Beautiful Callicarpa

When the weather chills and the leaves fall to the ground, I am full of appreciation for those plants that shine in the winter.  Plants with pretty berries are particularly nice to have in the garden.  Not only do the berries provide some much needed color and interest, but they also feed the birds who visit the garden.  And of these berried plants, my favorite is the Beautyberry.

For years I have admired the Beautyberry, otherwise known as Callicarpa.  I have planted them in gardens and recommended them to my friends.  Finally, two years ago, I bought a little gallon sized callicarpa for my own garden, and now it is big enough to see from my desk window.  It's not quite big enough for me to cut branches just yet, but I will at least add a few of the berries to our Christmas wreath.

The variety I chose, C. bodinieri 'Profusion', is absolutely loaded with bright violet berries.  The plant is a graceful, interesting shrub in the spring and summer.  But Fall is when this plant really shines.  The leaves turn yellow and orange and the berries begin to ripen and color.

And when the leaves fall and the garden has taken on the winter hues of brown, green and gray, the callicarpa looks almost tropical in bright shades of violet.

Back to the Garden

With the house in chaos from our flood, I have found some much needed solace in the garden.  I look at our family room--the carpet half cut out, and a wall cut down to the studs--and I don't really know what to do or where to start.  But I go out to the garden, and I know just what to do.

The storm ravished the trees and shrubs in the garden.  A mid-November snow makes a mess of a Northwest garden since our plants hadn't quite gone into full dormancy yet.  But this early wind and snow cleaned the trees of their last leaves and laid waste to the remaining perennials.

I've tended to all of the gardens I work in, and coming into a storm tossed garden doesn't even begin to stress me.  In fact, I love the work.  There is something deeply soothing to me about tidying up a garden and it's been just what I've needed.  Even though it was an act of nature that caused our trouble, it is nature that now comforts me.

That and chocolate.  (Oh, and maybe just a little gin!)  Tonight I am baking a batch of espresso brownies, and just the smell of melted chocolate mixed with butter and sugar is deeply peaceful.  A little peppermint schnapps, some Christmas music, a warm fire, my kids all doing their homework--my soul feels restored amidst the destruction.

Power FAILURE!!!

This past week has turned me into a new person.  Where once I despised generators, I am now the proud owner of a new crazy-quiet Honda eu2000 generator.  I used to enjoy the power outages, and the peace that came with them.  But this storm and the subsequent five days of no power or phone has broken me.

I am no longer the girl who loves a few power-less days to live a simpler life.  I am also no longer the girl who trusts that our utility will restore power to us in a timely manner.  No longer do I want to be reliant on PSE's power grid for our power.  I'd like some solar panels, a generator, a windmill--whatever we can do.  (This may tie closely into my wish for chickens, and is probably a backward slide of some sort.)  What can I say, it's been a long week.

We lost power shortly after my snow post, and though the snow was pretty and we had fun sledding and playing in it, trying to live 'Little House on the Prairie' in a modern house has its limits. Thanks to our stove, we stayed reasonably warm, and our gas cooktop served us well, but things got very cold and dark in our home.  On Wednesday morning we woke to a freezing 46 degree house!  Not surprising since it got down to 17 degrees that night.

Losing power doesn't frustrate me so much, but dealing with the local utility was very frustrating.  Kitsap County got hit pretty hard with power outages and I've heard that Bainbridge Island probably had it the worst, but our neighborhood was completely forgotten.  I understand the need to restore power to the most people first, and I completely agree with this approach.  And we are frequently some of the last people back on line.  BUT, this time we had a spaghetti tangle of power lines down across our easement road, and laying over several of our neighbors driveways and trees.  The only way in and out of our neighborhood was to drive over the power lines--not a particularly good idea.

I could write pages about our attempts to get help from the customer service reps, but I don't think it would make for pleasant reading.  My 9 year old reads my blog and I don't want to add to her vocabulary with my choice of words.  She heard plenty when we woke up Thanksgiving morning to another cold and dark house after we were promised power no later than late Wednesday night.  With the assurance they gave, and knowing that most of the island was back with power, I charged ahead with Thanksgiving plans, brining the turkey, making the jello (in the snow!) and getting the table cloths and silverware ready.

All of that committed us to Thanksgiving dinner.  So when we woke to no power, we were in the worst of moods, and thinking we would need to cancel Thanksgiving.  Fortunately our guests rallied us, and insisted that a "no power" Thanksgiving could be fun, and if nothing else, memorable.  We cooked our turkey on the BBQ (it was delicious), and used the cooktop and wood stove to prepare the casseroles.  We used paper plates and plastic glasses and it all worked.  The kids even played a huge game of Risk by lantern light.  And it will indeed probably be our most memorable Thanksgiving.

So after Brian talked with our utility again (he may have been more 'assertive' this time), we finally got our power back on around 2 AM Friday morning. It was so nice to wake up to a warm house.  With lights.  And internet.  It was good to be back.

The bathroom after we pulled up wet, ruined floor

Until I went upstairs to grab some laundry and discovered that we had a major problem.

The garage ceiling after Brian pulled out the wet insulation and sheet rock

Our house had been very cold during the week.  We kept our main living area warm, but didn't venture upstairs to the family room above the garage.  Little did we know that the water heater fittings in the bathroom got partly frozen during so many cold days. When the power came on, the relief valve was frozen open and hot water poured out of the tank in the wee hours of Friday morning.  LOTS of water poured.  All over.  In fact, I cannot believe how far water can travel and how much damage it can do.

I can tell you that right now, we have a house that sits partly in ruin.  The bathroom, Em's bedroom, our family room and storage closet are all going to need new floors.  Brian is amazing at demolition (totally a firefighter thing!) and pulled up sopping wet carpets, and ruined pieces of wood floor in record time.  We hauled out damaged artwork, clothing and things we were saving for I don't know what, from the storage closet.  It looks like Emily will be bunking with Sophie for quite some time.

So, now we are embarking on an unplanned remodel project.  Having built our house and remodeled parts of it through the years, we are comfortable with stud walls and carpet-less rooms.  And we know that in the end, we will have a more organized, comfortable space.  The shock, anger, and utter paralysis that overcame me on Friday have subsided.  And now we get to rebuild and move forward, as always.

Snow!!!!

The snow has arrived!  We were not supposed to get this--just some cold temps.  The snow was supposed to be south of Seattle and into the Portland area.  But the snow doesn't read the weather reports, and is falling softly down on our island.

Grace is home and suited up in her snow clothes ready for some sledding.  Emily and Sophie are still on the bus trying to get home, and it will probably be a while as the roads are getting slippery.  We all love the winter wonderland, but I will be happy when everyone is safe at home.

The little birds are flitting between the shrubs and I'm glad I've left all of the seedpods on my perennial plants.  The creatures will do just fine in this weather.  The goats love the snow, but not the actually snowing.  They have been out playing when the snow stops falling, but as soon as they feel any wetness on their very thick, winter coats, they run for the barn--being the skittish kids that they are.

Strong winds are forecast to be moving in soon, so things could get even more interesting for us.  We lose power easily in our neighborhood, so I'm guessing we will be using candles and trying to stay warm tonight.  For now,  I am gazing out at a beautiful white garden.

Almost First Frost

The girls are abuzz with the hope of a snowy winter.  You all know I'm a huge Cliff Mass fan, and according to him we are going to have a colder, wilder winter.  He has lots of charts and graphs to support this, but even though he hasn't said we are going to have snow exactly, the girls are ever hopeful.

We haven't had our first frost yet, but when I stepped outside a couple of mornings ago, it felt wintry.  The water droplets on the each plant looked a little icy.  Almost sparkly.

And I am just as hopeful.  I love a winter garden with icy branches, frozen berries, and a bit of snow on the ground.  In the northwest we so frequently have a winter of gray, rainy skies--completely depressing.  So, I too hope that Cliff is right, and we get a real winter.  For now we at least have the hope of snow.

Rainy Days

I am stuck inside today.  I don't know how many inches of rain have fallen, but every time I look out the window it is not just raining, but pouring.  And it's cold.  So, I have wisely given myself the day off.

Sometimes I spin my wheels on days like today.  I look for breaks in the weather and fret about the work I am not getting done.  But not today.  I haven't gotten much done inside either, and that is OK too.

I have, however, taken some deep breaths, and as a working mom of three, that is a very good way to spend time.  As we head into the dark and rainy days of winter, I will find myself with days like this.  And it is part of the way I manage this job.  As a gardener, I live by the seasons.  In the Spring I knock myself out working at Spring's frenetic pace.  I don't sleep.  I'm consumed by the garden and my family begins to think that I am bipolar.  By the end of summer, the craziness of the garden and my personal craziness is subsiding.  And so I don't feel guilty at all diving into the slower, darker days of winter.  My psyche needs the rest.

Besides, now I get to read my gardening magazines, and daydream about new plants that I will want to try out in the spring.   And give my back a much needed rest.  A day like today can be depressing, but only if you have to be out in it.  For us gardeners it is a gardener's renewal.

Charlotte's Web

At the risk of freaking myself out every time I look at my blog, I'm posting this spider picture.  I've already written about my spider fears.  But this particular variety, the brownish ones that are so common in our area, I can deal with...kind of.

This particular spider and I have had a lot of contact.  I am not exactly on friendly terms with her, but she built her web next to the goat yard gate.  So every morning for the past couple of months, whether I want to or not, I see her.

And then a few days ago, her web was gone.  My hope was that the disappearance of her web meant we were finally through the dreaded spider season.  I don't know where they all go, nor do I really want to know, but out of sight is better for me.  The appearance of this egg sack, however, is something new.   And kind of creepy.  My spider didn't go very far though as she is right next to it!   She decided to create this on the gate right by the handle.

And now it's all Charlotte's Web for me.  All I can think about is what a good mother spider she is.  She is on her second day of just hanging out next to her future children, and I am being really careful when I open the gate as I would feel awful if I hurt her or the egg sack.

Before too long I am going to start imagining the sort of relationship the goats have developed with her and wondering if I've missed any web messages!

And, thanks to E.B. White's classic story about Charlotte, I also know that she is probably dying.  I think it is incredibly sweet that she is spending her last days hanging out with her egg sack, in such close proximity of us.  Part of me wishes to tell her thank you for taking care of our future spider population--who we gardeners desperately need.  The other part of me just shivers.  Either way, if I just think of Charlotte, I feel like I have a nice garden story playing out on our gate.