Wordless Wednesday

One last Christmas Stroll through Watson's

There's always something beautiful to see at Watson's 

The Reindeer look a bit tired from flying around the world.

Ditched the sleigh until next year.

So any great colors and shapes of conifers.  

The Tim Burton treatment for this tree!

Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide' is such a gorgeous bloomer.  Too bad I usually kill them.  Love the bowed boxes of Boxwood.

While not particularly evocative of the holiday, ornamental kale and cabbages look wonderful all winter.

One of these Phormium 'Sundowner' rode in my cart for a while before it returned to it's place behind the Euphorbias.  Lovely color echo and foliage contrast!

Speaking of contrasts, poinsettia with white kalanchoe is interesting.

In some countries, chrysanthemums are strongly associated with death and it's considered a terrible social faux pas to offer them for any other occasion.  Probably not best to send one of these to your friends in France.

Didn't have the urge to bring one of these home but enjoyed looking at them. 

This tree, decorated with Fisher-Price toys, brought a smile.

Hot cocoa and cutsey snowmen snow people.  Don't you feel all warm and cozy already?

Lastly, a couple of contemporary arrangements that are lovely.

Truth be told, I went back to get one of these rusty metal trees seen on an earlier visit. 

I also visited the day after Christmas 50% off sale and these trees were all gone so it was fortunate that I got one when I did!  Hope you're all keeping warm.   We're having temperatures in the low 20's at night.  Brrr!

Happy Fifth Day of Christmas! A Visit to Willow Tree Gardens and Interiors.

More and more, people seem to be decorating their homes for Christmas very early and pulling everything down on the twenty-sixth. I like to be a bit more old - fashioned and leave my decorations (when I put them up) in place for at least the full 12 days of the holiday (until January 6, when the western church celebrates Epiphany and the eastern church celebrates Christmas.)  If I'm supremely lazy, I remind myself that Candlemas (February 2) is the final acceptable day to take down Christmas decorations according to tradition.

"Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and mistletoe;
 Down with the holly, ivy, all,
 Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall"

  —Robert Herrick (1591–1674), "Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve"

With that in mind, let's continue the celebration of this twelve-day feast with a visit to Willow Tree Gardens.  (Whew, all of that to justify posting pictures from a few weeks ago.)

Another sedum/sempervivum planted tool box.  While my garden doesn't  have space for one of these too be shown well, I find them delightful in other settings.

It's a bit chilly outside, let's pop in and see what's up.  The annual house has been conquered by Santa and his helpers.

It's amazing that I've visited a lot of places carrying holiday decorations this season and haven't found two trees that are alike.   How do they do that?

There must be a finite amount of sparkly doo-dads and whatchamacallits but each store somehow has different lines of merchandise.  It boggles my mind!

A cowboy Christmas.

Funny that I'm so attracted to wreaths and swags as I haven't put one on our door in years.  This doesn't keep me from buying them.  Maybe this year I should drag one or two out of their boxes.

My church choir is having it's 12th night party at our house on the 10th of January so I can keep pulling things out until then.  

Love this glitzy treatment of the piano.  Makes it a bit difficult to play but hey, one can't have everything, right?

There seems to be a lot of white being used on the trees this year at Willow Tree; trend or happy accident?

"Beach glass" chandelier.  How would this look in a greenhouse? 

How unfortunate that we don't have beautiful red Cardinals in the Pacific Northwest!

Here's that crazy sleigh-flying alien responsible for all of this.  I hope he's prepared to clean up his mess!  Then it's back to Area 51 I mean the North Pole(that's it, the North Pole) with you!

How do they keep the pumpkin from rotting and becoming a mass of goo and how do they keep the succulents from being over watered by the presence of fluid from the rotting pumpkin? Do you suppose it's just piled on top rather than planted inside?  Even so, that is a long-lasting pumpkin!

I'll leave you with a couple of sweet bird ornaments from the following bird-
themed tree.

Whether you lean more to being done on the 26th or to leaving the decorations up until Epiphany or even Candlemas, I hope your holiday was/is full of beautiful sights and sounds that bring you great Joy!  The important question is, have you been out shopping at the after Christmas sales and plotting for next year?

Helleborus orientalis is my Favorite Plant...This Week

I'm joining with Loree at Danger Garden in posting my favorite plant...this week.  Click on over to her blog to see what's catching the eye of other garden bloggers today.

This morning, I went out to photograph my Pyracantha which was laden with berries earlier in the week.  It grows in a bed between our fence and the sidewalk.  While it still has some berries and I could have photographed it, I busied myself with propping it back up as it was hanging over the sidewalk.  Some "urban forager" (thief)  had decided to cut (thank goodness they used pruners and didn't just rip the branches) berries to use as decorations for the holiday so I decided to feature a different favorite.

Helleborus orientalis 'Anna's Red' is the first to show buds this year.

I love winter bloomers that remind us that spring is just around the corner!

Here, stolen directly from Plant Lust are some details about this plant.  For more information about this or just about any other plant, head on over to Plant Lust!

PLANT TYPE

Perennial

ZONES

5a-9b

SIZE

H:12"-18"

W:12"-18"

GROWING CONDITIONS

SOIL NEEDS:

Acid, Well-Drained, Rich

WATER NEEDS:

Regular

SUN EXPOSURE:

Part Shade, Shade

FEATURES

FLOWERS:

White, Purple / Violet

FOLIAGE:

Evergreen

WILDLIFE:

Deer Resistant

FLOWERING TIME:

Winter

What's your favorite plant this week?

Merry Christmas!

Santa and I wish all of our gardening friends a very merry Christmas and a new year full of great garden adventures!

Bedrock, One Last Visit at Their Current Location

Bedrock Industries is moving and will be out of their current location by the end of the month. Fortunately, they're just moving across the street to this building.

There's always something new at Bedrock to get those creative juices flowing!  Even they never know what will be coming in the door next! See previous posts here and their website here.  

Lots of fun holiday glassware!

I do love the Grinch!

Bedrock also gets lots of mistakes from Glass Eye Studio which are sometimes melted down but can also be purchased as is.  These look great in potted plants!

The snowflakes spoke to me.

Here's a little ditty from a show called "Voices of Christmas" that the Group Theater in Seattle used to present at this time of year.  I don't know who wrote the words or if I remember them correctly.

To the tune of White Christmas-

I'm dreaming of a multicultural festive celebration

Just like the ones we're getting used to. 

Where the geographically appropriate vegetation glistens

And chronologically challenged people listen 

To hear or have signed for them

Culturally appropriate rhythm instruments

In the seasonally appropriate precipitation.

I'm dreaming of a multicultural festive celebration ,

With every 100% post consumer recycled materials card I write.

May your days be merry and diverse.

 And may all your celebrations be inclusive.

Hope you have a happy Christmas Eve!