Simple Potpourri for Dummies*
*Or for the lazy, or for the winter-weary....

STEP I:   Buy some roses at the grocery store. You deserve them.

STEP II:  Take them home, arrange them, and enjoy them.

STEP III:  They will usually begin to dry up while still on the stem.    Remind yourself that there IS something good about dry indoor air in winter!    Put them somewhere out of the way if they look too ugly.  Pick off whole flowers (or buds, which should stay intact) along with some leaves for color, and store them with good ventilation until completely dry.

STEP IV:  Repeat above as often as desired.

NOTES:   Fragrance oil can be added when potpourri is completely dry.  Don’t let oil prices mislead you.   Many of the cheaper oils are so diluted that they are not a good value. “Greenleaf” is my overwhelming favorite, and “Seasons, Inc.” is also a good brand.
My sister puts the above potpourri in large kitchen storage bags and uses it as packing material in gift boxes.   It’s attractive, useful, biodegradable, and acts as an extra gift.

--T'Mara Freise--T'Mara Freise

Five Good Things About Winter
        by T'mara Goodsell Friese

Like many Northerners, I used to spend winter days looking through catalogs and longing for plants too warm for my zone.  Broad-leafed evergreens sounded wonderful.   And shrubs that actually bloomed in winter?  Unbelievable.

Now I live in Zone 8, and I'm ashamed to say that the grass on the ol' southern side of the fence doesn't look quite so green anymore.  I'm not saying it isn't perfectly wonderful, mind you, but just that I miss the northern side of the fence from time to time.  As someone who has shoveled frozen snow until my hands seemed to grow into bonsai-shovel-holding-claws, that's a shock.  Here are a few things I miss:

1.  Real seasons give you more variety.   You may be saying, "Duh" right now, but I hadn't really thought of it that way.  I used to love the view off my deck in every season up North.  Like an ever-changing painting, it was stark, contemporary neutrals in winter; impressionistic pastels in spring; lush, neo-classic jewel tones in summer, and warm, mosaic brights in fall.  Here, my back yard is green, then less green, then green again.

2.  Snow is cozy, as long as you're not shivering in it.  There's that magical moment after a "snow day" is announced--after the children stop cheering and before they slop slush all over the floor for the tenth time--which feels as though being stranded at home with nothing pressing to do is a gift.  And what's more, winter means what a friend from Wisconsin calls "Indoor Time."  Time to redecorate, read, snuggle.  Time to plan next year's garden.

3.  Not all plants grow in warm climates.  I used to think a warmer zone meant a much bigger variety of plants.   Although the winters are less brutal in a more southerly zone, summers can be more brutal.  So there aren't necessarily more plants, just different ones.  Some beloved favorites--like lilacs, lilies of the valley, peonies and delphiniums--need either some winter chill or cooler temperatures in order to do well.  Tropical gardens are lovely.  But so are cottage gardens.  Which one is most exotic really does depend on which one you see the least.

4.  Seasons aren't better down South, just different.  "Seasons are sort of switched here,"a friend from Louisiana explained.  Some things might bloom in winter, but other things may go dormant in the summer heat.  It's tempting to garden in the winter, when the temperatures are bearable, and spend the long days of summer shut up in the air conditioning, away from the bugs.

5.  The harder the winter, the more wonderful the spring.  It's true.  I used to want to do a May dance of sorts when the crocus came up and the air carried that green smell for the first time.  In the South, it's a little hard to say exactly when spring arrives.   It doesn't give the feeling of rebirth and renewal that it does in the North.   There can't be an awakening if nothing has slept in the first place. 

So is the grass really greener up north?  In a literal sense?  No.  And yes.  It really depends on the season.  True, it's possible to overseed with winter rye to have a green lawn all winter where I live, but summer is a different story.  Warm season grasses don't have the soft, dark green lushness of cool season grasses.  And Southern lawns have to battle more pests and diseases that don't get killed off by the coldest temperatures.  Is the grass greener in a figurative sense?  Same thing.

Funny how I always learn something from my garden, even if the lesson is a tough one.  Hope y'all are enjoying the season, no matter which one it is.  :o)