Louisa Cornell, ladydawgfan, KateS and Kelly Ryan are the winners of Fun Contest Saturday!
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A big CONGRATULATIONS to Goddesses Lori Austin (Lori Handeland) and Sabrina Jeffries for being named as RITA finalists for their historical romances BEAUTY AND THE BOUNTY HUNTER and A LADY NEVER SURRENDERS!
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It is February which means I have survived the worst month in Colorado, which is always January. The days are short, ending claustrophobically even before I’ve started dinner, and it is often bitterly cold. The worst is the boring weather–indifferent, icy sunshine pouring from a frozen blue sky, day after day after day. I ache for snowstorms in January, or cloudy days, or something to break up that endless blah cold. It isn’t that I hate winter. I just hate boring January.
And then February arrives and the earth tilts ever so slightly toward summer, and the days progress minute by minute toward dinnertime, then catch it. In February, it can snow a lot, soaking the ground in readiness for spring. If we’re lucky, crocuses might start popping up. The tree branches start to swell.
My gardener’s heart turns to catalogues, oh torturous exercise! Look at those plump tomatoes, those tender flower sprouts, even the clogs and knee protectors. I want to go turn the compost just to smell the earth. I spy the seedling trays and tug them off the winter shelf, wondering when I might be able to begin planting. What to grow, what to grow…..? Potatoes and sweet potatoes, garlic and onions; peaches of course, and roses and petunias. More lavender, which is a very good plant for even the hot dry summer they are predicting here.
What can I start now?
Nothing, quite yet, but I can dream.
It is not predicted to be a great gardening year around here, by the way. The local water board is talking seriously about whether there will be water restrictions this summer, which is VERY challenging for gardeners in this high, dry place. In the back of my mind, I’m already plotting how to maximize my water usage if that turns out to be true. I’ll save shower and bath water and carry it out by hand. (It is illegal to have rain barrels here—every drop of water, once used, belongs to someone downriver.) I’ll erect little tents to shade plants from the hottest sun. I’ll grow drought resistant varieties. I’ll buy a greenhouse and create my own rainforest.
What I’d really like is this:
I’ve been in love with conservatories since my first visit to England. I love them so much that I wrote an entire novel, Lucien’s Fall, about a woman who is determined to save her family gardens and conservatory at all costs—even if she has to marry the wrong man. Madeline saves her conservatory and happily marries a marquess, but I doubt I will build one in the suburbs any time soon.
I will settle for this, which I realized a few days ago will cost less than a new macro lens for my camera, something I’ve been saving for, as a reward.
How do you occupy yourself through the February doldrums? How is the weather in your part of the world? Are you, like me, pouring over the garden catalogues?
74 Comments on “Tilting toward Spring”
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Right after she does her morning Jigzone puzzle, my sister turns her attention to our email so she can see what new wonders Michigan Bulbs, White Flower Farms and other such online catalogues have added. So far she is leaning toward a purple and white flower theme, it will change many times between now and when she orders the plants, bulbs or seeds.
We live in Oregon, land of liquid sunshine, and I got some of that shine every time I stepped outside the door today. And it stopped every time I got back under cover. I want that greenhouse too, but I want it on my deck so I can be outside without getting wet or cold. That’s not too much to ask is it?
I know what you mean about Colorado in January, I am a Colorado native. But nothing beats the sun rising or setting over the Rockies, some times it is worth the rest of the blah.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:49 am.
Well, sometimes it can be pretty spectacularly beautiful, it’s true!
It’s even very nice this morning, with the bright blue sky and dry grass. There’s always the mountains, reigning over all.
But I have to say I love Oregon, too. I’d like to go soak in your liquid sunshine for a bit.
It’s supposed to rain or snow a little bit tonight.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:10 am.
The weather here today was superb. A cool, fresh morning & a warm sunny day. QLD at it’s best.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:23 am.
Nothing like cool, fresh mornings. A benefit of ocean air, right?
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:11 am.
Reading
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:23 am.
Reading works. I’ve been reading like a crazy woman. Gulping, gulping, gulping, so much so that I gave myself a dry eye and couldn’t read anymore one night. LOL
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:11 am.
The weather here in Queensland has been beautiful, it is a little cooler than I would like but it has been nice. I have spent my days reading, puttering around doing housework and cuddling the cats.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 7:33 am.
That sounds very peaceful, Kelly.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:12 am.
We have four seasons here (on the East Coast) but not much in the way of snow. I’d like to see at least one nice 6-8″ snow fall…
I hang on to my snow-hope by the tips of my fingers because we don’t get much snow here in March, so this is my HOPE HOPE HOPE month before the big winter fade….
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 8:14 am.
From the news reports this morning, you could get your wish this weekend, Robin. Sounds like it could be a lot of snow….good luck!
I know how you feel. Nothing like a giant, heavy snowfall. I love it.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:13 am.
Our local Ocean State Job Lot puts veggie seeds on sale this time of year. I picked up half price Burpee seeds last week. I’m very excited about the different varieties of tomatoes for the season. There are some I haven’t tried yet! (Between my father, a friend of mine and me, we usually start 13 or so different varieties of tomato. It’s quite fun!)
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 8:37 am.
13 or so varieties! That’s absolutely wonderful. I tried some new varieties last year, mainly by accident. Christopher Robin brought home some seedlings from his friend, two beefsteak plants. They struggled all summer then went crazy right at the end.
I’m setting up my portable greenhouse this weekend. I bought a little heater for it.
Report back on the varieties you try. I’m interested.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:14 am.
I usually try to go somewhere else for a week in February but not this year. The weather in Wisconsin is pretty bad right now. A few inches of snow every day. Damp. Dull. Very cold. Since we’ve had several mild winters in a row, it shouldn’t seem so nasty, but it does.
I always dream of gardening but never do it. As we shouldn’t plant anything until after Memorial Day here, I usually lose the urge long before I could give in to it.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 8:51 am.
It sounds like you’ve had a lot of snow, for sure. I’d love to have a good heavy snow winter. Enjoy it a bit for me, will you?
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:15 am.
We are having late spring weather in winter. Which is great right now. But it always feels me with foreboding, because when it is this warm this early, it means a brutal, blistering summer is right behind.
That sounds whiny. I wasn’t whining yesterday when I went for a little jaunt on my bike. The weather is stupendous. Lots of sunshine and temps in the low seventies.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 8:51 am.
It doesn’t sound whiny! The weather sounds gorgeous, but if your hot season is the most uncomfortable, it’s normal to be a bit wary of what might be in store.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:16 am.
it’s bitter cold here in Nova Scotia and we’re getting a huge snowfall on Friday and Saturday-50cm in total.
In theory I like plants. gorgeous blooms and growing lush vegetables. And i do look lovingly through seed catalogues that my friend gets. but I have a black thumb of death when it comes to actually growing anything plant-like. Luckily, the friend who gets the seed catalogues is a supurb gardener and she is beautifying our apartment house’s yardy bits. and best of all she doesn’t have to foot the bill. landlord does that.
I’ve even tried to have houseplants but all my ivy got spider mites and my fig tree drowned in it’s pot. sigh. and with 2 cats now, there is no way I am trying to bring in dirt for them to fling. it’s bad enough to step in all the kitty litter that they fling around their covered box.AND I gave them a tray to catch it as they leave. sigh
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 9:05 am.
Have I ever told you that Nova Scotia is on my bucket list of places to visit, Kathy? It sounds like such an interesting place to me.
FWIW, ivy always gets spider mites, it wasn’t you.
Cats do love to fling stuff around. Mine do the same thing. No matter how wide the plastic beneath the trays, they can scatter litter further. They’re cute enough that I mostly don’t mind.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:18 am.
it’s only when they track the odd litter kernelinto my bed that I really mind.
Nova Scotia is really beautiful. I might be biased though!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:41 am.
Winters in North Carolina are wonderful. Actually, all the seasons in North Carolina are wonderful! It’s a mild four season climate. When it gets cold, it’s not too cold for long. When it gets very hot, and it does, it doesn’t last long.
February in the piedmont of NC is changeable. Last Friday it was 32 degrees with wind that wanted to blow my frozen ears off. Today it is 60 and sunny and the birds are singing joyfully outside my window. The pansies are in full bloom, the daffodils are coming up, and the fruit trees are thickening.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 9:15 am.
It sounds absolutely heavenly, Claudia. For some reason, I thought summers were very hot in NC. It really looks pretty in photos.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:19 am.
It is hot, but it doesn’t stay Very Hot for more than 3 weeks, spread out. Unlike the SW which can stay Very Hot for months.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:53 am.
We are actually seeing a SMALL bit of rain today, which we desperately need. The weather here has actually been beautiful, however Texas has been known to have horrid freezes in February…usually after we have been lulled into thinking there will be an early spring by weather in the 70′s. Then overnight, it becomes this frigid, icy wasteland in which no one knows how to drive.
I have been becoming OCD in my efforts to try to keep the flu at bay. There have been so many folks in our office that have had it, and it still seems to be running rampant in the area. I do NOT want it and I don’t want anyone in the house to get it either, because if someone gets it at home, likely EVERYONE will get it. It’s been really bad this year, and I even got a flu shot, but so did a lot of folks that got the flu. The strain is different than the ones that would protect you in the vaccine.
I’m trying to catch up on reading and not get sick. Those are my goals. And, Smash started up again last night. Won’t get to watch it until the weekend, but can’t wait!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 9:19 am.
Good luck on preventing the flu, Julie. I’ve heard that Thieves Oil, dabbed into a handkerchief, can help prevent viruses from taking hold. Mainly, though, I just like how it smells. It makes me feel like a historical heroine to hold a delicate little cloth hankie to my nose and breathe in that clove-y scent.
That happens here, too–everything starts to bloom and big freeze shows up. Not this year. Willing it away.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:21 am.
I think I could write about a three page response to this blog! But I won’t. I just have one question… Rain barrells are illegal? I’m shaking my head.
My weather in NC is similar to Claudia’s. With that being said it still gets to me. My life at the moment is so up in the air that last week the walls started closing in. So we came to Savannah for a few days. While walking in Forsyth Park I saw azaleas starting to bloom. Then when I rounded a corner I saw a cherry tree in bloom. My heart beat just a little faster. I can only imagine how pretty it is when all the azaleas are in bloom. For now I am taking in the beauty of the Camellia japonicas, tulip magnolias, and leaves that just burst out on some trees.
Now is the time of the year I get a little too excited and start some seeds a little too early. Maybe this year will be different… Nah!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 9:44 am.
I know, Kelly. The rain barrel issue vexes us–but water rights are highly prized, and every drop that falls belongs to you until it flows away, and then it belongs to someone else. What’s really weird in terms of the rationing is that they will not ration by gallons used per, but by days you can water outside. So, as long as I’m willing to schlep buckets of water from inside, I can water as much as I like. Grass won’t stay alive that way, but I can do a lot of gardening with that method.
Savannah sounds absolutely beautiful. Tulip trees are so gorgeous, and I’ve been in east Texas when the azaleas were in bloom. What an astonishment.
Let’s hold each other back from getting started too early.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:25 am.
And don’t believe everything Claudia tells you either. It does get hot in NC!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:42 am.
But it doesn’t last long! I can take anything for a two or three weeks.
I guess I should define very hot: anything over 90 degrees. Very cold is anything under 40 degrees.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:54 am.
To me 86 and above is all the same, but that’s just me. So my pea brained thinking means it lasts for months! I guess I think that because working in it all day was irritating.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:29 pm.
Hot to me is anything over 80. Cold is anything below 30.
And 75 + humidity wilts me. That was what it was in auckland almost the whole time we were there.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:36 pm.
It’s surprisingly temperate in Iowa this winter–we’ll have a 40 degree day today! Thank heavens, we’ve had a “wetter” winter than last year–but like you, need more moisture or face water restrictions later this spring and summer.
I started looking through garden catalogs with my mama last weekend–we just put up a green house for her, so are excited to start our seedlings soon! Mom’s gardens on our farm are a bit legendary around the area–I’m excited to see what she does this year with her own plants! My gardening efforts are not nearly as ambitious, I’m afraid. A few raised beds for vegetables. Planters for my flowers….someday it will be better, just not this year
Happy Wednesday!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 10:36 am.
How lovely that you put up a greenhouse for your mother! May she be even more legendary after this.
Sounds to me like you are plenty ambitious.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:26 am.
February in SW Ohio can be snowing one day and 50s the next. Literally overnight the weather pattern changes and we wake up to something new. This is the month that everyone gets sick as the students are in shorts and Ugg boots.
We head to Florida on the 11th to get out of the February weather for a week. Fun on the beach, here I come! Then on the 20th we drive to pick up our new Aussie puppy. We lost our last Aussie to cancer three years ago and we are finally ready to have another dog in the house. This will consume the rest of February!
I enjoy planning my garden and will be starting the slow growing seeds in early March. I love the anticipation of the new little heads peaking through the seed starting mix.
The conservatory would be lovely but I too would settle for a greenhouse in the backyard. Alas, my backyard is all shade. You think the neighbors would mind if I erected it in the front yard?
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 10:36 am.
New baby!!!! What an absolute treat. I ran into two Aussie puppies at a shopping center two days ago, little teenagers with the sweetest faces in the world. Their mama was training them to be sociable, and I got to give them little pieces of cheese and kisses. It was such serendipity! enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
I think conservatories and greenhouses should allowed everywhere!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:29 am.
I try to take some vacation time and visit my parents in Tucson. Doesn’t llok like that’s gonna happen this year. Probably March which can be bad sometimes too.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 10:37 am.
Tucson in March is absolutely perfect. Hope you get to go soon.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:30 am.
The short days get to me, too. However, I just noticed yesterday the purple blooms on a vine growing over an easily overlooked trellis leading to our side yard. Wow. And the jade plants are blooming (they always do in Jan. and Feb.). Their little pink flowers send out a sweet, sweet scent. So spring is definitely taking hold here in SoCal.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 10:57 am.
Jade plants bloom? I had no idea. I have a giant jade house plant in my living room, but it has never bloomed.
Summer days just feel so much longer, right?
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:31 am.
Yep, jade plants bloom, and my yard is full of those blooms. I look around, and there’s a jade plants on the other side of the yard that I’ve no idea how it got there.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:58 am.
**sigh** Barbara, you are the most lyrical writer in the world. Seriously, IN THE WORLD.
Here in Florida, this is our spring since we only have two season – hot and hotter. It’s going to be 78 today, but the humidity won’t make it miserable, so we’re all excited about it. I do love winters here. Summer, not so much.
I’ve had a secret longing to be a gardener, but I’ve neither the patience nor the time nor the green thumb it takes. So instead, I look longingly at other people’s lush and fronded gardens as I pass by and then go home and celebrate that I have six – yes SIX pots of plants that still have roughly half of their original occupants and — wait for it — IT’S BEEN A WHOLE YEAR.
Maybe one day I’ll grow all of the things I need to be a gardener – the patience, time, AND the green thumb. I can only hope.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:15 am.
I second this sentiment.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:06 pm.
Karen, <3 <3
I think you have plenty of patience. You just use it in your books instead of on flowers. Pretty sure your readers are VERY happy about that.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:33 am.
There is something that happens in the new year.. in January I have joined a gym and go every other day, started going through everything – donate, throw away, keep, my house still smells of baking and I want to keep it that way — Then February arrives, I have to push myself to get to the gym twice a week, I have given up on baking (afterall that might not help when I am not going to the gym as much), I have cleared up so much space that rearranging items and furniture seem like a good idea, but my energy isn’t there. I think February is the month I hibernate, the shortest month rationalizes me giving myself the time to sink deep have more lazy days (no cleaning days, wear pjs all day, curl under a blanket to read, sleep, or watch tv). I used to live where I couldn’t find my car during the winter because it would be snowstorm after snowstorm even though I moved a few years ago to a warmer, nicer climate – I am still ingrained to hide away, refresh my body, hibernate (hopefully sleep off the pounds of the meals that were ingested through the holidays).
I like the choice of greenhouse, I love lavender and plan to grow some this year too.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:44 am.
A month to hibernate….what a luxurious idea! I must give that a try one of these years.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:38 pm.
My daffodils stuck their heads out of the ground in January. They are up about an in and are covered with snow. I’m in NE OH. February is my least favorite month so I’m glad it is a short month. Between 1964 and 2005 I’ve had two grandfathers, an aunt, a cousin, and a close friend die. If we could skip February, I would.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:59 am.
Daffodils already!
I’m sorry you’ve had so many deaths cluster in this month. It seems to go like that, doesn’t it? And birthdays, too. More than three quarters of my family has birthdays between Oct and Dec.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:39 pm.
This year, February is going to be filled with excitement and stress. I am glad the days are getting longer and hope that our recent “warmer” weather will hold a little longer and melt a bit more of the snow.
Over the years I have discovered I am a pretty good container gardener but have no desire for a large garden and lawn…unless I had a lawn service to mow, weed and take care of it.
I think soon you and I will be planting about the same time. You will grow amazing vegetables and herbs and I’ll be nursing hearty flowers that will hopefully be patient with me if I neglect them a bit.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:06 pm.
Hooray for your excitement!!
Is that a new picture? I like it a lot!
If you want some pointers about good flowers to try in your new neighborhood, i’ll be happy to help.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:40 pm.
Like Christie said the jade plants are blooming. So are the roses that I didn’t prune this year in SoCal. My hydrangeas look awful – all the leaves fall off every year. I think they get too much sun in the summer and not enough in the winter. I need to deadhead it, too. My blueberries are growing like crazy. I need to fertilize them.
But the weather is a little odd. Monday, it was in the 70s. Then, yesterday, it was 10 degrees cooler during the day, and you could really feel the damp off the ocean. It’s supposed to rain Friday and Saturday. In the 16 years I’ve lived in SoCal, I’ve noticed that February is really unpredictable.
It’s just weird that rain barrels are illegal in Colorado. I get their reasoning behind it, but there’s always standing water for mosquitoes somewhere; and the water’s going to back to the earth. We have 2 rain barrels, and I’d really like to have one for every downspout. That would make 6 for us, but my dh isn’t completely sold on it.
I would LOVE to have a greenhouse. My paternal grandmother owned a nursery, and I spent many happy hours playing in her greenhouses with my cousins. I LOVE the way greenhouses smell – damp, warm dirt is so delicious and takes me back to my childhood.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:08 pm.
Oooh, a greenhouse to play in as a child!! That makes me practically swoon. That’s what i love about them, too, that humid earthy smell, that living aroma. I love them. I never even mind spiders inside a greenhouse for some reason.
I’m thinking if I attached something else to the downspouts that it wouldn’t count as a rain barrel. Brainstorming. Of course, some of my rain is headed your way, via the Colorado River, so I suppose there is something to that.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:42 pm.
When we had lots of property that was unsuitable for growing anything, I did a container garden. I grew tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce and a few other things that weren’t as successful. It was fun looking at all the catalogs and shopping for the appropriate containers right for the job in question.
Luckily, right now I’m too busy to get the doldrums, thank goodness. Between dialysis, reviews and babysitting, there just isn’t time. Plus I like a little time for reading the books I pick out on my own. Then baseball is just around the corner. At least Leia likes to watch that.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:10 pm.
That does sound like a busy schedule! And I am a big fan of containers, even in the garden. My potatoes all go in bags for the ease of harvest, and I’m thinking this summer I might try onions that way and see if it will help avoid the annoying grubs that have infested my onions every time I try.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:44 pm.
Right now I’m occupying myself with my writing. Otherwise I would be reading.
The weather here is a little ‘blah’. It’s been rainy, overcast, and not quite cold, but not quite warm (hovering around 4 degrees).
I don’t look through the gardening catalogues, though I probably should start. In the past few years I have been trying my hand at gardening, but it’s never turned out as I hoped. This year, though, I’ll likely be missing the planting season, as my twins are due early June (and will probably be born in May), and I won’t be gardening when they’re born.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:20 pm.
PS. I’m over here in BC, Canada, where we have pretty much a year-long rainy season.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:24 pm.
Well, if I can vote, I’d say twins should be born as Geminis on….oh….June 2. A very good day for a birthday.
I do so love BC.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:45 pm.
I’m with you on the date! The longer they stay in, the better for them in the long run.
And yes, Geminis I think would be better than Taurus… I’m a Taurus, and I can’t imagine having two little Taurus’ around the house… talk about lots of squabbling and bull-headed opinions! (ha!)
And yes, BC is a wonderful Province. Rainy, but also lush and beautiful.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 5:34 pm.
I live in Ontario Canada and we are in the deep freeze of Feburary… Although we had one of the best January’s we have had in years. It was so warm and dry that trees started to but and grass started to grow. But we spoke to soon because the it got cold and snowy and has remained that way ever since the middle of January. But I have my beautriful Orchid that started to bloom on January 16th, and this was like the spirit of my dad, because that is the day we buried him 7 yrs ago… Good books and a warm blanket will get me throught Feburary…
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 12:45 pm.
What a lovely thought–the orchid blooming for your father.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:47 pm.
I wish I had your keen appreciation of the seasons, Barbara. We’re in the middle of the Santa Ana winds right now, but two days ago I was in shorts, while today I’m in sweat pants (60 degrees!) Mostly here I wonder when I’ll start to see buds on the roses — that’s the way I decide it’s spring.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:13 pm.
The Santa Anas always sound like hell to me, Suzie. May they pass quickly.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:48 pm.
I’m just not much of a gardener, I’m afraid. I have a brown thumb. I can grow Christmas cactuses really well, for some reason, but that’s about it. I’m not consistent enough with it, and I don’t like being in the dirt.
I do like being outside, however, and I love walking in winter. I get through it by walking.
Or I DID. My feet are having so much trouble that I had to return to swimming at an indoor heated pool. It’s not the same. I miss my walk!!! But every time I tried to walk more than a couple of miles, I ended up limping the last part.
Sigh.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:19 pm.
Hugs on the feet problems.
Sending hopes that you can figure out a solution. I know how you feel about walking–when my knee flared up so terribly and I couldn’t walk at all, it was very frustrating.
No unsolicited advice–I’m sure you’ve tried orthotics & such things.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:49 pm.
Sadly, I’ve been wearing heavy-duty orthotics for 12+ years now. I wear walking shoes pretty much all the time (New Balance). My family has a history of bad feet, and I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis when I was 25 and pretty thin, but in my later years, it’s been well-controlled with shoes and orthotics.
Until last year. It got really bad earlier in the year, and I went back to the podiatrist, who took x-rays and said that my feet had “collapsed,” partly due to my plantar fasciitis. But mostly due to arthritis, which also plagues my knee, shoulders, and a thumb. If you have any suggestions for arthritis help, I’ll take those! All my research seems to be contradictory (don’t drink alcohol, drink alcohol; don’t have caffeine, caffeine helps). They all agree on cutting sugar, which I’ve been trying to do anyway, so I’m doing that.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:09 am.
Right now, HOT!!! HOT. HOT. Makes you want to stick a popsicle down your throat hot. That’s what.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 1:47 pm.
Well, popsicles are one of the best things about summer. Banana. Or maybe root beer.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:37 pm.
Mmmm… Banana popsicles are divine!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 5:31 pm.
It’s rainy here in the Houston, TX area. Gloomy, gloomy! I think we’re already getting our spring, though, because it’s been sunny and warm until now. I’ve been in shorts all week during the day but I’m sure a cold snap is going to sneak up on me! Enjoy your gardening catalogs.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 2:02 pm.
Send rain! ASAP!
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:50 pm.
It was very cold this morning but the sun is shining now. I can’t wait for spring, I hate to be cold.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:25 pm.
What you describe in your post is how I feel about autumn at the moment. It’s been a ferocious summer in south east Australia but where I live in the Blue Mountains there is a hint of cold in the mornings now. Bliss. Second flush of roses coming on and the Naked Ladies are rising.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:42 pm.
I am in NE Florida so the weather is just weird right now. Today I needed a light sweater, tomorrow shorts, then rain, then cold again, then warm. Its a wonder everyone is still getting sick right now.
I am still trying to get plants to grow but I have a sadly brown thumb. I am finally getting rid of the garden I had in the back yard. I’ve been trying in vain for a number of years now, to grow veggies. NO LUCK! I loose everything to bugs or they just don’t grow. Ah well, I will now clear out all the weeds and probably just put flowers back there so it will be pretty.
I have pulled out these awful ligustrum shrubs that I had in front of my front porch. Just this little patch of dirt between the driveway and the porch and it was overwhelmed with the shrubs. Now all is left are some evergreen giants (they are a green leefy grassy looking plant) and I am going to put herbs there instead. I managed to move a section of oregano that I had in the back garden up front. Also got some of the strawberry plants that I had back there moved too. They are still alive after 4 days so that is something right?
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 3:51 pm.
That’s a lot!
And flowers count as gardening. Not everyone even likes to grow vegetables.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 2:07 pm.
My grandfather was a gardener by trade. He’d be called a landscaper these days. I did not inherit his green thumb. All my plants die. Sadly.
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 9:11 pm.
Weather here in McCalla, AL, is all over the place. I stay busy catching up with inside items in my home such as getting items organized in my closet, going through and cleaning out bill box, getting taxes prepared. And reading of course.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:13 am.