Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / December 2006

We are fast approaching the closing in on the year's end. I sit here in
the wee hours of the morning realizing that I have neglected to share
with my friends, the wonder's of Fairy Holler, and I can say that
despite that it's now Winter and my fairies are tucked in under the
leaves and dead stalks, there is still much activity going on.  Inside,
the succulents and cacti and tropicals are struggling against the odds
of a very dry and arid heat pumped house.  I have "mother of thousands"
succulent blooming in the bathroom, with soft rose colored bells
dangling from the tops of the twisted stems.  I've never seen it bloom,
and always considered the succulents a pain in the a.s due to their
dropping their daughter babies off the edges of their leaves. Now I want
the one that looks like pencils to see what THAT flower looks like.

And there's my Eucheris, the Amazon lily, or African daffodil as I love
to call her that I got from Jack Totty over 20 years ago as a bulb.  I
planted it in a smaller clay pot this year and it flourished until I
moved it inside and subjected it to the arid climate.  So it started
wilting and decided to wow me last week and set a bud stem. ALL of the
six bell like white daff flowers are now chiming in the den, their scent
sharp vanilla. Which provoked me to go downstairs and check on my
"Zhanataya" Korean Crinum to see if it too was producing a bloom spike.
No such luck. It wants me to shove it underneath the florescent light
first.  The cold did thwart the piss ants though.....there is that.

I have two crown of thorn's I tucked into the same pot blooming with
each other. A cream one and a red.  And there's also the succulent I
know not the name of that is making little stars on long and twisted
stems reaching for the southern window of the den.  And the "Cherokee
pipe" that turned out to be a Spiderwort is setting those cute
looooooooong stems with the fuzzy flowers along the ends later
on......For the 28th of December, that's not too bad!

So I will wish a very Happy New year that approaches us quietly on
frosty and cold feet.  I wish many birds at the feeders, not too many
gray colored, fluffy tailed nutters, but just enough to cause laughter
with their antics.  I wish you all viable seeds, perfectly calloused
cacti and succulents to root with ease, and an early, true Spring. May
all your bulbs bloom when they should, and some when they shouldn't, and
I hope you find the fairies have sown surprises for you to discover.  I
have new leaves on the Hellebore with promises of buds just
starting.......and there are fuzzy little catkins on my Lady Jane and
Lenii magnolia just waiting for that warm Spring day. And yes, my
Cornelian Cherry has already started splitting open their blush plum
balls in eager anticipation of early arrival ahead of the Forsythia.
Don't forget to cut some Forsythia branches and pound them and place
them in water for needed relief. And heck, buy a fresh bouquet of
flowers to feed the eyes and soul if you are tucked into mounds of snow.

All my love to all my garden friends out there, lurking or not, and I
hope to be writing to all of you soon.  The drought here is
over..........the bulb fairies are already teasing the smaller bulbs
into early exposures of promises yet to come..

Madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy Holler, overlooking a very
cold English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36 where
the fairies are tittering at my mentioning they're asleep.........