SURPRISE!

Arisaema sikokianum.  Welcome to Furball Cottage, Miss Arisaema, as I'd given up on you.  For three years I  checked under the white pine close to the 'wet spot' and nothing happened.  Then yesterday, while on groundhog patrol, I stumbled upon you.  Asian arums bloom earlier than the natives and you are an exotic wonder.  I'm hoping no creature will find you yummy and that you will give me many years of happy surprises.  Thank you for agreeing to live and bloom at Furball Cottage.

PINK MOCCASINS

UNDER COVER

One of the benefits of being involved with the Philadelphia International Flower Show is the goodies friends and fellow gardeners share during the week.  Too much of one thing?  No problem, I can take some home with me.  This time it was a tray of little clay pots planted with succulents.  Brought seven home and placed them on the sunny porch in balmy weather.  As it's cooled down considerably, I've been able to use the glass cloches I bough a bazillion years ago and most of the time are just garden decoration.  Glad I never got rid of them.  A gardener is always a hoarder by necessity and disposition. 

RAINY MORNING

It hadn't rained for days.  Woke up before sunrise to the soothing sound of raindrops.  Thank you!  From my bedroom window the world felt like an aquarium and I was a  happy minnow.

Chaste Tree

VITEX AGNUS CASTUS

Did you know?  Is it true?  Does it really mean that? 

 Chaste tree.  I know.  It's true.  And it really means that.  Yerba Luisa is the name I knew when I lived in my little tropical island.   The tradition is that a new bride receives a plant started from a slip from the bush her mother-in-law received from her mother-in-law and so on and so forth.  Planted by the front or back door, the beauty of the flowers is testimony to the beauty of the marriage.  Get it?  Your tree'd better be looking good...  Wonderful fragrant pinnated leaves, flower spikes that look like sprinkles from heaven.  My Greek neighbor explained that in her hilly country women place branches under their mattresses so that their husbands don't wander.  Another matrimonial tradition half around the world.  Grab a handful of leaves early in the morning, crush them and rub the perfumed bunch on your arms and neck and you will be lucky for the rest of the day.  Don't ask, just do it. 

Good Advice

What, no flowers? 
You got that right. 
Remember to sip a little wine and smell the roses.

Rescue Flowers

Well, there are rescue dogs and rescue cats, so why not rescue flowers?  Turning into my driveway yesterday noticed three little clusters of grape hyacynths blooming in the grass strip between the road and the sidewalk.  They were technically on neighbor Jane's property but I know she wouldn't have minded if I lifted them.  In a couple of days the mow-and-blow guys will start their inexorable tour of death and would have decapitated these sweet little things.  So here they are, alive and blooming in a Japanese bonsai tray and will be carefully transplanted to a suitable spot where they will grow and thrive and show their lovely blue hues for springs to come.  A good deed always leaves a great feeling in you heart.  Doesn't it?