Hello fellow readers,
Tis a few days before Christmas and all through the valley, folks are scrambling like lunatics with their last minute rally. ‘The stockings all hung by the chimney with care. In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.’ Anticipating Santa coming sure takes the pressure off!
Don’t you love all the funny Christmas poem and carol twists? There’s the 12 Pains of Christmas by Bob Rivers describing the twelve things ‘of Christmas that’s such a pain to me’ such as finding a Christmas tree, rigging up the lights, hangovers, sending Christmas cards; leading to the crescendo of ‘five months of bills’. Or the Redneck version that, instead of five golden rings, features ‘five flannel shirts’ (I love flannel shirts) and ends with ‘two hunt-in dogs and some parts to a Mustang GT.’
Christmas songs are played over and over in every public place starting as early as Halloween. Typically only the secular ones so as not to show favoritism. No wonder Christmas songs are worn out by now and so are we. I look forward to hearing the true songs of the season such as O Holy Night, Silent Night, and The First Noel which seem few and far between and are never worn out.
Gathering Remnants from the side of the road
Shopping, wrapping, baking, and running about. It’s kind of like the mad dash to wrap up the gardening season and the loads of leaf cleanup. But at the end of it all comes the long winters nap from gardening which I thoroughly enjoy (Shhhhh). This fall is lingering and there’s still perennials to cut back and no snow to cover up the evidence I have yet to get the job done. I’m late decorating winter window boxes and pots too; garnishing them with cuttings from the property and side of the road remnants I’ve been known to pick up. (check out last year’s Decorating with Road Kill).
Because of the warmth and drought this year, don’t forget to water your woody family, (especially the evergreens) once a week until the ground freezes if Mother Nature doesn’t provide. And, you still have time to apply Wilt-pruf to prevent transpiration – the loss of water from plant parts particularly leaves that can wreak havoc on plants during cold windy spells. Winter will come and when it does I suspect it will arrive in a gusto. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and hope you reflect on the true meaning of the season which is universal to all – it’s all about love.
Garden dilemmas?askmarystone@gmail.com
