Friday Fleurs: Primroses

 We can be sure spring is coming when the primroses first start showing up in the supermarkets in late winter. In fact their name, Primula, derives from the Latin for 'early.' There are many kinds of primrose but these are the ones most often seen in markets. One year I found a different variety with taller blooms that rose about 12 inches above the leaves, but I have never found them since.  I just can't resist their cheap and cheerful blooms. I always buy two or three pots to bring home and brighten up a window. Their colors are awesome and I could easily buy a dozen to place around the house. They were especially welcome this week during our short-lived, what- a- bust snowstorm. I have never had any luck planting primroses in the garden after they finish blooming, but I keep trying. I think I just need to find the right spot. Cool, moist, shady spots are not so easy to find around here.

Another variety of primrose that I have always been fascinated by are the auriculas. Auriculas are an old-fashioned variety of primrose,  with smoother, cabbage-like leaves, mainly grown in England and northern Europe. I think they also do well in the Pacific Northwest and in Canada and Alaska. Obviously they need a cooler, wetter climate, not the humidity and hot summers of northern Virginia.  I don't think I have ever seen an actual specimen, but I have always loved the old Dutch paintings of auriculas, a common subject for artists in the 17th and 18th centuries.  I read somewhere that auriculas were the first European potted plants that florists grew in Europe in the 1600s. They were grown in the mountains of northern Europe and supposedly have a wonderful fragrance. So pretty.

George Edwards

Joseph Redoute

Albrecht Durer

Books On My Nightstand

• In Sunlight and In Shadow, by Mark Helprin~Life in Manhattan in the mid-20th century.
• Arcadia, by Lauren Groff~Bit Stone grows up in a commune in upstate NY. My next book group selection.
• The Round House, by Louise Erdrich~Lots of good reviews for this new book by a favorite author.
• The Middlesteins, by Jami Attenberg~ Read about this somewhere and put it on my list.
• The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake~Reading next for library book group.
• Magic Journey, by Katrina Kenison~A memoir of middle-age self-discovery, change, and loss.
• The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, by Jan Philipp-Sendker~ A love story set in Burma, recommended highly by my cousin Carol.
• Her Last Death, by Susanna Sonnenberg~A memoir of  a disturbing and traumatic life with her mother.

Snowquester

Out my kitchen window

Woohoo, I have been waiting for snow all winter long, and today we are finally getting a real snowstorm. Those crazy weather people in metro DC have named this storm 'Snowquester.'  Aren't they so funny. All schools are closed, the federal government is closed, but guess what,  Fairfax County libraries are open, hmmm, no surprise there. Luckily they have something called liberal leave, which many of us are using today instead of trekking into work. It's really not too bad right now, but it is supposed to snow heavily all day long, so hopefully we will get a good snowfall by the end of the day. 

And of course I bundled up already this morning and went out to take some pictures of my snowy garden. It's a very wet snow, so we are worried about trees and shrubs breaking, and power outages. It sounds like there are already lots of power outages in Virginia.  It is really coming down right now, and because we are warm and cozy in our house, I am hoping it snows all day long. The other day at the library I was talking to a customer about the impending snowstorm, and she said she too was hoping we would get a lot of snow. I asked her where she was from, and she grew up in Cleveland!

Drink Your Tea Slowly

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh

Sunday Dinner With Family

No field trips this weekend,  no flowers to show, as I had to work all day on Saturday and Walt was busy swimming, running, and biking--he is immersed in his training for a triathalon in June! And then yesterday we had my cousin Bob and his family over for dinner, and also my niece Jill and her family who now live in the area. Bob and Jill hadn't seen each other for years so it was fun for everyone to get to know each other again and see all their kids. And because you know we loved talking about food and especially all Tom and Evie's meals, here is what I made: Tuscan mashed chickpea dip (from the new Barefoot Contessa cookbook), lasagna, salad, and garlic bread, and apple cobbler and ice cream for dessert. It was so nice to have  a real Sunday dinner with our family!

Early this morning my old friend and neighbor Susan stopped by for coffee. She now lives in South Carolina and was in DC for the weekend to see her son Nick. She used to live down the street from me and we were really great friends. We met for the first time putting her son Nick and my Julia on the kindergarten school bus on the first day of school (1989?), and our friendship took off from there.  It was great to share a cup of coffee with her again, and catch up on each other's lives.

Hello Hellebores

I picked the first hellebores yesterday. They really make a great cut flower, lasting a week or so inside,  but a little messy, dropping their stamens all over. And they are such a great perennial--sturdy and dependable, green year round, and with flowers in winter. Mine have been blooming for more than a month now. They like sun in the winter and shade in the summer, so they are happiest under deciduous trees.  Nothing else coming up yet in the garden, no daffodils, but I have seen some crocus in my neighbor's yard starting to make an appearance.

This is such funny weather, some mornings this week I woke up and it felt like spring.  But it's colder than I think outside. And now it's supposed to get very cold over the weekend, and they're even talking about possible snow next week. Just when I start feeling like winter might be over!

Chopped Poinsettias

Yesterday was the day for the poinsettias and paperwhites,  took them outside and emptied all the pots in the garden, and chopped up the flowers and and stems. But not before cutting a few blooms to enjoy for a little while longer (thanks for the tip, Eileen). I usually throw them out earlier, but they were so pretty this year I kept them a little longer. And with March approaching, I'm starting to think spring, and poinsettias don't really say spring. Today is supposed to get into the 50s, so I may try to get outside this afternoon and clean up the hellebores. I'm seeing lots of blooms, but they are mostly hidden by the old and battered foliage.

Brooklyn

This is a lovely book by Colm Toibin that I read for my book group at the library, which is meeting tonight. I first read this several years ago and liked it, but on my way to Chapel Hill this past weekend,  I listened to it on CD in the car, and I liked it even more the second time.  Eilis Lacey is a young Irish girl from Enniscorthy, Ireland, who is living a pretty narrow life in the post-WWII years, under the thumb of her mother and older sister, and with few prospects for any meaningful work. When an Irish American priest, Father Flood, visits her family, he tells her mother and sister that he can find Eilis a job in America and before she knows it and without ever asking her if she wants to go,  Eilis is sent to America, where a job is found for her in a shop on Fulton Street in Brooklyn, and a room in a girls-only boardinghouse.  Eilis must adjust to everything new in this strange new country, and deal with her homesickness, but she does adjust, and gradually she makes friends, goes to dances, volunteers at the local parish, enrolls in night school, and falls in love with a big-hearted Italian guy. She learns that there is a big world outside of Ireland. Her teacher is a Holocaust survivor. Black women begin to come into the shop where she works. Eilis is a very well drawn character and it is fun to watch her grow and flourish, both intellectually and emotionally.

But then a death back home calls her back to Ireland and Eilis finds it hard to hold on to her two very different lives, the comfortable and secure life with family and friends  in Ireland, and her new life back in Brooklyn, which now feels like just a dream to her. Where is her home? This seems like a simple story, but there is a lot to think about in it, and Eilis especially seems so real and developed. This isn't a fast moving book with lots of action, but at the end I just kept thinking, what a great story it was. Beautifully written and a pleasure to read.

Food, Flowers, and Julia in Chapel Hill

Julia at the arboretum

 I took a road trip this weekend to visit Julia in Chapel Hill, and even though it poured rain on Saturday, we had a great time. There are a lot of fun restaurants in Chapel Hill and Durham, so it seemed like we spent most of our time planning our meals (nothing new).  On Friday evening after I arrived, we went to a cool place in Durham,  Fullsteam Brewery,  to meet some of Julia's friends and to try their sweet potato beer, which Julia really likes. After enjoying a few beers, we headed back towards Chapel Hill and had dinner at a great restaurant, Venable, in nearby Carrboro. On Saturday, I was hoping to visit Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, a mostly mail-order nursery that is only open four weekends a year,  and this was one of them! Unfortunately, the weather was really miserable, cold and pouring rain,  so we skipped that and drove around the Duke Campus for a little while, stopped in at the  Duke Chapel,  had breakfast at Gugelhupf Bakery in Durham (sticky buns are amazing), and then were forced (haha) to go to a mall for awhile. We didn't stay too long, and then we went to a bar in Chapel Hill to watch the UNC-NC State game, which was a lot of fun (UNC won). College basketball is the best. We then went back to Julia's house for awhile to relax and try to regain some energy after an afternoon of drinking beer.   It finally stopped raining, so we walked along Franklin Street for awhile, always a hopping area, and then stopped in an Italian place, 411 West,  for some pizza.

Luckily, Sunday was sunny and much warmer, so we started out with a long walk around the Chapel Hill campus to work up our appetite for brunch,  and walked through the arboretum on campus where I was happy to see lots of hellebores, daffodils, primroses, and flowering quince in bloom. Felt like spring! It was so nice to be outside and walking around on such a beautiful campus.  Only three more months of school for Julia, and then she will graduate in May. Wow, that went fast.

Primroses

Julia at the arboretum

Loved this daffodil

Hellebores

Julia at Duke Chapel

Obsessed With Ferns

Bird's Nest Fern

I am kind of obsessed with this bird's nest fern right now. I saw it at Merrifield a few weeks ago, and I didn't buy it, because the very last thing I need is another houseplant. But I keep thinking about it.  I love love love those ruffled edges.  Yes please. And then looking at this one made me start looking at my other ferns,  so here for your Thursday morning enjoyment are some of my gorgeous ferns. The first few are maidenhair ferns, their delicate lacy ferns were a favorite of my dear friend Patty, and I always grow a few for her.

And I love the dark glossy buttons of this button fern. They love water and are not very forgiving if you forget about them, so every few months or so mine crisps up and pretends to be dead. But if you cut it totally back and water it, new growth comes back and in a month or so it is back to life. This one is looking good right now. Until the next time it dies.

And of course I have to show my oldest and dearest fern (36 years old now!!), which is still going strong.  It is looking kind of crazy here, so it's probably time to divide it and get in under control.  If you are interested, you can read about its history here.

Good Hours

Good Hours
By Robert Frost


I had for my winter evening walk—
No one at all with whom to talk,
But I had the cottages in a row
Up to their shining eyes in snow.

And I thought I had the folk within:
I had the sound of a violin;
I had a glimpse through curtain laces
Of youthful forms and youthful faces.

I had such company outward bound.
I went till there were no cottages found.
I turned and repented, but coming back
I saw no window but that was black.

Over the snow my creaking feet
Disturbed the slumbering village street
Like profanation, by your leave,
At ten o’clock of a winter eve.

Orchids and Butterflies

Yesterday was President's Day and a holiday for both of us, so we headed downtown on this chilly day  to the Museum of Natural History to see an orchid exhibit that I read about and wanted to see. We used to go to this museum all the time when our kids were little, so it was fun to see this guy again.

The exhibit is called "The Orchids of Latin America," and represents a sampling of the thousands of orchids (there are more than 17,000 species)  grown in the Americas. These specimens in the exhibit  are the best of the winter-blooming plants grown by the Smithsonian and the U.S. Botanic Garden. There are over 300 plants displayed at one time, with new plants continually being changed in as blooms fade.

I especially loved the orchid pictured below, and remarked to a woman standing by me that it reminded me of pansies. She said it is in fact called a 'Pansy Orchid,' and she grows them in her apartment.  Its official name is Miltoniopsis, so I will need to track that variety down, since she said it is easy to grow.  It was great to see so many colors and varieties all together--such a feast for the eyes on a cold wintery day.

Pansy Orchid,  Miltoniopsis

After viewing the orchids, we went upstairs to the Butterfly Pavilion,  where you enter into a small chamber, warm and misty, that is filled with plants and real butterflies flying about from flower to flower. Kids love it in there, as the butterflies tend to land on you, and you have to be checked from head to toe when you exit, in case there are any hitchhikers!