welcoming 2019

I'm looking forward to this year with great hope and optimism....

Ha! I did not see you post this version here. I *love* this and am planting all the flowers (physically and metaphorically speaking) that I can!

I'm especially excited to see how my honeysuckle on the north side of our front porch does this year.

This was 2018:  

Ha! I did not see you post this version here. I *love* this and am planting all the flowers (physically and metaphorically speaking) that I can!

Jocelyn, I think what is said in that meme can't be said too often

That's beautiful honeysuckle!!!  What variety?  I think ours is the one that is considered 'invasive' and I don't care at all...wonderful scent, beautiful flowers and I think it will give the other 'edge of the creek' plants (bittersweet and vinca and ivy and privit) some healthy competition.

Judith Browning wrote:

Ha! I did not see you post this version here. I *love* this and am planting all the flowers (physically and metaphorically speaking) that I can!

Jocelyn, I think what is said in that meme can't be said too often

That's beautiful honeysuckle!!!  What variety?  I think ours is the one that is considered 'invasive' and I don't care at all...wonderful scent, beautiful flowers and I think it will give the other 'edge of the creek' plants (bittersweet and vinca and ivy and privit) some healthy competition.

It's a cultivated variety I bought at a local nursery (I think), though I don't think I saved the tag. I've been taking pics of plant tags now, though I have failed the second step of putting those pics in a place I might find them. Ha!

We have a wild honeysuckle here, too, though we're such a dry climate it's probably not invasive here. We have a wild (native?) clematis and I planted some seeds of that earlier in the fall by the back gate in very poor soil (though I've been Ruth Stout composting - adding kitchen scraps under mulch - around there to help). We'll see if any of the wild clematis sprouts. By our front gate adjacent to the front porch, I also bought and planted a Nelly Moser clematis across from this honeysuckle. A flower bower over that gate would work for me!!

Flower bowers, and more beauty, joy and lushness are part of my dream.

Back to the honeysuckle, I recently learned the honeysuckle blossoms are a Chinese (?) medicinal tea, though my memory is foggy on that and I have no recollection what for. I think they are awesome pollinator and hummingbird plants, so I'm happy to hear you're enjoying and encouraging it despite the "invasive" warnings!

Thank you, Judith!  I printed and posted it in my cube at work and shared it with family too.  It gave me a much needed boost - being back at work after a week at my homestead and feeling out of sorts.  I needed the reminder of what to focus on.

Started some sweet potatoes in containers. That counts.

Noticed something interesting with my bees & honeysuckle. (with white flowers) They completely ignore it except for one day each year when they hit it hard all day long. I suspect it's like birds knowing exactly when blueberries are ripe.

Happy New Year!