az plant lady family

Joy and Sadness in the Midst of a Bountiful Harvest

I have been very busy in both my kitchen and garden lately.

San Marzano Tomatoes and fresh, Sweet Corn

I have been busy preparing my San Marzano tomatoes for freezing so that I can use them in marinara sauce this winter.

On the other hand, we have been eating our fresh, sweet corn as soon as we pick it. I usually cut it from the cob and lightly steam it.

I have also been busy making peach, plum and even strawberry jam. This past weekend, I made some applesauce which I use for making special ‘Applesauce Spice Cake’.

I will share with you how I prepare my corn, tomatoes and jams in future posts. But right now, I am getting ready to go to the doctor with my father-in-law, my husband, his sister and my mother-in-law.

My father-in-law is suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and he has a form that is moving very quickly. We can see changes every week.

Both my mother-in-law and father-in-law have allowed us to be very involved with his doctor visits, which is both a privilege but is also very hard at the same time.

As the ‘in-law’ I am trying to do my best to be supportive to not only my father & mother-in-law, but also to my husband and his sister. But, I am also having to deal with my own sadness.

Many of you will understand this as I have just recently come to realize….as often as we hear of people who are suffering from diseases and even those that are terminally ill, you never comprehend how truly horrible it is and how if affects not only the one who is suffering from the disease itself, but also those around them.

Last week, my son said that he can’t remember what his ‘Papa’s’ voice sounds like. I am preparing for the time when my son realizes that his grandfather is going to die.

My hope and prayer is that he will live until early November. Why? Well you see, my daughter will be having a baby! She is having a little girl and this is not only my first grandchild, but she will also be my father-in-law’s first great-grandchild and he is so excited.

I am so thankful that throughout this time of sadness, that there are also things that bring joy to my life, including my garden and most especially a new life 🙂

Vegetable Harvest With Some Little Helpers….

A Morning Walk With 2 Special Guests….

az plant lady family

I absolutely love this time of year. The weather is gorgeous and everything is in bloom. Although the afternoons can get a little hot, the mornings are still cool and a perfect time for a walk through the neighborhood.

Now before we leave on our walk, I almost always bring my camera with me, because you never know what you might see. Today, along with my husband, I brought 2 special guests with me….

Meet my twin nephews, Dean and Danny.

They are now over 7 months old and ready for an adventure.

So lets get started, shall we?

Frost-Damaged Queen Palm

The first thing that I took a photo is of my neighbor’s frost-damaged Queen Palm. With the deep freeze we experienced last winter, most of the Queen Palms in our area were hit hard.

Thankfully, my neighbor is not pruning off the frost damaged fronds yet. You see, all palms need the ‘food’ that the fronds produce and the frost damaged fronds are still green at the base. So, if yours look like this one, leave the frost-damaged fronds alone until they fall off naturally.

Bush Morning Glory

The beautiful gray foliage of Bush Morning Glory (Convolvulus cneorum) make it a great groundcover. Earlier in March they were all covered with bell-shaped blossoms. There are just a few flowers left now…

Australian Bottle Tree

We pass by an Australian Bottle tree (Brachychiton populneus) that is in full flower.

We had one of these beautiful trees in my front garden in Southern California, where I grew up. I used to imagine that the flowers were fairy caps and that the fairies would hide during the daytime.

Although I live in the desert, there are not too many people who grow cactus in their front gardens in my neighborhood.

There is however, one house that has lots of it and my kids call it the “Cactus House”. Their Prickly Pear cactus is in full bloom and bees can hardly get enough of the pollen.

Sadly, not all that we saw was beautiful. Ficus trees are extremely popular in my neighborhood and they got hit hard by the frost. Most of them are coming back though.

It is a good idea to wait until the end of May before pruning any remaining frost-damaged branches since they may still be alive. At that time, if the branches have no green leaves, then it is probably dead and you can prune them back to live growth.

Okay, here is another rather ugly photo, but in just a couple of weeks, this pruned back Gold Lantana will be covered with green.

You can prune back most frost-damaged shrubs and perennials very far. This Lantana is not even 6 inches tall. At first glance, it may appear dead, but at the bottom of the picture, you can see tiny green leaves appearing.

I guess it the horticulturist in me, but along with the beautiful, I tend to look at the ugly as well. Thankfully, with gardening ‘ugliness’ is usually short-lived. I can’t wait until everything is in full bloom!

Come join us for ‘Part Two’ of our spring time walk later this week….

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It is so nice to be back home from my Midwest road trip. My mother and I had a wonderful time, but it is so good to be home. I think the best part was walking off the plane and seeing my husband waiting with a bouquet of flowers 🙂

Got Frost-Damaged Plants? How and When to Prune…

Roadtrip….

az plant lady family, Road Trip

I am leaving. Actually, by the time you are reading this, I will be on my way to the airport with my mother. We are going on a road trip together – just the two of us.

My bags are packed. I’ve filled the pantry and refrigerator with groceries for my husband who will be taking over the cooking duties while I am gone. I have my ‘to do’ list on the refrigerator as well, reminding my husband and kids to water the vegetable garden and roses. So, I am ready to go.

You know what? I have never been on a trip with just my mom. We have traveled together to quite a few places. When I was six, we went to San Francisco with my grandmother, cousins and aunts. At the age of 12, my mother, aunt and cousin boarded an Amtrak train in Los Angeles and traveled across the country to New York City and ventured through the eastern states.

2003 Oxford, England in front of C.S. Lewis’ house (I’m second from the right in the back).

In 2001, we visited Ireland and Great Britain with my dad, my husband and kids. We went back to Great Britain in 2003 with our extended family of 39, including six-week old twins.

My mother, me, Gracie, my husband and my sister-in-law in Alaska.

The extended family had so much fun in Great Britain together that we all went on a cruise of Alaska in 2004.

October 2010 in Washington DC.

This last year, my mom and my entire family went on a road trip up along the east coast. It was so much fun.

So, where are we going? Well, the two of us have visited the Northwest, the Northeast, the South and we live in the Southwest. But, we have never spent much time in the Midwest.

Technically, we have both been there before, but a one-day layover in Chicago and an Amtrak train through the Midwest states, just does not really let you experience the area.

So, we decided to really experience the Midwest. Now, while we wish that we could visit all the states in the Midwest, we only have so much time. So we have decided on the following route…

View Larger Map

We are both looking forward to our trip. We like to travel and explore. We are avoiding most big cities, except for airports for our flights in and out. Our hotels are booked, but other then that, we have no agenda, but to experience the Midwest.

Hopefully, we will be able to avoid tornadoes, torrential rain and high winds that they have been experiencing lately 🙂

I do plan to blog as we are traveling, so if you like, you can follow along. I cannot say that I will have any specific gardening content during that time, but I will probably take pictures of attractive gardens and plants that I will share.

Oh well, I have to start packing, which will be surprisingly easy since I don’t have to pack up my kids as well 😉

‘Talk’ to you all next time from the road…..

Greetings From the West Coast…

An Easter Wish…

az plant lady family

This Easter brings with it memories of celebrations past and hopes of an extra special holiday this year.

Growing up, my entire extended family would gather together at my parent’s house and we would have a wonderful lunch. My mom was in charge of the food while my dad was in charge of the Easter egg hunt.

My dad had so much fun hiding the eggs and would cheer us on as we would frantically search for the eggs. Even as teenagers, we would still participate in the annual family Easter egg hunt.

When I grew up and had children, my dad would hide the eggs for them too.

I have also been blessed to spend Easter with my in-laws each year. My kids would also have fun having Easter egg hunts with them as well.

My two daughters and my son searching for the elusive Easter eggs.

The Easter, above, was especially memorable because it was my son’s first Easter celebration. We had just adopted him from China and he couldn’t really walk, so he crawled around to get his Easter eggs. (He has corrective surgery soon after).

The next Easter, he could not only walk, but run with his new braces helping him.

Each year, we spend the Saturday before Easter going on a huge Easter egg hunt, which is put on by the adult community where my in-laws live.

It is always crowded and crazy and the kids just love it – so do my in-laws.

The next day (Easter) is spent with my family, after church is over. The kids get to enjoy the annual Easter egg hunt, that my dad would organize.

The Easter celebration pictured below, is somewhat bittersweet to me.

You see, it is the last one that I got to spend with my dad.

He and my mother had just moved to Arizona from California one month earlier and they were so excited to host Easter at their new house.

It was fun to hang out with family and friends. My nephew was just 4 months old and my oldest daughter was newly engaged.

Sadly, my dad passed away suddenly just 5 weeks later from bacterial meningitis. This is one of the last photos that was taken of him.

Four years later, I still miss him and I always think of how special he made the Easter egg hunts. My husband and the other men of the family have picked up where he left off and hide the eggs for the new generation of kids on Easter Sunday.

This Saturday, I will spend Easter with my in-laws as usual and the kids are very excited about the huge Easter egg hunt at their community.

But this Easter brings sadness with it too. Some of you may remember me mentioning that my father-in-law is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I guess I shouldn’t say ‘battling’ because there is no cure and it is moving awfully fast.

He has lost his ability to speak, breathing is getting harder, muscle weakness and difficulty eating has made a feeding tube necessary.

I truly hate this horrible disease. But, it cannot take away the wonderful memories we have of our past Easter holidays with him and our ability to celebrate it with him this year.

My wish is that we will be grateful for the time we still have with him and that the memories that we will take from this special day will bring a smile to our face when he is gone.

A Wonderful Memory…..

az plant lady family

Have you ever been given the gift of a wonderful memory?

I have…..

Nassau, Bahamas

Earlier this week, I wrote about our recent vacation to the Caribbean.

We went with my husband’s parents and his sister’s family as well. We all had a fabulous time, (except for me coming home sick).

My husband and I had a great time just hanging out with our family and having no agenda other then eating, swimming and visiting different islands.

Me with 4 of my 5 kids in front of our ship in St. Maarten

Of course, being on a cruise, we enjoyed wonderful food (especially my husband), and none of us got seasick.

We visited different ports and had fun walking around town.

I didn’t know that I was in this picture 😉

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and spending time with my husband’s parents and his sister’s family.

St. Thomas

Our vacation was very relaxing and the kids were eager for the next adventure.

My kids met some interesting people along the way….

My favorite day was spent on the beach in the Bahamas with my husband, 5 kids and son-in-law.

Spending this day on the beach brought back memories of the countless times that I spent on the beach with my father. You see, I was raised along the coast in Southern California and my dad was the classic beach bum. He really wasn’t a bum, he was a social worker, but he loved going to the beach.

We would go to the beach all the time as kids and swim in the ocean, build sand castles and bury my dad as well. Later, he would do the same with my two oldest daughters.

I missed him especially this day. He has been gone for almost 4 years. But on that day in the Bahamas, I stepped in and taught my youngest kids how to make sand castles, just like my dad taught me.

Since my father’s death, my father-in-law has become even more special to me. He is both a wonderful father and a fantastic grandfather. I am blessed to live close to him and my mother-in-law and they have been fixtures in my life for over 25 years.

My daughter, husband and son.

This vacation was a gift to us all from my father-in-law. It was meant to be a special time to be spent with family, building even more memories then we already have.

While we all had a wonderful time, it was also rather bittersweet. You see, we do not have much time left to enjoy with my father-in-law.

Last fall, my father-in-law was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) last year. The type of ALS that he has moves rather rapidly and he wanted to give us all the gift of wonderful memories spent with him while he is still able to move freely.

This truly horrible disease is moving very quickly. In the short 5 months since we heard of his diagnosis, he can no longer speak and is losing muscle strength and will be getting a feeding tube soon since eating is so difficult to do now.

Despite the challenges he faces, my father-in-law is a wonderful example of grace and courage. As a believer in Christ, he is not afraid of death. But, he is very sad about leaving us all behind until we can join him in heaven.

As a family, we are grieving for the fact that we will lose him much too soon. But, I am so grateful for the wonderful memory of this vacation that we will all treasure in our hearts.

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When I first started this blog, I focused solely on plant and gardening information. But, I soon found myself sharing bits and pieces about myself and my family.

I found that I actually like to know a little about the people whose blogs I read. It makes them seem more real to me somehow.

So, I will probably share with you from time to time how my father-in-law is doing. It is a major part of what is going on in my life right now.

We would appreciate your prayers as we journey through the next few months 🙂

**Please check out my latest Birds and Blooms blog post “Flowering Shrubs for Hummingbirds”

Christmas To-Do List….

az plant lady family

Oh, I just love Christmas time. Ask my friends or family and they will tell you that I live for this time of year. I start on putting up our beautiful (okay, artificial) tree as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are washed and put away. I love real Christmas trees and their incredible fragrance, but I don’t like how fast they dry out, so an artificial tree works out well for me.

I have re-programmed my radio station buttons in my car so that I can listen to those radio stations that are playing Christmas music non-stop. I am almost done shopping and wrapping gifts. I have some knitting projects left to finish (I took a few knitting classes back in August and I totally hooked….I love knitting!). I can’t mention what I made because some of the recipients read my blog 😉

Artificial Christmas Tree, Christmas 2008

Soon, I will start baking. I love to bake and made a braided loaf of bread last week. I wanted to practice making one first before I brought one to Christmas dinner at my mom’s house. The kids love to help me bake and each has their own apron to wear.

I have all the ingredients ready to make pumpkin bread. The recipe is an old one and is honestly, hands down, the best pumpkin bread I have ever had. It is very popular with my friends and family and very easy to make – I don’t make anything that is difficult….I’m prefer things that are simple, but look like you spent a lot of time baking them. I will post the recipe and a photo of the results once I finish baking loaves as gifts for teachers and friends.

There is one Christmas item on my to-do list that my husband is always in charge of – putting up the Christmas lights around the house. Now if it were up to me, our house would look like this one….

This house is just down the street from Double S Farms and I look forward to their light display each year. But since my husband does not share my extreme zeal for holiday festivities and decorations, we typically make do with your basic string of lights around the front of our house.

However, this year he has been busy working full-time AND going to school, so he has not had much time. And so since I did not want to wait until Dec 20th to have our lights put up, I volunteered to do it for him. Since it was only a string of lights, it was fairly easy and I was so proud of the fact that I did not fall off of the ladder…..I am a bit clumsy.

After I put up the lights, I noticed that there were some strands of mini-white lights in the box. Well, since I was the one putting up the lights, I decided that I would go the extra mile and decorate our cactus. Now, I don’t have much cactus in my garden at all, but I do have a Mexican Fence Post cactus that I started from a cutting 5 years ago. It has grown beautifully and it was just perfect for wrapping some lights around.

So, I put some gloves on and got started. It took a bit longer than I thought it would, but I soon had it entirely wrapped up. Our neighbor came by and asked me if I had checked to make sure that the lights worked before I had put them on the cactus.

Oops….there is reason that I do not have a photo of my cactus all lit up.

And so I learned my lesson….always check your lights before you put them up.

I hope all of your holiday preparations are going well and that your lights are working!

Thanksgiving, The Aftermath and Salad?

az plant lady family

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a great time with my in-laws, my brother and sister-in-law and my two new nephews. All in all, we had 18 people at our house.

I may have mentioned before that I am a planner. Whenever possible love to prepare ahead of time, so I had all the tables set the day before Thanksgiving.

I only use my grandmother’s china once a year at Thanksgiving. Every time I use them, I get caught up in my memories of her. The kids created place cards using turkeys they made out of their handprints.

I like to collect things, (just like my mother). For example, I have a collection of refrigerator magnets from destinations around the world. I also have a dish collection…..my grandmother’s china, my Irish pottery, my Polish pottery and a newer set from Holland. My dish collection actually quite useful at Thanksgiving because I have three tables to set.

Our dining room table is laid out with my Nicholas Mosse Irish Pottery. I collected the pieces of this beautiful pottery during two separate visits to Ireland when I was fortunate enough to visit the factory. I have also bought some pieces online as well.

The silverware on this table was given to me by my mother-in-law, which makes it extra special to me. I plan to give it to my future daughter-in-law someday, which is a long ways a way since Kai is only 8 years old.

Okay, no one likes to be seated at the kid’s table, right? But, I decided to use a little psychology (it has been a very long time since I took it in college). Last year, we received a gift of a small set of dishes from Holland from some friends who live there. The plates are ringed with little pictures of Dutch houses.

Well, I thought they would work out great for the kid’s table and I told Gracie and Kai that only the people who sit at the kid’s table get to use the special dishes. I also put out two candlesticks with two led candle lights and told the kids that there table was the only one with candles. Well, they were just so excited about it and had to show everyone their special table.

My oldest daughter, Brittney, asked if she could co-host Thanksgiving with me. Well, of course I loved the idea because she is a great cook and I can always use more help in the kitchen.

Besides cooking, our morning was filled with watching the Thanksgiving Parade then football. Perusing the Black Friday ads and holding babies also filled our time 🙂

It is amazing at how quickly my brother has become a pro at handling babies. We all love any opportunity to hold the babies.

My son-in-law and daughter started planning their early morning shopping for the next day while the turkey was cooking.

Our turkey cooked more quickly then expected so we played a little catch-up while my father-in-law sliced up the turkey. My husband quickly made his delicious mashed potatoes.

My sister-in-law, Marisue, made sure the potatoes tasted just right.

Doesn’t she look fantastic just after giving birth to twins 9 weeks ago? I still haven’t lost all the weight from being pregnant 19 years ago 😉

Our Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, especially because so many family members brought their special side dishes. I really like this newer tradition of ours so I can focus on making the turkey and mashed potatoes and stay relatively sane throughout the day.

Well, after a day full of delicious, high caloric food, I usually try to make myself feel better by preparing lighter fare over the next couple of days. And so salad was definitely on our dinner menu for the next day.

Do your kids like salad? It is not a favorite of my children. Sure they like it better then cooked squash and some other vegetables, but if they had a choice, they probably would not eat it. So whenever they ask what we are having for dinner, they try to mask their disappointment when I say “salad”. Now I don’t just serve lettuce….I add chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, croutons and shredded cheese to the salad as well.

Each time I am preparing salad, the kids almost always ask if they can drown it in ranch dressing. I usually say no and make my homemade vinagrette the same way that my grandmother used to make it with a combination of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, vegetable oil, sugar and salt.

Well, my kids have recently become very excited about eating salad. What caused this turnaround you may ask? Well, ever since we planted lettuce seeds this past September, the kids have eagerly waited to see the lettuce leaves grow larger and larger. To be honest, it was funny to have my kids wait impatiently for our lettuce to grow large enough to make a salad with.

Well, the day finally came and I ventured out into the garden to cut some lettuce…..

Now Tobey is not allowed in the vegetable garden which is why we have fence around it. He seems to think that when I open the fence that it is an invitation to come inside. I chased him right out 🙂

There is just something so rewarding about cutting your own lettuce and spinach green from your own garden instead of buying it in a bag at the grocery store, which is what I usually do.

The salad was delicious and the kids asked for seconds. Can you believe that? I was happy that the lettuce was not bitter, which can happen if you do not irrigate properly. So, our first experience with growing lettuce has been a success so far.

****I do hope you are enjoying this long holiday weekend with your family and friends****

As for me, today I will be busy decorating our house for Christmas. Did I mention that I also have a collection of Christmas tree decorations from places I have visited over the years? I know, I know – I am addicted to collecting, but I only have 4 different types of collections….so far 😉

Sore Feet Equal Two GREAT Days of Discovery

az plant lady family

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, spending time out in the garden and planning for the upcoming holidays. even with all of that going on, I still find my self thinking back to the fun we had on our vacation to the east coast.

I have talked about our trip to North Carolina and Williamsburg, VA and now I would love to share with you our about our time in Washington DC. If you are just looking for plant or gardening content, then feel free to stop here……but I do have a couple of photos of plants that we saw there 😉

So Washington DC is the third major destination of our trip. We had spent a little time before our trip, educating our kids about our government and how it works. *I confess that I showed them old “Schoolhouse Rock” episodes….did you know that they can be found on DVD? I learned a lot about history when these played in between Saturday morning cartoons when I was growing up.

Our first visit was to the Ford Theater where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. We were able to see exactly where he was sitting and the presentation by the park rangers was very interesting.

The kids really enjoyed this as did my husband who had never been to Washington DC before. I remember visiting the Ford Theater when I was 12 and it was interesting to me even then.

Our next destination was one of my favorites….the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Great White Sharks really do have big teeth 😉

Next on our journey was to be a tour of the Capitol. As we walking from the Smithsonian to the Capitol, I saw a pretty flowering shrub.

I have no idea what it is, (my expertise is fairly regional to the western United States), but it was very pretty.

I was looking forward to our tour of the Capitol. We had scheduled a tour with our congressional representative and were to meet at his office ahead of time.

I think Kai and Gracie are saluting before we went inside 😉

The intern who was to lead us on our tour let the kids sit in our representative’s desk, which was pretty neat…

Kai looks awfully comfortable in his seat 😉

We were ready for our tour of the capitol – the representative’s offices are located in different buildings….not the capitol itself. The Capitol is connected to the office buildings by underground tunnels, which is the way we were able to travel.

Not the best picture, but it was cool to be traveling underground.

Up inside of the dome, there is actually a small walkway the surrounds the painting at the top. Only only congress men and women are allowed to go up there. I was pleasantly surprised at how interesting the Capitol was….there was much past history to see as well as current history in the making and artwork everywhere. We also got to go inside of the House Chamber which was pretty cool (we weren’t to take pictures though).

I was surprised to learn that each state had two statues inside of the Capitol representative of a famous/historical person from their state. Now, this is where my California upbringing became evident….I had no idea who the Arizona statues represented…I’d never heard of them before (neither had my husband who was raised in AZ).

But, I did know who the California statues represented. The first was Ronald Reagan whom everyone knows. But I was really excited to see the second statue….

As native Californians, Father Junipero Serra was a historical figure that all children grow up learning about. He was the founder of the California missions.

The large paintings and a statue of Abraham Lincoln (Illinois’ statue) was a favorite of the kids.

As we got ready to leave, we noticed the beautiful view from the window of the Capitol that showed the Washington Monument down the Mall.

Our day was almost at an end and our feet were really hurting, but we paused to take a picture as we left the Capitol.

It was so interesting to see how our government works and the kids learned a lot.

We did see the Supreme Court building in the distance and made sure to take a photo of the kids in front so that they can say that they had “seen” it.

Now for those of you who are waiting patiently to see some pictures of plants, here are two that we encountered on our walk back to our hotel. Sadly, we did not have time to tour the Botanic Gardens.

Yes, Lantana does not only grow here, but flourishes.

I can’t remember what these flowers were, but they were beautiful.

Well, we had done quite a bit in our first full day in DC, but our second day promised to be just as full.

Our second day in DC began in the National Archives where we viewed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

You cannot take photos of these famous documents since flash photography fades the writing. The Declaration was already to faded, it was hard to read. But, it was VERY cool to see it. I kept telling the kids that this was the document that was the basis for the movie “National Treasure”, which they love.

Our next destination was so interesting and we had to schedule a tour via our congressman’s office. It was totally worth it.

Yep, we got to see the White House. Actually, we went inside and saw quite a few of the rooms on the first floor. Again, you are not allowed to bring anything inside besides your wallet and cell phone (turned off), so we have no pictures. But it was so interesting to see these beautiful rooms, which I had only seen on television and in history books. The gardens the we could see had Mexican Bush Sage, which was just beautiful.

Once outside, we were allowed to use our cell phone to take a picture, just to prove we were there 🙂

Our last planned visit of the day was to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Actually, my husband and son went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and us girls went to the American History Museum.

I do love American culture and there were a few exhibits that I was looking forward to seeing.

Julia Child’s kitchen.

I loved the display of dresses from the first ladies.

I think Gracie’s favorite was seeing Kermit the Frog….

We saw so much more…..Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Abraham Lincoln’s Hat and…

We actually took this photo to show Kai later. He is a total Star Wars fan and I think he was a little jealous that his sisters got to see C3P0.

Well, at the end of two full days in DC, we had seen quite a bit. But, there was so much more to see which gives us a reason to return someday.

Our evening was spent eating a surprisingly great dinner via room service at our hotel. Our feet were too sore to contemplate going out to dinner 😉

The next morning we were due to drive up to Amish Country up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We were due to stay at a working farm Bed & Breakfast. I could hardly wait.

Az Plant Lady’s Southern Adventures

az plant lady family

Well, I have almost recovered from our roadtrip to the east coast. The clothes have all been washed, my huge pile of mail is now gone and I am no longer waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning.

Our trip began by flying into Atlanta and renting a minivan before heading up to western North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I had never been to the South before and I was eager to explore. We started our journey in Murphy and drove to Asheville.

As we were driving through the Applachian Mountains, I was captivated by the gorgeous scenery. I also enjoyed seeing old, abandoned buildings being overtaken by trees and native vegetation. My head kept turning this way and that trying to take it all in, which was difficult because I was the one driving at this point 😉

The kids hanging out with their Grandma (Pastor Farmer) at the lake at Montreat, NC.

Normally when my husband and I are in the same vehicle, he is the one driving, but because my husband was already in North Carolina when we rented our minivan at the airport, he was not on the rental car contract. Normally, my husband is always the driver when we are together. He does not like to be the passenger. Are any of your husbands like that?

Now, that is not a reflection on my driving my husband says….I grew up in California and learned how to drive the freeways of Los Angeles and in the California mountains. I must admit that my husband was a great navigator while I drove as our roles were completely reversed. Thankfully for my husband’s sake, we were able to add him as a driver to our rental car once we reached Greensboro, NC.

Our stay in Asheville was wonderful. The highlight was our trip to the local farmer’s market. There were many items that were common to most farmer’s markets….

Local farmer’s market

But, I was drawn to the unique items available…..

The mountain cabbage was huge, as were the tomatoes….

Last summer, I learned how make jam from my mother. My pantry is still stocked full of peach and plum jam from the trees of Double S Farms. I was anxious to see what type of preserves that the farmer’s market would offer….

What I was not expecting was the unique and somewhat strange canned products that I would find.

Have any of you heard of scuppernong juice?

The names of some of the preserves were quite creative.

I told my son that I did not think that they used real toes in this jam;-)

We are working on getting my son to stop using his ‘fake’ smile when posing for photos 😉

Okay, peanuts are extremely popular in the South. They are offered everywhere. Now, I had never heard of boiled peanuts before, so we tried some….

Now, I hope that I do not offend anyone when I say that we really did not care for the boiled peanuts. They must be an acquired taste…

I loved these salad bowls. What a great idea for growing salad greens, especially if you do not have a lot of space.

Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha) looks beautiful, even in a drab container.

I love the colors of fall vegetables, don’t you?

We had no idea what these scary looking pottery bottles were and asked the potter who made them. He told us that back in prohibition times that the locals would hide their liquor inside of these bottles from the authorities. Nowadays, he said that they use them to hide their liquor, not from the authorities, but from children. The scarier the container, the more kids will stay away from them.

We met a local musician at the farmer’s market, selling his CD’s and playing his coffee can fiddle. Yes….I did say a coffe can fiddle. It really sounded good.

I was curious to see if fried foods were really as popular in the South as people say. Well, I would definitely answer yes to that one. You can almost find anything fried, including pies.

We had a fabulous time at the farmer’s market and got ready for the next leg of our journey which would take us on to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and then to Williamsburg, Virginia.

But, before we end our visit, I would like to share with you two of my favorite labeled products that we found at the market….

We bought a jar of this BBQ sauce for my in-laws. Doesn’t it make you crave BBQ ribs?

That’s right, they had moonshine jelly, made from white wine. I wish we had bought a jar 😉

Well after our farmer’s market adventure, we got back on the road and onto our next destination….

Create A Children’s Garden in a Plastic Pool

az plant lady family

I’m sure most of you know how much fun it can be to garden with your kids. I remember my dad building each of us a raised planter where we could grow vegetables and flowers. Today, my kids and I went to the store to buy flowers for their new garden. You will NEVER guess what they are planting their flowers in 😉

Our first stop was our local nursery. Each child was allowed to pick out 2 six-packs of flowers. The kids decided to each pick a different type of flower and then share them with each other. My youngest daughter selected geraniums and blue petunias.

My older daughter selected stock, (beautiful and fragrant despite its ordinary name) and white alyssum.

My son decided on dianthus and snapdragons.

We finished making our selections and then got ready to go home and start planting. The only question the kids had was – where were they going to plant their flowers? Well…..

How about their old kiddie pool? You know, the ones that cost less then $10 and your kids have fun playing in during the summer. When summer is over, most people either throw it out or store it somewhere out of the way. Well, you can use it as a planter for either flowers or shallow-rooted vegetables or herbs.

First, move the pool where you want the garden to be as it will be too heavy once you fill it with potting mix. Then make multiple holes on the bottom for drainage. Then fill with a mixture of planting mix and compost. Sprinkle some slow-release fertilizer and now begin planting!

My youngest daughter planted the first plant, a peach-colored geranium.

My teenage daughter is overseeing our planting while texting on her phone.

We finished! The kids are so excited to see their flowers grow. The garden will be a riot of different colors and has no sense of design, which is as it should be for a children’s flower garden.

Old kiddie pool

This will be our “before” picture. We planted geraniums, stock, snapdragons, petunias, dianthus and alyssum.

If you would like to try this at home and you want the garden to become a somewhat more permanent part of the landscape, you can add a brick border or plant shrubs and perennials around the outside of the pool.

**Some of you may have noticed that my three youngest children do not look like me, (my two oldest daughters do). We adopted our youngest children from China. I call them my “Three Chinese Miracles”.

A Children’s Flower Garden in a Kiddie Swimming Pool

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Joy and Sadness in the Midst of a Bountiful Harvest

A Morning Walk With 2 Special Guests….

Roadtrip….

An Easter Wish…

A Wonderful Memory…..

Christmas To-Do List….

Thanksgiving, The Aftermath and Salad?

Sore Feet Equal Two GREAT Days of Discovery

Az Plant Lady’s Southern Adventures

Create A Children’s Garden in a Plastic Pool

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