Wednesday Vignette: Beginnings

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“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap

but by the seeds that you plant.”

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Robert Louis Stevenson

 

These aren’t the sort of photos you’ll often see on my pages, but it is a current view of the large pots on our deck.

The ornamental pepper lasted far longer into the early winter than we had any expectation it could last.  And I still am enjoying its bright red seed pods.

And right after taking the photo, I picked a few of the pods and crumbled their seeds into other pots nearby.  We enjoyed a beautiful crop of volunteer pepper plants grown from nature sown seeds last summer.  And so I expect we will again this summer.

You might recognize the baby strawberry plants growing with the pepper in this pot, and there is just the stem of a lemon verbena emerging from a clump of parsley.  Here the remains of one season mingle with the beginnings of next summer’s beauty.

It doesn’t matter to us that it looks a little ragged at the moment.  We choose to see the inherent potential in the soil, the seeds, and those hardy plants prepared to freeze and thaw dozens of times between now and spring.

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Purple Sage and Fennel share this pot with strawberry, Sedum, and who knows what else?

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Appreciation, always, to  Anna at Flutter and Hum for hosting the Wednesday Vignette each week.  Please visit her to see a beautiful photo taken after the ice storm which hit Portland, OR.

Woodland Gnome 2016

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Golden Marjoram covers the soil around baby strawberries and a Viola.

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“Only those who sow seeds of change

can hope to grow and reap a harvest.”

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Andrea Goeglein

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One Word Photo Challenge: Chartreuse

Gloriosa Lilies

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Whether golden tinged green,

Or green faded towards yellow;

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Chartreuse glows like chlorophyll infused sunlight.

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Dill in bloom

 

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Named for a French mountain monastery where monks make herbal infused liqueur;

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Perennial Begonia, planted last autumn as cuttings, fills this bowl with Creeping Jenny.

 

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even this botanical liqueur comes in a greener variety (more potent)

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Autumn “Brilliance” Fern

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and a milder, sweeter yellow golden variety.

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Coleus

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“Chartreuse” is the given name of a family of colors, more than any one particular shade.

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Coleus

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Sometimes fashionable, sometimes not;

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An acquired taste, perhaps,

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Rose scented Pelargonium with Colocasia

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Which can light up the garden, on even grey and cloudy days,

 

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Chartreuse.

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Geranium

 

Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014

With appreciation to Jennifer Nichole Wells

And her One Word Photo Challenge:   Chartreuse

Rain-Glow

Forest Garden in this afternoon’s rain.   All of our Crepe Myrtle trees, save one, have come into bloom.

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“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Confucius

 

You would never know it was August, here in Williamsburg, without consulting a calender.

We have embarked upon another stretch of cool, moist, overcast days.   It is wonderfully fresh outside.

Good sleeping weather, actually, and we count ourselves fortunate that our garden  remains  well watered without our assistance.

Geranium and ornamental pepper  grow near the door.

 

We have enjoyed the garden today, in short bursts, between showers.

How satisfying to see it is growing just as winter’s imagination promised.

 

Begonia,  from the Homestead Garden Center

 

Cooler, moister days give us vibrantly deep color in petal and leaf.

Leaves grow into gigantic versions of their springtime selves.

 

Colocasia, “Blue Hawaii” just keeps growing to gigantic proportions. There are also a few “offsets” at the base, nearly ready to dig to share with friends.

 

Layer upon layer of life  shimmers with rain-glow today; almost as if we were suddenly transported to the beautiful Northwest, or the magical gardens of the  British Isles, from the view out of the window !

 

Cannas fill in this border nicely; Colocasia, Sages, and Lantana at their feet and Hibiscus behind.

 

Our hummingbirds have grown plump and sassy.

Every view punctuated with nectar rich flowers, they drink their fill, then pause on a handy branch to survey it all.

And we watch them, and talk to them like pets.

 

Ajuga, Coleus, Ivy, and Petunias.

 

Who knew August could be so lovely in Virginia?

We have been blessed with the sort of comfortable day which finds one reaching for those favorite jeans, a cup of coffee, and a good book.

 

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”

Sir Francis Bacon

 

Autumn “Brilliance” Fern with Creeping Jenny

Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014

One Word Photo Challenge: Rainbow

The spectrum of visible life dances in different wavelengths, and at different speeds, on its journey to our eyes.

All clear light at Source, its dance leads it through refraction, and against reflection, giving us the kaleidoscopic illusion of hundreds of colors when the light finally reaches us.

 

Living plants do wonderful things to light as they absorb this bit, reflect that, and allow the rest to pass right through leaf and petal in a warm glow of color.

Sometimes their colors appear as a waxy shine, other times deep and velvety.  Sometimes rough and dull.

Variation upon variation is born to the endless delight of gardening addicts everywhere.

As we surround ourselves with  leafy greenness, we seek the other colors of the rainbow in golden yellow stamens; red leaves; orange fruits and petals; and blue and violet flowers.

Every band of the rainbow dances in the garden.

And this grouping of pots supports them all.

Words and Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014

With appreciation to Jennifer Nichole Wells for her One Word Photo Challenge:  Rainbow