I Love Color

Yesterday I ordered some things to brighten out house for the coming winter. I like to have blooming plants around me all through the year. Winter comes and it's time for Amaryllis bulbs, paper white narcissus, Christmas Cactus, and maybe a few forced bulbs. Books and flowers are the things that I buy most. I would take a new plant or book over a new piece of clothing any day.

One year we had a garden club project for each of us to take home a pot of tulips...to put in the cold and bring out in the early spring. We selected the tulip bulbs and planted them in shallow, clay, bulb forcing pots. Wrapped them in wet newspapers and put them somewhere cold, but not freezing. I had an extra fridge downstairs to hold mine. We kept moistening the newspaper until spring and then brought them up and in a week or so....they started growing. We all got on the phone to check with everyone and see if they were having the same results. It was a fun project that was highly successful. 

Yesterday, I ordered a couple of kits with crocus, paper whites and the amaryllis. Along with those, I ordered some daffodils that I hadn't seen locally. They will be here soon.....just in time for me to sink into the ground and plant. 

On the way home from dinner out.....yesterday, we stopped at Farm and Fleet and I bought a package of large daffodil bulbs. I guess that's about it for this year.  I hope that I haven't overdone it now....so that it's a chore for me. I always have these mighty plans and then reality sets in and I find that it is difficult to do. Oh, well....I'll just have to persevere. (now that's an old word that I haven't used in a while) I like to plant daffodils because critters seem to leave these bulbs alone......not like my orange tulips that disappeared in a year.

I chose a Red Lion amaryllis. I've had this one so many times, but when it's time to order another one....that red always takes my eye and I can't help myself. I like to have them bloom a little after Christmas, so that there is something pretty in the house when all the decorations come down.

I bought some suet blocks....many suet blocks. Joe is a big fan of our woodpeckers and he looks out for them. Loves to see them at the suet feeder. They fly between our feeders and the woods many times a day.

Looking out my window...I see three chickadees, two finches (wearing their winter drab) a male cardinal (wearing his new, bright coat of red), and here comes a blue jay. The birds seem to like the fruit and nut seed that we are trying. I feel like I'm selecting something for us to eat, when I am at the birdseed aisle :)

Well, as you can tell...I love color and it shows in my choice of blooms, and also in the birds I love to watch. They both decorate our home and will be here through the winter months to make things cheery.

Balisha