THE CABBAGES ARE JUST NUTS!

After winter storm PAX was finished, the cabbages entered yet another phase. Endless entertainment for me, if a little rough on the cabbages.


iPhone 4S
camera360
taken at sunset

After the Party's Over...

The cabbages sort of survived the first polar vortex, but the second one may have done most of them in. The damage, though, just provides more forms and colors, (as if they didn't already have enough!) This is a little washed out, but I love all the colors.

Now that I finally have access to the third floor, I can take advantage of the huge skylight over the stairwell. The sun pours in for a few hours at midday, and it's always wonderfully bright. When the sun is low, as it is all winter, it reaches all the way into the back of the wide stairwell up to the deck.
A number of key plants came inside just before the first cold night. (Coleus suffer even at 40 degrees). I could just pull the plant, pot and all, out of the ground, cut it back and clean it up a bit, and bring it in. The winter garden pansies, in their pots, were dropped right into the empty holes. Works like a charm!

As you can see, the plants seem to love it. Me too! Now there's a nice sunny spot to sit during the winter.

Look who's been visiting with me way up on the roof deck! She was very bright green, to better hide on the leaves. Wasn't working too well here, though. I also like the little green shape in the corner that echoes her shape. She kept a close eye on me, and swiveled her head to follow as I tried to get just the right angle. Her great big compound eyes had a translucent quality.

I've just had it with battling the tree roots. Our little front yard is surrounded by large, shallow rooted trees.  These roots make a beeline for my planting beds, since they are the only area around that get fed and watered regularly. It's adds a lot of resistance to enjoying the process and the garden.

Meanwhile, the flowers in the large containers on the new deck are so happy! No slugs, no squirrels, and NO TREE ROOTS!

So my new scheme is to sink planting pots into the ground. It was some work to install it, and produced a big pile of excess dirt. If you're trying to get rid of dirt, how do you do it?

So far, it's been working very well indeed. It didn't take very long to populate the new pots, and it's very easy to make changes,. and a lot easier on the back. When I want to change anything, I can just pull one pot out, and pop in another.

"Caladium Progression"

I don't just make this stuff up, you know.