Tag Archives: white

The Beauty of White

Grape arbors

We have four arbors on the farm.

Definition of ARBOR: a shelter of vines or branches or of latticework covered with climbing shrubs or vines.

We don’t exactly have the latticework but have “different” styles that our grape vines grow on.

Last fall and early spring, hubby finished building a new arbor that gets sun all day and we have five different grapes growing on it. They are a red grape, white grape, and three Concords.

New grape arbor wtih five new vines started and three varieties.

I was told to pack old hay under the arbor to kill the orchard grass. That DID NOT work!

The other arbors all hold the same grape but we’re not sure what kind they are. They’ve been on the farm for years and still produce gobs of grapes that are about the size of a normal marble and sooooooo sweet! They make wonderful grape juice, jelly and wine.

This vine is an old white grape and they’re so sweet. I plan to start some young vines from it. It runs from the backyard and around the wood house.

Grape vine in back yard. I started this one after the old one finally died. It’s on the end of the trellis toward the house.

Old Grapevine on west side of house, this vine trails up into a paw-paw tree.

We have two more on the farm that include one at the sugar house and another on the back porch of the mansion. This one was the only one that had a lot of grapes on it this year but they rotted from all the rain we had during the summer. Hopefully, next summer will be better since I’ve had so much to can this year anyway. I’ll get them all trimmed this winter after the sap goes back in the ground and we’ll get bigger and better in 2016! I’ll try some new mulching methods this winter and next spring and hope the varmints don’t eat the tender bark on the new ones. There’s not going to be a lot for rabbits, coons and deer to eat this winter and they take whatever they can find.

New roses are growing

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I truly love roses and am trying so hard to make them grow and survive our mountain farm. In the spring I found a wonderful buy at Breck’s for five roses for $19.99 and they were bare root roses. When they arrived they were already showing lots of new growth but I was afraid to plant them because we were still getting freezing temps day and night several days in a row. Finally in early May, hubby helped me dig the holes and we put them in the ground with two tablespoons of epsom salts and lots of water.

I watered them every day May through mid-June and we started getting some rain. Now I water them thoroughly once or twice a week depending on the rain. They are doing quite well and all but one has bloomed and it’s still sprouting new growth. I’m watching it carefully and giving it lots of love! Here’s proof of the blooming:

Now, I started this post in June and here it is the 8th of August and (more about that later) here’s what my beautiful roses have done all summer:

I’m dealing with some japanese beetles and some black spot which seems to be worse with all the rain we’re getting but I’m thrilled I’ve kept them alive, they’re blooming and so beautiful. I just have to keep them through the winter. New post coming with the rest of the flowers flourishing this summer!!

Green thumb extended to winter

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I love things that grow and gardening. Winter is a slow time for gardening but you couldn’t tell by looking at my back porch which is enclosed. I wonderful husband built me some shelving a few years back to accomodate my Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus assortment. The upper shelving holds about twenty beauties and the lower shelves hold our veterinary supplies for the cattle and other gardening supplies. I want to show you the beauties on the upper shelving that started blooming Halloween week and are still blooming today. Enjoy!!

New cactus from my daughter that will have yellow blooms.

White bloom

A lot of them look alike but each one has a subtle difference. I’m looking for a orange and my daughter bought me three yellow cactus for Thanksgiving. They need little care and are only watered about once a month. Watering anymore than that will cause them to rot right before your eyes. The porch is very cool now but it hasn’t stopped these beauties from strutting their stuff. I used to have to carry all of them upstairs in the wintertime but right before the shelving was done, hubby pulled up the flooring, replaced plumbing, flooring, insulation, put in new windows and insulated the walls and put up paneling. It stays cool in the summer because of the maple trees surrounding the house and in the winter the sun (when it shines) keeps the plants happy and the room warm.

If you want a beautiful plant with little care, this is the way to go!!