It's hard to believe, but we're already entering late Spring! So, I thought it would be a good time to update what’s blooming in my sunny & shady perennial gardens since my last gardening post!  The view in my gardens change nearly every day – I love it! Gardening is so peaceful... the connection with the earth... I really can feel the positive vibrations from the plants - it uplifts me!

So back down to earth.  A few of the photos below are of flowers newly planted this Spring (sweet william, stratheden, scabiosa, & yarrow), so they may be blooming out of turn.  I’ll have to wait until next year to see where they fall in the blooming cycle – I usually end up moving things after a year or so depending on height and bloom time.

So here’s what’s in bloom right now (courtesy of my iPhone)!

First, the sunny garden:

Cranesbill with Stratheden (one of my favorite spots in the sun garden)

Alstilbe

Sweet William

Daylily

Coral Bells (these grew so TALL this year!)

Yarrow (with Phlox not yet in bloom, behind)

Scabiosa

Next, the shady garden: 

Oxalis

Lamium (this is a super-quick spreader... I wouldn't mind if it took over most of the shade garden - so pretty!)

Rose

So, what's growing in YOUR garden? I'd love to know!

So it happened.  I’m no longer the mom of a baby.  My youngest is now three: not a baby, not even a toddler… a real big boy. 

It's not like it happened overnight, but man, the last three years sure have flown by. I clearly remember the day he was born: we drove leisurely to the hospital for a non-stress test… and left two days afterward with a baby.  Now, three very short years later, we find ourselves putting our bed back up on its frame and clearing out the baby toys, to make room for the new big boy toys. 

Sigh.

That’s both a sigh of relief… for the years of night waking and diapers being over; and, a sigh of wistfulness… for the time when he was tiny enough to hold in the crook of my arm.

My big boy: He’ll talk your ear off.  He loves building and singing. He’s always been a super cuddle hog. And he still thinks his big sister is the best thing on the planet.In the blink of an eye, twelve seasons have passed, and my little baby is a big kid.  Parents: hug your babies.  Time goes by so fast. 

So here we are once again, “Springing forward” with our clocks, and wreaking havoc with our circadian rhythms.  In my personal experience, children respond the least well to DST, or, perhaps it’s that we adults don’t like to take things slowly, and wish kids could just “get” the concept of moving the clocks means going to bed/getting up earlier.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could gradually ease into DST – say, moving each day back by 8 minutes and 57 seconds for the week preceding?  Okay, maybe not.  

But as it is, I find the Spring forward part of the time changes particularly difficult: Bam! Wake up earlier! Slam! Go to bed earlier! No one really responds well.  I find myself wandering around in a haze in the mornings for a week or so, and unable to fall asleep in the evening.  For the children, nap, bedtime, and waketime become so much more dramatic.

After a particularly irritable day yesterday (granted, it has been raining here for the last three days), I decided to research a bit, to find out the reasons behind Daylight Saving Time. Really, I guess I was looking for someone to blame. 

Anyhow, the idea of Summer Time/Daylight Saving Time was first introduced by George Vernon Hudson in 1895. I’d imagine he’s no longer alive for me to give a piece of my mind. Harumph. It was first implemented during World War in an effort to conserve coal for war production (the theory being that by taking advantage of the greater hours of daylight in the Spring & Summer for work, less coal would be burned in the evenings, as people would be sleeping).  In 2007, due to the passing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, four extra weeks were added to extend Daylight Saving Time - extending our previously observed DST of 1^st Sunday in April – Last Sunday in October to where it stands now: The second Sunday in March – the first Sunday in November. Again, in an effort to further reduce energy consumption. While that theory of energy saving by DST still holds today, it doesn’t seem to be an open & shut case.  Wikipedia indicates that “recent research is limited and reports contradictory results” linking actual energy reduction to DST implementation.  Also that, “several studies have suggested DST increases motor fuel consumption”.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Of course I appreciate the extra “daytime” as the days naturally lengthen; it helps us wake with the sun, spend more time in the sun during the day, and thereby increase our ability to produce all-important Vitamin D, and improve our mood and health overall.  And certainly, if there are energy savings to be had by through the implementation of DST, then I’m all for its continuation. Yet, I wish there were a more gradual transition, particularly for the children.  Because when it comes right down to it, it’s just not easy explaining to a 2-year old, who “isn’t tired yet”, that they need to go to bed an hour earlier than they are used to because we moved the clocks forward in order that we may help reduce our country’s energy consumption by 1%. Yeah. On these first few evenings after the time change, I’m temped to go the way of Hawaii (and parts of Arizona), and not observe Daylight Saving Time at all.

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the Vernal Equinox occurs this year on March 20^th at 1:32 pm. It marks the day of the year when the amount of sun and the amount of darkness are exactly equal. Though, more importantly, the Vernal Equinox signals the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring in our hemisphere!

Here in New Jersey, 16 days out from glorious Spring, we’re already starting to see the first signs that it’s on its way.

Firstly, it nearly hit 50 degrees!

Now, though the thermometer reads like Spring, we still have snow in our back yard and through the woods. But, out in the front yard, which is Western exposure, we only have one tiny patch remaining:

Our first robin made her appearance a few weeks ago, just as the snow was starting to melt.  I don’t know where they go for the winter, but they surely are the first harbinger of Spring. And just today we lovingly observed the Canada Geese pairing off. 

As for our gardens, the narcissus are well up and heading towards budding. Although, to be fair, they’ve been up since an unseasonably warm day in January, because in New Jersey weather is just weird sometimes (can anyone say snowpocalypse 2010?), and a few days in January felt more like October.

Our tulips are pushing up through the old mulch in a couple of places, and even our daffodils in the back yard (in the shade), are coming up!

 
Our favorite garden store is open for the season, and yes, we did drive by already, though they don’t have anything much out yet besides mulch.  Wait a week though, and that will change, for sure.  I can’t wait to fill our poor winter bare wine barrel planter with some color!

Once the snow is completely gone, we’ll be out with rakes to get rid of the old leaves & sticks that have built up on the beds, trim back any branches that didn’t make it through the snow, and put down mulch. Sadly, we lost a rhododendron at the end of the season last year, after nursing it through the summer, so I’ll be replacing that first. I’d like to put in a stone path this year through the front bed, and figure out some low-light, low-growing, green ground cover for the “lawn” part of our tiny back yard.  We'll be installing a new bird (squirrel) feeder in the back, and, trading out our snowman garden flag for one that has spring flowers on it. 

We just can’t wait for the warmer days of Spring: the return of song birds, the sweet smell of lilacs, the rainbow colors of tulips, and many glorious afternoons spent in the garden!

We’re in the midst of our busiest season & so excited to be here!

Our extended hours are en force, holiday decorations are up, and everyone is in good spirits. The warehouse crew is super busy packing & shipping… just a few short weeks left until Christmas! 

We took some photos on Monday of this week - enjoy!

SeriousShops.com front office:

Monday's outgoing packages:

Monday's afternoon warehouse crew (nice job guys!):



SeriousShops.com holiday season outgoing packages in 2003!
(Why yes, that was our garage, and yes, we have grown!):

Welcome to October at Serious Shops!  I’ve finished decorating around the office to welcome Autumn:

We’re all so excited to be moving into the 4^th quarter - you can really feel it around here. The weather is cool, the air is crisp, and everyone is busy!

My friend tells me she’s just made the switch from iced lattes to hot. Now, while I still drink mine iced every morning, the sentiment is understood: Fall is finally here & it’s Fantastic!

Aside from my decorating, here are a few more exciting seasonal things at Serious Shops:

Fall Garden Flags

Pumpkin Spiced & Maple Vanilla Lattes

Halloween Stuffed Animals

So, I was feeling a bit down this evening after the banana pudding didn’t turn out too well: my son only ate the chocolate chips out of it & left the pudding, and my daughter said, “Mom, its kinda sweet… I’ll have a yogurt”. Sigh. Well, on to plan B!  My examination of the contents of my fridge, combined with the temperature of the air coming through the back window (cool and oh-so-wonderfully autumn crisp), lead me to whip up a quick pan of baked apple crisp. Here’s what I threw together:

6 small tart apples
4 Tbs butter
¼ cup flour (whole wheat white is my all-around baking favorite)
¼ cup rolled oats
¼ cup dark brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450f. Butter a baking dish. Peel, core, and cut apples into slices & place into the dish (now, you CAN leave the skin on, but I prefer them naked). Melt butter, and mix well with dry ingredients.  Scoop/crumble topping over the apples. Cover the dish & bake for approx. 30 minutes – until apples yield to a fork.  They can go quickly from that perfect state into mushy apple sauce, so watch those last 5 minutes closely!

Allow to cool a bit & enjoy (with vanilla ice cream is of course, the best)!