I was looking out of my window today, and saw a riot of pink in my garden: the colchicum are blooming their fool heads off—flowers magically appearing out of the seemingly barren soil—as they do every autumn. They're beautiful, but they also function as a kick in the pants: I need to start planting now for winter color in Massachusetts.
Flowers blooming through the snow? I can hear you thinking. sardonyx's crazed. Ignoring for a moment the undeniable truth of that last statement, allow me to relieve your mind: the flowers bloom inside, in the warmth of my home. Some a few weeks after planting, some in a month and a half, some after three months in the cold and dark...and some not at all.
I'm an equal opportunity forcer: I'll force bulbs that just grow—paperwhites and amaryllis—and those that require a certain amount of encouragement and persuasion. Of the paperwhites,
Galilea and
Sheleg get my nod, because they smell nice.
Ziva, the most common paperwhite, is not allowed in the house. The first time I bought it I had to exile it to a storage room with the door closed to finish its blooming because I couldn't stand the odor...but couldn't bring myself to throw it out or even let it dry out.
Ziva blooms a week sooner than the others, but who wants stinky flowers?
Galilea is shorter;
Sheleg (aka
Jerusalem) is taller and more vigorous; I like them both. These varieties are practically fullproof.
Amaryllis: the more redly iridescent the better. Big blossoms, small ones, deep red, orange red: I have enough bulbs planted to have flowers all winter, two and three at a time. They always cheer me up. Amaryllis are also just about fullproof, and more likely to surprise with an extra stalk than to disappoint with a single one. (I get the 30cm+ plain bulbs and plant them myself in nice pots; it looks better, and I invariably get more blooms than the boxed "kits.")
Hyacinths and regular narcissus require a bit more work: you have to pot them and then chill them for about three months. (I've had rotten luck with forcing glasses; I keep losing bulbs to mold, so I've given up on them. I only use potting soil these days.) So you need to plant some every few weeks so they'll provide a steady parade of color. I cheat a bit: they go into ziploc bags in my refrigerator (no, it doesn't affect the food at all that I can tell), and when at about twelve weeks the bulbs have sprouted ghostly elongating tops, it's time to remove them into the warmth and light. I love the scent of hyacinths and some of the deep purple varieties are gorgeous. Similarly, if there's a more sweetly scented flower than narcissus Erlicheer, I'd love to make its acquaintance...but Erlicheer does a wonderful job of naturally and lightly perfuming the air.
My luck isn't always good. Sometimes I get bad bulbs: they've been damaged, or frozen, or just weren't that hardy, but I don't realize this when I plant them. Sometimes I don't water enough, or water too much (ditto fertilizer), or wait so long to plant that the bulb has dried out a bit. So nothing sprouts, or the bulb only has strength enough to put out leaves, or the flower stalk flops or breaks before or during blooming. But other times you get hugely vibrant flowers, maybe an extra stalk, or blossoms lasting days longer than they have any right to. It all comes down to this: you have to buy bulbs and get them planted in time to have any chance at the flowers you want when you want them. Some varieties can't be purchased at florists or at stores; if you don't grow them, you spend winter without their glory in your life.
My odd mind has been making parallels of late between bulb forcing (and gardening in general) and the dKos and Dean political strategy: you have to have candidates in place and growing in order to get a flowering of Democrats in congress. When I type it, it sure looks silly. But think about it. Think about the winning campaigns of Herseth and Chandler in 2004. Think about how close Paul Hackett came, and how preparing the ground then is making it that much easier for Vic Wulsin this time. It's having candidates like Zack Space and Nick Lampson and John Laesch running strong campaigns even before Ney and DeLay and Hastert stumble and quit. (Still waiting on Hastert part deux.) It's about having someone like Paul Hodes run against Bass in 2004, come up short, and then cultivate the ground and build up strength so he is doing so much better this time.
So what's growing in your botanical and political gardens now, and what are you going to be planting in the next five weeks? While you're thinking about it, think also about sending some well-grown comments into TopComments at gmail dot com so others can add them to their daily bouquet of enjoyment and enlightenment. Today's crew has outdone themselves: we have a huge garden's-worth of flowers harvested and arranged for your delectation.
Three separate individuals mailed in this comment, so it gets pride of place: Magorn's thoughtful comment on moral courage, an etymological interpretation of "the meek shall inherit the Earth" and where we stand today on our Earth, from Delaware Dem's fine diary, Why Did We Think We Were Immune? This comment and diary was recommended first by a non-pseudonymous emailer (no dKos username was included in the message), and later in the day by Cronesense and cskendrick; see Cronesense's other selections below for additional notable comments from this diary.
PatsBard notes that teacherken suggested this comment from Thomas Kalinowski in last night's Diary Rescue thread: Poor Mark Foley.
carolita provides several comments blooming with potential:
goldberry isn't afraid to call a spade a spade or, in this instance, a bully.
land of the free hits the nail on the head and perfectly sums up the entire GOP "governance."
MikeBaseball links to a harrowing account of the death of free speech in America. Who's next to be lead away in shackles?
eve is on to something in her reply to RandyMI's diary Another Shoe: Reynolds Pushed Foley to Run After Finding Emails.
factbased makes an astute observation on No Child Left Behind in a comment on dogemperor's outstanding diary Dominionism as a coercive religious movement, Part 3 of his excellent series on the religious right.
dabize sets the record straight and finds that in her Reckless Endangerment diary, georgia10 is too kind to Republicans.
While not technically a comment, Bill in Portland Maine's interjection about Bush in C&J is priceless:
JEERS to Bush the mime. Did you notice the half dozen times the Preznit reached for—and attempted to drink from—a glass with no water in it? It summed up his presidency perfectly: stay the course even when you keep coming up empty.
condoleaser submits the best descriptive haiku in a comment, ever, adding the caveat "even if I am a whore!" and the injunction "be sure to view the parental photo, of course." Also a belated "heh" two lines below it. Heh. [Ed. note: parental photo link added for the sake of disambiguity.]
nonnie9999 sends the following bouquet:
In a diary by Master and Commander (read it and gag!), Fleet AdmiralJ (who should know!) on how carriers (ships, not mosquitos or kids with drippy noses) are named (follow the thread).
In Ken in Tex's diary about Chimpy's sinking approval ratings, Xapulin ignites a shit-storm (literally!) that culminates with Ken in Tex's excellent explanation of the Chimpy administration's family-tree (or maybe what you might find at the bottom of it). Further down the comments, nightsweat has a sweet deal for Chimpy.
From irishwitch's diary about another moron who got hit in the head a few times really hard with a soccer ball soccer mom. The asshole mom is on a mission to have the Harry Potter books banned because they are really recruitment pamphlets for Satan, or some such nonsense. StormBear weighs in. Don't miss judibrowni's response in the thread. Further down, secrunsic has an interesting point that starts a thread with some more interesting ideas, and our very own snarky PatsBard sets off the alarm and wonders who might be next! Keep going, and Jeffersonian Democrat sews it all up.
Treat your eyes and funnybone with BruinKid's excellent diary, chockful of hilarious political cartoons and with some excellent advice from lgmpc on how to convert the apolitical painlessly.
Cronesense provides a stunning floral arrangement:
In Carnacki's diary Unmasked monsters:
musing85 points out the fallacy in the all-time high of the Dow, and Louise speaks of the actions that are being taken to hold onto power.
More comments from Delaware Dem's Why Did We Think We Were Immune?:
bernardpliers recounts a common mantra of a certain mind-set, and cosmic debris finds an excellent definition of "moral courage" worthy of keeping.
In pontificator's breaking diary, Report: Foley turned away DRUNK from PAGES' DORM!!:
reflectionsv37 asks a simple question and gets a pithy answer from skwimmer. Also, Uncle Cosmo has a riddle.
In Hunter's diary, A Quiz For Stupid People, Yellow Canary trills a blistering smackdown of the Republican party. hopscotch1997 has an interesting suggestion. And Tamifah lays it out all nice and neat for the freepers.
cskendrick out-pimps and out-whores all comers with the following plantings:
Starting in the bed of his Diary Pimping and Whoring Forum diary:
–Grand Master possum works his possum picture tip.
–myrealname laments the difficulty of keeping up with new diaries while TC's own emeraldmaiden replies that she's dizzy from trying.
–The most excellent shermanesq asks the question of the day: "Do you, like, have a job or something?" Answer: So far. :)
–Not to be outdone, bumblebums comes to the rescue with leaf peeping! I mean, without leaf peeping, what's autumn good for? :)
–BarbinMd gets ahead of the curve, and pimps her then-unwritten next diary. That, and she pays proper respect to the Spider, the CSKossack mascot. :) (Spider reference here.)
He then casts further afield:
–World Hero Melody Townsel laments the difficulty keeping stocked with refreshments in these trying times...for Republicans. :)
–Glinda the Good Cynic calls it like she sees it regarding Hastert. :)
gloriana sends in these posies:
dmislev gives us this handy pictorial: GOP leadership, a graphical representation
Still Thinking explains the timing of the Foley memo for us.
crystal eyes describes a brutal truth about upsides
Hlinko uncovers the wording of the Foley memo
Kosmo describes the critical philosophical difference between Democrats and Repugs
And finally, wonkydonkey commits a Photoshop crime, mobster-style
noweasels sends this simple yet elegant brace of buds:
littlesky on Republicans
Balilife with a question I want an answer to!
Finally, my own flowerets of the day, mostly picked up from other people's admiring comments, and kept short in deference to the bounty above:
Steve M posts A lawyer's thought on the legal ramifications of harassing former congressional pages in They're Outing one of the Pages, a diary by pollyusa.
In the diary SmartFilter censorship software now marks DailyKOS as Porn from last night, 4thepeople asserts a right to autonomy. There are other good comments at the same level, responding to the same controversial post above it.
ohwilleke talks about the future of the car and transportation in general in this comment to Detroit Mark's plaintively titled, straightforward discussion of cars now and to come: Can We Change The Topic For A Moment? How About: Cars?
From the diary John Laesch on Hardball, Ducktape explains why his donation today is going to John. The diary itself is a dizzying list of major national and local media John's been interviewed for today, and the list is growing. Go, John! [Ed. note: diary and comment were discovered after the essay was written. I love synchronicity.]
Returning to Carnacki's diary Unmasked monsters for what slim pickings Cronesense has left finds Magnifico's exquisite captioning of a photograph of Brownie, Bushie, and Foley. wonkette apparently found the photo; leckavrea linnked to it in the Parent comment to this one, but Magnifico rightly posted the photo here in all its glory.
Meteor Blades is seen cheering this comment by boadicea, and I find myself in agreement with his huzzahs.
Tonight's top mojo is supplied by gloriana. First, without easily identifiable tip jars:
1 Exactly. by Delaware Dem — 312
2 Nina by Carnacki — 114
3 you know you are in trouble when by crystal eyes — 105
4 tipjar by a gnostic — 96
5 Yeah. Me too. [Sigh!] by LondonYank — 93
6 Hey, my source is unimpeachable... by Bob Johnson — 81
7 Also support candidate who support us by daulton — 71
8 There's an old adage by Lisa Lockwood — 70
9 Nancy Pelosi? by Alter Ego Manifesto — 67
10 John Yoo costs too much by horsewithnoname — 65
11 ANOTHER shoe?? by pattyp — 63
12 Hot potato by Alter Ego Manifesto — 60
13 Wow. This is turning into a brawl. by KingOneEye — 57
14 Tianneman by TBarta — 56
15 Why does anybody solicit John Yoo's opinion? by Kagro X — 56
16 it's official by terrypinder — 56
17 Humpday! by khereva — 53
18 Our powers are truly impressive, no? by JoeWPgh — 48
19 No. by Delaware Dem — 47
20 Agree. by Delaware Dem — 46
21 Has_dirt by Orj ozeppi — 45
22 Let me never ever get on your ... by Meteor Blades — 44
23 Thanks for the diary... by weirdmusic657 — 44
24 Kissinger's still writing memos by Dallasdoc — 43
25 They are the party of THEATER. by Yellow Canary — 42
26 Points in History by MC71 — 42
27 Damn. by Melody Townsel — 42
28 Who should your child fear more? by daulton — 42
29 His saliva is all over the dorm windows. by darthstar — 41
30 a plug for Bush... by condoleaser — 41
Second, with everything including the kitchen sink:
1 Tips, Victory Fund by JamesB3 — 419
2 Tip jar by blue meme — 322
3 Exactly. by Delaware Dem — 312
4 Tips (n/t) by BruinKid — 236
5 tip jar! by LindaR — 200
6 This is fucking brilliant by eugene — 176
7 John Yoo by dday — 158
8 Nina by Carnacki — 114
9 This is absolutely critical by Jeffrey Feldman — 109
10 you know you are in trouble when by crystal eyes — 105
11 Tip by Carnacki — 98
12 tipjar by a gnostic — 96
13 Yeah. Me too. [Sigh!] by LondonYank — 93
14 Hey, my source is unimpeachable... by Bob Johnson — 81
15 Amen, Hunter by JuliaAnn — 80
16 Tips for what truly matters? by One Pissed Off Liberal — 77
17 Woodward is a douchebag by Maryscott OConnor — 76
18 Also support candidate who support us by daulton — 71
19 There's an old adage by Lisa Lockwood — 70
20 Nancy Pelosi? by Alter Ego Manifesto — 67
21 John Yoo costs too much by horsewithnoname — 65
22 Open invitation by Nina Katarina — 63
23 ANOTHER shoe?? by pattyp — 63
24 Hot potato by Alter Ego Manifesto — 60
25 Ahhhhhh by Helena Handbag — 58
26 Wow. This is turning into a brawl. by KingOneEye — 57
27 Just some ramblings by righteousbabe — 56
28 it's official by terrypinder — 56
29 Tianneman by TBarta — 56
30 Why does anybody solicit John Yoo's opinion? by Kagro X — 56
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