Late Fall Holiday Garden Tour

Ho ho ho, friends!

Our Thanksgiving break was all about decorating our home for Christmas and working out in the garden… During the early part of the week, Mr. Ethereal helped me by bringing down more Christmas boxes from the attic and he did some cleaning while I worked on decorating the mantel and set up our new Christmas tree.

Later in the week after a good rain storm, I spent from mid-week onward slowly taking my time hoeing weeds and grass for future garden beds, digging holes, and then planting just a few plants. I wanted to get ahead of the incoming freezing nights so time was of the essence.

Here is how the garden is coming along:

Just before our weather dipped to 32 F and into the high 20’s, I went out and picked the two peppers big enough to continue ripenning and dug up then repotted the Italian parsley/cilantro into a small pot and brought it inside. This “flat parsley” (also another name I see it called in the grocery and nursery aisles) easily made the transition indoors and it is happily growing bigger. I just couldn’t relegate it to the compost pile!!

We made turkey burritos with the last of the Thanksgiving bird on Monday evening and MAN they were good with that fresh burst of cilantro!!! The rest of the plant parts went into the compost heap… 😀

Fresh herbs right out of the garden are soooo much better than the store bought, I wonder why that is?… Let me know in the comments if you have a theory, or know why that is. Anyway, I need to pick up some more herbs to grow indoors. Our rosemary plants are doing well and move indoors as needed.

Tree shopping…

Two weeks ago I went over to Meador’s Garden Center to look for a tree which will eventually shade the southern side of our bedroom. Neighbors have told me there used to be a gorgeous peach tree on the side there but the last homeowners cut it down. So I hauled home an Eastern redbud that Saturday in the back of the Audi because the latch is broken on the Sequoia, my usual hauling chariot.

Mr. Ethereal wasn’t too happy I used “his car” for that purpose, but… I promise I didn’t scratch the car! I brought towels and a sheet to protect the insides. 🙂 The redbud will have lovely colorful leaves in fall and gorgeous pink blossoms in the springtime. It will top out between 20-30 feet tall in time and about 20 feet wide.

I hope to plant this tree a few feet further out from its current spot, if all goes well…

I finished the paperwork asking for permission to move our fence out 5 feet and will send that in soon to our city. I hope they will allow us to move the fence as it will give us a lot more visual room inside the back yard! The short end where the gate is only 12 1/2 feet wide.

We need to remake this gate (below) as it is literally NOT CLOSING anymore and I don’t want our sweet Yoda, who is going blind with cataracts and is mostly deaf, getting out and getting lost. It would KILL ME if that happened.

So… This will be our big winter/spring project if approved!

I finally got the three sun-loving camellias in the ground in the back flower bed underneath our master bedroom window. As I dug them in, I lifted the two mini agapanthus out. After watching so many BBC episodes with Monty Don in them talking about lift plants and putting them in greenhouses for winter, I thought I’d do that for these guys.

Our mini agapanthus survived some pretty low temps in California (22 degrees) but they were mature plants and well bunched together (and the air was less humid), but the weather here can dip even lower in North Texas (teens and high 10’s). Our aggies are just new babies!

How’s it {compost}-go-ing?

The compost pile is filling up with shredded leaves that Mr. Ethereal is chopping up with the new lawn mower every other week or so (his new baby this year!).

I’ve been adding in spent annuals, some cut green grass and kitchen scraps (including lettuces gone mushy) so we get a good mix of “half brown and half green,” the recipe for good compost. As I dig up worms, I’ll bring them over to help break everything down, too.

Holiday garden decorating

“The Girls” have new Christmas wreath halos for the holidays… If you’ve never decorated your garden statues, I created a tutorial a couple of years ago that is easy to follow. The move to WP didn’t do some of my posts any good, though. I’ll have to go fix them, so here is a new tutorial.

This year, I actually made these head wreaths even easier!

A Quick Halo Wreath tutorial to make…

Supplies needed:

an old wire hanger or paddle wire to fit statue or on a person’s head

faux, dried or fresh flowers and greenery to decorate

hot glue gun and glue sticks

wire cutters for cutting and shaping

Directions:

Begin by shaping your wire to fit your statue or person’s head. Next, make small bunches of greenery and flowers and hot glue around the wire. Finish with ribbons flowing down the back or tie on other odds and ends.

On “The Girls” original head wreaths I tied on small crystal chandelier drops to the back of them to add weight. The wind can blow pretty heavy here in Texas and the wreaths would end up all over the yard at our last long-term camping spot!

Easy as pie!!!

The Easy-Peasy Way

For the newer version of these halo head wreaths, skip the metal wire and just wrap your garland around a couple of times, gluing the ends to itself. Glue on flowers and greenery to the garland instead. This style of head wreath is floppier but has its own beautiful charm.

That’s it for now, friends! I’ll be back with this week’s Advent wreath story on Sunday afternoon/evening. If you missed the last week’s Advent story, you can find that link here.

Happy decorating,

Barb