Showing posts with label November. Show all posts
Showing posts with label November. Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Beautiful November Day

Baby Tomatoes

November Sun Halo

What amazing images my new camera captures, like the fine hairs on a baby tomato. After spending glorious time searching out nature's beautiful November details I turned to walk inside at the close of day. What my eyes beheld was the setting sun framed by a beautiful halo. This stunning halo was created by refraction of sunlight through 6 sided ice crystals in a thinly covered sky of cirrus clouds. Even at the close of seasons beauty can be found!


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

November Gardening

Rose Fountain

November Jalapeno Peppers


What better way to start a wonderful day than to open a door to greet the warm sun, view the beauty of lush green plants, and inhale the blissful scents of a flowering rose. All this and more from the humble greenroom.

For us the greenroom is a wonderful thing. A Northern Minnesota growing season is very short, so planting too late in an outside garden may create beautiful plants right up to the first killing frost but nothing to harvest. Planting earlier is not often an option either as late frosts, very cold or frozen ground, and even possible snow prevent seeds from germinating and may kill or rot them before the ground warms well enough to promote growth. What the growing season will be is often a mystery (I'm sure our wild creatures could tell us).

Though it is best to grow most of the vegetables in outside gardens, planting a few of the less hardy, those that require more time to mature, and something we may enjoy fresh late in the season, in the greenroom is wonderful . This guarantees some harvest of fresh produce to pick and beautiful green plants to look at well into the cold winter months. Some of these are happily growing as permanent residents in the greenroom's warm earth floor, Moroccan Mint (for delicious teas), Egyptian Onions (a delicious little bulb), and a beautiful climbing Canadian series rose (for beauty, aroma, and wonderful rose petal water) are a few. Others are contentedly tucked into roomy growing pots, with Jalapeno Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Rosemary, Sage, and even Celery included.

How wonderful to have a little Secret Garden growing right in the heart of ice and snow.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Beauty in the Greenhouse

Climbing roses still blooming in the greenhouse

The rose's greenhouse companion Rosemary


Long, long ago...well maybe not quite so long ago (12 years) we installed a wonderful greenroom on the south side of our home. An antique French door and four window panels in the medieval styled great room look directly into this growing area, and one turn of the knob to open the door sends heavenly wafts of moist garden air perfumed by blooming roses, green herbs, and fresh earth drifting through out the entire house. How refreshing during the long, cold winter months in Northern Minnesota.