Full of Thanks

My house is filled with yummy smells of pumpkin and sweet potatoes and cornbread this morning. Tomorrow we celebrate a day signified by giving thanks. Family will gather here and favorite foods will flank our table. We are counting our blessings, small and large, on this day and every day.

I want to wish each and every reader a Happy Thanksgiving if it is a holiday you celebrate. I'm thankful you come to this little 'ole blog and visit, whether I ever hear from you or not.

"We should live every day like it is a holiday, being thankful and spending time with family, and looking hopefully to the future." unknown author

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? Meems

To Capture the Sunlight

Florida has delivered some stellar autumn days to us so far. It is a much favored season here. Our endless hot summer has taken a much needed break.
The sun's rays coming to us now with a more gentle angle and turning the earth into a soft glow.

Beneficial flying critters of all sorts and sizes are increasingly alive with activity. As they hover and flit about the garden; the tiniest of wings highlighted in the sunshine.

I wish I could capture the essence of these days; to bottle it, to describe it, to hold onto it somehow.

Sunlight is a glorious gift.

The autumn season is unlike any other.

It's warm yet comfortable, it's bright and clear and clean but not washed out, it brushes the skin and touches the soul with the same stroke of radiance.

Being in the autumn garden to soak up the goodness of nature is one of the blessings we reap from summer's hard work.

It is the season when we notice the simplest aspects of life and thankfulness abounds.

Every color more vivid and true.

Each green leaf illuminated.

Supporting actors become stars in the sun's spotlight.

Yes, there is evidence of decline in the garden.

It is inevitable with shorter days and longer nights.

Parts of the garden withdraw in natural transition. Every bit easier to accept in the midst of autumn splendor.

Elements of the garden change continually. As I look around there is a different kind of beauty to be seen.

Lessons from the garden... learning to appreciate every facet of these seasonal changes.

Even though to hold the sun's brilliance is impossible; I am ever grateful to partake of it each moment it shines freely to brighten my world.

Happy gardening! Meems

On Being Thankful

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today,

and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~Melody Beattie~

Being thankful is a characteristic that we can easily allow to fade away in the face of adversity. No matter the difficulties we face individually, as a nation, we set aside this day to count our blessings on this uniquely American, Thanksgiving holiday.
This is a day to take the time to center our hearts and minds in thankfulness. With very little effort we can see how very much we DO have to be grateful for.

I am thankful for you.

Each and every soul reading these words. I may not know you personally but I hope you don't mind if I remind you that you matter to me.

Writing about my gardening experiences with the hope of engaging dear readers to perhaps try something new or go ahead and take a chance or love the moments we have in our gardens or however these words might encourage... causes gratefulness to swell in my heart.

You have come through my garden gate and taken a peek into some windows of my world over the years. In this, a complex world, you've shared some of the simplest and yet most meaningful treasures in my life. Thank you.

The mere love of gardening, on any level, inspires a heart full of thanks. Life and all things living fully abound where seeds are birthed and flourish. Joy fills the gardener's heart as our eyes and senses are enveloped by the wonders and beauty we tend with our own hands.

Happy Thanksgiving to every one. May you have a blessed a happy 'today' and all your 'tomorrows', too. And... happy gardening as always, Meems

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation,

you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude,

a feeling that nurtures the soul.

~~Rabbi Harold Kushner~~

Healthy and Organic

Certainly there are times when being at home and puttering around in my own garden is prized even more than usual. Especially for this home-body.

Like so many other gardeners, my garden is a place of refuge and respite; the place I know I can go and lose that need for rushing and tight schedules. The place I'm sure to find peace and tranquility no matter what else is going on around me.

After being on the road for the last ten days being home again and getting back in the garden was just as I anticipated. Refreshing and invigorating.

Eating out for that many days is always a challenge. Fun at first ... but gets old fast.

First stop in the garden is to check on the edibles.

Straight from garden to table. Peace of mind. A yummy, healthy AND organic dinner to welcome us home! Collard greens and garlic stir-fry green beans paired with grilled lime-chicken breasts. Delicious home-cooking!

Side note**In August and September when prep for the fall edibles is a matter of an exercise in discipline ~~ it is good to remember that in a few short weeks it will all be worth whatever efforts are made.
The miracle of seed-time and harvest.

Elsewhere in the Garden.

Newly planted and blooming Camellia sasanqua 'Stephanie Golden'. Camellias are outstanding flowering shrubs but most cultivars are not fragrant. This variety happens to have a light rosy fragrance.

Adding a couple of sasanqua cultivars that flower in late fall translates to enjoying blooms earlier than the sometimes more popular japonicas which will bloom later in winter. Japonicas' flowers are larger but I'm particularly fond of the understated openness of sasanqua petals.

The tropical shady garden hasn't minded the drop in temperature this weekend. As long as it warms back up like promised this week.

Queen Emma is sporting the start of a new budding scape. Always a joy to see its magnificent blooms and smell its lemony fragrance.

And for fall interest the spent flower simultaneously displayed on the very same plant.

Caladiums are beginning to weaken as they fall asleep for winter.

Planted as bulbs they are well worth the dollars spent for the significant foliage color they provide. The bulbs will be left in the ground and we will patiently wait for them to re-emerge come spring.

Falling over each other as they fade. We have to give them kudos for they've lasted and lasted all summer long. Perfect for creating bright and happy spots all over this garden.
Colocasias, alocasias, and coleus remain strong and vibrant through these autumn days ~~ popping with deep hues that blend-in with their neighbors in the northside berm.

And the latest ... the paperwhite bulbs were delivered. They will go directly in the ground here for some winter-white flowers in a month or so.

It's Like Spring All Over Again

Other than our shorter days and the southerly angle of the sun Florida's fall gardening is much like a repeat of spring. The garden calls out for the gardener to plant, to prune, to seed, to cut, to mow, to propagate... but more than anything to take time to breathe in the beauty of each day.

Our gardening days are full with plenty to do in order to keep things tidy since the passing of our endless summer. With a look ahead to springtime there are cuttings being taken for rooting new plants. This year I've made sure to pot up some of my favorite tender plants that I know I will lose if we get a random frost like last winter. They will find a place indoors if the threat occurs. Which means I'll be assured to at least have some starter plants without having to purchase new ones.
Please Don't Make Me Go Inside

Cassius Blue on Flax Lily bloom (both the flower and the butterfly about 1/2" in size)

It is so delightful to enjoy our butterfly friends who visit even throughout the cooler months. On the warmest, sunniest days many of them treat us to their company while we work.

There should be some caterpillars on the milkweed soon as the Monarchs have been sighted still laying eggs.

We have had the most divine weather of our autumn season so far. Finally, the humidity has given us a reprieve for the length of about ten days straight. Whew! It has been glorious outside with our lows at night hanging right around 60 and our daytime highs right around 80. What a glorious and much welcomed change it has brought.

This is perfect gardening weather! It's perfect outdoor weather! These are the days when I figure out how to spend every possible moment outside. I even take my paperwork to the back porch so I don't miss a minute of the splendor.

There are two large plantings of Plumbago auriculata, or leadwort in the back garden. They've both been blooming all summer and still they are putting on a great show with their true blue blooms. One does better than the other due to better placement in more sunshine.

They have a habit of sending out suckers making new plants all on their own. Not in an invasive sort of way but in a way that adds to the bushiness of the shrubs. I dig up those volunteers occasionally and pot them up for pass-alongs or to put them in a more convenient spot in the garden.

Last summer I was determined to see if I could get a cutting to flourish and to look pretty in a container planting. That poor thing has been moved around from place to place trying to find where it would be happy and produce. It was the scraggliest thing for the longest time. Just last week it flushed out with presentable blooms for the first time. It's always fun to try something new. Maybe by next year it will really good.

So many plants in the garden come alive and perky this time of year just like they do in springtime. Summer is relentless around here and plants have to be tough in order to survive it. But even the ones that tolerate the stress of summer nicely just seem to come to life again in the fall when the nights get cooler and the sunny days fade away much quicker.

We don't have too much in the way of foliage change this far south. It's the trade-off for the year-round tropical temps. So we opt to create our own autumn vignettes with shades of foliage helping to reflect the season.

At summers' end this un-named coleus what brought home from a nursery in north Florida. Making several more plants from cuttings it is giving us fall colors of bright gold on the upperside and deep magenta on the underside. A wonderful sort-of garnet and gold combination. *grin* Just right for the season. It's mixed with cuttings from persian shield filling out behind them and ground orchids blooming deep lilac flowers in front of them.

Speaking of deep foliage the Pseuderanthemum nigrum, 'Black Magic' offers a nice contrast in autumn. I like the way it echos the deep purple leaves of the purple queen across the pathway from it (seen behind it in the above photo).

The drooping white clerodendrum C. Wallichii 'bridal veil' is a happy bloomer that waits for autumn's change to flower its fragrant blooms.

You may remember the two Giant Spider Lily Crinum augustum 'Queen Emma' my neighbor gifted to me. One was situated in the back garden and became the centerpiece for the tropical pathway.

Autumn's Backyard Garden
It has adjusted to its new home with ease. One of the main joys of foliage plants is the way they remain steady all year. They just keep on giving in every season.

I do hope your autumn is filling you with joy. Have a wonderful weekend. Meems

Maple-Leaf Hibiscus

Gardener's like to indulge in the anticipation of blooms from our reliable performers.

We just kind of keep our expectancy reserved until we see signs that any one of those particular plants is actually going to bud out right on time.

At which time our hopes become realities and we ditch all doubts in exchange for humble thankfulness that another plant is happy and secure assuring us we must have done something right in the nurturing.

Being that November is the middle of autumn and generally gardens can be (depending on weather) winding down a bit here in Florida all November bloomers are especially celebrated.

Adding to its appeal and probably the most distinctive characteristic of the Hibiscus sabdariffa or often called Roselle, Jamaican Tea, Maple-Leaf Hibiscus, Florida Cranberry, October Hibiscus, Red Sorrell~~ is its outstanding burgundy-colored maple-shaped foliage.

In a photo taken earlier this month (above) the sunlight streaming through it highlights the veining in each leaf and the brightness of the new growth.

Here you can visualize how it contrasts so wonderfully with all the shades of greenery in the back garden. They were frosted to the ground last winter. Recovering quickly in spring, I have been consistently pruning these vigorous growers back since then.

My goal was to keep them more compact and bushy and from getting too tall and leggy as they tend to do if left on their own. Even so, they are towering over me in height. Note to self: be even more aggressive next year.

As with all hibiscus, each bloom only lasts about a day but fortunately on the maple-leaf the buds form along the length of each stem.

The flowers that grace the branches this time of year are a bonus bright spot to the already showy foliage.

Besides having pest free habits, these hibiscus are one of the easiest plants to propagate by cuttings. It has been fun to pop these plants in the ground in several locations around Hoe and Shovel for the deep foliage I lean towards loving all year long.