The First Snow ....

... of the season is always magical - whether it's paralyzingly deep, or just a dusting like we are getting today.  Either way, it pulls me repeatedly to the windows to just watch. 

Surprise!

This one sneaked in this morning while I was working at the desk.  I didn't see it begin, but just looked up and voila! there was snow in the air and snow on the ground. 

I love the red nandinas with the green hollies both dusted in snow.

Only the grass was covered early and not much on the mulched bed.

It's still coming down in big puffy flakes and only covering the grassy areas, so the road will stay clear and easy to drive.  What could be more perfect?

Same spot three hours later.

Hope your Sunday has been peaceful, too. 

Oh, the Possibilities ....

January 1st - literally a clean slate. So many options.  So many possibilities.

Enjoying the warm December weather and blooming its head off.
 [Camellia japonica 'Professor Sargeant]

2015 was a year of change and transition.  Retiring was so much more daunting than i had expected.  It turns out that nearly 25 years in the same job tends to cause one to identify oneself by that job.  And, suddenly it was gone.  Did that mean that i was gone, too?

The summer passed in a blur of pretending that it was a long vacation. 

It was not until fall when i started taking classes and established a new routine, that i began to feel "normal" again.  "Normal" is so comfortable.

Today, tho, i feel settled ... a new routine, a new normal.  And, a clean slate upon which to write a new year.

Thank you for being "out there"; for your support thru this year of change.  I wish each of you a very Happy New Year, filled with new possibilities, new adventures and new dreams.

Fall Project

This remarkable fall has been wonderful!  Yesterday it was 77 degrees [normal is 55-ish] and just the latest in more than a week of warmer than average days.  Today and tomorrow should be the same and then it will drop all the way down into the mid-60's for a few more lovely days.  We may be back to "normal" by Christmas weekend.

I have not wasted this wonderful weather miracle.  Everything [no, really, everything] has been deadheaded.   You know it's done, when you wander from bed to bed looking for something to cut back!  Bed are now mulched that have not been mulched in years; all the root suckers removed from the shrubs; the cutting garden top-dressed, and a fall project completed.

A "Kitchen Garden" has been on my radar for several years.  I collected pictures and plans; i thought and thought about what might work; i drew several sets of plans.  And, finally, a class assignment in one of my horticulture classes pushed me over the edge and i finally did the work. 

This was my "old" veggie garden - a raised bed (36 sq. ft.) set in the middle of the flattest, sunniest part of the yard.  The shed is to the left and the edge of the carport to the right. [All the other photos are taken from the other end.] It was the only viable place to grow veggies.

Staked out and grass killed - we lived with the stakes for a couple of weeks - adjusting them until we were comfortable walking around it, and then i killed the grass.  

There will be two layers of fencing - first a wire mesh (above) to keep the critters out.  It is buried three inches into the ground.

This may be my favorite part.  There will be a six-inch planted border all the way around the garden.  In the "front" it will be annual flowers - some are already seeded in.  In the back it will be okra, and down the sides it will be lettuces and other greens.  It will give me an additional 26 sq. ft. of growing space. 

The master builder in the family made two new raised boxes for me - a total of 72 sq. ft. - and i put down a bale of pine straw for walkways.

The nearly done garden - with the pots it's slightly more than 100 sq. ft.  White picket fencing all around and in each corner will be a big blue pot - you can already see one with herbs on the right and one with blueberries on the left.  I think peas on a tuteur in the right far corner and more herbs in the left far corner.

All that's really left to do is to finish mixing the soil and start planting!  I can hardly wait. 

Secret Life

Since Labor Day I have been living a secret life ... and hiding it from you.  Hiding my secret life as a coed.  Well, maybe not quite a "coed", but i am back in school. 

The Virginia Community College System has a strong emphasis on one- and two-year professional training in a zillion specialties.  This is not the traditional college-transfer stuff, but rather preparation to go into the work force in just one or two years.  

[Full disclosure:  my first two jobs out of grad school were in the VCCS system, so I am a fan!]

Entrance to campus

Fortunately for me the local CC specializes in Horticulture, among many other things.  The Hort program is centered on their western campus, which is about 30 minutes west of me, but their central campus is only 5 minutes away and some of my classes are held there, too.

In September I started in "Principals of Horticulture" - a survey course - and "Landscaping Plants I" - woody plants.  For this semester we have studied trees and shrubs that bloom in the fall and winter, as well as the conifers.  I've learned something nearly every week, and, I have loved every minute of it. 

Four greenhouses for propagation and winter storage

Once a week I volunteer a few hours working in the greenhouses and demonstration gardens.  I've been doing things like weeding, planting pansies, digging out dead annuals, deadheading perennials and cleaning up inside the greenhouses .... in other words, exactly the same things that I have been doing at home ...  well, except for the greenhouse part!

A demonstration space with conifer garden behind it

Cleaned-up perennials in demonstration beds

  

Winter beds ready for covers

and, covered

My favorite view of the demo spaces

Exams are the next two weeks and then I can register for Landscaping Plants II.  Once I have finished that, I will move into the landscape design classes, and maybe a bit of flower arrangement.

I can hardly wait!