Dirt Therapy

I've just returned from a 10-day trip to Alabama to care for my brother while my sister and her BF took a vacation. They chose a good week to travel because the weather, for the most part, was very warm and pleasant. There were two record-breaking days when the temperature got up to 85! I doubt that is a good thing for February but it certainly felt good. Upon arrival, however, there were some extremely cold days but those were short-lived. I take advantage of these trips to catch up on my reading and I feel like I'm finally back in reading mode after a long dry spell of very little reading or none at all. If you enjoy books and are on GoodReads or StoryGraph , look me up so that we can connect. I'm always interested in what people are reading. As usual on these visits, a daily trip to the creek in always in order as my brother loves it. We spent almost every day playing at the creek, which is located about 1/4 of a mile behind the house down in the woods, when we were kid...

I've had mixed results growing snowdrops over the years but this little patch is currently making a nice appearance. I think I remember reading that there are thousands of varieties but honestly, they all look the same to me. This is the earliest blooming flower in the garden. Spring is coming! Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

'Naranja' As posted earlier , I potted three amaryllis at the end of November. One is spectacular (the 'Naranja' variety pictured above), one was pretty but brief and one was a total dud. 'Naranja' started out very peachy and the color has darkened a little and looks red-ish now. It is beautiful. 'La Paz' (above) bloomed several weeks earlier and while it is certainly a unique looking amaryllis, the blooms were only pretty for about a week. Michael kept commenting on the fragrance of the blooms but I could not smell a thing. The one dud in the bunch was 'Red Peacock' and this is what it looks like today - I don't know why some amaryllis do not do anything at all but there always seems to be one every year. Until next year... Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy