Thursday In The Garden ~ Snug In My Indoor Garden

Our sun room has three sky lights that make this a bright and light room all year round. It makes a perfect indoor garden room too. For most of the years we've lived here ( over 2 decades ) I kept caged birds in this small room with our plants but we moved the parakeets into an outdoor aviary this past summer and I have to say, I do not miss cleaning up scattered bird seed and feathers every day . This past week I finally acted on some plans I've had for this room to make it a comfortable room to read and do needlework in natural light whilst being able to listen to the sound of rain pattering, splattering, and sometimes gushing on the over-head windows. Rain is my favorite music and now I've created a space in our home to be able to listen to my music comfortably. ( A cup of hot tea or good coffee completes the mood ! )

My African Violets thrive here. This is an African Violet I have shown in other posts, and it has just this month bloomed again. This violet has reproduced and is now 3 violet plants in one pot, but look how healthy and happy it is, and it is an old African Violet, at least 10 years old, maybe older . I think this is the third time this plant has bloomed this year.

The other side of the sun room. Some of the plants in this room are almost 40 years old, most at least 20 years old. The white baker's rack holds not only plants, but my garden magazines and plant books.

My collection of bird's nests are displayed here too, some in little glass bowls , some perched in the bigger plants. Bird's nests, plants, a comfortable chair and books to read make this room all I want it to be especially now the rain has returned in great abundance. This also makes it the favorite room of our cats, but I think they appreciated birds in here even more.

My indoor garden requires a bit of work every so often. The plants require water several times a week, in the summer they needed watering almost every day. When I changed this room around last week I moved an old bird cage outdoors giving me more room for my antique chair (over 100 year old) and ottoman. I spent a lot of time pruning and dead-heading the plants. I know most of these plants are seriously pot-bound and dread the chore of re-potting them , but I am going to wait until after Christmas before attempting that task. Summer's over, October's almost gone. Time to be snug indoors while November begins her cold wet ways . Snug in my indoor garden, my music room ~ listening to my music, the rain.

Sun Room Jungle ~ Thursday Garden Update

 It has been so hot outside and our area of the Pacific Northwest continues to break records for high temps and NO rainfall, almost unheard of for us. ( I am so missing the rain ! ) I decided to give an account of our indoor garden, our sun room jungle. The above picture is of an African Violet I have had for many years. She is blooming in a terrarium in the sun room.

 It really is an indoor jungle in our sun room. I spend a lot of time watering, dead-heading, and cleaning up after the plants growing in this room right off our dining room. It was originally designed and used as a closed-in porch entry and there is a door in this room to the front porch. I blocked the door with porch furniture outside and plants inside because after a few years of living with the door accessible to any and all we decided it was one door too many for us.

 My plants thrive here . The Dracaena Emarginata , the tallest plant in the room, was originally a gift to me from my pre-school class when I had our first son. It came in a small pot and now swoops over other plants and is a small tree. I told our oldest son he will receive this tree when we move or die... I hope he makes room for this plant that is as old as he is.

 Norfolk pines and Hoyas also thrive here and grow so large they are taking over the sun room.

 The sun room has windows in the roof and I know they are the reason the plants love and thrive in their home. The plant on the far left is a fig tree I seriously neglect. I know it is root-bound, yet it grows and grows. I have had it many years. It too is a small tree now.

 This Hoya is planted in a very small pot and has twined and tangled all around the sun room. It blooms all year round and sometimes I have to cut its strangling vines away from other plants in this room.

These are poinsettia plants from Christmases past that are also thriving and becoming bushes. My sun room is really a small jungle brimming with  plants reminding me of pleasant and precious times and providing a small room of living greenery for all seasons.

This is my Thursday In The Garden update. Thursday in my indoor garden !

Cat Entertainment On A Rainy Day

 It's a rainy day here in the Pacific Northwest and I decided to move my parakeet back into the sunroom. The parakeet enjoys the front porch all summer long .Since she is back indoors the cats took full advantage of her entertainment value. Miss Marple napped on top of the cage ,

 Blizzard across from the cage. He knows he can survey the bird AND Miss Marple from here.

 Looks like a cat stare-down , doesn't it ? But Miss Marple with all her claws intact is no match for a muscle-bound 16 pound cat, even if he is de-clawed. Blizzard dominates her and all our big dogs. Soon the stare-down is over and Miss Marple leaves. Blizzard is ready to...

 pounce ! What grace, what feline precision. He lands exactly where he planned.

In front of the parakeet cage. Betty, the parakeet isn't even startled. She knows what you & I know,

Smarty pants Blizzard can't open the cage door. She'd better watch out though, he can open all the bedroom doors and I see he is pondering the parakeet. Now I'd better go get a wire clip , I don't want my cat entertainment to turn into a cat snack .

The Light Shows the Spots I Miss

~Chandelier in sun room~

"Firelight will not let you read fine stories, but it's warm and you won't see the dust." Irish proverb

~COUNTRY LIVING is one of my favorite magazines and I have read it for years. In one Letters to The Editor section a reader asked about the subjects of a recently published article. The pictures in the article about the family and their old home and decorating style were of lovely rooms brimming and overflowing with antiques, collectibles and displays of great number. The question was one I thought of when I first viewed the pictures, " how does she keep all that dusted?" The owner sent along the reply " I don't, I just keep the lights dim and use candle light at night." ~Very practical hint and when I have not attended to my dusting duty ( Hubby will say I never dust) I am inclined to keep the lights low and use candle light myself. It also is much kinder to my aging face , graying hair, and his shiny head I might add. But have you ever noticed how a bright sunshiny day not only brightens EVERYTHING, but shows the dirt, blemishes and imperfections the shade and dim light will hide? ~Of course being me, there are all kinds of analogies that spring to mind...one might say I am just a bit more enlightened!"There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." Edith Wharton My many south facing windows are always revealing the dust , nagging me to get busy with the furniture polish AFTER I clean the windows. Then I think about the dust and spots in my own life revealed by THE light. "A sensible man will remember that the eyes may be confused in two ways- by a change from the light to darkness or from darkness to light; and he will recognize that the same thing happens to the soul." Plato

~Blue bottles in the sun room~

~We all really know there is light and darkness, good and evil.We know too that we can choose how to live and that our choices and words spring from that which is in our hearts. We know we do not have to be afraid of the dark, but even if we are afraid, we can choose not to be overwhelmed by the darkness, by evil."Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you." Maori proverb "The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will brightness of the moon shine upon you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light and God will be your glory.' Isaiah 60:19 and "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness , but the darkness has not understood it." John 1:4-5 "Oh Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness to light." Ps. 18:28

Spot on Hoya ,Forgiving Survivor!

~Finally, I have packed up and cleared away the last of the Christmas decorations. The Christmas Village is the last to be put away because there are so many little buildings and little people, and little accessories to be carefully wrapped and then very carefully re-shelved. Whew !My sun room is clean and ready for me to put my plants and bird's nests back in to the room of windows adjoining our dining room. Do you see Hoya in the corner under the blue and white plate on the wall ? ~I am thinking of calling our sun room 'Hoya's Room'. In the corner of the sun room, near the door, is a wrought iron shelf on which resides a Hoya plant we received many, many years ago from Hubby's sister Judy. The plant came to her via her friend Carol, and it came in a little 4" pot. Barely 10 inches of vine and leaf. Shortly thereafter we moved, that was more than 20 years ago. We moved into a repo trailer to live in on our property while we developed it and built our home. Hoya lived in dark and chill rooms with us while we took 2 years to build our home. Hoya was ignored. Really. ~Here is Hoya, in the 2nd pot I moved her to, I am not sure when, but at least 15 years ago. She has pretty pink and green leaves with the occasional splash of white. Hoya went from her 4" pot to this....and has kept her feet in this pot for years.I don't think this has hurt Hoya. ~As you can see, Hoya has reached out and grown up her shelf. She has grown up the wall, over the windows, through and around everything she encounters. Look at her. Hoya has thrived in our sun room through extreme temperature changes. This room gets extreme heat and extreme cold. The only constant for poor Hoya is my neglect. I water her when I remember, and seldom give her any special attention. Hoya does not bear me any resentment for this neglect.

~Hoya thrives and blooms proficiently in spite of me.~

~Hoya: Any plant of genus Hoya having fleshy leaves and usually nectariferous flower.~

~Blessings: easy to keep plants, blossoms in the winter, sun rooms

Spot on Sun Room ( Bird's Nests )

~~~Our sun-room is a small room that is full of my bird's nests, and geraniums spending the winter in more agreeable climate, the assorted house plants and one very, very noisy bird. Here is a bird's nest in the chandelier in our sun room.~~~"Most birds build a new nest each year.Some that have more than one brood each season will build a new nest for each brood." Peterson's Field Guides' WESTERN BIRD"S NESTS~~Another bird nest in our sun room displayed by the field guide to bird's nests.( below) "Exact time of year when each species nests is not given, principally because it is impossible to be accurate. Not only does nesting time vary from south to north and from sea level to mountaintop, in the range of some species, but it varies greatly in the same species in the same geographic location. External factors such as rainfall, temperature, water levels, amount of snowfall, and similar phenomena may influence time of nesting from year to year." Peterson Field Guides WESTERN BIRD"S NESTS ( book displayed below) ~Even MORE bird's nests...I have bird's nests in the plants and trees in my sun room. I found the book identifying bird's nests ( above ) in an antique store. I still have not identified all my bird's nests, but it is fun trying. By the way, all bird's nests except one , were collected well after nesting season and most of the eggs in the nests are from my Zebra finches and doves, and a few eggs are from my tiny bantam hens. "Even during breeding season the place where an adult bird is discovered is not necessarily the place where it's nest is located." Peterson Field Guide ~This little fairy (below)is in her own nest, and I placed her in a big pot with a fig tree and there are a few bird's nests in the pot and in the fig tree.

~Here is a close up of the little fairy in her nest. ~

~Here is another nest in an IKEA candle lantern. In the spring I hang this lantern on my porch. "The nest itself is described in detail ( in book) Materials will vary with availability. For some species this has been noted, but readers should bear in mind that Spanish Moss would no more be available to a bird in Montana than spruce needles would be to a bird in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The basic structure of of the nest of most species is so uniformly true to type that even though materials used may vary, the format generally does not. An American Robin nest in Washington or Oregon with mosses built into it still looks very much like a Robin's nest in Arkansas with mud and grasses predominating." (fr. above mentioned guide book) ~I placed this nest in a small fig tree in my sun room. There are some very long, coarse hairs ( I think horse hairs ) in this nest, and some fishing line ! "Birds, like people, often display individual traits that defy rules. There is much truth in the old saying "Birds never read the books." Consequently , we find a maverick Northern Oriole near a fishing lake that has built its hanging nest of monofiliament fishline;" Peterson Field Guide ~This nest too has some fish line. We don't live too close to any body of water used for fishing...but there are a lot of fishermen in the area. "a White-necked Raven that used barbed wire for the foundation of it's nest on an old piece of farm machinery; a Great Crested Flycatcher that substituted cellophane for snake- skins; a Solitary Vireo near a campsite that constructed the outer part of it's basket like nest from facial tissues and paper napkins." Peterson Field Guide ~Why am I blogging about bird's nests in the fall ? Well, I have had to bring my geraniums into the sun room for the winter and now I have to rearrange my bird nests, and also, this is the time of year I add more nests to my collection. The birds are done nesting. As I clean things up and move the nests around I take time to look closely at the nests. I am still amazed at the intricate structures birds build using only their beaks and feet. How do they weave the materials into such perfect little baskets and hollows for their eggs and to rear young ?Some of the nests I have are composed of feathers, wool from my sheep, yarn, dog hairs that look suspiciously like yellow Lab fur. ~~~"If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young;/ But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest prolong thy days." This quote is supposed to be from the Bible but I have not found the source yet. However, I found it interesting,. K.B.