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Hey, how's everybody doing?

It's really, really cold here now, allowing my fevered gardening imagination to chill out. I almost thought I was going to get away with it. You know, how around New Year we start to think of winter as over, time to look for the snowdrops, and start the cycle over again. Ha, hah, heeeeee-heeeeee! Winter's just hit hard here and put an end to that foolishness. I sure hope those dumb daffs with their little nubbins poking out of the soil will be okay. Ditto all the rest of the kids.

So what about the containers that came inside? Does anyone have any unusual happenings? Any fun stuff popping up from your dormant containers out in the garage?

The nicest thing blooming around here is in a rectangular shallow container...three amaryllis that have done me the honor of producing two flower stalks each! Last year, each of them had only one flower stalk. I tried to synchronize them to bloom together, but it seems they will open within a few days of each other. Yippee!

Some of my other wintering pals are kalanchoe, crown of thorns, black-eyed Susan, lantana, geraniums (love the color!), and a whole mess of peace lilies.

Right now, I'm more focused on vegetables, but we're having a very mild winter in NC and some of my cool-weather crops are really coming back -- Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Chives, Carrots -- it's great to watch.

On my deck, I have Hen and Chicks that suffered through a few nights below freezing but had plenty of time to go dormant and they haven't been affected. They're very special to me, have had them since taking a cutting from my Mother-in-law when I got married! lo, those many years ago. So, it's kind of an heirloom.

It's great to look at different plants and remember the folks who have shared that part of their lives with you, isn't it!

Now you've really touched on one of my core secrets...almost every plant I have is an heirloom of one kind or another. Either the species or the plant itself has a history associated with someone I loved. I have collected almost every plant my mother had in her garden (there's one ethereal pink asiatic lily that I don't have yet...) Even the tough-as-old-boots stuff that I'm not really crazy about has a history, and so a place in my garden.
My hen & chicks always seem to disappear for some reason. Maybe I have them too close to the foxglove. OH! I crack myself up!

My daughter's already eyeballin' my hen and chicks. It never stops! It's like keeping your friends in a garden, isn't it?