Gardens-The Indoor Plants Come In from the Outdoors; Delaware in the News Again

The gardens begin to wane as autumn blooms. This is the time of year, however, when the indoor plants come back in after summering in the outside gardens.

They are huge, folks, and beautiful. I'm going to start selling them.


Pic of the Day

---

The Tropical Plants Come Inside



There are few words needed here. For this is the optimum time to take a picture of the indoor plants that must now come inside after a summer outside. They are at their most beautiful after a season outside, protected a bit by the shade of the house’s overhang or the porch.

Indoor they do fine and the windows in this house shine enough on them that they stay happy and pretty. But there’s no comparison to the growth, shine and fullness that comes from living where a proper plant oughta live, and that’s outside surrounded by other plants.

The Fall 2007 Gardens, a Restaurant Review-Jerry's Seafood, and Delaware's Next Governor

The days are getting shorter while the mums begin their bloom. We've got a visit to the Fall gardens of 2007.

Pic of the Day

---

 


Fall 2007 Comes to the Gardens of Serendipity Shore

September has been the prettiest garden month of the growing season everywhere I have lived. Which includes only two states as of this writing but I’m just saying …

The days become shorter, the nights cooler and breezes begin to blow the fading leaves from the trees. The grass quite enjoys this weather combination and will glow brightly green before falling leaves cover the blade fellows.

The garden annuals have, by the September month, healthy roots and have grown tall. The heat of August takes a toll on them so the refreshment known as September spurs them to a new and vigorous growth. Annuals that sprout happily in the fall include marigolds, impatiens and begonias. This year even those pretty multi-colored Mexican things called portulaca too seemed to like the September sun.

Chrysthanimums, asters and decorative grasses are the plants that come into full glory in the fall. In the front porch garden I have two mums that grow so big that the branches must be staked for the weight of the many blooms.

Below a montage of pictures of the fall gardens here at Serendipity Shore. Soon the leaves will cover all that grows. Soon the days will darken before the dinner hour. Soon the winter winds will blow.

For now the melancholy that is autumn ends the growing season.

A Garden Video Tour of Serendipity Shore; Kaitlyn's New Poncho

Also, a garden update for the mountain of hedge roses are abloom and we also have...TADA...a video garden tour of Serendipity Shore!

Pic of the Day

---

Quote of the Day Classic Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. writer A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts. --------------- A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. --------------- A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic. --------------- A fly is as untamable as a hyena. --------------- A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. --------------- A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. --------------- A good indignation brings out all one's powers. ---------------

Web Site Worth the Visit Cheapest gas station near you If you've turned on the news, picked up a paper, or eavesdropped on a conversation between just about any two people recently, you've probably heard someone talking about gas prices. They're going up at a record pace. In fact, experts are predicting they?ll top a mind-boggling $4.00 A GALLON in many parts of the country this summer. But someone sent me this useful link. It finds the cheapest gas station near you, without you wasting a gallon or two driving around looking for it. Just plug your zip code in and it'll tell you the lowest ? and highest -- price in your area. Check it out. ABOVE SITE HERE

TIDBITS RANDOM TIDBITS ON SESAME STREET During the 1969–1970 season, Oscar the Grouch was orange. *** Aloysius Snuffleupagus's, Snuffy, birthday is August 19th. *** Linda Bove- Neighborhood librarian and was one of the first deaf actors in a recurring television role. *** Tickle Me Elmo was the fastest selling toy of the 1996 season. *** In 1970, Ernie's "Rubber Duckie" song made #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. *** Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969 on the National Educational Television network. More than 4,000 episodes of the show have been produced in 36 seasons, which distinguishes it as one of the longest-running shows in television history. *** (1979-1992) Was a cowboy with a memory problem, he rode in the saddle with his darling, Clementine. Both characters were "retired" in 1992, when Richard Hunt died. *** In 2002, Sesame Workshop announced that an HIV-positive character would be introduced to Takalani Sesame, the South African version of the show. Many conservatives and religious groups wrongly presumed that the American version would be getting a "gay Muppet", but the HIV-positive character is only present on this international version of the show. The character, Kami, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion as an infant.

Yes, We Have Hedge Roses

They were just three half-dead barely recognizable bushes that would fit inside of a scrub bucket. But I'd just purchased these hedge roses from famous rose growers Jackson & Perkins and they'd only been in the ground a few months in the gardens of my old home in Merryland. Once we purchased a new house in Delaware I got a shovel and dug the struggling bushes up and determined I would plant them in my new gardens in the swamps of Delaware. The huge oak trees of the Merryland lot smothered the sun the roses desperately needed to grow.

In the swamps of Delaware the three struggling straggly bushes seemed quite happy. My daughter, who helped me dig the things up, claimed I was stupid to even think that those pathetic pieces of green would do anything but curl up and die during the three hour trip to their new home.

Below, three years after their trip from the sandy shores of Merryland's Critter Cove, those small hedge roses bloom again.



Heh. Sometimes when you're a gardener, you just gotta believe.

Finally, below a video tour of my new "container" garden. Be patient with me folks, I'm just learning all this video stuff.



More Gardens and Bird posts HERE



Add POST to Technorati Favorites
=======

The Gardens of Midspring 2007; Miss Universe Review-Yes Including the Famous Fall;Crufts Dog Show

Here's an entry re the gardens of Serendipity Shore mid-spring 2007. For the roses and peonies bloom wildly and we've got plenty of pics.

Pic of the Day

---

Quote of the Day DISCRIMINATING AGAINST INTELLIGENCE "Since Teddy Kennedy's 1965 Immigration Act, more than half of all legal immigrants have been unskilled, non-English-speaking Mexicans. America takes in roughly 1 million legal immigrants each year. Only about 30,000 of them have Ph.D.s. Why on earth would any rational immigration policy discriminate against immigrants with Ph.D.s in favor of unskilled, non-English-speaking immigrants?" - Columnist Ann Coulter

Web Site Worth the Visit The Blue Angels Here's a site posted about the navy's famous Blue Angels, posted by a former Blue Angel. The opening pics of planes flying by the World Trade Center will take your breath away. ABOVE SITE HERE

TIDBITS RANDOM TIDBITS ON ANTS Ants have six legs. Each leg has three joints. *** Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. *** The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days. *** Red ants (found in the western United States) steal larvae of other ants to keep as slaves. The slave ants build homes for and feed the red ants, who cannot do anything but fight. *** The jaws open and shut sideways like a pair of scissors. Adult ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. Instead they swallow the juice which they squeeze from pieces of food. They throw away the dry part that is left over. *** The common Black Ants and Wood Ants have no sting, but they can squirt a spray of formic acid. Some birds put ants in their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of the parasites.

The Late May 2007 Gardens

The gardens are lovely here in Serendipity Shore in this year of our Lord 2007. There are some disappointments. A cherished Coreopsis bloomed wonderfully last year but was nowhere to be seen whilst other plantings were busy returning for the 2007 season. Some critter or another chewed up my climbing rose, separating the plant's base from its roots. Just damn.

Still and so, I remember four years ago when there were no gardens here on Serendipity Shore. For that was when husband and I moved here to the swamps of Delaware. Now various gardens and containers decorate the lot and disappointments aside, I'm very pleased with the results so far.

Pop Culture-Hasselhoff-Another Celebrity Who Shouldn't Have Children; First Garden Post of Growing Season 07

A premiere garden post of growing season 2007. The buds promised and they bloomed. With pics.

Pic of the Day

---

Quote of the Day On the Republican Contenders for 2008 "If he'll lie to two wives, what makes you think he wouldn't lie to you?" - Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention on why he's not impressed with GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's promise to appoint strict constructionist judges if elected, Wall Street Journal, 4/28/07 McCAIN LANE A BIT ROCKY "So, how did Mr. McCain fare in his visit to Jon Stewart's show? Let's just say things are looking pretty rocky. . . . The love affair Mr. McCain once had with the media is over. Gone and dead. Dead and gone." - New York Sun columnist Ryan Sager

Web Site Worth the Visit All About Roller Coasters Here's all the dish on the latest and greatest in the world of roller coasters across the fruited plain. Remember, summer's coming! ABOVE SITE HERE

TIDBITS Animal Trivia Mammals are the only animals with flaps around the ears. *** African elephants only have four teeth to chew their food with. *** A house fly lives only 14 days. *** Sheep are mentioned 45 times and goats 88 times in the Bible. Dogs are mentioned 14 times and lions 89 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned. *** A snail has two pairs of tentacles on its head. One pair is longer than the other and houses the eyes. The shorter pair is used for smelling and feeling its way around. *** Sharks and rays also share the same kind of skin: instead of scales, they have small tooth-like spikes called denticles. The spikes are so sharp that shark skin has long been used as sandpaper.

The 2007 Growing Season Begins

It's the fifth growing season here in Serendipity Shore and I'm pleased. For when I first moved here to the swamps of Delaware from the sand of Merryland, the entire front of this lot was torn apart for installation of a new septic drainage system. This even though the house was only two years old at the time. First, Delaware is famous for failing septic systems and second, I could see with my own eyeballs that the woman who had been renting the house totally abused the fragile septic system.

Husband and I had endured a complete installation of a new septic system and drainfield our own selves in our former home. That home's septic system was over fifty years old and before we had a hope of ever selling the place, we knew we'd have to update the water and septic system. Thus we knew a thing or two about delicate eco-systems and the sight of the disheveled front lawn didn't cause us fear.

Happily, we've had no problems with the septic system here on Serendipity Shore since we've moved. I took advantage of the torn up yard and installed a few new gardens that were not there with the original owners.

Now the center lawn garden grows handsome with a bevy of flowers and bushes, most of them native Delaware plants that I purchased specifically that they would be happy here. The hedge roses that I dug up from my old home in Merryland took to the Delaware climate and soil quite happily and we've now got a veritable wall of happy green branches soon to be groaning under the weight of blooming roses.

Last year I installed a "container" garden because every garden eco-system should have a container garden. I've also had the yard certified as a National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat. My lot in Merryland was also certified and I myself am a NWF certified Backyard Habitat Wildlife Steward.

Below, some pics of the gardens as they proudly begin their fifth growing season in this year of our Lord, 2007.








More Gardens and Bird posts HERE



Add POST to Technorati Favorites
=======================

Review Lifetime's "The Staircase Murders", NBC's "I'm Glad You're Here". The Spring garden

Finally, finally it's spring. A visit to my early spring garden with more promise than flowers.

Pic of the Day

---

Quote of the Day HEADLINE OF THE WEEK From Sunday's Reno Gazette-Journal: "Global Warming Rally Cut Short by Cold Weather." The paper noted that the freezing cold weather in Reno on Saturday "prevented the use of solar ovens for a potluck picnic."

Web Site Worth the Visit Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance The elder amongst us will remember the famous Pledge of Allegiance by comedian Red Skeleton. Here's a site with that pledge written, complete with appropriate artwork and emphasis. Web Post HERE

TIDBITS 15 Spectacular tricks to teach your body....... 1.) If you've got an itch in your throat, scratch your ear. When the nerves in the ear get stimulated, they create a reflex in the throat that causes a muscle spasm, which cures the itch. 2.) Having trouble hearing someone at a party or on the phone? Use your right ear…it's better at picking up rapid speech. But, the left is better at picking up music tones. 3.) If you need to relieve yourself BADLY, but you're not anywhere near a bathroom, fantasize about RELATIONS. That preoccupies your brain and distracts it. 4.) Next time the doctor's going to give you an injection, COUGH as the needle is going in. The cough raises the level of pressure in your spinal canal, which limits the pain sensation as it tries to travel to your brain. 5.) Clear a stuffed nose or relieve sinus pressure by pushing your tongue against the roof of your mouth…then pressing a finger between your eyebrows. Repeat that for 20 seconds…it causes the vomer bone to rock, which loosens your congestion and clears you up. 6.) If you ate a big meal and you're feeling full as you go to sleep, lay on your left side. That'll keep you from suffering from acid reflux…it keeps your stomach lower than your esophagus, which will help keep stomach acid from sliding up your throat. 7.) You can stop a toothache by rubbing ice on the back of your hand, on the webbed area between your thumb and index finger. The nerve pathways there stimulate a part of the brain that blocks pain signals from your mouth. 8.) If you get all messed up on liquor, and the room starts spinning, put your hand on something stable. The reason: Alcohol dilutes the blood in the part of your ear called the cupula, which regulates balance. Putting your hand on something stable gives your brain another reference point, which will help make the world stop spinning. 9.) Stop a nose bleed by putting some cotton on your upper gums…right behind the small dent below your nose…and press against it hard. Most of the bleeding comes from the cartilage wall that divides the nose, so pressing there helps get it to stop. 10.) Nervous? Slow your heart rate down by blowing on your thumb. The vagus nerve controls your heart rate, and you can calm it down by breathing. 11.) Need to breathe underwater for a while??? Instead of taking a huge breath, HYPERVENTILATE before you go under, by taking a bunch of short breaths. That'll trick your brain into thinking it has more oxygen, and buy you about 10 extra seconds. 12.) You can prevent BRAIN FREEZE by pressing your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much surface area as possible. Brain freeze happens because the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, so your brain thinks your whole body is cold. It compensates by overheating…which causes your head to hurt. By warming up the roof of your mouth, you'll chill your brain and feel better. 13.) If your hand falls asleep, rock your head from side to side. That'll wake your hand or arm up in less than a minute. Your hand falls asleep because of the nerves in your neck compressing…so loosening your neck is the cure. If your foot falls asleep, that's governed by nerves lower in the body, so you need to stand up and walk around. 14.) Finally, this one's totally USELESS, but a nice trick. Have someone stick their arm out to the side, straight, palm down. Press down on his wrist with two fingers. He'll resist, and his arm will stay horizontal. Then, have him put his foot on a surface that's half an inch off the ground, like a stack of magazines, and do the trick again. Because his spine position is thrown off, his arm will fall right to his side, no matter how much he tries to resist. 15.) Got the hiccups? Press thumb and second finger over your eyebrows until the hiccups are over - usually shortly.

The Gardens of Spring 07 Tempt and Tease

April of 2007 was a horrible month. In the entire month, up until the day of the pics below, there had been not one single sunny day. Sure, the April month is notorious for wild weather, including rain, snow and in the year of our Lord 2007, one spectacular Noreaster that spanned over four days.

The gray bleak began to wear on my last gardening nerve.

Finally a sunny day showed up and I was surprised. Of course I have a head cold that won't quit but still I work the gardens.

Roses tempt and wave thorny vines. Azaleas allow magenta blooms to peek through. The Wigelia raises its limbs to the sky and promises pretty pink bloom to come. The daffodils already bloomed and these were a blessing during the endless gray. A few tulips raise their bright red blooms as acknowledgement that no mind the gray, it is STILL spring.



So the leaves are raked and the gardens tidied. The sun has finally returned to Serendipity Shore and even as the mucous in my head swirls around with each movement, I feel the warmth of the spring sun and my gardener soul comes alive.





Add POST to Technorati Favorites
=======================