How does one crochet? Most people could teach themselves if they had the patience for it. I started to crochet very young. At age seven, I watched the other moms sit around in a corner with their crochet hooks making hot pad holders. My mom thought I was too young, but some of the other ladies thought I would pick it up if someone taught me. My mom taught me. I learned to make a chain. I learned how to make simple bookmarks. By age eight and nine, I was crocheting head bands and hot pad holders. By age ten, I could make doll and Barbie dresses. I quit crocheting for awhile. When I was a teenager, I didn't crochet at all. It wasn't the "cool" thing to do. I was too busy hanging out with friends, doing sports, school, and work. I had no time to fiddle around with yarn. Now that I'm older, I find myself comforted in front of the television with a late night movie, a crochet hook and a ball of yarn.
I'm not sure what attracted me to these swimming pool blue types of colors. I saw these vibrant teal colors in the store one day. I was taken back at how beautiful the colors would be if they were incorporated together. I thought it would be a great summer time blanket and such an accomplishment if I ever completed it. I was so bored in the evenings that I felt it wouldn't hurt to have a new project. It was a better plan than wasting my day sitting around doing nothing.
At first Nicole didn't like the colors. Nicole typically likes blue colors, but instead of liking them, she told me the colors were ugly, and that this was an "ugly blanket."
The Ugly Blanket
I thought of giving this blanket to a dear friend, when Nicole stared me down. "What? What is it? I know, this blanket is ugly. How many times do you have to tell me how gross and terrible the colors are? It's the ugliest blanket in the whole wide world, and I crocheted it."
It's like the ugly duckling that discovers it's a swan, the colors have a way of growing pretty. The warmth that comes from having a handmade afghan, there is much detail and trouble in pulling the threads of yarn, and looping each row together. When I finally started to finish the picot around the edge, Nicole confessed to me that she didn't want me to give the blanket away, that she wanted to keep it. All this time I thought she didn't like the afghan, but in reality she loved it.
I told Nicole that if she really wants the blanket, it's hers. She wrapped the blanket around herself and sleeps with the ugly blanket every night. Lesson of the day, I'm not sure how to put this... How could an afghan so ragged become so lovely? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes that beholder changes his or her mind. Nicole loves her new ugly blanket. It's probably one of the best gifts a mother could give a daughter.
Sometimes there are things in life that you love to hate, and hate to love. There's always something mysteriously unusual that keeps drawing us back. Usually those things in life become our favorites. Until next post...
Last year, my neighbor gave me a few packages of standard orange marigolds for Mother's Day. It was such a nice surprise. I guess the neighbors know how much I love gardening. I potted the marigolds on my back porch and they grew all summer long with beautiful orange petal blooms. This year she was able to get another pack of marigolds from the local nursery and so she brought them over for me to plant again. It's been a little weathered. There's been some wind and light rain during the daytime and some cold chills at night. Conditions have not been ideal to grow anything right now. Lately, I've been setting my plants out in the daytime, weather permitting, and then when it's night, I take the plants back into the house where it's warm.
When I got the marigolds, they were bone dry. I felt down into the planter, and there was little to no moisture. The plants were starting to slump over with loss of turgor pressure. The neighbor lady is pretty good at growing her own garden. Last year she had quite a collection of garden grown fresh tomatoes and peppers. This year she confessed to me that she would not be growing a garden, that they had other plans for the summer. Instead of storing all of their seeds for another year, they gave me quite a few packs of organic basil, organic cilantro, and organic tomatoes. She also gave me a few starters for her spearmint. There's nothing better in the summer than walking out to a deck and smelling the fragrance of fresh mint. I will grow all of those, but I think I will wait for the weather to get better before I start any kind of major gardening.
DISCO RED MARIGOLDS
Marigolds, however, are very resilient. They can take all kinds of weathering so I will plant them now. They have a short life cycle of blooming and seeding. Last year I re-planted marigold seeds two and three times in the summer. As the flowers on the marigold bloom and dry out and die, they leave seeds in their center that can be planted and regrown. Now I'm going to demonstrate my potting skills.
Squeeze the bottom of the carton and sides to loosen the roots from the container walls.
Each marigold plant will slide out. As you can see these plants have roots that have been heavily embedded against the plastic wall of the container. The soil contains pearl lite in it and has been compressed down. The soil flaked apart because it was dry. This actually made it ideal for transplanting into a new pot.
I previously had a little gardenia tree in this light green pot. The gardenia I had was shipped in from the Northwest from Northern California, and it died. I know for a fact that gardenias can live in the Southwest, but certain strains of gardenias are highly particular about the alkaline composure of the water. The more I watered this particular gardenia, the faster it died. It's incredible how sensitive plants can be to the chemical composure of water. I've heard that you can put Epsom salt into the water and then it will help balance out the water composure for a gardenia. I did not try it. The gardenia was already on it's way out. I let it go. Sadly, the gardenia died. I kept the pot from last year, but I had no idea what I would plant in it until today. That's why this pot, for the most part was ready to go.
I dug a hole into the center of the pot to make room for the marigolds. I placed each marigold plant into the center, pushing and breaking apart the soil so that each plant would be integrated into the new potting soil. I pushed all of the plants together into one space. I added more fresh potting soil and packed the marigolds down. Eventually these plants will spread apart. My main concern with them being repotted is that the marigolds might go into shock and die. Most of the times this never happens. Marigolds can handle all kinds of hardships. Still it's important to be gentle with them when repotting.
After I planted the marigolds, I watered them generously. I think they were very thirsty because the next morning, I felt the soil, and it was dry again. For some reason these roots must have needed a good watering. Another day or so they might have dried out and died. I know what I'm doing though. I've grown marigolds before. Last year my flower petals were orange, but these crimson colored flowers are much more bright red and beautiful. I will treasure them because this summer there will be more and more blooms of marigolds as they seed out and grow again and again. I'm happy to see these lovely pots growing on my back porch.
Thank you taking time out of your busy schedule to read. Follow me on twitter and add me on Facebook. Enter your email and subscribe in the upper right corner so that you never miss a post. I now have bloglovin so if you are on bloglovin too, give my blog some love. Thanks again for reading and have a great day.
Love,
Lissa
I know whenever I braid my hair, it always seems to lose a few inches in length. I really love long, braided hair, especially little girls look great that way. I watched a tutorial, and tried to see if I could replicate a braid that makes a person's hair look longer.
What you're supposed to do is divide the hair into three equal parts. On the French braid from the top, only use the left and right strands. Take the center strand and tie it with a pony tail, keeping it out of the way. The center strand of hair will be reserved for the bottom half of the braid. The unused center strand is what gives the hair the look of being a longer length.
After I worked the hair with the left strand and right strand like a normal French braid, I finished to the top of the neck. I removed the pony tail holder from the center piece of hair (the one that was left alone). I divided the hair into halves, and fish tailed the hair from the top of the neck down. Fishtailing is taking very small strands, one from the left, and then one from the right, and crossing them over very tightly. When I braid, I like a nice tight braid. The tighter the braid is, the better it holds. Sometimes tighter braids leave more waves than loosely braided hair.
As you can see, this is the final result. It likely added another 3 inches to her hair length.
This braid turned out nice and tight. She kept the extra long braid in her hair overnight and in the morning there were nice waves in her hair.
I'll update more pictures later. I'm having a minor malfunction. My camera plug in attachment is not working so I have to buy another one in the morning and finish with the updates. I usually don't go this long without a post. Then again, I never post much without a picture. Hopefully sometime tomorrow I will be able to get the camera attachment.
Thank you for reading. I will post more soon.
Love, Lissa
I like to keep track of the progress of Dollar Tree Wildflower mix. I planted, I believe it was the last week in March so this is about 3-4 weeks worth of growth. My original post http://askmelissaanything.blogspot.com/2015/04/dollar-tree-wildflower-mix.html was when I discovered that the wildflowers were sprouting. I'm not sure how many different flowers are in this mix. I believe close to 20 different types. Right now we can only see about 3 types. One has sprouted rapidly and has large oval shaped leaves. One has sprouted moderately and has pointed growths. The last one that has recently sprouted is smaller in size, not much else is visible yet. I can't wait to see how these flowers grow up to be.
There is plenty of growth. I have been taking the pots in at night so that they don't freeze over. One of the nights it snowed lightly so it probably would have killed these flowers if I had not taken them into the house. I water them with warm water once a day to every other day depending on the dryness. So far so good.
Thanks for reading. Keep watching. We'll see what happens to these flowers.
Love,
Lissa
Aunt Anne's flowers are growing so beautifully I just had to share. She is an experienced gardener. Aunt Anne flowers are in full bloom under the arbor on her back patio. She decorates her little garden with angels. Aunt Anne has quite a collection of angels. She just got a new hummingbird feeder, and there are several birds buzzing past. I love the colors of how she arranged the flowers, and they all seem to be growing well enough. I think I want to do something like this on my porch. I liked it so much, I will share.
I think the colors add just the right touch. I love the way Aunt Anne put these flower pots together. I hope one day I will be as accomplished as a gardener as she is. These flower pots are lovely. It makes the perfect sitting area for any backyard. I think it's a great idea for anyone who would like to have a lively and colorful area to relax. As it warms up again, I will try a flower arrangement like this on my back porch. This will have to be a short picture post. Thank you for reading.
Most people told me it was too early to start planting seeds. I shrugged it off. At Dollar Tree there was a big box of Wildflower Seeds from American Seed Company for a whole dollar, and so I thought, "What's a dollar?" I bought the seeds and took them home to experiment with the flowers. I decided to try to plant the seeds now. I planted the seeds the last week of March expecting them all to die as everyone told me they would. Well, surprise! I planted hundreds of little seeds. They lived, and they are growing good.
The first little leaves have sprung up. Here my little surprise wildflowers are starting to grow.
Not only did the wildflower seeds sprout early in Spring, there are hundreds of them. They are doing great. They were a little dry so after these pictures, I watered them again. They are needing water once a day. So far so good... Hopefully I will have full grown flowers to take pics of. Thanks for reading.
Love,
Melissa
Over the winter months, I have neglected my indoor plants. With less sunlight, in the winter, plants don't need to be watered quite as much. I didn't re-pot any of the plants. I just let them do their thing over the winter, and I hoped that they all survive the cold months. Most all of the plants survived well. My West African tropical snake plant did especially well. I had trimmed it back over the summer, and broke off a piece to give to a friend to re-pot. I knew the plant was getting too big for the pot, but I did not realize how badly the plant needed re-potted until I looked at it very carefully. This snake plant was so in need of space, it broke the plastic pot. Unbelievable.
I guess my snake plant needed more room.
This is my technique for making plants grow good. In the Southwest, we have dry heat, and one thing that kills plants faster than the sun, faster than drought -- it's actually root rot from over watering. The best way to keep the roots from dying from root rot is to correctly pot the plant. I have some ceramic terracotta type pots, but the way I grow plants and give them away, I'm not going to make a huge investment. This is just a typical plastic pot from Wal-Mart, and it cost just under $5 each. It's just a real simple plastic pot.
After that, I'm going to use some plastic bags for liners. Anything that is waterproof will work just fine. I've seen people use the plastic tarps from Home Depot which are costly and work brilliantly. I'm not going to make such an investment. Some people have used trash bags. One time I used a trash bag and didn't realize that it was scented, and the chemicals from the scented trash bag started to kill the plant so I had to re-pot and start over again. I don't recommend trash bags.
Some people would say I'm crazy for doing it this way because wouldn't you want more drainage? I know a lot of gardeners create drainage by popping holes in the bottom of the pot or buying a particular pot because it has holes in the bottom. You don't really need holes in the bottom of a pot to have a successfully growing pot, and I'm going to show you why.
Use a plastic liner. I had Nicole do this. This is a great project for kids to do.
Now that we've got our bags situated into the pot, we are going to find some rocks or pebbles to put in the bottom. Buying rocks at a gardening store, it can add up quick. You don't have to pay for rocks if you can find a spot where the rocks are free. Rocks are all around everywhere, and really shouldn't cost anything. The rocks for the bottom of the pot aren't going to be seen so they don't have to be fancy. They can just be regular rocks. I'm lucky. I live right next to a drainage ditch. All my neighbors rocks have rolled down the hill so I'm going to take full advantage of this. I'm just going to pick up the pebbles from across the street. These pebbles are absolutely wonderful for gardening.
What I'm looking for are the pebbles. I don't want skipping stones. I just want the tiny little ones. These little rocks are about the right size. Some of them sank deep into the ground so I have to pry them out a bit. This is what the first set of my rocks look like.
The difference between a skipping stone and pebbles -- well the rock in the center is clearly a skipping stone, and I don't want in my pot. The skipping stones are too large and too heavy. I want the light little pebble rocks. Sometimes Nicole tries to short cut it and put the bigger rocks into the pot. I go back and throw out the big rocks, and keep having to fill the pot until there is at least a base on the bottom of the pot with pebbles.
So it's coming along good. There are a lot of little pebbles in the pot. I want to at least fill the bottom. What these pebbles are going to do for the plant is they are going to catch the water and hold the moisture at the bottom. What the roots will do is they will dig deeper to tap into the water source. Also if there is too much water in the pot (someone over watered the plant), the roots can move away from the rock. Giving the roots more choice of how much water helps prevent root rot, and also strengthens the root.
We are going to keep loading our plastic lined pots with pebbles.
This is about what I want. I wanted the base of the pot to be covered with pebbles. I am happy with this.
This is the old pot that was literally torn and destroyed by plant overgrowth. I still cannot believe this house plant was virtually strong enough to break a pot. I've seen outdoor plants break pots, but not indoor plants. Indoor plants destroying pots -- that's freakin' crazy.
There is an old wise tale about the mother-in-law's tongue. How ever long your mother-in-law's tongue plant is is how long your mother in law is talking about you. Since my plant is short and stubby, I would say the mother-in-law is talking about me not very much, but what she does say is very juicy. I think that's just a wise tale. People have some really far out stories about these plants. I can make the correlation, the snake plant does look like a bunch of reaching tongues.
This pot was so damaged by overgrowth of the plant that the plastic virtually fell off the rest of the pot. It was badly cracked and took no effort at all to pry away. The plastic snapped off effortlessly. As you can see this isn't the first time I've potted this snake plant. The first time I potted this plant, I used two trash bags to double line the pot. It worked well. I know from experience that this is an effective gardening trick.
I'm still pulling on this darn thing. The snake plant is so molded into the pot that it doesn't want to come out. The plastic is chipping away. I've barely given it a tug, and the whole plant has come out roots and all.
See how ridiculously thick these roots are. If I wouldn't have known this was a snake plant, I would have mistaken the roots for carrots. What I'm going to have to do about these roots is that I'm going to have to break them up a bit and separate them. This actually took a little bit of muscle. These roots did not want to break away. As I started to break the roots up, I realized the plant had re-rooted many more baby plants, and there were about 12 plants total that had all been living in one tiny plastic pot. I guess that is kind of crowded.
Here I am still pulling this thing apart. Snake plants are native to Africa, to Nigeria and to the Congo. I can respect that these are some intensely strong plants. They multiply quickly. Snake plants are flexible about sunlight, and they store water within their roots and foliage well. Sometimes I forget to water these, and they don't seem to mind. Less is more with a snake plant.
I put some potting soil into the pot and dug a hole out to make a spot for the snake plant. I disconnected each and every plant. This will send the plant into shock. Shock can kill a plant so try and be caring when re-potting. Pull apart each strand of snake plant and carefully place them into the pot. Secure the snake plant by adding more potting soil. After the potting soil is to the ridges of the pot, you have enough. It's time to water. I use luke warm water to help promote root growth. It's important that the water is warm, and that there is enough water to fully saturate the soil, but not to the point of muddiness.
This is it. I have two new pots full of happy snake plants. They are already reaching for the sky. My mom had snake plants, and they say that on average most snake plants at most grow about 3 or 4 feet tall. My mom made the mistake of putting miracle grow on her snake plants and they grew about 6 feet tall. The snake plant towered most of the visitors that were men. My mom bragged that the mother-in-law tongue plant was how long her mother-in-law talked about her. I'm not sure that rumor is true. It's a great conversation piece.
In Australia snake plants are considered weeds. They most certainly grow like weeds, at least mine did. Snake plants are useful. They add good air quality, and they are fun to watch grow. People are always commenting how awesome my snake plants are. I like mine. I encourage everyone to try to grow these exotic snake plants.
Friday, March 20th, 2015 marked the first day of Spring. That night we packed up for the next three days to go on our family trip to Logandale. We packed up our sleeping bags and pillows. We took all of our electronics. Nicole and I would stay in a trailer while my mom and her boyfriend, Billy, stayed in a nice little house. We would go Friday-Saturday-Sunday for our fun weekend getaway.
We left Friday night. The sky grew darker and darker. Helicopters in the sky were making their way back to the airport. It wasn't very late, not more than seven o'clock in the evening, but the sky had turned black and the stars were already out. Numerous cars were all headed Southbound on the I-15 towards Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
For being around two hour drive from Cedar City, Utah, the weather in Logandale is much warmer. Southern Utah is slightly cold in the Spring. At night in Cedar, it's as cold as 30 degrees Fahrenheit and not warmer than 65 degrees so it has been a little bit on the chilly side. In Cedar City, Utah, this time of year, I always have to wear pants, boots and sweater if I go outside. Logandale is located two hours South of Cedar. Logandale is only 30 minute drive from Las Vegas so Logandale is located within the desert area near the sand dunes of Valley of Fire. Logandale ranges from about 65 degrees Fahrenheit at night and early morning; in the day Logandale is about 85 degrees and up. Logandale has summertime weather year round. With the exception of chilly nights, Logandale it is perfectly fine to wear shorts, tank top, and sandals all day. We looked forward to the sunshine and beautiful blue skies.
Not much happened at night. We settled into the trailer. It was a nice trailer with air conditioning, and a floor heater that was like a sauna. It was very comfortable old trailer. It was fully hooked up to electricity and running water. All the amenities were nearby. The refrigerator was stocked full by Billy. The trailer appeared to be kept very neat and clean.
I didn't get up until later Saturday, but when I did, I got a chance to go through the garden areas and took some pictures.
Nearby the trailer, there are several large bird feeders all around. Some colorful red bellied finches have taken a liking to the bird seeds. All morning long, it was a lot of loud chirping as the birds flew back and forth from the trees to the feeder, and back and forth between the multiple bird baths and back to their nests in the trees.
Last night, these grape vines were completely slumped over and dry, and then this morning the irrigation system dripped, and the whole vine lifted up again in the sun. It actually seemed more vibrant as the day passed.
This is another bird feeding station. The bricks were laid out for another gardening project. There were birds flying back and forth to the feeder. My mom suggested that this would be a nice area for a water fountain, but I think Billy has other plans. He wants to put more succulents into the brick area for a display.
This is a humming bird feeder. I didn't see not even one hummingbird, but there were multiple finches and sparrows. It gets very hot and dry out in the desert, and only certain types of life thrive here. I imagine there are hummingbirds in the area, just not as many as a person would think.
This extremely tall looking cactus is a Saguaro cactus. The Saguaro cacti originated from the Sonora Desert. This Saguaro cactus may not look like much, but the price tag on just one of these extraordinary succulents averages between $7,000 to $15,000 per Saguaro cactus. Seeing that this cactus is quite tall and mature, it is closer to the end range, and may cost near to $15,000 for a landscaper to place just one in a garden.
We were reminded to be careful when walking around a cactus garden. For obvious reasons, we stayed away from the spiny types of cactus. Many of the cactus needles were several inches long, and extremely sharp. Just one cactus needle could send a person to the hospital and badly in need of stitches. In a cactus garden, there is no goofing around. When a gardener says not to touch the plants, they mean it.
Here is a more distal view. There are more Sagauros, Oleanders, Mexican Palms, Sago Palms, Yucca, Agave, and other clusters of succulents.
To appreciate the Saguaros, I think it is important to compare it with the beautiful, deep blue of the sky. In the morning, it was somewhat overcast, and though the sun blazed in, there was a nice cool breeze. Logandale is ideal climate in the Spring.
This beautiful blue-gray cactus is most likely from the Agave family. Up close, in the Agave cluster there are ridges of sharp cactus needles. I believe the Agave is native to Mexico.
This particular cactus is particularly furry, and is called a Teddy Bear Cactus. Though the cactus needles are so fine and thick, it looks like a fuzzy and cute cactus, I would not recommend hugging it.
My mom really liked these tall climbing Yucatillas (that's what she called them). I believe they are also native to Mexico. I'm not a cactus expert, but for it's shape, they are also called a pencil cactus. Yucatillas are super tall and slim, and are loaded with cactus needles from the top to the bottom. They branch out like a leafless tree.
These are oleanders. They have not yet bloomed. Instead of a fence on the front yard, these oleanders create a wall that provides privacy. The oleanders grow tall and make a natural fence line. The oleanders will bloom and look much prettier fully bloomed.
I think most of these trees are either peach trees or apricots. I think that for whatever reason it is, the really red clay (like in Georgia where the clay is very red) provides excellent nutrients for growing peaches and apricots. Whatever the case, they flourish in the desert. Many of the young trees only six years old have already budded out large white blossoms, and some of the trees already have formations of fruit. It's only March so this should be a good growing season.
This one is a pomegranate tree. We love pomegranates. I must confess that pomegranate jam is probably one of the Earth's best. The problem with growing pomegranates is that it takes all year long for them to ripen. Once the pomegranates ripen, they have to be picked and harvested immediately. We do love it when the pomegranates come in season. The second picture, the big fat red buds are starting to form.
The blossoms below are mainly peaches and apricots. They will be fully ready in summer. In Hurricane, Utah, near St. George, they have the "Peach Days" which hosts Washington County Fair. The peach cobbler is outstanding. Just about anything with peaches is a hit (peach pie, peach jam, and peaches and cream). Peaches and apricots are probably some of the most popular trees to grow in the area.
One tree that grows well in the desert are the fig trees. It's only March, and there are already bulbs of figs that are quickly maturing. Personally, I really like figs. We used to grow them in San Diego, and pull them right off the tree and eat them. I think this tree will be loaded with figs by harvest time.
Behind the figs, in the back by the truck there is a Eucalyptus tree. It's very fragrant. I have heard that eucalyptus oil is very effective in healing certain ailments. We used to have several of these. I've always liked them.
This is Billy's armored car. I'm not sure which bank Billy robbed to get this truck from. It must be an older model. It still has a non-functional CB radio, and seats. It's more of an eye piece than anything. It's for the kids to play in.
There were birds chirping, and this garden was unique and had a sense of peacefulness. It's satisfying to hear the birds singing and watch all the different plant life change day to day. These succulent gardens and orchards are unique to the Southwestern United States. I found myself sitting on the bench amused for hours at all the sights and sounds.
