Under a Red Roof

Yesterday’s News

February 25, 2011 in Gardening + Nature by Colleen | 1 comment

There was quite a lot of hullabaloo over this dusting of snow: panic, oversaturated news coverage, school closures, and the like. It was, as you can see, quite fluffy and lovely, and the winter highlight for many school children and their parents. I went out long enough to feed my fine feathered friends and scoop a bit of the chill into my hands, enjoying the particular scent of snow before it all melted. Then, several hours later, it came back, a movie camera in reverse, giant flakes covering every surface again. Much of it remains, along with bitterly cold air and sunshine. Where am I?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sleepy

August 4, 2010 in Being, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | 1 comment

It is Wednesday, and I cannot seem to wake up. Not that it being Wednesday has anything to do with it. I was tired yesterday, too. I actually fell asleep while listening to the radio, fully upright, in a chair. The minutes between 3:30 and 4:00 lost to a vortex of slumber. That is usually a hubster move. Bless his gigantic heart, that handsome fella can sleep anywhere, anytime. I tend to be more of the Goldilocks variety, so it came as quite a surprise to me.

It’s dahlia time in the garden, beautiful dahlias – such marvelously constructed flowers. And August. How is it August already? Maybe I’ve slept for longer than I recall. Maybe I haven’t been awake for a long time. Do you ever feel that way? Or maybe the opposite? Sometimes I wonder if, on those days when I am thoroughly spent by 8:00, and Charlie Rose, no matter how fascinating the guest, seems an impossibility, I’ve been so very awake, so hyper aware that my senses cannot take one more bit of noticing, feeling, smelling and collapse blissfully onto my pillow. Is that it? I wish I knew. I am my own mystery, gentle readers, truly.

Sure, there are things I know about myself, but so much more that I can’t quite put my finger on, so much that keeps me wondering. In some ways I like it, but in others, I just want some answers or a bit of clarity. Maybe an impressionistic painting. Who is going to paint a Van Gogh of my life? A good question to ponder on a sleepy Wednesday.

What question would you like answered?

A New Path

June 2, 2010 in Being, Exploring, Gardening + Nature, Learning by Colleen | 2 comments

Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. This path and the surrounding area are a perfect example of his definition. For the first eight years in our house, the hubster and I weeded and weeded it (I even spent a few weeks digging up ALL of the weeds, only to have the majority return the next year – heartbreaker), planted grass seed, watered, fertilized, and mowed, but got the same result. More weeds, more ugly, more mowing, and a whole lotta cursing.

Then, only after being ostensibly whacked over the head by a giant imaginary hoe, we got sane and tried something new. We planted a tree and two yellow flowering currants (friends of the birds and bees!), followed by a whopping sixty kinnikinnick plants. Slowly but surely, the area and our feelings for it began to transform. There was an increasing amount of green and shade. We no longer had to fertilize, water, or mow, leaving more time for more fruitful projects.

This included moving some pieces of stone from another spot in the garden and watching a path emerge (though it is still a little wobbly). Then there were more new ideas. The placement of stumps, the moving of hostas, and the purchase and planting of more than a dozen native plants: strawberries, huckleberries, and bitter cherry trees. No longer an eye sore, it is a pleasure to gaze upon it, as I often do now, from a perch in the bedroom. I look at it and feel grateful for the shade, the clean, cool air wafting through the window, the sweet berries I’ll eat one day, and the blessed sanity of changing one’s path.

Tags: Gardening + Nature

Encore

May 26, 2010 in Gardening + Nature by Colleen | 2 comments

Hello friends! Thanks for all of the well wishes. I am feeling better, though my head still hurts a bit, yuck. Soon it will be over. I just know it.

As I am generally a woman of my word, here are, as promised, more peony pictures! The first one is of the Coral Charm variety. It gets enormous and ever so pale. By the time the petals fall, it is a gorgeous peach champagne color. I love it!

Next is the lovely Buckeye Belle. She is the hubster’s favorite, but, sadly, didn’t make but two blooms this year. Everyone else is going like gangbusters, so I guess she is a bit shy. Hopefully she will break out of her shell next year.

I have no idea what this last variety is called, as I didn’t buy the plant from the Adelman Farm, so I am calling them Bubble Gum. They look the part, don’t they? I love them in that bright yellow vase, too, so happy!

Gilion – hopefully yours have started to bloom, though not all of mine have. I’m lucky to have a long succession of beautiful flowers. It is such a treat!

And Lori, your hubby is right, with peonies come ants. Without them, there would be no flowers. I am just very careful. Before I bring the peonies in, I shake them pretty vigorously, then blow off any hangers-on. It’s not generally a problem. Sometimes one will slip by me, but I just take the offender back outside and that’s that.

Now that I’ve got our heads full of beautiful flowers, has anyone ever visited Schreiner’s Iris Gardens? I just visited their website, and it seems they aren’t too far from Adelman’s. My friend Sarah and I saw the most exquisite orange colored iris while out walking the other day, and I would love to have one. Perhaps I will venture out this weekend, and see what I can find. Field trip!

Here’s hoping everyone’s day is full of flowers…

They’re Here…

May 18, 2010 in Admiring, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | 3 comments

Beautiful Bartzella

Cheery Coral Charm

So pretty together…

It’s peony season, my friends! Aren’t they lovely? I don’t have much to say about them, aside from the fact that they make me quite happy. Oh, and by the by, there will be more photos. As The Carpenters sang, “We’ve only just begun…”