The countryside of my future home is filled with gentle hills. Winter has stripped the hardwoods of their leaves and swathed grey brown is juxtaposed against tall, green, plantation pine. The horizon seems stacked on top of each other, as if waiting for something to arrive or simply resting.
At my house yesterday I had planned on painting the back porch, but the storms earlier in the week had knocked out the power. Not knowing when it would be restored, I opted to do what I love more than anything: planting flowers. As soon as Christmas is over I start dreaming of warm, sunny days and bouquets of flowers.
This arrived in my p.o. box last week. Johnny’s Selected Seeds is my favorite catalog for flower seeds. I have bought from this company for years and have always been very pleased with the results. I’ve started planning the cutting garden and promise to share pictures later in the year.
Earlier in the month, online, I found American Meadows and ordered daffodils and day lilies. The day lilies will come later. The daffodils shipped a few weeks ago. The rain we had last week made the ground perfect for planting bulbs. And I was tickled to see that the dirt under the trees was the color of devils food cake. Traditional yellow, but also some with white petals and pink faces, I naturalized the daffodils in a patch of ground between a double trunked magnolia down nearly to the base of a huge water oak. Deer don’t like daffodils, so I’m confident the trumpet like flowers will grow and multiply.
Before I left for the day, I walked through the jungle of camellias. The bees took advantage of the mild temps yesterday and were having a garden party in the rain soaked flowers.
I do not know the names of the different camellias, but that does not take away from my enjoying them.
Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.
theexileskitchen 