Southern California Winter

About this time each year I begin my- I won't call it my annual garden pruning. I'ts more of the annual garden clipping. I'll take a slow tour around the garden, clippers in hand, for about the next 45 days. Taking it slowly is what makes it a ritual, not a heavy chore.
Taking it slowly also allows the opportunity to create lots of little bouquets to enjoy. Today the delicious cherry red blooms of pineapple sage and the elegant purple indigo spires salvia clippings were taken from the garden. An empty forcing vase that was lonely in my shed is now filled with their sprays.
The Betty Boop roses are charmingly informal. A trio of blossoms plunked into the sage turns the clipplings in to a floral arrangement. Every few days, I'll check the sage and salvia for roots.
Once the stringy roots reach out from the bottom of the stems are spotted, the cycle of beauty from the garden will be set to restart. From garden clipping, to bouquet to rooted specimens: places will be found for them.
I already see the New Year holding out promise to be ever more colorful.

Carolyn Wassenaar shared this poem in a Christmas card.

CHRISTMAS ISN'T CHRISTMAS UNTIL IT HAPPENS IN YOUR HEART
SOMEWHERE DEEP INSIDE YOU IS WHERE CHRISTMAS REALLY STARTS
SO GIVE YOUR HEART TO JESUS
AND DISCOVER WHEN YOU DO
THAT IT'S CHRISTMAS
REALLY CHRISTMAS FOR YOU

Author unknown

The first Christmas decoration we bought when we moved in to our current home was this nativity. It is the first decoration of the season to come out. A physical reminder of why Christmas is important to us. Even in lean years, when we fretted if there was a reason to celebrate, it was displayed. A prompt that just being able to publicly acknowledge our faith, let alone celebrate it, is something many people in this world would give everything for.
Our manger display wandered about the living room each year, as I sought a permanent place where it would have the most spiritual impact. When my husband returned from Egypt with a papyrus rolled up in his suitcase, we had it flattened and framed. And it was clear that in front of the souvenir art work was the perfect home.
Our papyrus is the pictorial account of the complex thoughts the ancient Egyptians held about the afterlife. As Christians and other monotheists do today, they believed that death is not a final stopping point, that death is simply a transition point to the afterlife.
I like that the papyrus scene rooted in Egyptian culture is behind the manger scene. For shortly after Jesus was born in Jerusalem, its ruler, Herod the Great, was visited by the Three Kings also known as The Three Wise Men. Shortly after Jesus’ birth they sought to worship him. During their journey they came to ask King Herod if he knew where the newly born Jesus,” King of the Jews” could be found. Cunningly, he said no, but asked his visitors to return with the newborn’s location, that he might worship him, too.
The Three Kings agreed. But in a dream, an angel warned them that Herod was insanely jealous and intended to kill Jesus. So after finding and honoring the newborn king, the Wise Men found an alternate route home.
Herod was enraged. He initiated the Massacre of the Innocents, the infanticide in his kingdom of all male babies under the age of two. However, before Herod’s assassins could reach Jesus, an angel appeared to Joseph, Mary’s husband and Jesus’ guardian, with a warning. Take Mary and the baby to Egypt, where they would be safe.
At that time, Egypt was a part of the Roman Empire, not subject to the rule of Herod. It was also then, as the United States came to be in modern history, a place of multi-cultural and religious tolerance.
The family entered the country at Rafah, where, according toAl-Ahram, a weekly Cairo publication, a lone and ancient sycamore tree is said to have survived since the Holy Family’s visit. They were relatively safe from Herod while in exile, although they had to keep moving to stay so. It is believed that Joseph took his wife, Mary, and the young Jesus back to Israel, when it was safe. This is commonly believed to be after the death of Herod, when Jesus would have been about four.
The story of the flight to Egypt is found in the New Testament, Matthew 2-16. There are miraculous stories about Jesus’ time in Egypt told within the text of the New Testament Apocrytha, including stories of date palm trees bowing in homage to the baby as he passed by. This part of Jesus’ history is repeated in the Quran (Sura 19:4).

Looking A Lot Like Christmas

Since my friend Glenda Bona moved to Santa Clarita we have made it our ritual to meet whenever we can. Pasadena is the halfway point. Its Old Towne section is a model for taking an older urban area, what is beginning to decay and choosing to polish it up so it has a sophisticated patina that just isn't possible in a new development. But that is a story for an other day.

One of our favorite stops close to the holidays is Stat's Floral Supply. Unless you have the heart of Scrooge, there is just simply no way you can go in to the old brick warehouse filled floor to ceiling with Christmas decorations and wrappings and not end up smiling.

What I adore Stats most for is that if their selection of decorative ribbon isn't the largest in California- it must be close. Wired, sheer, metallic weaves, plaids and themed prints. And these are generous rolls of ribbon. Not the kind like at the local store, where one roll wraps one package.Maybe. Nope. These rolls go on and on.

Throughout the year I keep all my senses open: eyes, nose and tastebuds always on the hunt for the perfect gift. Especially on travel. As soon as I get home with an item to gift: it is wrapped, tagged and efficiently stacked and stored away until the Christmas tree is decorated.

In an envelope with the presents are samples of the papers in which they were wrapped. Sometime after Halloween I take the envelope to Stats and match up the ribbon to the papers. In the best years, Glenda meets me at Stats to share in the fun of just being is a place so openly festive.

The presents are usually far more thoughtful than expensive. Writer's have more time than money. But when the gift is wrapped with care, it is wrapped with love. Which is the only good reason to give a gift.

Stat's Floral Supply 150 So. Raymond, Pasadena, CA (626)796-8255

also in Capistrano Beach and Seal Beach

Inspired Music Pairing

*The link to the performance of Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy has been deleted from You Tube. However, you can plut the title in to Amazon.com search and find it in several compilations of holiday music.*
Plato wrote that great "Music gives soul to the universe,wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."

David Bowie- Ziggy Stardust- and the ultra-traditional Bing Crosby were paired in the late 1970's to perform one of the most inspired vocalizations ever.

I would like to dedicate this posting to Elizabeth Miller, who left her family far too soon. Her funeral was yesterday. Elizabeth earned her bachelor's degree in International Relations from Scripps College. Her first professional job was as Program Coordinator for Latin American Affairs at Witness for Peace in Washington, D.C. She then went on to earn her Masters Degree in Corporate Social Responsibility at UNC, Chapel Hill. There she met and married her sweetheart,the only person on the planet with a smile bigger than hers, Donald Miller, in 2005. They both accepted executive positions at Home Depot in Atlanta. She recently left that post to work in environmental programs for Shaw Industries.

What I remember most about the young lady was that when she came home from college, she always left a note for her brothers with inspirational quotes. That left quite a good impression on my sons. Rest well, dear and beautiful Elizabeth. Until we meet again...

Meet Author Nan Sterman

Author and Gardening Expert Nan Sterman
How to Green Your Garden
With an Introduction by Jan Smithen

Sunday, December 2 at 2pm
Los Angeles County Arboretum
Arcadia
Reception and book signing to follow
Call 626.821.4623 for reservations, or you may pay at the door
$10 Arboretum members/$15 non-members

Nan Sterman is one of my favorite people. Her first solo book is California Gardeners Guide vol II, published by Cool Springs Press. If you can't make the talk and book signing at the Arboretum- the book is on display at the Border's in Brea. Call them and have them hold a copy for you. They will happily hold it for you for 3 days. The striking cover image of Matalija Poppy alone is worth the price. It's also a great book to have an extra copy of in the trunk of the car to help with garden questions while you are on the go.

From the LA County Press Release:

Nan Sterman is an award winning garden communicator, gardening expert, and garden coach who lives in Encinitas, California, and writes about beautiful and unique gardens and gardeners. Her expertise includes plants for California's Mediterranean climate, sustainable gardening, landscape design, edible gardening, specialty nurseries, and gardening how-to.For several years, Nan was garden editor for San Diego Home Garden Lifestyles Magazine. Today, she writes regularly for regional and national publications such as the San Diego Union Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Sunset, Organic Gardening, and Better Homes and Gardens. After contributing to several gardening books, including the most recent edition of Sunset Western Gardens.

One of Nan's most recent projects is A Growing Passion, an award-winning television program whose pilot episode airs on the San Diego PBS affiliate. On the show, Nan visits real gardens created by ordinary people who happen to be extra-ordinary gardeners.? The show explores the inner passion of these individuals as expressed by or through the gardens they create.

For the last four years, Nan has been a regular guest on These Days radio talk show on San Diego Public Radio, KPBS (89.5 FM).?? The Do-It-Yourself Network has featured her in several of its shows and she has been a guest on several network newscasts.
Nan is a regular on the garden speaker circuit, addressing audiences at county fairs, flower shows, community meetings, Master Gardeners, garden clubs, and professionals in the horticulture industry. She teaches gardening classes to homeowners at the Water Conservation Garden, and low-water gardening classes sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District.

Nan Sterman's horticultural education includes a Bachelor's degree in botany from Duke University and a Master's in biology from UC Santa Barbara. She was trained in organic gardening methods, sustainable gardening and raised bed gardening at the Farallones Institute in Berkeley, California.Ms. Sterman has served as a Master Composter and Master Gardener as well.


In her own home garden Ms. Sterman tests a wide range of plant materials. She also consults on garden design and plant selection. Ms. Sterman is a board member of the Garden Writers Association and is chairperson of the Encinitas Garden Festival. She is active in the San Diego Horticultural Society and also coordinates a 5,000 square foot school garden.

Jill Berry, Program Manager
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
301 North Baldwin Avenue
Arcadia, CA 91007-2697
Phone: 626.821.4624
Fax: 626.821.4642
Jill.Berry@arboretum.org
www.arboretum.org

The Rosemary Tree is Up and Decorated

The ovens are cleaned right after Thanksgiving. To my mind that makes the slate clean to bring in Christmas. The doe-see-doe of changing Thanksgiving to Christmas has begun in earnest. The succulent cornucopia is now at home outside and the rosemary topiary anchors the decorations on my kitchen island.
The ribbon featuring gingerbread men and candycanes festooning the tree was found at I Love Country in La Habra. The rest of the decorations have been added to each year.

This layering of the decorations may not be the most professional way to do things. But it keeps the holiday spirit alive. There is both consistency in the familiar. And the mind stays open to discover new additions for the family to notice when the family gathers.

The Bay Laurel Wreath

When a fresh bay laurel wreath is hung over the refrigerator and the timer for stained glass gingerbread house is plugged in, that is my signal to our household that the Christmas season is underway. Over the next week our house will be transformed from autumn and Thanksgiving to the celebratory nature of Christmas.
We have a bay leaf tree. It sits just outside our kitchen. Potted up, it does not grow overly large. Every few years the tree is yanked out, the roots pruned and some fresh soil packed around the roots.
Bay laurel trees can be a little pricey for their size: but compared to the cost of the stale leathery leaves in the grocery store: that little tree more than pays its way with fresh leaves for potpourri, wreaths and kitchen seasoning.
Where did the legend of the Laurel Wreath begin? In ancient Greece. Recall the ancient myth which tells of when an arrogant Apollo, son of Zeus, held out to ridicule the God of love, Eros. Apollo doubted the power of Eros’ arrows. Annoyed, Eros gave Apollo a demonstration. He shot Apollo with a golden arrow. His flesh pierced, Apollo fell immediately, helplessly, endlessly in love with Daphne. Not finished, Eros then turned and shot Daphne with the antidote on an iron arrow so Apollo’s feelings could never be returned. And so the smitten Apollo came to be doomed to pursue the ever- fleeing Daphne.
When Apollo was about to overtake Daphne, she pleaded to the earth goddess, Gaia, to save her from his lust. Gaia complied by turning the lovely Daphne in to a laurel tree just as Apollo was about to overtake her. Despondent in his unrequited love, Apollo took some branches from the tree wove a wreath to wear on his brow made from the leaves of his beloved.
Since ancient Greece, the laurel wreath resting on the brow is synonymous with triumphant victory. Perhaps that is why I like it as a signal to the Christmas season. For as a Christian, this is the season where the story begins which ends at Easter. In my faith, it is believed that Jesus ultimately offers the gift of victory over death to all who call him the Son of God.