Oct 25, 2021
Do any of your characters garden? Or keep houseplants? How about you?
The cushions in my favorite easy chair were slit and the stuffing thrown all over the front room. My books lay scattered on the floor and the bookshelves pulled down on them. My African violets, inherited from my mother, had been dumped from their pots, the dirt spread everywhere. A quick glimpse of the little kitchen showed pots and pans strewn all over. The Marquesa’s Necklace
Don’t worry, with tender, loving care from Harmony, the African Violets survived and showed up in other books in the series. The light that streams through the kitchen window of her small apartment is perfect for them. However, I’ll guarantee that she doesn’t sing to them, but that’s a topic for another day.
Harmony also helps her landlords with their yard work. That includes a large flower garden, so she gets her fill of gardening during the spring and summer. Plus, she’s remodeling an old Victorian house, and dream of restoring the formal rose garden to it’s original glory.
The forecast promised an unseasonably warm day, so I canceled the plans for Auntie Hilda to mingle with the after-church crowd. Instead, plain old me worked on the rose garden at Eli’s. It had a long way to go to match its glory years, but I had a vision. Working with the gardening club, we’d mingled heritage roses in with modern stock to achieve a display both colorful and fragrant. The Samurai’s Inro
As for me? Well, it’s fall in Wyoming, and time for me to move my flowers indoors. I got a plant light this year, and I’m hoping the geraniums will stay healthy longer, getting artificial sunlight along with real sunlight when the weather cooperates. I have one that’s about 12 years old.
Due to the hazards of Wyoming weather, I have learned to plant in pots, so moving them inside is only a problem of running out of space. (We can get snow in May and September, hailstorms anytime in between.) It’s not like living on the Oregon coast, where flowers bloomed all year, and I had a large garden and grew a variety of vegetables. Where the gladiolas would cross-pollinate and I’d end up with variegated buds, and I could make jam from the wild blackberries that grew along the edge of the garden. Yes, sometimes I miss living there. But I need my mountains.
Oh, and why an African Violet? It’s a tribute to my mother, who kept one alive for years and years. I was never in a position to get a cutting from it, but I’ve kept it alive in another way.
I’m betting on a couple of our authors including gardening in their books. Follow the links below, and let’s find out!
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Do any of your characters garden? Or keep houseplants? How about you?
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What a good idea to keep your plants in pots and then move them inside. I just tried that with my Impatiens, and it died, lol.
Oh, I can’t keep impatiens alive over a winter, either. Geraniums are hardier.
A 12 yr old geranium – fantastic. Plants in pots are great. And I don’t think any house is every big enough for all the pots.
Tweeted.
nope. I have run out of room, and still have one big planter I’d like to find a spot for.
I kept pot plants in my cabin while at sea. I even managed to keep them alive (in most cases).
I’m surprised they got enough sunlight. Good job!
The plant you asked about is a lily – Hemerocallis – I believe. I bought it just because it is so spectacular. The clump is quite large.