We are fast approaching the closing in on the year's end. I sit here in the wee hours of the morning realizing that I have neglected to share with my friends, the wonder's of Fairy Holler, and I can say that despite that it's now Winter and my fairies are tucked in under the leaves and dead stalks, there is still much activity going on. Inside, the succulents and cacti and tropicals are struggling against the odds of a very dry and arid heat pumped house. I have "mother of thousands" succulent blooming in the bathroom, with soft rose colored bells dangling from the tops of the twisted stems. I've never seen it bloom, and always considered the succulents a pain in the ass due to their dropping their daughter babies off the edges of their leaves. Now I want the one that looks like pencils to see what THAT flower looks like.
And there's my Eucheris, the Amazon lily, or African daffodil as I love to call her that I got from Jack Totty over 20 years ago as a bulb. I planted it in a smaller clay pot this year and it flourished until I moved it inside and subjected it to the arid climate. So it started wilting and decided to wow me last week and set a bud stem. ALL of the six bell like white daff flowers are now chiming in the den, their scent sharp vanilla. Which provoked me to go downstairs and check on my "Zhanataya" Korean Crinum to see if it too was producing a bloom spike. No such luck. It wants me to shove it underneath the florescent light first. The cold did thwart the piss ants though.....there is that.
I have two crown of thorn's I tucked into the same pot blooming with each other. A cream one and a red. And there's also the succulent I know not the name of that is making little stars on long and twisted stems reaching for the southern window of the den. And the "Cherokee pipe" that turned out to be a Spiderwort is setting those cute looooooooong stems with the fuzzy flowers along the ends later on......For the 28th of December, that's not too bad!
So I will wish a very Happy New year that approaches us quietly on frosty and cold feet. I wish many birds at the feeders, not too many gray colored, fluffy tailed nutters, but just enough to cause laughter with their antics. I wish you all viable seeds, perfectly calloused cacti and succulents to root with ease, and an early, true Spring. May all your bulbs bloom when they should, and some when they shouldn't, and I hope you find the fairies have sown surprises for you to discover. I have new leaves on the Hellebore with promises of buds just starting.......and there are fuzzy little catkins on my Lady Jane and Lenii magnolia just waiting for that warm Spring day. And yes, my Cornelian Cherry has already started splitting open their blush plum balls in eager anticipation of early arrival ahead of the Forsythia. Don't forget to cut some Forsythia branches and pound them and place them in water for needed relief. And heck, buy a fresh bouquet of flowers to feed the eyes and soul if you are tucked into mounds of snow.
All my love to all my garden friends out there, lurking or not, and I hope to be writing to all of you soon. The drought here is over..........the bulb fairies are already teasing the smaller bulbs into early exposures of promises yet to come..
Madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy Holler, overlooking a very cold English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36 where the fairies are tittering at my mentioning they're asleep.........