Springtime in Alabama...

I like to think that Spring is my favorite season in the South. The wild flowers and clover take over the land, and the temperatures are a mild 80 degrees. I like to think that this is the time of year to host garden cookouts and sit outside in the Adirondack chairs until the last bit of sunlight each day disappears later and later each day. But, see, here's the truth of it--I somehow forget, until Spring in the South is upon me again, that the entire season is a matter of dodging tornados and praying that your home and your loved ones are not destroyed by "the big one."

When I was a child, the excitement of hearing the sirens revving up, grabbing the candles and my favorite stuffed animal and running down to the dirt cellar of our 1916 Victorian house was thrilling! I'd curl up in my father's arms, my old-fashion cotton nightgown smudged with dirt and the sickly sweet smell of mildew in my nostrils. (I think my secret love of the faint scent of mildew reminds me of my childhood Springtime moments in that cellar.) I can't remember how my parents reacted to it. I can't remember if they were scared. I like to imagine they were cool and confident about the matter, not worrying about falling tree limbs and roofs being ripped from houses, and the insurance claims to be filed. I like to imagine that they were caught up with me and my sister in our primitive game in that dirt cellar with candles and old-fashion night gowns. In those times in the cellar, we only mattered to each other.

If you're truly from the South, your childhood memories are riddled with tales of that "big twister of year-such-n-such." I'm sitting here now, in this wild digital era (is that term outdated yet?), blogging to you while I watch the warnings and the skies gradually turn black. I'm watching the weather reports and the damage reports of my surrounding cities. It's heading this way. My home has no cellar and I'm not wearing any old-fashion nightgown. I'm hoping my husband gets home from work before it hits, and that my father's building in Cullman wasn't part of the damage I'm hearing about in the reports. They're telling me it's gonna hit Birmingham in nine minutes. I'm not as fatalistic as I was a few years ago, but I don't like NOT having a place to go hide. Give me a mildewy cellar in this Alabama Springtime.

I guess that's it for now. I've got to get my dogs on their leashes and go duck my head in my 2 square foot "hallway."

Springtime is here.

Deeply rooted.

So I'm still on my gardening kick. I've spent about ten hours over the past two days cleaning up our three yards, cutting back overgrowth, cleaning flower beds, and potting Spring plants. Seeing as how we rent our house, it makes a lot of sense to pot plants seeing as how I can take them wherever we end up (except for maybe on the road). Potted plants are also a great way to satisfy my great anticipation of all things Spring. I've potted some iris bulbs I rescued from bad bed, French lavender, Rosemary, and Cilantro. I ran out of pots today so I'm keeping an eye open for some new planters. I usually grab interesting ones that I comes across at yard/estate sales and thrift stores, but Etsy has got some really cool ones...

Clayflower22 makes these INCREDIBLE hand painted planters from antique doll heads. Here are some of my favorites. (Just click the photo to go to the specific page!)





left: handmade planter from Inkypots.
right: handmade clay planter from Lori Koop. Check her out--she's an amazing potter.


left: vintage jaguar planter, from InspirationMemories.
right: Grouchy Pot planter, from JMNPOTTERY.



left: knotty Oak planter, from lauri706.
right: Capodimonte swan planter, from TheEnchantedAttic.

How does your garden grow??

Seeing as how good ole Phil the Groundhog has seen his shadow and we only have six weeks left of winter, I'm reading up on starting a garden! I've never really had a green thumb, but the springs and summers of my childhood are filled with many memories of tomato vines and strawberry picking and apple trees and rose gardens and on and on. I was surrounded by some amazing women with the horticultural gift.

So after having kept a couple house plants alive for more than 12 months, it's time to move into my garden. The husband and I have lived in a really great little rental house for going on three years. One of the reasons we moved into this place was because of the incredible yard--actually it's three full yards. The front yard has some hydrangeas. The side lawn has pecan trees, rose bushes, and some other flowering trees I can't identify. The back yard has an enormous magnolia tree right in the middle, providing shade for our house (saving us a ton in electricity costs when it's 100+ degrees outside). There are rose bushes, irises, fig trees, and lots of ivy.

I have to figure out a way to plant what I want to plant so that our dogs don't destroy the garden...but I want to plant tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, arugula, dahlias, tulips, fragrant verbena, sunflowers, lots of herbs, and on and on...


Domino, which sadly is soon to be no more, has these great garden layouts online. They're based on the gardens of Oscar de la Renta and are really smart and pretty. Thanks to Jackie at peppermags for blogging on these great garden designs!


Here are some other great links for the beginning gardener (or if you just need to brush up or ask questions!)

The Germinatrix...This was a great gardening Q&A blog featured on Domino's web site. I'm not sure how long it'll be up, but go there and take notes!!

You Grow Girl...This is a really revolutionary site--people trying to change the way the gardener/human relates to plants, emphasizing environmentalism and laid-back gardening. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Garden Harvest Supply...Thanks to Leatherneck Joe for the tip!

Hastings Garden Center...Check out all the great info under the "Garden Wise" tab; be sure to look at their potted garden layouts.
Enjoy exploring and planning. I'll be dreaming up big gardens as I stare out into the Monday rainstorm.