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~ Like dew hanging from the tip of a leaf, a single bead or word adds sparkle where there was none. BE the bright!

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Category Archives: gardening

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Green Tea, Black Coffee

25 Saturday Mar 2017

Tags

coffee, gardening, photography, succulents, tea

Some days I like my tea green and my coffee black. Straight up, no fuss.

Green and black succulents, tea and coffee style.

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Posted by Julia Monroe | Filed under gardening, home decor, photography, Uncategorized

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Succulent Garden

26 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by Julia Monroe in DIY, gardening, home decor, nature, On my Worktable, tutorial

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

DIY, gardening, home decor, indoor gardening, succulents

I made my first succulent garden! My mom gave me some of the succulents so long ago that they were starting to root into the paper towel on the plate. I got most of the others from Homewood Nursery.1-succulent-arrangement-materials

The platter is actually a big, heavy plant saucer, 14″ in diameter. Since it was so shallow, I decided to build a little stone wall in order to build up the soil. The stones used for the wall were all gathered from my back yard. Since the edge of the saucer was curved, I had to hot-glue the stones to keep them from sliding in to the center of the plate. It only took a small amount of glue to hold them together. I planned on using a cement filler between the stones but ended up not using it.2-succulent-arrangement-stone-wall

Since the saucer has no drainage, I covered the bottom with more stones.3-succulent-arrangement-stone-drainage

A layer of bonsai soil was spread over the stones. Not shown is a very thin scattering of charcoal to help with drainage.
4-succulent-arrangement-layer-of-bonsai-soil
A thicker layer of cactus/succulent soil was placed on top, with a little more bonsai soil mixed in. I also arranged and glued more rocks to make another wall on top of the soil, then built up more soil inside to give the arrangement height.5-succulent-arrangement-layer-of-cactus-succulent-soil

Not all the succulents got used.6-succulent-arrangement-planting-finished
I’m so happy with how this turned out since it the first time I planted succulents.7-succulent-arrangement
8-succulent-arrangement

9-succulent-arrangement

10-succulent-arrangement

11-succulent-arrangement

12-succulent-arrangement

13-succulent-arrangement

14-succulent-arrangement

15-succulent-arrangement

16-succulent-arrangementI got a container of “vase filler” from Target and sorted through to pull out all the black stones and light stones. The black stones were used on and near the elevated area in the center of the arrangement. The light stones were used everywhere else.17-succulent-arrangement

This dish is beautiful but I weighed it and it’s very heavy… 22 lbs! Wow! It’s definitely not a casual arrangement I will be moving often. But today, I’m really enjoying it on my dining room table.18-succulent-arrangement

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Don’t miss it

23 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, color, encouragement, gardening, nature, photography, sparkling, sunlight

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Tags

encouragement, macro, nature, photography, sparkling, sunlight

Yesterday I took a poinsettia outside to shake out the dead leaves. One leaf from the poinsettia had fallen. And then it rained during the night.

The day was busy but from the dining room, the tiny sparkle caught my eye.

The poinsettia leaf was no longer on the plant. During the night, it rained.

The poinsettia leaf was no longer on the plant. During the night, it rained.

I looked closer and it was even sparklier.

The poinsettia leaf had fallen but it was still good for something. It held rain.

The poinsettia leaf had fallen but it was still good for something. It held rain.

What are you missing today? Is there something you need to look at? What is tiny and quiet that you forgot? Love it all. And if you’re what has fallen, collect light from where you are.

Even a fallen leaf can still be bright. Don't waste anything, even hitting bottom.

Even a fallen leaf can still be bright. Don’t waste anything, even hitting bottom.

Never give up.

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Eyes on Succulents

13 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by Julia Monroe in funny, gardening, nature, photography, Uncategorized

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Tags

funny, gardening, nature, photography, succulents

All eyes are on succulents.

Today is a great day for #7 from the previous post. “Laughter can be The Best Medicine Ever. You’ve got to try it! Read humor, watch comedy, laugh with family and friends. Don’t just hope laughter might happen, deliberately make it happen.” – from 31 Wonderful Things Severe Pain Taught Me

Scruffy succulent.

Scruffy succulent.

We are gathered here together...

We are gathered here together…

Sopranos, go for the high notes... Bass, pick up the volume...

Sopranos, go for the high notes… Bass, pick up the volume…

Succulent solo.

Succulent solo.

Chirp, chirp.

Chirp, chirp.

Oooo, that's scary!

Oooo, that’s scary!

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Roses peeking in the window!

15 Friday May 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, encouragement, flowers, gardening, God, Inspirational, nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, encouragement, flowers, gardening, God, inspiration, nature, New Dawn, roses, window

I can’t count the number of friends whose lives are really complicated right now. I’m included in that number. So many troubles are weighing heavy on our hearts. But through it all, God is still there and still in charge.

This year, he gave me a little surprise again. Several weeks ago, I noticed New Dawn rose buds in the window!

The New Dawn rose has grown all the way up to my second story kitchen window again.

The New Dawn rose has grown all the way up to my second story kitchen window again.

New Dawn rose buds peek in the kitchen window.

New Dawn rose buds peek in the kitchen window.

3 Rose New Dawn
My kitchen window is on the second floor and I don’t have planters in the windows. The patio isn’t finished, the paint is peeling, lots of things are falling apart.

The patio is still unfinished.

The patio is still unfinished.

Due to disability, I had to let a lot of things go, such as pruning and training the New Dawn rose bush. Just when it was getting to a good age to work with, my spine was collapsing so there were a half dozen years that disappeared.

The New Dawn rose bush is an untrained mess, tangled up with the honeysuckle bush.

The New Dawn rose bush is an untrained mess, tangled up with the honeysuckle bush.

Those were the thorn years. Lots of tangles and brambles.

We have to be careful walking down the stairs because the railing is lined with large, sharp thorns.

We have to be careful walking down the stairs because the railing is lined with large, sharp thorns.

Even then, good things keep growing. Never forget that… GOOD THINGS KEEP GROWING.

Look how far that rose has grown! All the way to the window!

Look how far that rose has grown! All the way to the window!

All the way up to my kitchen window, the rose bush reached.
8 Rose New Dawn
The roses didn’t care that the paint was peeling.
9 Rose New Dawn
10 Rose New Dawn

Does God know where we are? Does he know our dark space? Can he see our need for beauty and goodness?

Does God know where we are? Does he know our dark space? Can he see our need for beauty and goodness?

Yes, God is aware. He knows what we need. And all those little buds lined up in my window to say Good Things Keep Growing.
12 Rose New Dawn buds
The roses are blooming now. But the weight of them is pulling the vine over.
13 Rose New Dawn blooming
I put three nails and a loose wire up to hold the roses up so I can see them from the kitchen again.
14 Rose New Dawn blooming
Roses in the window!
15 Rose New Dawn blooming
And how fitting that the rose is called New Dawn. Even without a window box of nourishing dirt, 20 feet from the ground, never stopping, the roses are peeking in my window to remind me Good Things Keep Growing.

Good things keep growing.

Good things keep growing.

And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Is 58:11

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Today it rained

14 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in flowers, gardening, nature, photography, water

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Tags

figs, gardening, nature, photography, rain, rainy day

1 After rain 10 14 14
2 After rain 10 14 14 Dragonwing begonia
3 After rain 10 14 14
4 After rain 10 14 14

Little figs are growing on the new growth.

Little figs are growing on the new growth.

But there are bare stems where the little figs dropped too soon.

But there are bare stems where the little figs dropped too soon.

Fungus is growing on the fireside stumps

Fungus on the fireside stumps.

8 After rain 10 14 14 Double Impatiens9 After rain 10 14 14 Impatiens petals on the deck

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I’m glad it’s still summer

04 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in flowers, gardening

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Tags

begonia, flowers, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, plants, summer, vinca

It’s September 4th but I’m rejoicing in the summer cicadas, the sun’s heat on my skin, the tomatoes that are still trying.
1 late summer 14

Dragon Wing Begonia

Dragon Wing Begonia


Trailing Vinca

Trailing Vinca


4  late summer 14
Out of four vigourously growing Heirloom tomatoes, only one bore fruit, much to our dismay. But the flavor was so spectacular that we will try again next year.

Out of four vigourously growing Heirloom tomatoes, only one bore fruit, much to our dismay. But the flavor was so spectacular that we will try again next year.


New growth is appearing at the base of one of the Heirloom tomatoes.

New growth is appearing at the base of one of the Heirloom tomatoes.

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First rose bouquet of 2014

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in gardening

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

English roses, Fair Bianca, rose, rose bouquet, Scepter'd Isle

The deer managed to leave Miss Alice alone so I was happy to add the sweet, peachy pink rose to this year’s English Rose bouquet.

Featuring anise-scented, white Fair Bianca, delicate Miss Alice, sweet Scepter’d Isle, bright pink Zephirine Drouhin and one we forget, possibly Queen of Sweden.

first rose bouquet of 2014

first rose bouquet of 2014

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We may have lost the fig trees to frost

02 Friday May 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in gardening, nature

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Tags

ambrosia beetles, dead trees, fig tree, fig trees, frost damage, gardening, nature, tire swing

It was a very cold winter and since the trees were over five years old, it never occurred to me that they were sensitive to cold. I’m very sad we may have lost the fig trees. We were supposed to mulch them two feet deep before the deep frosts hit.

Everywhere there are signs of spring, except on the frost-damaged fig trees.

Everywhere there are signs of spring, except on the frost-damaged fig trees.


Other disturbing news, the trees have evidence of boring insects.
There is no antidote for the ambrosia beetles. We will have to cut and burn the trees to prevent spreading. Oh oh, so sad! If you’ve read my blog before, you know how much I love the figs.
 Strands of boring dust protrude from the trunks.

Strands of boring dust protrude from the trunks.


The ambrosia beetles are more likely to attack damaged, dying or dead trees so our frost-bitten trees were very susceptible.
But there is still hope. Small green leaves are emerging from canes coming up from the base of the larger fig tree. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Tiny leaves form on a cane rising from roots of the dying fig tree.

Tiny leaves form on a cane rising from roots of the dying fig tree.


Elsewhere in the back yard, the tire swing hangs dormant. I love the look of it but think a comfortable porch swing belongs here, where I can enjoy a quilt, a good book and a bottle of wine.
The day we have to burn the fig trees, I will hang a porch swing here and drink wine.

The day we have to burn the fig trees, I will hang a porch swing here and drink wine.

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The photographs I don’t have and one I do

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in flowers, gardening, God, Inspirational, Scripture, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alzheimer's, bloom, flowers, God, inspirational, miracle, orchid, rainbow

In 1998 I saw an upside down rainbow. It was almost straight overhead, high in the sky and didn’t end on the earth. Some of my sons saw it with me and we wondered how it was caused. It looked like it could have been a complete circle but we only saw the bottom side of it, an amazing arc of color under rain clouds, an ethereal smile. Wow. I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who saw it. I wish I had taken a photograph of that rainbow.

In 1999 I saw a whirlwind of late fall leaves. I was in the backyard and heard a huge whooshing sound, a sudden loud crackling, like a thousand newspapers being rustled. I ran around the house from the backyard and saw an entire column of leaves swirling up from the ground. The column of rushing leaves completely filled the tree from the ground to the top of a tree. The sound I heard was those dry leaves crashing and breaking against the bare branches of the tree, like a giant blender filled with ice cubes. Wow. It was so fast and sudden, I didn’t have time to grab a camera.

When I saw those leaves I asked “What, God?”
If God was trying to tell me something, I didn’t want to miss.
But there were no words so I just watched and marveled as the whirlwind dispersed and all the leaves fell down to the ground again.

Have you ever seen something that has no explanation? Moses saw a burning bush and he stopped what he was doing in order to get closer to figure out what this strange sight was and God called to Moses from the burning bush.
. . .

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Exodus 3:4-10

Have you seen something you can’t explain? Do you feel a tug to do something for which you don’t feel qualified?

In 2008 I saw an orchid bloom. I had been very discouraged and was crying at the kitchen window. It was so very hard being caregiver of my father-in-law in our home while his Alzheimer’s Disease progressed. The disease was ravaging his mind and I felt like my own life was being fractured and broken. I didn’t have the time, energy or attention my children needed and feared I was neglecting them while taking care of a man who barely knew I was even there.

Through tears I asked God “Is everything going to be ok?” I just needed to know that everything was going to work out alright, that my kids would not be harmed from the complicated situation we were in. After I asked God that question, I was still uneasy. So I wanted a sign from God. But then I thought that would be silly to ask for a sign. People who know God believe in him, right? Wouldn’t asking for a sign be a lack of my faith? But the tears kept falling and I looked at a plant on my window sill and asked God for a sign. I asked him to make the orchid bloom.

The orchid was over ten years old and had never bloomed. It was a sterile orchid. But I asked God to let it bloom to show me that everything would be all right. And then I forgot my prayer. Asking God for a sign was like telling him “The ball is in your court. I will wait for you to make the next move.” Peace descended on my spirit and I was ok.

Four days later though, I was washing dishes when I just happened to see the orchid. My jaw dropped. A shiver ran down my spine. There, sticking out from the orchid, was a bloom stalk several inches long. For it to be that long, it would have had to start growing as soon as I had prayed “God, make the orchid bloom.” At that moment, probably before I finished asking, God said “Yes” and he made that sterile orchid to bloom. I took a photo. Big, beautiful, white flowers lined the stalk. That was five years ago. I still have the orchid but it never bloomed again.

The miracle orchid. Everything is going to be ok.

The miracle orchid. Everything is going to be ok.

Ever since then, I’ve never needed another sign. If God can make a sterile orchid bloom, I don’t need any other sign. If God says “Everything is going to be ok” I don’t need to hear it again. I believe him. I remember. He was right, everything did work out ok.

Things might not be going the way you want. And things might get worse before they get better. But in the end, everything is going to work out ok. Trust God.

9“Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

10 And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.

11 “And the LORD will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

12 “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

Isaiah 58:9-12

Put your trust in God and stay strong. He will be with you in the work.
Everything is going to be ok.

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