Last Month of The Year

Pansies, phlox, and lirope under the greens. The kale is still hanging in there.

Pine cones from my mom's pine tree. I have some that are much larger than these but I think I will use them inside. 

Time to start decorating for Christmas. I have to clear the mantel first. One orchid survived. I have no idea what to do with it. All the leaves fell off the other one but I still have it. I refuse to throw it out although it may be dead. I should read my orchid book.

Amaryllis making progress. I hope it won't bloom until Christmas, unlikely. I may put it in a darker location to delay the blooms opening. I plan to purchase holders for the flower spikes for next season or continue to use what I have in the house. The paint stick does not look pretty but it will do. It would look better maybe padded or covered with something. My amaryllis was so tall and heavy last year that it fell and broke.  I have 2 more to plant and will stagger planting them so I will have blooms in the house for January and February.

Flowers from Thanksgiving. Still doing well.  The colors were even deeper several days ago. Some have started to die. I like the stock and tried it from seed last year but got frustrated and threw them out. Maybe this Winter.

Seed starting time is almost here for some seeds that need a early start such as vinca and geraniums. I think I will also start begonias early. The plan is for the last week in December after Christmas. I have yet to rake up all the leaves in my yard that have fallen and plant bulbs. I'm not that worried about the bulbs. The ground is still workable and I planted them late last year and they did fine. I do need to start my paperwhites, I'm late this year. 

While out front today, I thought of what I would like to do with the flower bed. I love blooms and will probably take up the evergreen shrubs and plant perennials like rudbeckia, daisies, coreopsis and start more foxglove from seeds. It's nice to have things green year round but I want to take advantage of full sun and plant some flowers that have colorful blooms that I can't plant in the yard because of the dappled shade. There would also be more room for annuals.

Decreased my blogging and considered deleting this blog due to spam. I was shocked when I clicked on some of the web sites who viewed my blog. Unwanted sites. Now I know not to even click on them to find out who they are. I want to keep the blog public but unwanted traffic is horrible. So this is the last Fall shot of the yard before I clean it up one day soon!

Until next Fall. They still have to be cleaned up. Fun, fun, fun!

The shopping season has begun. Saturday November 23rd at Macy's Center City. Complete with live entertainment. The Christmas Show has now started.