All Aboard!

I finally watched the Christmas movie, The Polar Express, and my thoughts turned to gardening, as they always do.

Actually, my thoughts first turned to other trains that were named "Express", then I thought of gardening.

I thought of the Hogwarts Express, which takes the young wizards and witches in the Harry Potter books to and from London and Hogsmeade, where they go to school in Hogwarts

Silverware makes our thoughts turn to gardening

I opened up a box containing some silverware that my mom gave me several years ago and my thoughts turned to gardening, as they always do.

Via the Internet, I was able to figure out that this silver plate is the Moonlight pattern from the Wm. Rogers Co. I remember that my mom bought it one place setting at a time as part of a promotion at a local grocery store.

You all remember how that

Playing dress up, our thoughts turn to gardening

My sister and I, the sister who does not garden but does a really super job of weeding if she takes a notion to do some weeding, spent some time this morning sorting through old family pictures.  As usual, my thoughts turned to gardening, as they always do.

I had forgotten, until I saw these pictures, that I was apparently not always content to dress up Barbie dolls and baby dolls.

I had to

Eleven random gardening thoughts for 11-11-11

On this eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year, our thoughts turn to gardening as they always do.

I have eleven random thoughts about gardening to share.

1.  Writing a gardening post about elevens is a lot harder than writing a post about tens back on 10-10-10.

2.   I counted the deciduous trees in my yard and I think I have eleven trees. One scarlet oak, one Japanese tree

Riding an elephant through a garden center

I ran across a metaphor for how we think emotionally and rationally, and my thoughts turned to gardening, as they always do.

In summary, our emotional thinking, when our instincts kick in, is like an elephant.  Our rational thinking, which applies reason and thinks about the long-term, is like a little rider on top of that elephant trying to keep control of it.

Now picture when you go to a

Ten

Ten Peas In A Pod
On this the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of the century, our thoughts turn to gardening, as they always do.

I have ten random thoughts to tender on this tenth day.

10. A big shout out to all the garden bloggers in Tennessee. This must be a big day for you all.

9. Out in the garden, this is no time to be tentative. Fall is slipping slowly into winter and

Decoded: Our thoughts turn to garden mysteries and secrets

Last night, I started watching episodes of Brad Meltzer's Decoded on The History Channel. For those who missed out on season one and the re-running of several episodes last night and this morning, Decoded features a professor/journalist, an engineer and a trial lawyer/skeptic who help author Brad Meltzer prove or disprove different mysteries and rumors of history.

I watched episodes about

Reading Harry Potter and thoughts turn to gardening

Purslane - is this what Gillyweed might look like?

I am reading all of the Harry Potter books this summer and my thoughts turned to gardening, as they always do.

Naturally, I am interested in the references to herbology as one of the subjects that the young wizards and witches study. 

I noted today that it was mentioned in the fourth book that none other than Neville Longbottom seemed to do

Back to School Time And Our Thoughts Turn To Gardening

It's back to school time and our thoughts turn to gardening as they always do.

As I trimmed back the Blue Dogbane, Amsonia tabernaemontana, the other evening, I couldn’t help but notice the white sap which looks a lot like Elmer’s Glue and seems just as sticky.

Do kids still buy bottles of Elmer’s glue to put in their brand new backpacks along with new folders, pencils, pens, paper, crayons,

What's your pickle?

What's your pickle?

The other day, I watched an old Andy Griffith Show, the one about Aunt Bea's pickles.  "Ya see" (that's Andy talk) Aunt Bea made some homemade pickles, and Andy and Barney acted like they liked them, even though they hated them. The pickles were awful and tasted just like kerosene. They did this on account of they didn't want to hurt Aunt Bea's feelings.

Early in that

Would You Rather Be An Excellent Gardener or A Successful Gardener?

I read a Dale Carnegie quote earlier this week and my thoughts turned to gardening, as they always do.

Before you read the quote, take a minute to answer this question:

Would you rather be an excellent gardener or a successful gardener?

I suspect most of us would like to be a successful gardener but how would that success be measured? If we chose to be an excellent gardener, how would we

Selection Sunday, Our thoughts turn to gardening

I bought and planted violas.

It's Selection Sunday, when college basketball teams find out if they've been chosen to play in the NCAA tournament, and our thoughts turn to gardening, as they always do.

This is to be expected, what with everyone talking about seeding and who will get which seed in the tournament. What gardener wouldn't immediately think about their seed stash and which seeds