Wordless Wednesday

This is what is looking good in my yard:

Echinacea

Rudbeckia Henry Eiler

Calibrachoa

Coreopsis

grow box

The Growing Zone - New Year's Day 2012

There are several reasons why I enjoy New Year's Day so much: all day football, black-eyed pea salad, the boys home from school, and a chance to look at new ways of growing. This New Year's Day I want to show you two examples of growing against the odds - of being willing to thrive where others may think it impossible.

The picture above is an Abutilon (Flowering Maple - zones 8-10) that I had in a hanging basket at my home this summer where it was extremely happy all spring, summer, and fall. Then we got hit with several 25 degree overnight temps before I remembered to bring it in and I thought it was toast. But these last few weeks have been unseasonably warm - temps in the 60s - and I looked out my window to see new leaves had sprouted on the Abutilon over the weeks. This plant shouldn't have survived. But it defied the odds - in a hanging basket no less!
In the picture above, the husband of my friend Kimberly Mote is making Christmas cookies for the first time. Blind since birth, Gordon Mote has spent his whole life defying the odds. At 3 he began playing the piano, and Gordon became one of the first blind students in the country to mainstream into the public school system, graduating from high school with honors, while serving as band captain of his high school's award winning marching band. During his time in college, he began capturing the attention of some of the music industry's brightest names, including Grammy winning recording artist Lee Greenwood, who hired Mote as keyboard player and background vocalist just two days after graduation. Throughout his exciting career, he has shared the stage with such popular performers as Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, Rascal Flatts, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood and famed Grand Ole Opry star, Porter Wagoner. Crossing the genre of country and Christian music, Gordon is a sought after performer who travels the country to entertain and uplift with his ear tickling and soul stirring music.

But Gordon had never made Christmas cookies! This year, his wife Kimberly decided it was time for him to learn so he could join in all the fun of holiday baking. I'm thinking that teenage daughter, Samantha might have picked out that apron for him... I'm also thinking that being blind doesn't protect a parent from teenage pranks.The Oreo balls are done. And Gordon has proven once again that there are still ways to grow, to learn, to defy the odds and do what others say is impossible.
"If You Could See Through My Eyes" by Gordon Mote

May your year be filled with opportunities to grow, even in the hard places, to live against the odds, to find hope in the impossible.
Grow where you are planted.

First of All to End the Year - An Apology

In less than an hour, 2011 will simply be a short little bar on my facebook timeline, captured through thousands of photographs, blog posts, email messages, and moments seared indelibly in my mind.

A year of bold steps forward,

A year of tentative steps and uncertainty A year where some steps are best washed away.


A year filled with steep wonderful highs and deep heartbreaking lows
and that type of emotional mountain climbing has worn me out. I'm ready for a year of gentle rolling hills and calmer waters.



So as I've been winding down from this intense year, I realize that I jumped too quickly into another big commitment (The Growing Zone - a daily look at what is growing on around us) without fully considering the impact on my family. For the past few weeks, I made a choice to put down the computer and chose family time over a self-imposed need to work, to write, or to post. So I apologize to my fun friends I've met through this blog that I started something that I know now that I need to tune back - the blogs in the future will be a little less frequent but hopefully more informative. You all continue to bring me encouragement, you have walked with me in those valleys and rejoiced with the peaks. I wish you all a Happy New Year filled with peace and joy and focused priorities, and wish you a year of healthy growing in heart, mind, soul,
and garden.

The Growing Zone - Day 46

One of the harsh realities of growing is the inevitability of dying.

Today's post is for one of my sons' most lively high school friends, Meredith Fara Avery: June 8, 1991 - December 17, 2011. This beautiful gypsy girl had a passion about life that was inspirational, a faith in Christ that was genuine and transforming, and an enjoyment for life that was contagious. Her random pop-up facebook chats - "Hi Mrs. Wise! Are you still planting lots of flowers?" were a reflection of her warm thoughtfulness and engaging heart.


This was a picture that Meredith posted on Facebook on April 15, 2011. Her time was short, but the life she lived was time fully used to enrich those around her. Life takes time, yet we know not our time - love deeply, laugh often, forgive easily, work diligently, listen intensely, and never let fear keep you from that great adventure in life.

The Growing Zone - Day 43

If you're feelin blue...

The Growing Zone - Day 41

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. ~Anne Lamott


Today, I just needed to be reminded of hope and one of the greatest symbols of hope are bulbs - tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, and fritillaria.
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. Winston Churchill

TheGrowing Zone - Day 40

I love finding special or unique "Gathering Spaces" in people's gardens. These are a few I found this past Thanksgiving on my walk around Chastain Park in Atlanta.

The Growing Zone - Day 38

Hollies in the snow - one of the simple beauties of winter time. Natural Christmas decor.

The Growing Zone - Day 37

Through out my blog you'll hear me refer to my container planting mentor and plantswoman extraordinare, Rita Randolph of Randolph Greenhouses in Jackson, Tennessee.
These are a few of her Christmas combinations to inspire you.
The fern in these pictures is Rita's own introduction called Rita's Gold.

The Growing Zone - Day 35

More Christmas decorating ideas using fresh greenery or container plantings