High Altitude Gardening: Hey, 2020 ~ Here's you're hat, what's your hurry?

Friday, January 01, 2021

Hey, 2020 ~ Here's you're hat, what's your hurry?

Cheers to the end of the most difficult year.

I survived. That's what I was thinking as I was gazing at the playful clouds on this New Year's Day.

I survived. And, if you're reading this. You did, too.

I'm talking about surviving the hopeless, helpless feelings that plagued everyone, during this horrible year. I am not making light of the tragedy that has befallen so many.

One $5 dollar flower bulb gifts you with all these pretty flowers. Just add water. Buy an #Amaryllis kit!

Some lost quite a lot, considerably more than me.

All I really lost was faith.

And, 12 months.

I can attest to the fact that Christmas cactus live for a hundred years.

I've had this one since my college days.

Which is why I forced myself to stay awake until midnight.

Getting up at 3 a.m. is easy for me, what with all my irrational fears and worries... I'm very good at that.

But staying up until midnight - to ring in the New Year? Now, that is hard work.

During 2020 Covid lockdown, I planted tons of flowers, by seed, in my sunny window. #Zinnias

Felt like I needed to do it.

Stay awake. Watch the clock announce it is 12:01 a.m.

And, kick this awful year to the curb.

Elf Sunflowers are tiny + adorable. Grown by seed in my sunny window during lockdown.

In prep for NYE, since we cannot socialize..

I curled up on the couch, gazed at my beloved mountains… and took a delightful afternoon nap.

10 days into our first covid lockdown, I created a shrine to the cutest little artist on the planet.

Hattie B. My granddaughter. It was the longest time we were apart since she was born.

[#Anthurium flowers]

I was tired!

All talked out, after real true phone calls, not text messages (yay!), from people reaching out to me. Wishing me a Happy New Year. Thinking of me.

Missing me almost as much as I miss them.

Feeling ‘loved’ and no longer invisible.

Social distancing tomatoes. Grown indoors, from seed, during covid lockdown.

Which is how you feel ~ invisible ~ when you can barely cope with the first lockdown..

So very excited for that to be over.

Chalk it up to lockdown boredom, I ordered Passiflora seedlings, and she bloomed!!!

Only to discover that it's time to do the isolation thing all over again.

Yes. You really can grow Morning Glories indoors. But, they need a whole lotta space!

When I woke up, I thought about this long, strange, blurry, dragged on forever year.

And, how grateful I am for the little things that kept me going.

Like this goofball.

"This is the bestest stick ever!" - Charlie Waffles

The dogger who refused to take no for an answer on days when I was too sad to walk out the door.

Royal Velvet Amaryllis - growing in the big bay window.

Grateful for so many little things. Like a sunny window.

Where I can grow pretty much anything.

Canterbury Bells.

How. During the worst of it.

When everyone was soooo busy - selfishly fighting over the last roll of toilet paper..

They quit buying all the blossoms at the supermarket flower store.

Paper Whites (Narcissus)

So I started my very own Flower of the Month club. Rescues from the discount bin.

Audrey - my Venus Flytrap. An essential plant for an indoor flower garden. (She gobbles all the bugs.)

And, how walking the dog isn't always a bad idea.

Like the day I found this:

And, when I discovered this remarkable wildflower. On one of our many wilderness adventures.

Some kind of Wild Iris!

Which prompted me to starting writing a photo book.

Of all the gorgeous wildflowers we discover in the High Uintas, northern Utah. Our favorite stomping ground.

Knowing full well, that book will never get published. Since it took me 15 months to write one blog post... what are the odds of finishing that thing?