Bogie Luck; Turned?

In my trials and tribulations of working with the upgrade to IE, and before I found the tweak to make my problems go away, I mentioned some winterberries and holly that I had picked up recently.

Now that I can link quite well, I figured I would run them by you: Red Sprite winterberry, Afterglow winterberry, Blue Princess holly. Their pollinators, Jim Dandy winterberry and Blue Prince holly.

The Red Sprite and Afterglow lose their leaves and the huge red berries really stand out. The Blue Princess berries are not as large, but contrast well with the fairly deep green of the leaves. All the plant grace the entrance to the stairways leading from the driveway to the walkway. After Christmas, I will move them to a more sheltered place where I can mulch them with a deep layer of straw. Then I will plant them next year (jeeze that only makes about 15 shrubs that I am overwintering for planting next spring).

I went out to some local swamps last weekend and cut some winterberry branches to place in the planter barrels that are between the horseshoe driveway "legs". During the summer there are non-stop blooming annuals and plants that have nice foliage in the barrels, so I thought it would be nice to have something in them for fall and winter.

Yesterday, I was at Home Dep*t to order replacement shelves for our pantry cabinet (i overload the shelves, and after 7 years, one of them snapped in half and another is badly bowed). They had some nice Rosemary "Christmas trees" that smelled divine, so I picked one up (along with a couple of house plants). Although Rosemary isn't a houseplant, I figure with the weather we have had this year, I will be able to put it outside on a regular basis, then bring it in when it is supposed to get down to 32 (alright, so January, February and part of March I haven't got a chance in hell of it getting up to 32, but it's worth a try). I'm keeping it in one of the bay windows when it is inside, so maybe it will get enough light to struggle on thru the winter, then I can place it outside for the warmer months.

And, the Bogie luck is turning, last night I got a call from the cabinetry representative about the shelves I needed replaced; they are warranted for life. There is no charge and they will ship them directly to us. Now, if I hadn't had the original paperwork from buying the pantry (in 1999), we would have just had to order by size - but I had found the paperwork when I was cleaning out the filing cabinet (and was surprised that I kept that particular piece of paper).

Hey, 2 things have gone right (finding the tweak to IE and having the paperwork to prove what shelving I had - and that it was warranted), we are on a roll!

Comments

[rita]

I always kill those Rosemary trees for some reason. This fall, after a tip from a neighbor, I dug up my outside Rosemary & potted it. (I figured it was going to die anyway, so no loss if I killed it) So far, it seems to be happy. I have it near a south-facing window, upstairs where it's kinda warm & low humidity. It's actually growing better there than it did outside. So far anyway.

And it's nice to be able to run upstairs and snip off a few pieces when I'm cooking.

[buffy]

The holly and winterberry are beautiful shrubs! I envy you the variety of plants you've chosen for your landscaping. I rarely think of winter interest when I'm choosing plants, and I can see that I need to rethink this.

I saw the potted rosemary trees at HD. I was tempted, but passed, because I have killed every rosemary that I've ever brought into the house! I love the scent, though. Good luck wintering it over.

[bogie]

Winter interest is something I've just started dealing with this year - never really thought about it before.