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It is a White Christmas

December 26, 2017 By Mary Booth Cabot

It is s White Christmas!

It is Christmas time again and we have our first 8”snow I can ever remember. I can never remember one in the Atlanta GA area this early in the year or as many inches. There has been only one other snow that I remember about 10 years ago that was a dusting, an inch, that was just the week before Christmas.  So this is a magnificent occasion.  We southerners are not used to White Christmases but we love it when it might happen and this really did happen!  I got out in it took pictures and this evening put on my show boots from the northeastern states where I do flower shows and went out again getting the long pruning pole and beat the snow off the camellias (they are in bloom) and shrubs (still blooming) and small trees so they wouldn’t break apart under the heavy wet snow. My husband thought I was truly out of my mind.

We have had a good year in many ways as Bob has a great job now. He is selling residential and commercial mortgages and is in love with his work. Things have changed from having him home with me to just seeing him on the weekends…During the week it is mostly Hi & Bye. I have been working closer to home now just doing a few local shows, teaching classes 3 days a week, and painting and gardening.  I have needed to de-stress to help my health so I had to give up some of the shows that are so far away from home.  I do miss seeing all of you at the shows! So many of you I have really looked forward to seeing if only twice a year.  To help the problem of cutting back on the shows I have created a way for you to be able to order something that you have wanted, actually easily, on a Facebook Shopify website…www.maryboothcabot.com.  It has been a great deal of data entry but I have had a great teacher and now it is basically finished and being used. It was opened or posted for use Nov 22.  I like it and I hope you will too. Please do let me know of any typos or discrepancies you might find…I welcome your comments good and bad. You are always welcome to contact me and chat and catch up with each other…or ask questions about something or workshops and classes. I also have a new blog on gardening, plants, painting and art…www.dancinginthegarden. You might enjoy reading it. Oh, yes, I almost forgot, I am taking the University’s course in Master Gardening January-March 2018.  It will be great to learn more new things about my ‘love of plants’ hobby.

Bob’s children are all well and happy. His daughter, Ali, is teaching yoga in Costa Rica and living in thatched roof open sided dwellings and loving it. His son, Drew, is taking care of work and his dog while his girlfriend is studying for 4 months in Japan, and his daughter, Sara, has moved to the mountains of West Virginia and enjoying country life. His brother, Dick, is in love and recently married to a wonderful woman named Jackie. His sisters Allene and Sally are both better than ever. My nephew, David Booth, has helped me by working on painting the house interior and helping with other things around the house and garden after we had a tree go down hitting the house this past May.

Bob and I want to take a moment and tell you all how much we have enjoyed having you be part of our extended family. Each one of you have blessed and enriched our life in some very special way. Because of you our life is full of enjoyment, love, and rich memories. Please do stay in touch.

Camellias in 2017 Snow
The Blue Chair Garden with the beginnings of Snow

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year ahead.

Filed Under: Art, Art Classes, Art Philosophy, Drawing, Garden, Shopify, Shrubs Tagged With: Christmas letter 2017, master gardner, snow

Variegated Fatsia – In Bloom Nov 1st to Dec 15th! Fatsia Japonica’ Variegata’

November 3, 2017 By Mary Booth Cabot

I am excited! Many of you may never have seen a Fatsia plant in bloom.  I want to share it with you. This one is a show stopper in my yard and a tropical look for a broadleaf evergreen. I think everyone should find one and plant it to enjoy.  It blooms when almost everything else has finished blooming. I think I have a few dahlias and a very few roses left in bloom. It also looks nothing like any other plant I have.

This is the variegated type of Fatsia.  There is a dark plain green leaf type also which is the more common one. This variegated one is a beauty… 6′ tall, large 15″ palmate light cream and super dark variegated lobed, glossy leaves, needs some protection from the winds where we live, cold hardy, evergreen, and is a shade loving plant. The bees love it and there is little else blooming for them to enjoy. It is also fairly drought tolerant in zone 7A.

Here is a close up of the bloom.  It is a 2.5″ sphere of small blooms.  Some have opened and some have not. It ends up when open looking almost like a different version of dandy lion.  On the single bloom photograph you can see the open blooms toward the bottom. There is a tiny flesh colored ball in the center with white back petals and long white stamen.

It has a few other names too like Japanese Aralia,  False Castor-oil Plant,  Fatsia  Aralia, Aralia Japonica…plant names usually indicate their origins.  Monrovia has one out called ‘Camoflage’.

If  you are a plant nut like I am, this is a great plant pick. It is definitely uniquely interesting.

Filed Under: Art, Garden, Shopify, Shrubs Tagged With: broadleaf evergreen, circular bloom, fatsia, tropical look

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