Of course there is a greenhouse in my livingroom this time of the year!

Wishing you all a very Merry Holiday Season!  Tis the time to enjoy all the people in your life and be grateful for all those who have been in your life!  I turned 80 this month so have been thinking of all those who have touched my life all these years!  Thanks for being there!

Enjoy the season, be safe and stay healthy!

Snowpeople keep warm in my kitchen!

Gee, look who moved into my kitchen table fairy gardens after Thanksgiving!

They are favorite people, I received them years ago from my granddaughter, Heather.  One is a a fishing snowman, representing Gramps and one likes flowers, which represents me!  Fond memories occur whenever they show up on the kitchen table each holiday season!

Frosty Ferns instead of Frosty the Snowman!

I always enjoy treating gardening friends to a bit of new plant life during the holidays!  There are four of us who usually spend a lunch time enjoying the holidays together and this year it is at  Karen's Dining Room.  While at Trader Joe's yesterday I spotted these frosty looking green plants and decided they needed new homes!  So into the cart they went to add a touch of  holiday frost on the table before they go home with my gardening friends!  

I think I have purchased these before in the spring for a Fairy Garden.....they are annuals or house plants for MN   The label says:  Selaginella Krausianna Variegatus

Requires bright indirect sunlight, water twice a week, fertilize monthly. Zone 6   Grows up to 6" Tall!

For more information CLICK HERE!

Tucked away for a long MN winter nap!

Finally these fairy gardens and potted hostas (ready for donation to a plant sale) are sleeping deep enough (froze) to be tucked in some extra winter protection in the garage!  And, it is cold enough in the garage to hopefully keep them from waking up until Spring!

Denny had to move all these pots by himself as I am still wearing those high fashion boots waiting for fractures to heal.  Dr. told me to keep them on my feet until we leave for AZ and then take them  off and leave them in MN!  So, I am counting the days and ready to pack up!

A neighbor takes over the fairy gardens care when we head south by adding a handful of snow on each pot a few times during the winter.  So nice to have a neighbor you can partner with on misc. chores during the year!

Gobble, gobble ....

The spooks disappeared, must have been chased away by these Pilgrims and their turkey!

Not sure where the spooks went, but these seasonal visitors are a welcome change of pace on our kitchen table!  They don't seem to eat much but provide smiles at meal times!

Denny's still head chef while I am recovering!  But, am rocking and rolling along in my high fashion boots now so am helping a bit!  I even got to the grocery store a few days and refreshed my cart driving skills not knocking into displays or other shoppers!

Unusual fall and early winter color!

A few years ago one of our garden club programs featured creating winter holiday bouquets.  The floral arranger introduced us to a beautiful change of pace with a branch of pink berries!  It is a Winter Berry shrub variety called "Coral Berry".

Needless to say, in the spring I was shopping for this delightful addition for one of my flower beds!  It has made a simply spectacular replacement for a rose bush where I wanted to discourge neighborhood kids and dogs from entering a flower bed.  The size and fact that it was a shrub that grows just the right size works perfectly.  Add to that the beauty of the abundant pink berries in the fall and early winter landscape it has been a winner for me!  Simple to care for and prune makes it perfect!

Absolutely charming!

It is also a beautiful green shrub spring and summer!

For more information about this shrub click here!

Are your garden beds ready for their winter's nap?

This hosta bed has about 50 hostas in it! Many of them are big ones!

Thank goodness 90% of our garden beds were all ready for winter before our car accident!

Denny had to finish the job and take care of the lawn/leaves himself this year.   The hosta bed looks pretty empty but we do it the easy way because I have about 100 hostas!  I like to get those leaves off so the slug eggs are exposed to winter temps so they don't survive so well.  Plus,  I don't like removing the dead hosta leaves in the spring and risk stepping on the early rising pips hiding under the dead leaves!   So, we wait until after a killing frost and most of them drying up so all we have to do is pick the leaves up easily and dispose of them in our city compost dump!  Sure is less work than cutting them off and cleaning/disinfecting the cutter blades between each plant to avoid spreading any diseases that may be hiding in the plants!

Looks  pretty dull out there but come spring it will be colorful with spring bulbs of all kinds that peak up to greet the season before the hostas pop up!

I am back again......

Sorry about the sudden break in posts since mid October!

We had a intersection auto accident recently, which caused a few challenges resulting in my not being able to spend much time using my computer, etc.   Denny was not injured but our car was totaled out.  I had the opportunity to observe the Jaws of Life in action very close up and personal!

However, my physical challenges have improved and the added challenges of recovering from cataract surgery in both eyes the last weeks have given my eyes some wonky vision issues to deal with also!

The good news is recovery from both issues is in progress so I am able to restart my posts again!

Attached are pics of our accident results, which has left me feeling very lucky.  Not lucky to have the accident, but my injuries are much less than one could expect from the looks of our car!
Thank goodness for seatbelts, air bags, talented rescue people and skilled medical staff!  I was only in the hospital for one day, and was able to transfer from a metro area ER to home base of St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester!  Two fractured ribs, a fracture in left foot and two fractures in the right foot/leg with additional bruises of various sizes are on the mend!  Without complications I should be all  healed by Xmas!  And I am so grateful to be in "boots" instead of non-weight bearing casts!  Not exactly dancing the light fantastic but using a walker and wheelchair and ramp to get into and out of the house has me being somewhat mobile!  Not pushing the activity level until I get confirmation on the healing of the right foot/leg area, which is the place for complications to happen!

So grateful for so many friends and family who became aware of this situation thru Facebook posts!
Their good wishes have been appreciated.   I am so grateful for a husband that not only can but will step up to be my caretaker!  He is a blessing in my life, as usual!  The car has been replaced and we found a "twin" including the same colors, only 1 year newer with extra bells and whistles and similar low miles on it.  We really liked the car we had!

Spooks come out to play in October!

October is the time the ghosts and spooks come out to play!

I noticed today they moved into my indoor fairy gardens and chased away the fairies and their friends that usually reside there!  
I'm not sure where the fairies went to hide out but hope they find their way back later! 

This one is on the kitchen table!

This one is next to "my chair" in the living room!

Golf Days in MN almost gone!

Unless you have  special Golfer Fairy Garden on your back porch!

Just had to do one of these for my favorite golfer guy!

Do you want to increase the plants in your garden or share a favorite one with a friend!

Recently, I read a fantastic article in our local newspaper, the Rochester Post Bulletin, that I am sharing with you today.

Robin Fruth-Dugstad, who heads up our local college Horticulture Department, is a regular contributor of gardening articles to our newspaper.  She always has such good information and this one is a clip out an save one!

I'm not shy about splitting a perennial and just dig right in.  But not all the pieces survive well because I am not aware of  "what method works best for the various perennials!  This will enable me to be more successful!   

This article covers all the successful ways to divide the various kinds of perennials!  I saved a digital copy as well as a printed copy and I am laminating a copy so it will be handy  right on my garden bench!  

Door Prize from a few years ago!

Yep, that guy won me another door prize several years ago at a Spring Open Garden event held by Shades of Green Hosta Society of SE MN!  We have some nice events in that organization!

She is a lovely all white statue of a woman in a long dress holding a flower and always perfect in one of my flower beds all gardening season!  By fall she is almost hidden by the flowers.   I thought she looked especially charming the other day when I was deadheading in that area!  Indeed she is a fun reminder of that day in Cindy's gardens!

Door Prize!

My lucky husband, Denny, won a door prize at our Founder's Day Event last week!  He is lucky at winning those, which is why I make sure he comes with me and joined that organization also!  A big thank you to whoever donated it!

They had some companion plants among the hostas in the prize selection, which was great!  So, he picked out (with my help, of course) a Pink Turtlehead perennial!   I had just the spot for it, part sun along the fence directly in back of our house.  I planted it where I could easily see it to enjoy, just outside the windows in our bedroom and  my office!  Also, it had lots of appeal to me  because  it blooms this time of the year.  I had added a dwarf variety earlier this year, which has grown quite well for a first year planting!

Familiar with Turtlehead or 'Chelone'?

Information on Turtlehead click here!

The new one I planted this spring!

The door prize!  

Hosta Party Time!

Note:   Just click on the above "gray title" to open this in full color!

Our Shades of Green Hosta Society of SE MN is 12 years old now!
Yes, I am a charter member and still enjoying this group as well as promoting growing hostas!  I may have run out of room for space for Hosta growing conditions, but not my enjoyment of having those plants in my garden beds!  And most of all I've not run out of space in my heart for the special people in this organization!  I'm not sure which I treasure the most, the hostas or the friends!  

Each fall our "founder", Cindy, invites us all to a "Founder's Day" event, which becomes a very fun social time!  It features a "Pot Luck" lunch (gardeners are famous for their cooking), plus door prizes, a silent auction of hostas and companion plants plus a active fund raising auction of special plants!  Then there are the beautiful grounds to enjoy and their new 'event center' they have developed!

Not a hosta, but a companion plant! 

 A pair of them flanked the door to welcome us!

  

Hi! I'm back!

I'm back!   So many of you have asked me to continue my Over The Garden Gate Blog...because they've been missing them!  Finally, after getting a call from Iowa this Saturday, asking me again....  I decided to reactive my blog!   OK, Bev!  

What happened?   I don't know how to explain it, but I think I just ran into a time period where I just had run out of ideas and inspiration and never got around to another posting!

Recently my husband and I made a big change in our lifestyle by selling our little red cabin on German Lake in Southern Minnesota.  This change means we will be spending 24/7 at our home in Rochester, Minnesota for nine months of the year!   I will have some time to become involved again in my Over The Garden Gate Blog!  So, here goes... once again!

What's been happening lately in  my gardening adventures and activities?  I began my fall garden clean up yesterday by pulling out a forest of maple trees that have sprouted from the spring seed event of our neighbor's tree!  I had been keeping up with them thru the summer, but had recently fallen behind!

I noticed many of the summer annuals and perennials are winding down their blooms but a few have just begun their bloom season!  So, I took the opportunity to do a bit of cutting back and admiring my first ever planting of Morning Glories!  I have three huge trellis that Denny had built for me, which allow space for two clematis on each one.  I finally gave up investing in clematis along side the garage due to not being successful in treating them for a disease where they die back mid year and eventually disappear.  So I am looking for plants to replace the clematis on those trellis!  Any suggestions?  It is a sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon area.

I decided to try Morning Glories for a new experience on the trellis that receives the most sun.
I planted 4 started plants and after a slow start they grew and grew and grew.  In fact, they have been trying to come thru the porch and were aiming at the sliding door into the dining room!  It has kept us busy redirecting and pruning the aggressive vines!  Much to my delight and surprise it turned out to have white blooms instead of the blue and they are huge, about 5 inches across!  Yep, I think I'll try them again next year but reduce the count to two plants!