Green, growing, blooming..

I went on a bit of a "potting up" spree last Sunday. We had several bits of houseplants I'd clipped and put in vases of water to grow roots, as well as some older potted plants that needed more room. Then a friend of Gregg's (a bit of a plant collector) sent me the start of a new-to-me plant on Saturday, so on Sunday morning I went to Lowe's and bought potting soil and new pots. I also bought a bag of orchid mix because several of my orchids needed their medium refreshed. 

Here are some of my houseplants, as well as a big bouquet of flowers I bought myself last week to celebrate the day when I paid off our mortgage. I love having cut flowers in the house.

These last pictures are from my office at work. I have a pretty blooming orchid and the peace lily my coworkers gave me when dad died. My office window faces due east and plants really love the bright morning sun.

I love surrounding myself with green, growing, blooming things. Especially in the winter.

Morning sun

It seems I have a "Thanksgiving cactus" instead of a "Christmas cactus" like I originally thought. 

Whatever you call it, it's nice to have flowers blooming in the house to brighten these dark November days. The colors glow in the morning sun from a south-facing window. 

From the camera roll this week...

The zinnias in front of our school are blooming again this year. They reseeded themselves!

George and Ginger playing with one of the toys Parsnip sent! They play like wild beasts every single night after supper. 

Did anyone else see the beautiful July full moon last weekend? It was almost as bright as the sun when it first appeared in the East.

Heirloom and Hybrid tomatoes at the farm stand.

More vegetables from the farm stand being transformed into dinner.

Banana Pudding: a delicious, cool dessert in the summertime.

A friend sent me small banana tree shoots he dug up from around his pond. They're growing like crazy in the large pots I put them in. They're bound for the sheltered South-facing wall in the back yard, next to our Pomegranate tree. You can also see the large leaves on the fig cuttings I'm growing out in this photo. By next spring I'll have a good size Brown Turkey fig tree to plant in the back yard, too.

My orchids are still happy on the back porch.

The ficus tree is also growing well on the porch. It's going to be difficult fitting it back in the house this winter!

Our five Crepe Myrtle trees are finally blooming!

Porch garden

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous. Cool, sunny, blue-sky days are followed by crisp, clear, starry nights. You couldn't ask for anything better. Being outdoors all day has been a joy and the best part of all this time off at home.

The yard has never looked better.  Everything is neat and trimmed, weeded and mown. The porch has been thoroughly cleaned. I even mopped it with Fabuloso (of course I thought of Mary!) and the tile floor smelled nice afterward and feels good on bare feet. All of our houseplants have gone out there to spend the next few months, and I added two beautiful hanging baskets of Boston ferns, purchased at the small open air farmer's market where I go to buy fresh vegetables. The porch is definitely my happy place these days.

The fig tree that I started from my friend Carol's cuttings last summer.

 I may plant it in the yard this fall. 

The orchids seem happy outside.

Handsome Georgie enjoys the porch!

Ginger thought I was holding a morsel of food. (I wasn't.)

The little ornamental pomegranate given to me by a friend. 

If you look closely, you can see tiny little fruit buds popping up all over it.

Speaking of pomegranates, I had one that I grew from a small seedling in a large pot for years

 prior to moving here. A year ago, I planted it in the ground beside the porch. It's shot up to about 7 feet tall, and it also has fruit (or are they flower?) buds for the first time. 

We've had this ficus for longer than we've been married. It was largely neglected for years when the little sparrow Chip lived in it, but it's always managed to hang on. We're hoping to grow it out some on the porch this summer. It will go back in our den late in the fall.