Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Garden Inventory

Garden - check
Gardening clogs - check
Plants - check
Pruners, and gloves - check
Soil mix - check


Spring - well, it is coming eventually, so - check.



There hasn't been much said about my garden lately.  Certainly I don't have beautiful stands of red, and yellow Siberian dogwood branches gracefully reaching for the clouds.  And tasteful tussles of sweetly fragranced Hamamelis, witch hazel unfurling it's crinkled blooms.

Nor do I have sweet box, Sarcococca  to scent my deck.  It's glossy black berries, and creamy blooms such a harbinger of the coming spring. Almost overpowering with its fragrance when massed in plantings.  It is enough to stop you in your tracks, and nose into the air, ask, what is that delicious scent?




When you patio garden you do miss out on some things, but many of the joys of gardening are still there.  And so much closer to you than the gardens that spread themselves through much larger properties.


But I can do my garden inventory from my bedroom windows, without ever taking a step outside.  Making notes on what flourished, and what didn't.  This is a good thing, because they don't call it the wet coast for nothing.



I still haven't taken down my faded pots of last summers annuals.  So there they are on full display for each chickadee that comes by. Those brown twigs were the beautiful coral shade of snapdragon, and that rustling brown ball, was a stunning soft pink hydrangea.



We are slightly protected from full view, so the temptation to just forget it all, and ignore it is easy.  Especially since late last summer I more or less just gave it all up. Too hot, too much watering, and too much going on in my non gardening life. The plants however just carried on, stiff upper lip, and fading leaves.





And here they are still, stiff upper branches, faded brown leaves, and muddy soil.  

Hoping for spring.  

And a visit from that garden inventory taker.





On a side note:  Does anyone else have this problem with the text size changing when you post in the new editor of blogger?  Everything looks wonderful in my preview, and now this, teeny tiny text above, and huge spaces.

I choose Verdana, normal, and the text above is what we are reading.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I will be publishing all comments later tonight.


Thanks, Jen

21 comments:

  1. Hi Jen, how fortunate to peek outside the window for close up views of the garden in pots. The hydrangeas and all the other detrius is still interesting and beautiful, particularly if being visited by sweet birdies. Spring coming, check here as well. :-)
    Frances

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  2. But all these things hold the promise and the dream of an early spring.

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  3. I really like the last photo of the hydrangeas (Hey! I actually know a plant name!) I think beauty can be found in all stages of life and you've proven that with your photos today.

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  4. Looks wonderful. I miss this time of year. I haven't been able to explore the snow covered garden in several years now since I have been in NC.

    I gave up on the new blogger editor. It was to frustrating to me so I went back to the old way.

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  5. Jen, you obviously have very clean windows! Your images are so nice and clear. And romantic too!
    I use an old editor, and have such issues sometimes. I noticed that it's better to do size/font/spacing,etc. editing only once, when the post is ready. If I play with it several times during writing, then a post has a weird look.

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  6. The dark days of winter are a time to think about Spring. So I am thinking about your beautiful garden photo's from this past spring.lol
    Patsy

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  7. Hi Jen,

    I think it is great to have your garden so close by that you don't to venture out into the cold to take pictures. I have also had some of the same issues with Blogger which usually occurs when I play around with my post by taking out a photo and replacing it or moving things around.

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  8. I have the same problem with letter sizing when I paste something into the posting. I try to always check it and try to get the stupid composing feature to take the changes. It gets frustrating. You post it, look at it and then it is messed up so you have to go back fix it and repost it again.LOL!

    Jen at least you can keep an eye on your garden in any weather or season ;-)

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  9. I have complained several times about this problem with the editor. No one helped me out. In my old template I tried several times to change the default font size under Settings/colors and fonts then finally it did stick.
    Now with the new template I am messed up again and I can't even change the size of my fonts anywhere except in my posts and that is set at normal. It looks really small to me.

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  10. Yes I noticed the text size difference from you usual posts, the comments are huge...but for my getting older eyes that is not a bad thing, lol!

    Jen, I just want to thank you for always without fail making me smile, sigh, or drool over you stunning photos. I truly look forward to my daily visits with you! Kim

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  11. Spring will be here before you know it. Can't help you with the text..

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  12. New Editor at Blogspot is locked onto HTML for me. So I have returned to the old editor. Lost out on XL photos, but Autumnbelle says she does the text in Old, and the pictures in New. Can't face all that HTML, so I'll stay with Old until New is sorted. Or. We could all change to Wordpress???

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  13. Sweet frogs Jen. Your photographs are beautiful! I have nightmares with blogger but the last two posts have been easier... I find it just has a mind of its own. I wish I could help but I have not a clue what I am doing. Carol

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  14. I LOVE that last photo Jen. It's just beautiful. Proof too that you can find a beautiful shot anytime, anywhere.
    I also came over to thank you for your gorgeous card, bookmark and cosmos seeds (I got my Gardening by Letter package after New Years). I feel so honored to have one of your fabulous photo cards in my house. Thank you so much and Happy New Year wishes to you.

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  15. I always feel a little hint of spring when I visit your blog Jen...thank you for that!!! I too am having wierd space/font issues with blogger...frustrating!! :)

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  16. It was nice going through your blog. Everything looks perfect on your blog. The header image is awesome. Keep up the good work

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  17. I love the red and yellow dogwoods. To me the bark is a compensation for the loss of green. Do take a picture of them. I think they are so pretty. Keep on thinking of spring...Can't wait for your pictures then. Your winter pictures have been so beautifully expressive.
    Frances

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  18. I just noticed sweet box in a few catalogs - and some forms are hardy in zone 5! Though they probably won't like windy cold and will need shelter. But they're definitely on my wish list.
    I have no idea about the text size issue. Good luck with that.

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  19. Hi, Jen. I'm on WordPress with my garden blog, but I use Blogger for another one. I think the extra lines between your paragraphs are from the "Convert New Lines to <BR" option. You can turn it off globally in Settings/Formatting/Convert Line Breaks so you only have to do it once. Or you can turn it off per post by clicking the Post Options at the bottom of the Posting screen.

    Also, I've noticed that if I backspace too many times when starting a new post (so I clear all of the text from the post window), it does funky things to the HTML that would result in your tiny text. I'm not sure why or how to avoid it, though.

    Hope that helps.

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  20. Check! I'm ready! Beautiful shots, Jen and it looks like you have fixed the large print problem!

    Happy gardening to you :)

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  21. My post yesterday had a weird font..I wasn't sure why?? Blogger Gremlin I assumed. Hope you find out why, sounds like some of your readers have good suggestions like Kelly!
    Lovely photos of dead stuff..you can make everything look good in good light..I am so jealous..my stuff just looks dead...and no amount of light makes it look any better:)

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Your comments are the flowers that bloom in my virtual blogging garden.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

PS: No word verification here, sorry I cannot reply to blogs that use word verification.