Out my kitchen window

Sometimes I need to look out my front door rather than out my kitchen window. Today was one of those moments. What a show I was gifted with. The sunrise was a ribbon of colors that would be very hard to duplicate.

I snapped a photo of the sky, streaked with golds, oranges and blues. There were little puffs of clouds that looked like very stiff whipped egg whites spread across the sunrise.

Perfect! There isn’t any more that can be said to describe it.

I’ve said goodbye to my colorful view out my kitchen window where, just a few weeks ago, pots of red geraniums and beds of blue salvia, white alyssum and pink-toned vinca dotted the area. There are now leaves, lots of brown leaves carpeting the area.

As I said goodbye to the colorful annuals and moved those I wanted to save to the garage, I am never ready for the sea of leaves that come around each fall.

It’s a reminder that colder temperatures will fill the days and nights and I will have to wait about six months to smell the fresh spring soil.

It’s November and orange pumpkins will stay in the garden until Thanksgiving. A couple pots of burgundy mums have been planted and a mixed pot of colorful mums, rubeckia and flowering kale, with a sprout of ornamental grass, still add interest to the garden as I look out my kitchen window.

I’m not anxious to argue with Mother Nature about the color scheme. Instead now is the time to think about indoor color with house plants, including beautiful amaryllis flowers.

It won’t be long until amaryllis bulbs will be pulled out from their paper bags where they are in hibernation. You can plan out when you want the bulbs to bloom. Or at least get pretty close to marking their time for bloom.

I stored my amaryllis bulbs in the old-fashioned method of leaving them in their pots under a lilac bush. When fall cleanup time came, I trimmed off their leaves and placed them in paper bags in a corner of the garage. The next step is to just let them sit in waiting.

When the time is right, probably late December, I will repot them in fresh potting soil. They dont need to be deep in soil. It needs to cover only a bit over half the bulb. Give them a drink and then wait for them to sprout.

It’s fun to watch the plants sprout their leaves and buds. When they are done reaching for the sky, the buds start to color and within days the flowers emerge.

It’s hard to resist the boxes of amaryllis with the photo of their colorful flowers that can be found in stores preceding Christmas. With a shopping cart in front of me, the rhythm seems to be, an amaryllis for a friend, one for me. One for each of my sisters, one for me. One for my workplace, one for me.

There are usually boxes of paper whites and daffodils too. The vision of color during the winter is really hard to resist.

I need to keep in mind that I did save bulbs and only have so much room in my country home.

As I stack away the boxes of bulbs until gift giving time I wish I had bought hyacinth and daffodil bulbs and even tulip bulbs earlier in the year for forcing. That too is a great color addition to the winter months.

Not only is it time to shop for amaryllis, its also the time to think about garden gifts for those on your Christmas list. The selection is endless. Who doesn’t need a new garden clipper? Or a bag of preemergent like Preen.

A new shovel or a garden trowel is also fun to receive.

Gardeners are really easy to shop for. You can even send them gift certificates to their favorite garden catalog or garden shop.

I’ve jumped from a beautiful sky filled with color to wrapping gifts for Christmas giving. It seems like my life is full of color.

Here’s hoping your view out the front door or kitchen window is all the colors you want in your life.