The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 47,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 17 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown
It’s that time of year again when the Pecans are ready to be picked. I got out the stepladder yesterday afternoon and managed to harvest a gallon of these tasty paper shell nuts. My son was worried I would fall and insisted on holding the ladder for me. He kept telling me I was too old to be climbing up on things. lol I don’t know when that happened. 
Of course I ignored his warnings and kept picking as many as I could reach without falling. A couple of years ago Mother Nature made it easy for me by bringing a Nor’easter through here and kindly blowing all the ripened nuts down to the ground. Since normally I have to fight the squirrels to get a share of the crop it was a nice change to have equal opportunity. Unlike those greedy little pests, I was generous and left them plenty to store away for the winter. This year they had the advantage being able to scurry up the tree early on and take what they want. And they’ve made a mess of my yard dropping empty shells and half eaten nuts everywhere. At least while their occupied with the Pecan Tree they don’t mess with my flower bulbs too much. I’ve found a few Narcissus bulbs that were displaced so they could bury their pecans however. You just can’t win sometimes. lol Hope everyone is having a nice week so far, it’s been beautiful here with temps in the 70′s yesterday. Have a good rest of your week in or out of the garden.
Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey'
Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'
Viola x wittrockiana 'Matrix Orange'
I have to say my new favorite color this season has to be orange. It is the perfect shade for the fall & winter garden. And this ‘Matrix Orange’ Pansy which I added to several containers is at the top of my list. These cold loving annuals are always on my list of plants to add every October, since they will keep going strong right up till the following May when the heat sets in. At that point I replace them with summer annuals therefore keeping my containers looking good year round. Here’s some info on this new selection for my garden:
