longevity award

This little concoction has been sitting around on my windowsill since before Nov. 15. I can't remember how long before Nov. 15 I plopped the yellow Echinacea flower into this clear glass vase (with a pretty piece of nandina foliage and some Jewels-of-Opar foliage and seeds), but I know it was before a talk I gave on Nov. 15. The Echinacea flower still looks almost as perky as it did the day I picked it, and so does the nandina and Jewels-of-Opar foliage. Amazing!

railroad arrangement

I walked across the tracks late yesterday afternoon to pick some honeysuckle before the frost got it. Then a long freight train came, and as I waited, I entertained myself by picking more wild things growing near the crossing. Here they are: wild asparagus, goldenrod, red maple, some maroon leaves I can't identify, ground cherries, and, of course, honeysuckle blossoms (far left).

honeysuckle--two ways

Lots of Japanese honeysuckle blooming along my walk yesterday. I picked a little piece and first dropped it into a tiny glass bottle. Then, today, I moved it to a little orange pitcher. I think maybe I  like it best just in the glass bottle, but it's been fun to play with both ways.

peppers in a packet

Mary Garner-Mitchell created this beautiful little package of peppers at Flower Camp last weekend. The peppers were leftover from an arrangement she'd done with branches of hot peppers and she couldn't seem to throw away the ones that had fallen off. They're wrapped in a catalpa leaf.

lilac and marigolds--huh??!!

Lilacs blooming in October? With the marigolds? Weird. I guess I've seen a lilac throw a bloom or two in the fall but never have a shrub covered with blooms--like the one we now have in blooming in Buckingham. Talk about a strange combination of fragrances: marigold pungency + lilac sweetness = olfactory overload!

marigolds instead of a nap

Just back from a really fun trip to D.C. for a nature journaling workshop, but when I got home I was tired with little time to recoup before needing to go out again. How to rejuvenate myself? Decided to do a windowsill arrangement and it worked perfectly. I feel centered again and can now dance on!

hyacinth bean, globe amaranth, etc.

Somewhere between the colors in these two photos are the correct colors of these flowers: hyacinth bean, Tatarian aster, and globe amaranth. The color I like best in this conglomeration shows up pretty well in both photos. It's the reddish purple of the hardy begonia and kale leaves.