Where are my blueberries?

   I often wonder what Pop must think of my gardening skills.  He is probably looking down from Heaven and shaking his head at my mishmash of gardens.  I have a grand tendency of plopping plants wherever there is space and letting them grow with wild abandon.  This is a far cry from his orderly gardens back on the farm.  The vegetable fields were for vegetables.  The flower gardens were for flowers.  Each was carefully separated even down to the different type plants.   There was no mixing.  Each had its own space.  There were no tomato plants in the petunia bed.  There were no jasmine vines covering a fence in the squash patch.  There were no gloriosa lilies mixed in with the wisteria which was covering the same fence as a few roses and some more jasmine.  I just figure they can all get along or move along.  If they do not do well, then that is their problem.  So far, this has worked and everything seems happy.  I know I am.

  There is one problem that will have to be remedied this next winter, however.  Near that fencerow that has the conglomeration of vines, there are some blueberry bushes.  Those bushes are now under the vines.  Yep, my blueberry bushes have become arbors for the mingling vines.  It seems as if they will have to be moved a bit further away if I am to ever find the ripe berries amid the blooms of the other plants.  It appears that my method may not be working at its best.  Oh, well.  That is a chore for this winter and there is no use in fretting over it at the moment.

Mother Nature and Lady Spring Were On The Job!

  The first day of spring came to the Bayou with all of its glory blazing.  It was a gorgeous day with sunshine, a slight breeze and all of the other trappings.  Birds were singing, bees were buzzing and flowers were blooming....everywhere!  Yep.  The hillside is in full bloom and the yard smells divine!  After a long few months of nothing but rain and fog, spring is welcome.

  After helping Son install a new ceiling in the hallway, I headed out to the gardens.  If spring is here, it is high time to get those seeds in the ground.  Of course, the potatoes are already 15 inches tall and the greenhouse is full of seedling tomatoes and bell peppers but I have a hankering for fresh squash and green beans.  Having little packets of seeds is not satisfying that whim at all so it was my aim to get the garden in shape.  About two hours later, a break was needed so gardening evolved into a hike.  Oh, what a glorious time, that was!!!

  Citrus trees, peach trees, plum trees were showing their best attire, wisteria draped heavy sprays of blossoms across the arbor and tiny wildflowers dotted the hillside.  It was almost as if overnight, Mother Nature decorated the Bayou! She called Lady Spring to drop in for a visit!  As I wandered about the place, I was simply dazzled by the sight.  Spring is definitely here.

A Different World Altogether

  Son has often said that it does not take a lot to entertain me.  This can be taken either way...good or bad...so I choose to look at it in a positive way.  To me, it means that my imagination has not died with the influx of artificial stimulation.  Anything can act as a trigger to take me to some faraway, magical place.  It must be the influence of my late Aunt Helen.  She never bored of daily life because she had the ability to be a thousand miles away in her thoughts.  She taught me well.  

  This morning's hike was a damp one.  A thick fog shrouded the entire Bayou muffling footsteps and holding the sights and scents close around me.  Making my way around the back path, the heady aroma of citrus blossoms mingled with the enticing scent of trailing wisteria blooms engulfed me.  This was enough to start the imagination but the sight of moss-covered bricks sent it into overdrive.  The brain found that moss oddly alluring.  Suddenly the whole world whirled around in a myriad of thoughts of romance, moonlit walks and happy endings.  Perhaps these were from tales told by grandparents so many years ago or perhaps it was just all of the elements of the day coming together in harmony but I was thrown into a mystical, magical world for a bit.  It was a place that was hard to leave.  That first step back into reality was difficult.  I wanted to throw the day's chores to the wind and stay in my "happy place" for the day.

  It is nice it to simply waltz into a different life now and again...to let mundane things become exquisite...to find happiness at your own backdoor.  I think everyone needs an Aunt Helen at some point in life.   She is needed to teach us all how to imagine what can be. 

 

Smells like spring!

  Yesterday and today were perfect days to get a few chores done in the yard.  A good bit of trimming, raking and cleaning was on the agenda...not all was completed but I am off to a good start.  On the back side of the house there are two arbors both filled with wisteria.  The first is a lovely white wisteria that Mark and I dug up from my aunt and uncle's place.  The thing was growing wild in what used to be their garden area.  The other arbor holds a the lovely common lavender wisteria.  This, too, was from the old homestead of my relatives.  Both vines have withstood many trials with the worst being Hurricane Katrina.  She did a fine job of trying to rip the vines from the arbors but did not succeed.  No matter how the winds whipped the vines and how rough the water tugged at the roots, the wisterias both stood strong. As matter of fact, I do believe the vines are what held the arbors in place!  

  Yesterday, I noticed that both vines were blooming.  The white seems to have beaten the purple this year in the number of blooms.  Perhaps I failed to trim the purple enough or neglected to remove all of the seed pods.  The white is actually in need of a good trimming itself.  It has grown up into the overhead oak tree and has stretched to the north to reach the grapefruit tree.  Neither of these places are ideal for the wisteria.  

  Still, both vines make for a delightful walk on the north side of the house.  As you amble through the first arbor, an intense perfume hits you.  The smell is most incredible and fills the entire yard.  Then if you continue following the pathway to the second arbor, a slightly less intense but still strong aroma engulfs you.  I find that the white wisteria's scent is far sweeter than the lavender.  Throw in the delightful aroma of the soon-to-open orange blossoms, jasmine, gardenias, magnolias and then mimosas and my yard will rival any perfume factory in the world!  You just have to love springtime on the Bayou! There are some mighty fine aromas filling the air!

Scent of the Season!

  No matter how I try to believe spring has arrived, it is never a sure thing until the wisteria blooms.  As soon as I catch a whiff of the sweet aroma coming from the three arbors that bear the vines, I am quite assured that winter is far behind.  A cool snap (as Mom used to call them) or the Easter Freeze (another of her terms) might well pop in for a visit but the long term winter is a thing of the past.  (At least for the time being!) This makes me happy if for no other reason than the scents of the season.

  As I mentioned, the wisteria arbors are weighted down with the long lavender or white racemes.  I have both varieties of the vine.  Two of the arbors are loaded with lavender flowers while the other is just beginning to be claimed by the white.  All three vines were ones that I literally scavenged from other places. Since it takes seemingly forever for a seedling wisteria to bloom, it is best to either find a naturally rooted vine and transplant it or root a cutting from an adult vine.  Mine were all found as young plants that had rooted themselves from a drooping limb of a mature vine.  As a word of warning, though, do not plant a wisteria unless you have the time to care for it.  These things can take over the place it allowed to grow unrestrained!  Left growing to wild abandon, a vine will soon cover any and everything in its path! Make sure to keep it well trimmed and do not allow sections of the vine to reach the ground.  Otherwise, you will spend most of the spring yanking out those newly rooted plants and, trust me, this "ain't no easy job".  (Yes, I know...poor grammar.)

  I did discover something new this spring unless it is purely my imagination.  The fragrance surrounding the white wisteria arbor is far greater than that of the lavender even though there are fewer blooms. The scent has such a enticing effect that I never want to leave the arbor.  I have even gone so far as to threaten to string a hammock between the posts and sleep under the stars with the glorious scent! Ok, that threat went out the window with the thought of gnats and mosquitoes eating me alive!  I will have to be satisfied with what little scent is wafted through the open windows each night.  So folks that are still dealing with winter, I wish I could send you a sprig of wisteria to brighten your day.  Soon, very soon, you will be seeing signs of lovely spring at your place!

The Long Wait

  The arbor in the back of the house was in need of some major repairs or perhaps complete demolition.  It is a "walk-through" type arbor that is maybe covers ten feet or so of the pathway.  Three of the posts on the north side had met their demise due to termites that just happen to love "treated" lumber.  In fact, the only thing holding the whole shebang together was the huge Wisteria vine.  I would cringe with trepidation each time I wandered under it.  Was it going to come crashing down on my head?  So I got busy and replaced two of the rotted posts.  The third (middle) one was completely covered with the massive vine so I left it be for the moment.   While I was digging the post holes, I noticed a ton of seed pods dangling from the vines!  Bright idea!  I need to harvest the seeds to plant! I really need another Wisteria vine!  Who am I kidding with that one?  I definitely do NOT need another vine.  They are everywhere! Seriously, I plan to grow these in pots.  I can give them to folks who would like a Wisteria vine of their very own!

  Since the arbor is tall (and I am not so tall), I would need the stepladder to pick the pods.  That ended that idea as Michael is still building on my greenhouse and uses the stepladder constantly.  If I want a completed greenhouse, I have to forego the use of the ladder in any way, shape or form.  Hmmm...what to do? What to do?  Then, out of the clear blue, the answer came to me!  Plop!  A seed smacked me in the head!  One of the pods burst open and spewed a couple of seeds at me. This got me to thinking.  No need for that ladder!  I would just "harvest" my seeds from the ground! Every day now, I pick up another dozen or so seeds.  No, I do not need nor want that many Wisteria vines but that, in itself, is another reason to pick up the seeds.  When cleaning the area, vines were everywhere!  Those seeds tend to sprout right where they drop.  I had just pulled out probably two hundred small vines.  (Yep, now I want to grow some more.)  

  There is one sad thing about growing Wisteria from seeds versus digging up an already well established vine. Growing from seed is a very long, drawn-out ordeal.  The seeds do best when their surface is scratched a bit before planting.  Presoaking is also helpful.  Even after doing this, the seeds take several weeks to sprout. Then the saplings are slow to grow for the first season.  Afterwards, the vine may seem to be growing by leaps and bounds but still will not bloom.  It can sometimes take up to fifteen years for a vine to get to a point where it will bloom profusely but to some folks, the beauty is well worth the wait.  My Wisteria vine is probably nigh on twenty-five years old.  It does bloom gorgeously each spring filling the arbor with the sweetest-smelling, lavender clusters of flowers!  My point in sprouting and growing a few vines in pots is to maybe make that wait a bit shorter for the recipients of my gifted vines.  Perhaps their wait will not be so miserably long!  Besides, the more seeds I gather, the less vines will be entwining my Nandina bushes!  The pictures below are of the arbor when it was in full bloom this past year.  The view is from my upstairs window!

*Word of warning to those who wish to grow a Wisteria vine in their yard.  The seeds are not to be eaten!  The seeds of the Wisteria are toxic and it has been said that as little as two seeds can kill a child.  Please be careful!  Keep the seeds out of the reach of children and pets!*

In a "Bind"!

I wandered to the pier late this afternoon and there found that I was in a "Bind". This Bind being the collective name of a group of Spotted Sandpipers that had decided to rest on the pier. I am assuming that they are in route to some faraway place and just stopped in for a visit. According to the bird book that I was given by a "birder" cousin, these Sandpipers will winter in the South and then head back as far as Alaska or Canada to breed. There were a dozen or so of these small birds huddled together against the stiff southerly wind. The birds were all wobbling and looked as if they were going to topple head first onto the pier. I thought that they were being blown around a good bit as they were all bobbing up and down, but the bird book said that this is a trait of the species. It is called "teetering"..imagine that..hmmm..someone had to think long and hard to come up with a name as appropriate as "teetering" for a wobbly, up and down motion. The birds wobbled around for quite some time as I sat watching them. I decided that perhaps they needed to rest, so I eased off the pier and gave them their peace. Have a good night, little birds..rest up for your long journey.

Walking back up the boardwalk to the house, I realized that the Wisteria on the front arbor is brown and crispy. This is not good. I assume that it is just the drought but I have never seen Wisteria just up and die like this. Just last week, it looked great. It was full of seed pods and still bright green. Hubby was quite concerned that the Wisteria might overtake the Jasmine and Seven Sisters Rose that inhabit the same arbor. Not to worry..the Wisteria has met its demise..much to my dismay. At least the two on the back arbors still look rather healthy! This drought is killing off a lot of the garden. We try to run the sprinklers in hopes of saving what we can but I noticed that things are dropping fruit and withering. If we do not get several good soaking rains soon, the garden will be at an end as will the canning for the season. Perhaps I shall have to find more drought tolerant plants for the Summer garden. Here it is only Spring and there is a rainfall deficit of over 14 inches. The lack of rain has caused the grasses and leaves to become a severe fire threat along the Coast. We need rain! Desperately!

The earlier part of today was spent mostly in the kitchen. My brother so graciously donated me a bunch of squash..as if I did not have enough already! It seems that squash plants can do well in dry weather and so between the two of us, we have squash..lots and lots of squash! I do not care for the canned or frozen squash so just what do you do with approximately fifteen pounds of the lovely little yellow things?? Simple solution..you make relish. When all else fails, you chop everything into tiny pieces and call it squash relish! Actually, it is delicious! So, Son and I spent the morning dicing twenty-four cups of squash, twenty-four cups of onions and as many bell peppers as we could get..which was not many..only about a dozen. After chopping, the whole conglomeration was salted and iced for several hours. After mixing together the vinegar, sugar and spices, the vegetables were drained and added to the liquid to be cooked. Now there are seven quarts of beautiful relish instead of two buckets of squash! Hmmm..somehow that just doesn't add up! Twenty-four cups of squash plus twenty-four cups of onions plus the peppers, vinegar and sugar..that should be a lot more than seven quarts! Oh well..it is made, I am happy, my brother will eat relish and I have no squash in buckets on the kitchen floor! Just think...we have to pick the squash again tomorrow...oh my!

And the Beat Goes On..

Ahh, the sound of thunder in the distance! This sounds promising! A nice soaking rain is much needed on the tomato plants that were just set out in the garden. With limited space for gardens, I doubled up on the plants by putting two in each hole. This will make good use of the wire tomato cages and still leave plenty of growing room. Picking any ripe tomatoes might be a tad difficult however since the twenty hills are literally only inches apart. Not a lot of leg room! These tomatoes had long outgrown the hotbed forcing me to remove the window glasses several weeks ago. It is just a happy thing that the weather has been warm as there is no way of protecting the several hundred plants still residing in the hotbed nor the forty that are in the garden already. Still, the ground is dry and the impending storm makes me happy!

The downside of a storm? The rains and predicted high winds will invariably knock all of the Wisteria blossoms to the ground. For the past few days, there has been a constant shower of lavender petals. Under the arbor, the pathway is carpeted with purple! I almost hate to see them disappear as I will so miss the aroma as well as the beauty that the three vines brought to the yard. I was telling Son the other day, if anyone could ever truly "bottle" the scent of Wisteria, they would be millionaires! Not only as the perfume but because the smell is such a symbol of the approaching Springtime! If you are in the Deep South and you smell one of four things you know Winter is over..Wisteria, in its purple glory..Orange blossoms, the Honeybees' bloom of choice..Confederate Jasmine, conjuring thoughts of warm, muggy nights and porch swings..and Magnolias..the epitome of all things Southern.

That said..my house has a wonderful aroma, too! Strange as it seems, whenever the weather turns a bit stormy, I always seem to want to bake! So.. bake I did! My one jug of sourdough starter has now multiplied so much that it had to be divided and divided again. I have four gallon jugs of the stuff and if someone does not request some soon, it will soon need to be five. I pulled out one jug and started baking! A delightful cranberry/ chocolate filled bread was the first of many loaves. Next.. cinnamon/ raisin/walnut braids came from the oven! Then a request! Son asked for a cheese filled loaf. Not satisfied with making one loaf, I made three Crusty-topped Cheese-filled Sourdough loaves! Now keep in mind that at the moment, only he and I are at home. That is a lot of bread! And the storms are predicted to continue through the day tomorrow.. more baking!

Finally, I will end on a "What's it?" that was found during the cleaning of the sewing room! I am not sure just what this was originally nor am I sure why it was saved and stashed in this room! I do believe it is a part of some type motor or something and possibly was stuck in the out-of-the-way place during a mad-dash cleaning day. Perhaps I found it on the coffee table (since that is usually where things have a way of appearing) and tossed it in the sewing room because of an unannounced visit from one very persnickety aunt. I don't have a clue..but I do think it might be garbage!

Flight of the Bumblebee..er...Carpenter Bee!

The wisteria is in full bloom by the back deck. It is absolutely gorgeous and smells phenomenal! It is truly a sight to behold and a pleasure to be near except for...the bees! Don't get me wrong, I like bees. I would even go so far as to say..I love bees! I love honeybees and bumblebees. These are productive citizens of a garden. They both pollinate the fruits, vegetables and flowers thus fulfilling their duty and earning the right to be a part of the garden community. Today, however, as I was enjoying a leisurely walk through the arbor, I was pummeled..literally headbutted..by a mass of carpenter bees. It is time for these bees to mate and lay eggs so I am quite sure this attack was merely a territorial thing. I was a threat and the males, being the bullies they are, tried to scare me away from this area. I was pelted repeatedly by these little billygoats of the apian world. They were not stinging me as these were males and they do not have stingers but still it was a bit unnerving to be bombarded by a barrage of bees..assaulted by antagonists of the apiary..violated by vicious villians..ok, ok..so I was merely smacked by non-stinging bees. It still was a a tad disconcerting to have the carpenter bees getting tangled in my hair and buzzing about my ears. This I can do without!

And need I mention the damage that these critters can do to decks, fences and gates. While the males are busy smacking any intruder in their space, the female is chewing her way into the wood to make a nice nursery chamber for her little ones. Any unfinished wood is fair game for her. She will drill a most perfectly round tunnel deep into any piece of wood that is at least two inches thick. Some of her tunnels can go well into the wood weakening any structure. Here she will lay her eggs and supply the future larvae with "bee bread". Bee bread is merely pollen and regurgitated nectar..YUM!..definitely sounds delicious..and I am being sarcastic there! The eggs hatch, larvae eat their yummy meal and crawl out of the hole to start the whole process over again.

The good side of carpenter bees??? They are some of the best pollinators of open-faced flowers. The bad side of carpenter bees??? They will ruin your deck or other wooden structure by drilling it full of holes and they can stain siding or deck with an ugly yellow mess as they defecate. Another downside..once they find a suitable nesting sight, they return each year. ALL OF THEM!!! The adults that started the whole colony and each offspring will always nest in the same spot as long as it remains in suitable condition. So paint! Stain! Do something to that wood! I do not mind the bees being in my yard..just not weakening my deck and wooden steps. The tunnels are already there so the best thing I can do is replace boards and stain the deck. I do not use chemical pesticides so manual labor is the route I have to take. Or..I could round up a few young lads to pick up where my sons left off years ago. Both boys used to take plastic baseball bats and have batting practice with the bees. Seems a mite cruel but it is actually a very effective method! I am not sure it even killed the bees but made them think twice about the porch being conducive to baby bee raising!

Note..the pictures of the carpenter bees in flight were taken by Son! Good job!

Typewriters,Wisteria and Super Moons!

This is going to be a mite different for me..our internet has decided to be a tad obstinate so I am having to write this offline and hopefully be able to copy and paste. Hopefully....hopefully. It is amazing just how dependent we become on machines and all the wonders of the technological world. I had an uncle that wrote several books and tons of manuscripts and never once used anything more than an old manual typewriter. Yes..typewriter..those unusual looking things with keys on springy rods and a roller that fed the paper and a ribbon! Must not forget the ribbon! That was most important for without it..no letters would ever show up on the paper! And to make copies..either you typed several copies yourself or you used a “magic” paper called carbon paper! Most of us today would be entirely lost! When the internet is “down” or when the power is out..a manual typewriter would definitely save the day! Or a pen and paper...hmmm..I am sure I have one somewhere! Each time the internet is ornery, the laptop is rendered just about useless.

On to happier thoughts..my yard smells phenomenal! The wisteria is in full bloom! There is a sea of lavender out the back door and a sprinkling of white out the side door! The two arbors leading into and out of the side garden both are just dripping with blooms! I am ecstatic! The purple vine has been in place for much longer than the white so it has many, many more blooms. The white is just now beginning to cover the arbor. It has had to compete for space with a trumpet vine and a large English ivy. Instead of containing itself on the arbor, the white has a tendency to want to climb the eaves of the house. Not good! The vines will damage the wood so I really need to do some major pruning as soon as it completes this blooming cycle. I have had several people ask for starts of the white so I will be sure to pull a few limbs down for layering. The white wisteria does not seem to be as common as the lavender here on the Coast. Mine was purely by accident since I had no idea of the color when I transplanted it from an abandoned field. I have also heard that there is a hot pink variety growing wild in middle Mississippi. I would love to get a start of that but imagine it would be much like a wild goose chase to just set off looking for an elusive flowering vine. For the time being, I will be happy with the two I have and just dream about the pink!

Last night..March 19^th, there was what was being tagged as a “Super Moon”. Sort of sounds like a name for an heroic orb, but instead it referred to the nearness of the moon to Earth. The moon was to appear larger than normal as it rose above the horizon. Sure enough, when it finally peeked from behind the pines on the far side of the Bayou, it was quite impressive. The full moon appeared at first to be pumpkin orange and unusually large. I stayed out long enough to snap a few pictures but was soon chased inside by the hordes of mosquitoes that have just recently made their presence known again. For a while..during the cold of winter, the Bayou was mosquito-free and I enjoyed every minute. Now the gnats and mosquitoes try to make a meal out of my blood every chance they get..time to break out a few herbs and experiment with a formula as a repellent! One to use at least until the Beautyberry sprouts a few leaves!

Today was the final day of the air show at Keesler Air Base. For the past two day, my pier has seen many visitors who came to watch the skies. After the show ended today, the planes all started to other destinations. The large Army plane that carried the Golden Knights made a complete circle around the Bay before leaving. One by one the smaller planes flew out..then..the Navy's Blue Angels roared into action. With no audience in sight, they still performed with perfection. Each taxied the runway and soared into the wild, blue yonder only to swing around and join up in the beautiful Alpha formation. One more pass and they thundered eastward. Hopefully, we will see them over the Bay again soon. The last plane to leave this evening was the large plane from the Marines..all branches of the Military were in the skies this evening..all making us proud to be Americans..amazing!

myPods!

Ever wonder just how words change over the years? I keep hearing pod this and pod that.. iPods.. podcast.. etc. I ponder over these things and then realize that well..without admitting that I am old..all of these are products of the younger generation. They are definitely not something that I would understand in the least. If you walk into my yard and ask me something about a pod..that is exactly what I will show you..a pod. A seed pod! And that is what today's post is about..seed pods..wisteria seed pods to be more precise. Early in Spring, the wisteria on my back arbor blooms. It covers the arbor in the most sweet-smelling profusion of lavender flowers that ever graced this yard. It is one of my favorite vines on the hill. The purple flowers hang on for days bringing in the honeybees and bumblebees. There is a constant buzzing around the arbor so beware! The bees in turn pollinate the flowers and life goes on from there. This Spring was no different. The arbor was covered with flowers, the blooms were covered with bees and now there are pods. Seed pods are dangling like ornaments on the bare vines. The pods themselves hold three to five beautiful, flat, black seeds. From everything that I have ever been told, wisteria seeds are highly poisonous to every living thing except giraffes and monkeys. I have not tested this since number one..I do not want to take the chance and munch down on one just to see if it really is poisonous and number two..I do not keep giraffes and monkeys handy as test subjects. I do know that not many things around here eat them as they will hang on the vine without being bothered when all else is being devoured by the hungry animals. At first, these pods are a sort of grayish green and are covered in a velvety coating. When they dry, they turn brown and split open. They have the ability to fling the seeds a good distance from the parent plant. If you are in the general area at seed-flinging time, you might just get smacked in the head with a seed! Another weird thing about wisteria seeds is that when the seeds are planted, it will take up to fifteen years for the new vine to bloom. Wow! Life will continue for the wisteria vine but it sure takes its sweet time to be showy! So don't ask about my pod..you will be shown some seed or another! Most likely the wisteria seed pods.