Parrot Tulips

I brought home some parrot tulips from our local flower farm.

We are all quite smitten with them and their intricate beauty.

First Hydrangeas

First hydrangeas (store bought). 

Amaryllis

We are enjoying amaryllis blooms once again. I also forced some paper white bulbs but they did not do as well. Perhaps sitting too long at the florist decreases the vitality of the bulbs? Also, the amaryllis were a little different in that the leaves didn't really sprout and the stems were very leggy. As you can see, I had to anchor them with twine. 

It's so wonderful to have flowers blooming in the house anytime of year, but especially, when the outside is completely covered in snow.

Paperwhites and Amaryllis

It felt good to have a planting day. Last year, time got away from me and we barely had blooms for Christmas. This year, we're starting early as nothing brightens up a grey day like the anticipation of beauty to come. 

I used a variety of containers that I've collected over the last year. Somewhere in our storage unit a box holds my usual bulb containers. 

I planted paperwhite and amaryllis bulbs but I had a moment of realization while doing so - it was to never buy the bulb forcing kits again! They are of such lesser quality and when you're not even using the plastic pot or soil it comes with, it really doesn't make much sense at all. 

I found this beautiful Amaryllis at our local garden center. It's one of those wonderful places that thrives year round with wonderful greenhouses and a gift shop. It was already set up for Christmas and holiday cheer was tickling our toes. It was $14.99. 

The amaryllis that came in the kit was $7.49. You can see how much smaller it is and its diminished quality. 

Again, these paperwhite bulbs ($1.50 per bulb) were purchased at a florist and are full of vitality. 

These were purchased in a kit - actually, this is two kits worth!

So I have learned my lesson. It is worth the trip to the florist and/or garden center. 

Peeking into a large greenhouse with the most beautiful smiling poinsettias. 

They felt like old friends so we smiled and said hello. 

The Beautiful Monarch

After reading a great deal about the extraordinary Monarch butterfly, we decided to enlist in Monarch Watch’s proliferation efforts and rear some ourselves. The caterpillars arrived in small containers. Immediately after arrival, they need to be fed fresh milkweed and set up in their rearing container. 

We purchased a 10 gallon aquarium at our local hardware store to rear them in. The paper towels needed to be replaced and freshly washed milkweed needed to be supplied every day.

The biggest risk to the caterpillars is always disease. So the container had to be kept clean and any seemingly sick caterpillars had to be quarantined in separate spaces to prevent infection of the rest of the caterpillars. 

You can see how small they are when they arrive. The tiny caterpillar is at the very tip of the milkweed leaf. 

We set up our rearing station in the front room, away from too much noise and direct sunlight. 

It wasn't long before our tiny caterpillars started to grow.

It really makes the heart sing to watch the whole process. 

It also breaks your heart when some don't survive or are not well. That is what happened a day after I took this photo. I woke up to sluggish, under the weather caterpillars. 

My first fear was disease (specifically Black Death) as it is so easy to pass on bacteria and viruses when they share the same space. 

The morning they seemed under the weather, we rushed to our local thrift store and bought individual containers for each of them, in case it was an illness. All the containers were washed and dried and filled with fresh milkweed. 

I was in such a state of heart break that I had to have Mike take over for a day or two as I couldn't bear to see them not doing well. Thankfully, day by day, they recovered which led me to believe that turning on the heat in the house dehydrated them. 

And so they sat happily in the window... Recovering and growing. 

They are hungry little caterpillars so an abundant supply of fresh milkweed is always in order. 

Then one day, one by one (at different times throughout the week), each caterpillar crawled up to the top of their jars...

...and formed the classic J to prepare for their chrysalis stage. 

The color variations throughout their amazing life cycle is quite astounding. They go from black and yellow stripes to completely green. 

Then after several days, the green chrysalis turns black and becomes transparent so much so that one can begin to see the beautiful monarch colors shining through. You can even see the butterfly moving inside. 

Then the beautiful Monarch emerges and her miraculous transformation is complete. 

We were quite proud of our Monarch Butterflies. We became very attached to them and of course with that, came a great deal of worry...About their lengthy migration ahead (to Mexico or areas of Southern California), about the weather, the temperatures, etc. Due to our New England location, we ended up driving our butterflies about two hours south to where the temperatures were at least five degrees warmer. Luckily, the forecast called for 70 degree temperatures and no precipitation for the following week. 

Fair thee well my friend....

I cannot end this post without a little story about milkweed. 

We were lucky to have several milkweed plants in our flower beds here at the rental house. But as the nights grew cooler, the milkweed deteriorated. One of my fears as to why the caterpillars became ill was that the milkweed we had was of poor quality. 

I was literally in a state of desperation that morning I awoke to find our caterpillars under the weather. I was a sobbing mess actually and wanted desperately to figure out a way in which to revive them. Unfortunately, I could not find any more milkweed on our property (we had used it all up) but while looking out our dining room window with Mike, I could see a milkweed plant at the neighbor's house across the street. Neighbors who are very nice but who we don't know very well. 

Without delay, I left Mike at the window and ran across the street (in my pajamas) and picked the most beautiful milkweed I had seen so far. Our neighbors are a young family with small children and the mom is a schoolteacher so I assumed that no one was at home. 

When I came back inside, beaming with my handful of Amazon quality milkweed, Mike asks, "Did you see the neighbor? Did you ask if it was okay to pick their milkweed?" 

"No,  they're all at school, no one is home." 

He looks at me curiously and says, "Um, it's Saturday." 

Then he adds, "Don't worry, I'm sure your outfit camouflaged you." 

Horrified, I can barely ask, "Did they see me ransacking their flower beds? We're they watching me through the window?" 

To that he replied, "I don't know, I turned away, I couldn't look." 

As the image of me (in my pajamas) raiding our neighbors flower bed as they looked on sunk in, I hesitantly asked, "Should I call them and explain?" 

"To explain that you only picked their milkweed because you thought they weren't home?" 

We healed my embarrassment with laughter at the whole thing and have no regrets because I do believe that that wonderfully lush milkweed revived our dear caterpillars! 

And no, I have yet to confess or explain myself to the neighbors. 

June Lilacs

The valley is filled with blooming lilacs. Our own yard has three bushes and although the blossoms have been sparse this spring, I couldn't resist clipping a small bouquet for the house. I asked Mike to clip them for me as the blossoms were too high for me to reach. 

I just used a small porcelain pitcher to hold them as the vessel I usually use (which belonged to my late Grandmother) is amidst a myriad of boxes in our storage unit. 

I'm always amazed how freshly cut lilacs fill the house with their fragrance. It is dreamy. 

Happy lilac season to you! 

Blue Eggs

'Tis the season to celebrate the egg! I asked Mike to pick up some blue eggs at our local co-op on his way home and he gave me a quizzical look. 

"I've never heard of blue eggs," he said. 

"What? Have you never read a Martha Stewart magazine in your entire life?" was my response. 

Many, many years ago I read a feature that Martha Stewart did on beautiful blue eggs and the Araucana chickens who lay them. I was in awe. So in the years following, whenever I've come across blue eggs, they always bring me pause. 

Beautiful. 

This carton of eggs varied in color. You can see from this image that they came in shades of light green, yellow, blue, and of course, some white. 

Beautiful. 

Happy Easter to you dear friends! 

This is Spring

The quiet hope of a spring rain...

Theses intervals of spring weather are promising as they assure that warmer weather is soon to come. 

I could never live without the gift of the four seasons. I truly live through each of them, reveling in the present, yearning for the one to come, and sentimental for those that have passed. 

It's a beautiful rhythm. 

Bittersweet

Bittersweet is always a sign of Autumn for me. My first introduction to bittersweet was when I was a guest at someone's house over the Thanksgiving holiday. The house was a beautiful antique Cape decorated with exquisite artwork and fine antiques. 

Against the formality of the interiors and of the beautiful appointed Thanksgiving table, bittersweet draped the dining room fireplace mantle. Its simplicity was graceful and elegant. It taught me how the simplest of things, especially in nature, can be the most breathtaking. 

Wild Peaches

We picked peaches from our peach tree this morning. In pajamas and rubber boots, we made our way to the bent branches laden with golden summer fruit. 

Although peach trees are cultivated, it felt as if we were picking something wild as this tree has grown on its own volition for many years.

Its limbs are lopsided, its trunk bending, and the fruit are perfectly imperfect.

We walked away with about a dozen or so of these fabulous wild peaches.