October 23, 2022- We had the hard freeze

Hello again. We are back in Iowa. We have been back for a week. We returned last Saturday evening. What is it with the baggage handling at the Cedar Rapids airport? We actually would have won the bet for the last bag to come out.

The hard freeze waited until Monday night. It officially got down to 22 degrees. It had been predicted for Sunday night. That meant that all day Sunday I moved the last indoor plants into the house and garage. Let me just say there are many plants that are still in the garage.

Monday during the day I was able to take some cuttings from the Persian shield plants. They do get the award for the best color in the garden. By taking cuttings I will have started plants for the spring.

I also picked a few zinnia flowers which are now over the kitchen sink.

State of the garden as we have not even finished with October:

Maybe 2/3 of the indoor plants are in their winter locations. Colin, who lives across the street, helped bring in the big heavy plants on Sunday. That included these two. (Actually the croton is in a plastic pot, which really can make a big difference as to weight. The jade is in a lovely ceramic pot, which is probably heavy without the plant.)

We decided that the really big jade plant, which came from Sue Davis, gets a living room location this winter. It is on rollers and ready did not have to be lifter, other than getting over the front door sill, as it had spent the summer on the front porch. 

The big croton, a variety called petra, is so grand. It gets a lot of sunlight as those are south facing windows.

Here are a few other pictures from inside plants.

Several of the larger cattleya orchid bloom in the fall. This bud is about to open. Would it not be great to get a newspaper from sometime in the future that says "Trump jailed?" 

This hibiscus came inside with buds. This one bloomed this week.

I noticed that one of the larger orchid cactus actually set a seed pod. I harvested one of these 6-7 years ago. At the moment it is as hard as a nut. When it softens it can be cut open and the seeds extracted. That, as they say, can be a project for January.

I now have two large Queen of the Night Epiphyllums. The smaller of the two is right next to the computer. While outside it had a bud growing before we left for Maine. It is still there, and it may be viable. It is just beginning to turn upward after hanging down for a month.

The toad lilies lasted until the hard freeze. I got this picture last Sunday.

There is still quite a bit going on in the garden, even as the perennials mostly are done.

I have planted quite a few kale. That means maybe 16 plants. I continue to see kale as the fall garden future. What we had discovered at the nursery in Chicago two weekends ago, we saw in all the garden centers we visited in Maine. Nurseries are beginning to notice that kale can be a good product in the fall. (Iowa City places? Not so much.) 

I would get Katie several kate at each nursery we visited. Look at these beauties we found in Maine for Katie's garden. The big plants which had been $7 each in the Chicago suburbs, were between $8-10 in Maine.

When you look at the kale, remember it will look good until Christmas.

This week the fall crocuses have begun to bloom in Iowa. These are ones from previous years. I look for the ones planted in September to start in a week or so.

I am reminded how wonderful the background is for bulbs either in the spring or the fall. The color of the bulb contrasts so nicely with the brown of the leaves and sticks.

I find this picture significant. I think a single bulb has divided and is now making a clump.

I told you there would be grandchildren pictures. Here they are. 

Christopher Philip Mears-Snell is now 5. He will be 6 in January. He is now in kindergarden. He is in soccer. He is in gymnastics. He goes to school at 7:15 in the morning. He reaaly likes unicorns, and he can identify the flags of most of the countries around the world and of the states here.

Maisie (Margaret) Ross Mears-Snell was 2 in August. She was born the night we got power back on after the derecho. She now has so much to say, even if her dialect is sometimes hard to understand. One thing she likes to say is "Absolutely not." She calls both of us "Bop". If one of us in not present, she will ask where the other bop is. 

She goes to daycare and is not yet in soccer or gymastics. Something has to wait until you are 3.

Maisie has the ability to show her emotions. 

And there are videos, as these children are usually in motion, or at least busy at something.

I think this was my favorite video. Talk about concentration. She will be able to repair things before she is...well she is just two now. I will let you pick a number.

Bubble technology has come a long way in 50 years. We used to have those little circles the size of a teaspoon. The bubbles last longer too.

One of Maisie's favorite lines we heard often was "my turn." Sometimes it would be "My turn now."

She really wants to do almost anything that "brother" does. Here is group strumming.

Katie moved to a house with a real yard last fall. It is on a quiet street where much of the time, with supervision, kids can play in the street.

Odds and Ends

We have had almost no rain in October.

Mississippi river

https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_8da534a0-5090-11ed-8a7e-7bcf92e38921.html