Why I Love Fall & Winter

These are why. We expect our first frost tonight in Philly and my chance to enjoy the flowers indoor without all that gardening outdoors involves. I love gardening outside also but it's nice for a few months a year to just enjoy the flowers and give houseplants some extra attention that they don't get the rest of the year. Forcing bulbs, waiting for them to bloom, and buying plants in bloom when they can't be grown outside at this time of year in the Northeast help while we wait for spring. Are you forcing bulbs and enjoying your houseplants? Enjoy the season. Aren't they beautiful! Twenty four roses for $6.25 and 2 bunches of lilies for $6.00's a piece. That's a lot of flowers for my type of price. The best price would come growing my own which isn't possible. Would be nice though to have a green house and property to put it on.

I used to love scouring thrift stores for vases, old bowels, and baskets for the house and my plants. It's nice to collect things for little cost and enjoy the search. That stopped for me a few years ago. What anyone who collects things knows is that you can only collect so much if you still want to live in the house and not have the house for your collection. Houses are for living. Decorating them to your taste is fun but I've learned, don't bring another thing into the house. I have a lot to donate back to the thrift store as I declutter some rooms. Back to the post. I'll use these 2 vases that sit year round on my book case collecting dust. They're glazed so water shouldn't leak from them. Just in case I'll put a liner under them.

Five vase one for each room. My yellow lilies did well and lasted 2 weeks. They're not done till I say they're done. The round vase was given to me years ago by my mother. It gets a lot of use.

That popcorn is my snack for tonight. Portion control. Who's going to measure out one ounce from a large bag? So I have no excuse to keep eating more. When it's gone that's it.

Hope to get around to planting my amaryllis this weekend. From Dutch Bulbs. They're small. I'm spoiled after the huge ones from the garden center last fall. They'll still be beautiful. Hippeastrum Marilyn is a pretty pastel bloom.

No seeds started yet. Looking forward to starting begonias early but still getting the house ready for guest for Thanksgiving dinner. Tomorrow, give the kitchen and refrigerator a good cleaning and don't buy any food. I like to keep it uncluttered in preparation for groceries next week needed for dinner. I think I'll make the cranberry sauce early.

The paper whites started last week have lots of roots.

These were started today and put in the window seal where it's cool but they can get some sunlight while they develop roots.

One of my house plants. It's grown since I've had it although I've had to cut some of the lower leave off due to brown tips. It was tiny when I bought it and seems to love my house sitting on the table under a lamp. I believe it's a dracena.

Brought the palm inside last week when the nights started getting really cold. Of many purchased during the summer for the porch over the years, this is the only one to survive to come indoors this year. The only reason this one lived is because I removed if from it original pot where it was completely pot bound. Wasn't successful getting the roots loosened but I did cut off some from the bottom of the plant to encourage new root growth and let the plant know it had room to expand and grow. She did grown 2 new fronds this summer on the porch. Will she survive in the living room? Will she survive my cat who loves plants. Don't think palms are poisonous.