So many folks in my neighborhood (Zone 8b) spend quite a lot of electricity and/or gasoline getting their fallen leaves in bags and onto the street curb these days. Not a lot of analog rake noises abound. And, here in my native deep South, the Live Oaks are the cause of so much local activity.
This candid culprit makes no apologies as it delivers a raucous leaf explosion this time of year. We love them so much whilst they herald the first day of Spring for us by shedding almost every dang brown leaf they have on board. With this kind of flotsam in an Oak lined drive….well, I get excited about the fallen leaves. They are so full of Nitrogen. Click here and here for all the great news!
Today is the first sweater-weather day of Fall in my neck of the woods and I better bring in the violets. This is a case of “do as I say and not as I do.” Violets do not like terra cotta pots. See where my leaves are brown and sort of scalloped? When the leaves of violets make contact with terra cotta pots..they will brown and die. It is because terra cotta has too much salt/saline in their make-up for a precious violet. Give them a glazed pot and they will love you forever. So, since I just left them out in the super-duper high humidity of the Deep South for the whole Summer, I am just today going to give them a home they will really like. To tell you the truth, I haven’t paid them any attention this whole past season and they still look pretty darn good. But, now I will bring them in and foster them into bloom. When re-potting your violets, don’t forget to put some pea-gravel in the bottom of the pot. Violets like the drainage. I just love how old fashioned they seem to me! Maybe that is because my 92 year old grandmother loves them, too. Also, since it is sweater-weather, I cannot resist pulling the Paperwhites out of their resting bag (placed in an old wooden chest under this potting table)…. It is time to start forcing them to bloom! I love the Fall.
The skies are overcast and stormy and the temperatures dropped off 25+ degrees fahrenheit from yesterday’s high to today’s. I am knocking about the potting shed in my wellies and rain coat and thought I would share this topiary in training…Fig Ivy or Ficus pumila (I made the ball/sphere out of Oleander or Nerium oleander stems…they were nearby, but, don’t chew on the topiary). 
I have always loved watching the sprout grow. When I was a little kid, I would plant beans just for the satiation of quick impact, and, today I am still planting these for instant gratification. This photograph is by me and what I have done with Goodwill glass jars and Rye Grass seed in my potting shed. Rye Grass takes about one week to get to this point. Don’t water too much, as the terrariums maintain their own humidity levels without your help. Just give them a little drink when you seed – then put the lid on and place in indirect sunlight (a sunny window sill is perfect). You will notice the beads of water forming around the glass making and the fogging it takes for the plant life to live in these pretty little things.
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