden.  Why spend $20 on a fake plant when you can easily have the real ones at a lower cost and can personalize them to your own taste and decor.  

          I found these two containers at the local thrift store for less than a dollar each, making these unique centerpieces with easy up keep.  Just be sure to pick a container that has good drainage, which you can either add to any container by drilling a hole, or without the use of power tools, provide by adding gravel or stones on the bottom as a drainage layer.  

          What I've learned from this project:  that succulent plants can come in all different shades and hues, several like the "Perle von Nurnberg", a variety of Echeveria (which is the succulent most people can recognize) is a tint of purple or pink, and the "Black Prince" is black with a purple or green middle.  I was also surprised to learn that some green plants turn into a plum shade in full sun.  Also many varieties have gorgeous flowers of lavender or bright orange or golden yellow.  Some even flower in winter, which is a nice splash of color against a season of few flowering plants. Succulents have made an interesting addition and texture to my porch garden!   

Today in the Garden

          Today in my garden I had my first pest encounter when I found an ant's nest under one of my plants when I was rotating some of the containers so they could get better sunlight.  It wasn't there last week, but the ants moved fast creating a whole colony of over a thousand ants with eggs and dirt buildup. 

           However, my chives bud is almost fully blossomed!  It's beautiful and smells lightly of lilies.

The Antics of Einstein

          A story is never interesting without main characters.  And isn't every blog a story?  Don't readers follow a blog to catch up on the next chapter?  Well to add a character to my story; meet Einstein.  

          He was adopted from Second Chance Kitten and Cat Rescue located in Concord, NC after he and his sister (who already found a loving home) had been abandoned, malnourished and in desperate need of care and love.  He was given the name before I meet him and I didn't have the heart to change it when it fit him so well.  With his tuffs of fur, crazy whiskers that he continuously breaks off, and his little white mustache, he really couldn't look like any other name.  But it was also fitting since he has learned his new environment, his name, and the word treat so quickly.  He follows me from room to room and puts his paws on my nose so he can lick it without me "wiggling so much".  He can't say anything to me, both figuratively and literally since he hasn't quite gained the ability to meow yet, though he faithfully tries only no sound comes out.  His personality shines out and I can almost see what he would say if he could, like "Mom, what are you working on? You don't mind me sitting here do you?  I'm right here mom!"

          My little kitten companion, always dressed his best in a tuxedo and gloves, keeping a watchful eye on me at all times, even if he's not on my lap he's somewhere close just waiting, so when I move he can follow.

So giving you our best,

-Hannah and Einstein. 

p.s.

Happy Birthday to the most amazing man I know, my Dad! :D

Today in the Garden

Since I've graduated, I have moved into my very own 1 bedroom apartment, which is really one section of a tri-plex house on a quiet street in Greensboro, where the neighbors kids play in the afternoon after school and the same elderly couple walk their dogs in the evening.  For fear of having a whole house to myself I bought a kitten for a companion.  Einstein with his tuxedo coloring, a white mustache and crazy whiskers, is both an activity kitten and also a loving pet.

Deciding I also needed a hobby to occupy some of my time and to have something relaxing to do when the stress of the continuous job search piles on my shoulders, I choose gardening.

However since I'm renting an apartment and don't know how long I'll be in one place, my garden consists of a variety of flower pots and containers on my front porch.  While I've always loved plants, I've never been able to grow them for very long, so while gardening is supposed to be a beautiful and rewarding hobby, it also was my own personal challenge.  What started off with a few herbs last month, has now grown into 23 containers of plants, mainly herbs and succulents, but there's also a bonsai tree and some bamboo.

Every little thing that happens in my garden brings me a little hope each morning, like today when I walked out to drink a cup of tea, I noticed my chives plant blossomed overnight.  Each one of those tiny silk white petals is a little success for me.  I must have done something right to earn a flower.

Post-Grad Mortem

          We all have labels.  Some others give us, but there are many we give ourselves.  I label myself as daughter, designer, and reader.  But there are several labels that recently I have lost sight of, such as student.  As a new school year begins for so many people surrounding me I feel a little disconnected from a world that I was, up until recently, so involved with.  I know that graduation is an accomplishment to be proud of, but now as the class of 2011 steps into a new world, the waters are murky and the journey is unclear.  What has always been my main focus for the past 21 years is now completed.  So nothing seems quite the same as it used to when everyday was an unquestionable routine.
          And with the completion of an BFA in Design from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the lack of specific classes has started a disengagement from the designer I was three months ago.
          However, since nothing is planned now, anything can happen.  So this is my step out of the infinite scatterbrained moment that I've been stuck in, and my step back to the artist I am and the life long learner I want to be.  This is also a chance to give myself new labels, maybe things like gardener, yogi, or chef (or at least a cook that doesn't burn macaroni).  With a new routine, I have an opportunity that only arrives at pivotal moments in life.  A pivotal moment like being a college graduate with no where to look but ahead.