Winter White Hippeastrum

Just a quick note on preparations for winter. I found some top-quality hippeastrum bulbs in North Branford over the weekend. Really big, beautiful bulbs, plus an assortment of fragrant white narcissus (paperwhites), so I loaded up my basket and had a planting party over the weekend.

Good quality white hippeastrum can be hard to come by, but this supplier had bins full of fat ‘H. Amaryllidinae Picotee’ and ‘H. Amaryllidinae Christmas Gift’, both beautiful white variants of the classic ‘H. Amaryllidinae Apple Blossom’. I wasn’t thinking paperwhites this winter, but when I spied a big basket of glossy, healthy bulbs just in from Holland, I caved.

So, barring any pointless impulse buys, and the one hippeastrum bulb I’m still waiting delivery of, I think I’m all set with bulbs for this winter. That is, unless I happen to be walking somewhere are see more fat bulbs at good prices. Then all bets are off.

We started bird feeding last week, and the songbirds are gathering around every day. Squirrels discovered the corn feeder and clean it out almost daily. This is going to be an expensive feeding season. We fired up the pellet stove for the first time this weekend. I placed a big bowl of water on top of it for humidity in the house.

Yesterday was chilly, so my husband filled the pellet stove and turned it up. I made vegan nachos with lots of black beans and veggies for me, and beef nachos for him, and we settled in for Sunday afternoon football. Our team won. I had a fleeting thought that winter may not be so bad. I’ll eat these words as vigorously as those delicious nachos come January.

Peace on earth.

Barbie xo