Third Anniversary

Today, February 4, 2016, is the third anniversary of this blog. It amazes--and delights--me that I've been posting weekly for 3 years, for 156 posts, plus one or two.


It is great fun. When I get feeling down, I work on a post.

Of course, there have been moments with a looming deadline and no idea what I'm going to write. That is not such a great feeling.

My more popular posts are on questions people google, especially plant names and sage.

Also much-read is The Colors of Red Cabbage.

For myself, I especially liked the Chinese dove tree,  nasturtium and watercress and Franklinia, although as soon as I started thinking of favorites, I thought of too many to name. That's because I had such fun writing for this blog.

Part of my enjoyment was doing things because the blog led me there. I made a varnished stick from a Brussels sprout stalk (link), searched for spring wildflowers in January (link), and ate big bites of onion (link).

I also tried to get poinsettias, left over from 2014, to flower, something I wouldn't have tried if I hadn't written about the conditions for getting poinsettias to flower for this blog. I wrote that I couldn't produce flowers (link) but in fact four of my five surviving poinsettias are in flower right now. Not in time for Christmas, but they look terrific. The photos make them look a bit better than they are since all the leaves, red bracts included, are smaller than on the plants you buy in the store.
But they are wonderfully festive.

   

After all these weeks, I have not run short of topics. Well, after all, there are more than 400,000 plants each deserving attention. In a huge world with lots of stunning and fascinating places to wander through...And then there's the interplay of plant and place, of forests, grasslands, swamps and the plants that create and inhabit them. Lots to look at and think about!

Rocky Mountains, Colorado

I thank you very much for reading.

Violets, from a forest in eastern Nebraska

Comments and corrections welcome.

Kathy Keeler

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