We Took To The Tropics.

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As much as I like winter in New England, I must admit that in the past few days I have caught myself day dreaming about some warm tropical island just a wee bit.  It has been cold, cold, cold here and the idea of being sticky with sweat, smearing on sunscreen and having sand in the toes has felt rather inviting. Alas, we are here to stay! So, yesterday we got as close to going to a tropical island as we could.  We put on our winter coats and boots, jumped in the car and crossed the river to the lovely college greenhouse!

We saw purple flowers that were so full that they weighted down their stems, smelled the scent of blossoming jasmine, delighted in the colors of growing oranges, lemons and bananas, resisting the urge to pick one right then and there and devour it, saw swimming carp that were so large that their long whiskers tickled our finger tips and, perhaps most importantly, we felt warm.

Then, we put back on our constant hat and coat companions and headed back out into the winter of New England.  

The air felt cool, fresh, alive and yes, quite wonderful.

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Moss Garden.

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Every year, at the start of December, we make a moss garden.  For each of the four weeks of the month we add some little treasure to it representing the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom and then, human kind.  It is so nice, as the days get more and more blustery, and we spend more and more time indoors, to have some time to think of these grand kingdoms of nature.  Like forcing bulbs, it is another wonderful way of bringing a lush, green, living thing into the home. It is also nice to know, that at the end of the month, the moss can be brought back outside and planted once again onto a rock, even under the cool snow.  We are just borrowing it for a time.

So, a few days ago, after a heavy night of wind and rain, my son and I slid into our rain boots and headed into the forest in search of our moss.

Before we left, I readied a container to hold the moss once we got it back home.  This year, I decided to make a smaller garden than I have in the past, and used a lovely, blue pie plate gifted to me by a dear family friend.  I put a thin layer of sand on the bottom to help a bit with drainage and then covered it with some moist garden soil.

Then we picked up our big, red bucket and headed into the forest.

Soon, we came upon this magical, mossy rock.  Amongst the muted color of fallen leaves and gray branches, it shone the most brilliant green.

I gathered some moss and put it in our bucket as my son splashed in rain puddles and investigated some mushrooms.

With a bucket full of moss, muddy boots and pant hems, we walked back home silently, stopping only to throw pebbles into the brook.  We held our dirty hands with one another and I felt quite blissful as they stuck together with sweet-smelling pine cone sap.

When we arrived home, I pressed the moss into the soil and gave it a good misting of water.  We put in two stones to celebrate the mineral kingdom.  One, a pebble from our land and the other a special, healing crystal that had been gifted to me.

Then, my son fell asleep.

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Blooms In Winter.

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Paper white (Narcissus) bulbs are such a wonderful, winter treat.  Just when the last of the green grass is gone, and the stubborn dandelion seems to have lost it's fight to the cold, we are able to bring a little bit of summer back into our homes. I often buy a handful of bulbs as soon as they are available at the local garden store, and force them into bloom for as long as possible.  It is such a delight to watch the bulb's roots take hold of their supporting stones, to see the long, green tendril grow out of the top, and finally, to witness the buds burst open and flower.  

 

One of the things I like most about forcing bulbs, is finding interesting vessels to put them in.  They really are happy in any sort of container as long as there is no drainage.  I have put them in old tin coffee cans, tall glass canning jars and in vases.  

Once in bloom they let off a lovely floral smell as well!  I will share some pictures as these bulbs grow.

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 h a p p y  d e c e m b e r !