Crystal blooms

One of the plants I'm lazily overwintering in the garage is creeping wire vine (Muehlenbeckia axillaris). I say "lazily" because I didn't bother taking it out of its pot or doing anything special. It's getting very little light, but since it's still holding some green leaves (although it's dropped a lot of them) I'm not too worried.

I want to get some part of this plant through the winter, as I don't feel like I gave it enough of a chance in the garden last year, keeping it in a single out-of-the-way hanging basket. The plant sits in the garage in an out-of-the-way place again, and only when I started looking at it closely this weekend did I notice something really cool about it...

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Not expected, but welcome

I've mentioned a few times already that our winter here in St. Louis (like in many parts of the country) has been very mild this year. I fully expect to get the cold and snow later this month and in February, but so far it seems like Winter just isn't coming, at least for more than a couple of days at a time.

Some plants are definitely benefiting from this, taking advantage even. For instance, my variegated vinca which surrounds my large raised planting bed.     Flowering.      In January!

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Single-subject Saturday: thready curls

My recently-transplanted yucca caught my eye today.

Its curling threads are the subject of today's nearly-wordless post.

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New plants, thinking ahead

I've got a little project coming up soon... maybe this weekend. Remember the terrarium makeover I did last winter? When I converted my lush, humid greenery-filled terrarium (before I let the plants die) into a dry, succulent-filled low-maintenance thing of beauty?

Well, one of the plants in there isn't thriving, so I plan on replacing it.

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Garden Bloggers Harvest Day

Barbara and Christine over at The Gardening Blog have started a garden meme showing what edibles have been harvested in the last month: Garden Bloggers Harvest Day!

It helps that they're in the Southern Hemisphere so are enjoying summer right now, with gardens overflowing with edibles. My cold St. Louis garden will pale by comparison, but I decided to give this one a go. It's a short list, but at least I have a list -- it is supposed to be winter right now.

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Spray away

One of the problems with overwintering plants indoors (besides finding space for them all, giving them enough light, etc.) is insects. Mealy bugs, whiteflies, fungus gnats, spider mites, aphids -- you'll most likely see all of these during the cold months. I know I do.

Right now I've got two plants that are infected, and I need to take care of the problem before it spreads everywhere.

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A rhiddle

Here's a little riddle for you...

What do you get when you mix a running bamboo, a big rotten stump, an unseasonably mild day, and a heavy mattock?

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Favorite photos of 2011

I took a lot of photos in 2011 -- over 5300 -- and shared most of them with you in these posts. Here are some of my favorites from the past year.

January: water drops on window pane

I did this last year and I'm using the same format: picking two images from each month (or maybe three if I just can't choose). That makes sure I choose just my absolute favorites, and that the whole year gets covered. Shall we begin?

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Happy New Year!

As 2011 ends and the next calendar year begins, I'm reminded that as impressive as many of the human-created celebrations and spectacles are, the ones provided by the natural world will put us in our places.

Fireworks pale in comparison. How can we compete with this?

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