What Matters Most

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
                                        ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

For all of this I am grateful...

Take a quick minute and enjoy this short video.

May it remind you of what matters most... to you! 

♥  ♥  ♥

Thank you dear readers... 

 your comments are the sweet nectar that keeps me posting.

Be sure to leave a link in your comment so I may visit you.

Blooms! Blooms! Are there any Blooms out there?

What could possibly still be blooming in my gardens? 
It's GBBD and I woke up early to find the answer.

Last week's snow has melted 

but the night-time temps are still below freezing

and the Highland winds have now left our trees bare naked.

 

Could there be any blooms out there?
O-h-h but it's so frosty cold. 
Be brave. 

A rose that's just hanging on...
but still 
oh, so beautiful. 

Close-up of the sugar coated frost-ing 
this morning brings.

"If you can just hold on a little longer dearie...

you might become a plump little 'rose hip' like me."

Hmm... that little rose may have missed her chance. 

It will have to warm up a whole lot for that to happen.

The pom-poms of the Sea Thrift aren't easily swayed by the cold.

They'll be blooming till their buried 
and will be one of the first to bloom again next Spring.

The Quick Fire Hydrangea has long ago lost it's rosy color

but it's golden tones will last well into the Winter.

They are definitely some of the bones of my garden...
I've planted them everywhere!

As are the Limelight Hydrangeas. 

The sun is up now and the frost is melting quick.

Did you catch the sparkling crown on these dainty blooms?

Oh my! What do I spy?

This sweet little violet alive and vibrant 
near the foundation of our home. 

Must have found a little sunbeam that enticed it to bloom.

 

 

Sweet Alyssum is always a stalwart. 
Always the last living bloom in my gardens.

Hearty burgundy mums 

still find enough warmth to keep them alive.

And this Echinacea will live to dance another day.

♥  ♥  ♥

Before the last snowfall I spied a little Scabiosa 
just beginning to bloom. 
With already a dozen or so frosty nights, 

I smiled at this little blooms fortitude.

All the other blooms in his garden were long gone.

I'll take his pic tomorrow, I thought.

Then tomorrow it snowed and snowed and snowed

and I never took his picture.

But since our snow melted....

Look who I found!

Don't let the color fool you. 
He is literally frozen stiff.

What a brave little bloom he is.

So happy to join Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Head on over to see Carol 
and all the others who honor this day.

When Winter Collides with Autumn

"Today is the last day of Autumn in my gardens... I feel it in my bones. That plus the weatherman is forecasting a big change for tomorrow... snow and snow and more snow with temps dipping into the low teens. Looks like Old Man Winter is gonna stay this time. Enjoying the last bit of color in my gardens."

Those were my FB thoughts of yesterday.

Here's what's dancin through my head this morning
as I took a walk through my gardens collecting photos...

Yikes!

It's so c-c-cold!

You gotta be kidding me!

I"m freezing!

I can see my breath!

My fingers are turning blue!

Literally.

Silly Old Winter...

doesn't he know he's not suppose to be here
until December 21st?


I'm so not ready for Winter.

The Secret of the Quaking Aspen

On the other side of my mountain, 

Nature has planted Groves of Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides)

Quaking Aspen in Summer

These beautiful trees stand tall and straight

on slender trunks of powdery white.

Photo by Jeff Mitton (since I couldn't find an up-close shot of my own)

Their leaves tremble at the slightest breeze 

and seem to whisper a melody of peace and calm.

Seriously, if you've ever stood in a grove of Aspen,
you would know this to be true...
the sound is nothing short of divine.

Quakies in their Autumn Glory

 As Autumn approaches, these small near-heart-shaped leaves

turn vibrant shades of yellow and gold and orange.
 
Come take a Sunday drive with me,
and I'll share the secret 
the Aspen Groves hold so dear.

Driving the Alpine Loop

Many people may not realize 

that Aspen trees are actually 
one of the earth’s largest living organisms. 

Hundreds or even thousands of Quaking Aspens 
can be joined underground 
by a single root network.

  

The Aspen sends out underground shoots 
that re-emerge elsewhere as new trunks.
This aggregate of roots 
is called a "clone".

The Backside of my Mountain

Some Quaking Aspen groves 
have been measured to be 200 acres wide.

Many in the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin regions
are at least 8000 years old 
persisting since the last glacial retreat.

 

Aspen trees within the same clone 

unmask their colors at the same time in Autumn 

making it easy to determine 

where a clone ends and where it begins.

In fact, the trees within each clone are identical 

and can be distinguished from those of a neighboring clone 

by a variety of traits such as leaf shape and size, bark character, 
branching habit, resistance to disease and insect attack 

and autumn leaf color.

How many distinct clones do you see in this view?

(Some have already changed their colors... others have not.)

It is fascinating to discover that the massive root network 

of the Aspen clone is of great benefit to their survival. 

A forest fire may completely destroy a grove of Aspen trees,

but the underground root network will soon spring to life 

creating new shoots to emerge as trunks 

replenishing the Aspen Grove.

Remarkable.

Simply remarkable.


What life lessons can we learn from the Quaking Aspen?

I have a few ideas of my own 
but would love my readers to share.