Comments on: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: November

By: Carol in the Northwest

Carol in the Northwest — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:10:49 +0000

Its nice to see those friendly faces of Johnny Jump Ups in our gardens this time of the year. Here in the Northwest, we have had some hard frost, and things have turned ugly in most parts of my garden. Against a south wall, I do have a window box that still has a few flowering geraniums hugging the house. They must be feeling some heat from the house. I think I’ll move them into the barn and see if I can keep them going a bit longer. I just love to see their red color on these dark, sleepy days of winter!

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:19:07 +0000

Hi, Lynn, so glad to meet you, and so sorry we won’t be neighbors for long. As a kid you think all needle-leafed trees are evergreen. Larches are not. They are deciduous. Those needles will eventually drop, and then there is no denying that winter is at the door.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:26:32 +0000

Hi and I’m so happy you posted about larches! I live down the road from Mr. Hollow and have been wondering what all those pine trees were that looked like they were so gorgeously dying (I’m new up here). I’ve yet to post my bloom day pic–one last lonely strawberry blossom on the day before the snow fell

By: Mary Ann Newcomer

Mary Ann Newcomer — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:18:59 +0000

Every day, I am out in the garden taking a mental inventory of what has made it……we haven’t had a really hard frost…..it is due this week. I find myself rooting (hahaha) for the agastache ‘Ava,’ and the handful of helenium that still hold their heads up high. The pink dahlias succumbed last week when i wasn’t looking.

By: layanee

layanee — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:09:41 +0000

The larches are lovely! Who doesn’t love a Johnny Jump up! I do pull them out with abandon when they reseed so freely but there are always a couple to enjoy!

By: Robin (Bumblebee)

Robin (Bumblebee) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:44:21 +0000

Hi Kathy,

We have johnny-jump-ups growing like weeds here in the spring and summer, but I don’t see any this time of year.

Does your family tolerate you putting them in salads?

–Robin (Bumblebee)

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:52:34 +0000

Yes, Kerri, that mum sure did bloom . . . and flop! I shall have to divide it next spring, and pinch it back more than I did. The snow didn't stick here, so no white for us. You know, Pam, I can't figure out where that person who made up the stereotypical seasonal events lives. They always have the leaves at their peak of color for Halloween, but we normally don't have any leaves left on the trees by then, and we've usually had our first flurries. And if you read all the lyrics, the guy dreaming of a white Christmas doesn't live where it snows. As for snow losing its romantic appeal, if you're cooped up in a small house with a lot of kids it can lose its appeal very fast, likewise if you have to go to work in it. If the fridge is full, the furnace is working, and all the children are quietly occupied while the flakes continue to fall, it can be quite wonderful.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:34:58 +0000

Crafty Gardener, I have Christmas cactus, too. When I was careful to move them to my cool bedroom around Labor Day, they would bloom for me. But these last few years I have left them hanging in the kitchen, and I don’t see buds on them, even.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:33:19 +0000

Well, Ellis Hollow and Annie, I have never read Sand County Almanac, but I must make a point to do so this winter. And all you larch lovers put me to shame; I had not been appreciating what a gift they were. To me, they signal the end of warmth even as they glow.

By: Pam/Digging

Pam/Digging — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 01:31:31 +0000

Lovely larches. In many ways, I think it must be nice for your seasons to mirror the popular conception. You know, frost on the pumpkin in October, golden leaves in November, snow in winter. Soon we’ll be hearing Xmas carols about white Christmases and Jack Frost, and it will sound like some far-off land to us Austinites.

Though I suppose by January or February, the romanticism of snow may have worn off. Does it?