Before I left on my trip north, I checked (and watered) all my plants and discovered that my croton is flowering! Pretty fluffy little off-white flowers are shooting off the tops of the big-leaved stems. Long ago I may have seen croton flowers, but if so, I had forgotten that they have flowers.
It’s Saturday morning already. I lost a few days this week it seems.
All my mornings begin with me making coffee for myself. While the coffee brews I take care of the cats. My two black cats simply want to go outside. I change their water and make sure there is food in the bowl.
Then I deal with Earflap aka Mr. Mites aka Bitey. He is the stray who adopted us a few months ago. He manages to fill his litter box every night, so I empty that. He gets special canned food, so I serve him breakfast. The porch door stays shut overnight so the raccoons won’t come in and eat his dry food, so I open it and give him his freedom. Usually he goes back to sleep on the chair inside the porch.
Earflap the stray cat
Two days ago I walked into the garage at 8AM and it wasn’t sweltering. I put the door up and a wonderful breeze hit me. As I walked into the driveway I stretched my arms and breathed in the air – something I haven’t done in months. Trying to breathe outside here in summer is like slowly drowning. Okay, I am exaggerating a bit but the humidity here is stifling – 24 hours a day.
I hadn’t been back to my old home town in New Hampshire in over a year, but recently I took a trip to New England.
I expected to see some nice fall foliage, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. Probably because of the unusual heat and humidity that Hurricane Maria dragged up from the south. At least the air was crisp and clear by the time I arrived and I certainly enjoyed that. Sleeping with the window open at night – ahhhh, heaven.
My daughter and I took a trip to the Lakes Region of New Hampshire and visited Castle in the Clouds. The weather was incredibly perfect. It was a Monday, so there were very few visitors, which was also wonderful.
I’ll share a few photos here, and if you are ever in New Hampshire and it’s beautiful weather, I suggest you visit this place.
We began our visit with lunch at the horse stables turned restaurant, and what a view the horses used to have! You can see the old stables and the new seating area at the restaurant in my image below.
Horse Stables Turned into a Restaurant
Inside seating includes tables within the old stalls.
My daughter and I chose to eat outdoors because the weather was so beautiful, and the view was fabulous.
Our sandwiches were yummy and we brought a cooler where we saved the leftovers in the car after eating. Then we climbed aboard a trolley car for the short ride up to the Castle.
A delicious lunch of sandwiches, chips and onion rings (and a glass of wine) to start our tour.
We took a short trolley ride up to the Castle and then did a self-guided tour through the mansion.
Road up to the CastleThe mansion museum front yard
Lo and behold, I found a hydrangea plant on the grounds! I believe it might have been a Limelight hydrangea but I am not absolutely sure. The flowers look elongated and the flowers are creamy white. It was nice to see a flowering hydrangea. I miss the ones I used to grow.
Limelight ? Hydrangea
This is only one thing we did while I stayed in the north for a week. We also ate ice cream at a roadside stand (I had raspberry chocolate chip) and we took a walk, and a boat ride on the river. I also got to meet my daughter’s new cat who has unique coloring. Isn’t she pretty?
The best part of my trip, besides seeing my daughter, was the breathing that wonderful Fall air. It was a relaxing time and was nice to get away. I dislike flying, but it was worth it to spend time in an area I love.
My short experience with Fall was nice. It will never be true Fall here in Florida. Temps are still in the 90’s and even what they call Fall here is really not.
I will be getting my raised garden bed ready for planting soon, as soon as it cools off.
I took this photo of a little yellow sea plane one day as I walked along the road where I lived. The water was so flat and smooth and the plane was surrounded by color. I couldn’t resist taking this photo many years ago.
The plane was usually docked at a lake house until winter when it was taken someplace else. The owner would taxi down the short tributary which led to a small lake. He used the lake to take off and land. Occasionally the kids and I would be at the beach on the lake when he came in for a landing.
Sea Plane in Autumn
When I began to work at Zazzle, I used this photo to make a postcard to sell. Recently it sold to someone in France. It always amazes me to know that something I made, or a photo I took, or drawing I did, could be purchased by anyone in the world.
The sale caused me to revisit this item, which I had pretty much forgotten about. Then I had the idea to share it here.
So, I thought, why not share more Autumn photography? Just because I live in boring Florida doesn’t mean I can’t go back to a time when I had these views for a month, or more, every year.
A Trip Down Memory Lane
This big tree stood in front of a house at the entrance to my small neighborhood. Each day in Fall I’d watch it turn more and more red. It was stunning.
Red Tree in the Neighborhood
New Hampshire has a lot of pristine lakes. Some are large – Lake Sunapee is a favorite – and many others are small. Leaf color usually begins alongside water. I was lucky to live just up the road from a small lake and I walked to it on every nice day. Fall at the lake offers wonderful scenes with brightly colored foliage as the main focus.
Brightly colored maple tree at the edge of a New Hampshire lake
All seasons offer their own opportunities for photographers in New England. In Spring I photographed the early blooming flowers, like the Lenton Rose.
Summer gave me the opportunity to photograph my vegetable garden and flowers growing everywhere.
One tree is bright red and the other hasn’t changed color yet
Fall, of course, is a great time to get awesome photos. I didn’t have to travel far to get lots of great shots. With different types of deciduous trees changing color at varying times, the leaf color lasts from mid-September thru the middle of October.
Even the hydrangeas turn color in fall. Look at the stunning array of blues and greens in this once bright blue hydrangea flower, which is drying on the stem.
View more Hydrangeas in Fall.
Pretty colors of a fall blue hydrangea flower
And there were two big Burning Bush trees in front of the house, which become bright red in late Autumn.
Burning Bush in Fall
Winter can also be a wonderful time to take pictures. My favorite times to get out with the camera were right after (and sometimes during) a snowstorm, when the snow was still stuck to the branches of the trees. It’s a winter wonderland. Once the sun begins to warm the snow, and the wind picks up, the snow comes off the trees and the opportunity for shots like this are gone.
Snowstorm Loveliness
The northeastern US has been having some unusually hot weather for the end of September, but hopefully the leaves will be turning soon. I am taking a trip up there and really hope to see some nice color.
My daughter likes to go paddle-boarding so it means we will probably visit some nearby lakes. Hopefully I will get more foliage shots to add to my collection.
A few weeks ago I had to take my car to the dealership which was quite a drive. On the way home, I realized I would be passing near one of my old-time favorite spots in Florida: Pell’s Plant Nursery.
These photos were an afterthought, but I wanted to share the few I took.
If you are ever in the Osteen area check out this place. It is a Florida icon. The Pell family has been growing citrus for over 75 years. (Their website: http://www.pellcitrus.com has Florida citrus shipping information.)
Pell’s Plant Nursery
For many years I lived very close to Pell’s, and now I don’t. It’s where I always bought my ornamental shrubs, flowers and trees, not to mention their fabulous and fresh Florida fruit. My landscape was full of plants purchased from this nursery. My kids used to enjoy getting the free little cup of orange juice, which meant they would actually drink the jugs of fresh-squeezed juice I bought there! You can’t find fresher juice, and boy is it good.
These knowledgable growers hand out good advice for growing anything tropical. This is where I came to buy the new lemon tree and lime tree to put in my yard.
Under cover with tropical plants at Pell’s
On this day, I was only looking – window shopping for plants to buy in the future – its been too hot to think about planting. I bought some of their produce instead, but enjoyed my stroll around the greenhouse.
Each time I visit I also buy some Mosquito Lagoon honey. My honey used to come from the Jurss homestead, when I could pull up at the side of the road, drop money into a box and grab a jar. That was in the old days. People probably can’t be trusted to do that here now.
Pell’s Greenhouse
I looked around and got some ideas about what I’d like to add to the yard once Fall arrives. The crepe myrtle is something I have always loved, and it will probably be the first tree I buy.
Pell’s nursery is one of the few places I like to visit in Florida. In fact, when I lived in New Hampshire I would accidentally call my favorite farm stand “Pell’s”. (Actually it was Tenney’s.)
Then I drove home on those long, straight, monotonous Florida roadways. I was so bored that I took a few photos with my phone.
I recently read a blog post where the writer explained about her backyard garden. She included photos and her plans for each area of the outdoor space. You can read it at the Hairytoegardener’s blog.
Growing up in Massachusetts, I lived on a hill overlooking my grandfather’s huge vegetable and flower garden. I remember him always there, working in the garden (except in winter of course). I can still picture him jiggling along with that old rototiller digging up the earth. I wish I had run down and helped him do what he did, because I could have learned first hand how to be a successful grower of fabulous fresh vegetables.
I think he liked the solitude of gardening, so I would have been an unwanted pest maybe. But as I recall, my grandfather was always kind and enjoyed us kids being around. I think he could have taught me a thing or two about gardening.
The Field and Garden – after Grandfather was gone
Anyway, I never really got into gardening mainly because I had children who took up all my time. I presently have a 40 year old son, a 19 year old son, and two more in between. The most gardening I have done over the years were in my big Florida yard, where I planted everything tropical I could get my hands on, and in New England where I truly enjoyed digging in the ground.
I’ve lived at 16 different addresses. Some of those for only a very short time. In fact, one address was merely wishful thinking. I never actually had the chance to move in, but my items were there for a few weeks. The condo I was about to rent flooded from a burst pipe, and it was necessary to find an alternate place to live – temporarily.
I’ve spent many of my later years in survival mode, and that means I didn’t get to even think about such frivolous things as gardening.
But, when I had the chance to allow my mind to dream of a backyard full of flowers and blooming trees, and an herb garden, and picking ripe tomatoes, I worked relentlessly to make it happen. A lack of land restrained me somewhat, but in the first home, which was all my own, in New Hampshire, I planted in every available sunny spot I could find. I did it all by myself, and I had a beautiful spot to enjoy.
My New Hampshire Backyard & Gardens
However, before that home, I had another New Hampshire home. It was the last place I lived. Really, those were the last days of my life. At that time, I lived more like most of the population. I was a normal person. And my husband (now ex) and I bought a house with land..!!!!… that had a wonderful array of gardens and ornamental trees, with a gorgeous forsythia hedge by the road. In spring, I saw the tulips and daffodils pop out of the earth… imagine! There is none of that in Florida.
Immediately I began to study the New England plant varieties and saw my yard becoming even more stunning as I planned to include more and more new shrubs and trees over the years. In the two summers I lived here, I expanded the garden, adding a block pathway, bird feeders and bird baths. There was an asparagus garden – I’d never had that before – and we saw black bear, turkeys and deer in the yard. There was even a wisteria growing over a backyard arbor (not in the photos). Yes, I could have lived here for the rest of my life, but two years later we were gone.
Forsythia and Tulips, Spring at my first NH homeNew Hampshire 1st backyard – photo taken from a skylight on the 2nd floor
When I write about my first NH house, it’s like I am talking about another person’s life. It was only 12 years ago that I lived here, but it seems like 100.
Today my yard is small and my house is surrounded by St. Augustine grass which grows like thick vines intertwining with itself. This makes it incredibly difficult to remove – if I wanted to plant a garden. Instead I have chosen a raised bed to grow vegetables (hopefully). The plantings in the yard are simple and easy to care for as this was a home owned by some wealthy people who rented it out over the 12 years they owned it. There is even a sprinkler system. It’s a self-sufficient house.
So I have begun yet again to try to establish a beautiful yard. Except now I am older, and struggle with a disease that saps my energy. The gardening bug, once installed in our DNA, is impossible to ignore. My mind says “it’s too hot here, give up and just be at peace with the yard as it is”.
But my heart calls me to don those gloves and go out and dig! Collect seeds, experiment with new plantings, take clippings and see if they will root and become new plants on their own.
The old dreams of a beautiful garden in my backyard are gone, but I feel good about the fact that when I had the chance, however fleeting the opportunity, I made the best of it. I’ve left some great gardens behind. I guess it was my tiny contribution to the planet.
My daughter gave me a calendar for last Christmas. She had gone through and written some things on each of the months and in June she wrote, “One year since you moved”. At first, it doesn’t seem like a year has gone by since we packed up the Penske truck and took the 3-day (hellish) drive from New Hampshire to Florida. But if I give it more thought, I can see all that I did within that year, and yes, it is believable. In fact, I did pack a lot into the past 12 months.
Pampas Grass grew in my northern yard, but it died over one extremely cold winter.
I had hoped to find a house to buy with a good size yard and plenty of place for gardens. But money, or lack of it, always seems to give so few options in reality. Florida is no longer the super cheap place to live that it used to be. Without money, you don’t have many options, and you have to end up settling for the best you can do.
One thing I am very grateful for is that I don’t have to move in the near future. Hopefully I will never have to move again, but I know better than to plan on that. At least the house is in good shape. Aside from replacing the AC unit, there isn’t much to do until the fridge stops working, or something like that. No major repairs needed (fingers crossed).
In Florida, summer is like my winter was in the North. Winter was a time to rest (except for shoveling snow and lugging wood for the wood stove). There was no yard work to be done (unless you count snowplowing the driveway). And most winters it was manageable. (2015 was a bad one.) It’s too cold to do much outdoors, and I simply sat at my desk and worked day after day. I was much busier in summer with my gardens and yard work.
Street Sweeper in May
Summer in Florida is the time to stay inside. It is NOT the time to garden, unless you want heat-stroke. Believe it or not, it can even be too hot to go to the beach! I’d love to have a pool, but since I don’t, I stay inside and sit at my desk and work day after day. Now, I look forward to Fall, the way I used to look forward to Spring. That is when I can get back outside and do some gardening / yard work.
Hydrangeas are beginning to bloom in the north. Next month all my hydrangeas at my old house (none of it is mine any more, but I like to pretend it is) will be blooming. One day I will go back and take a ride (or walk) past my previous home, just to look at how much the plants have grown. They were my babies. I planted them, and wish I could have stuck around to see them grow year after year. Wishes mean nothing.
An Evening Ritual, Robins Bathing
If I ever have hydrangeas here, they will have to be in pots. No hydrangeas can possibly withstand the heat of these summers. They would be wilted all the time. I’m sticking with citrus trees and tropical plants. The vegetable garden is still in it’s experimental stage, with netting over it to block the raccoons’ escapades.
So in a year I have done a lot. (All photos are mine, and were taken while I lived in New Hampshire.)
Hydrangeas Blue 