I am fortunate that I do not suffer from any type of seasonal SAD. Yet everyone needs a bit of comfort and a spirit lift while they wait anticipating spring. Lights and hyacinth bulbs work for me so that is what this diary is about.
I have always read that the best way to design landscaping and gardening is from your windows. The older I get the more this holds true. I also believe a bit of exterior lighting seen through windows is an important element. Especially in winter to connect you to the outdoors. Of course, exterior lighting is a must in darkness to safely enter or exit your home. But by adding just a bit more such as a string of lights or a window candle while at home, you are extending a dimension of your world. I believe it pays dividends in helping to defend against winter gloom.
This past summer I planted four Black-Eyed Susan vines to circle the wire globe in this antique brownstone urn. A string of the white lights on the globe burned out during the middle of the season.
So I patiently waited until frost had killed the vines before removing them and replacing the lights a few days ago. I had just finished and stood back to see how they looked and this was the scene. It’s one of those moments when Mother Nature’s beauty strikes you with a sudden sense of happiness for just being alive.
So I decided that the subject for this diary could be about how much outdoor lighting brings comfort and enjoyment during winter as I look out my windows. About half of my windows have no drapes or shades so at night your eye is stopped at the window sill by the darkness beyond. Outdoor lights draw your eye further out and opens up other views. It makes rooms appear larger. And for the win, it’s enjoying Mother Nature at night while in the warmth of your own home. We are fortunate people to have both a roof and warmth.
“Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and the dark that things provides” — Junichiro Tanizaki
The urn is most visible from two of our dining room windows. This 1798 room is the hub of the house with six doors, three windows, a cooking crane fireplace, a beehive oven, an upper gunpowder cabinet and a built-in china cabinet. Yet at night, it is the urn outside that draws all the attention when it is lit. It’s also a reminder to put on a coat, walk outside, get some fresh air, take your dog with you, observe, explore.
The only other downstairs view of the globe is through this half bath window. It’s also visible from five upstairs windows.
views of the urn through the seasons
It’s even visible from space — top center (you can see Dusty Miller around it!)
the lights are never more appreciated than during winter storms when they make you feel connected to the goings-on outside.
This view is from an upstairs small backroom. There is a single Jenny Lind bed against the window that became my former cat, Kenny Jose’s, favorite place to hang out. That’s the hornet’s nest on the window glass that he and I had a lot of fun watching their coming and goings. Now the bed has become Ida D’s favorite daytime hangout. I was recently working in the side yard and heard a dog barking before realizing that it was Ida D standing up on the bed looking at me. Good girl!
All the above has been about just one light but I have a few more that brighten up my indoor winter stay through windows. This string of lights with metal shades was found in a sales bin at a Kohl’s. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy them. One year I had this small Christmas tree on the porch too.
everything I need for winter is on the side porch except for the snow blower
I even enjoy the lights on a few summer days and nights
tell me this doesn’t draw your eyes outward
Even from these upstairs windows, there is enough light below that you can observe nature and the elements. I check to see if the recent stray tuxedo cat is down there. The stray is occasionally spotted but I’ve also seen over the last three decades deer, coyotes, foxes, fisher cats, raccoons and opossums through these windows.
I use to only turn on the porch and urn’s lights on some weekends, holidays, during storms and occasionally just because. I have now left these lights on continuously since the beginning of March because of the pandemic. My town is doing this to show support for essential workers and help lift the spirits a bit for anyone who passes by.
I dragged this large dead shrub from a walking trail to my car one year and placed it in a concrete urn on the other side of the house.
I almost like this one better than the first urn. It’s in front of the kitchen windows but also visible from many other windows.
a shrub another year
these three solar power paper lights were on sale for a few dollars. I had just finished putting them together and hung them here before placing the three around the old apple tree. I am sorry they didn’t last too long as they were great.
This week I combined white lights with a wire sphere and hung it in the apple tree next to the house. About half of the lights blink. It looks pretty good but especially from a distance. The white object in the bottom of the sphere is a rock consisting of small fossils that I found in a Kentucky creek where my paternal families settled in the early 1800s.
I also added white lights this week to the arborvitae in a cast iron urn on the porch.
the front and side porch lights provide a lot of light across the yard
Last year’s front porch
Also last year. Quite an old New England look.
The neighbors son that took the drone photos had me turn on all the house lights for him to take this one. Regretfully we forgot about the attic lights.
Neighbors across a field have this huge wreath lit on the back of their tobacco barn. (yes, it’s the lounge’s location). The lighted wreath is visible from all of our south facing windows. This is very special each year.
I enjoy the light of sunsets through the windows although these were taken from the side porch.
Outdoor light is a blessing to all who embrace it. And before you get the wrong impression, I do not hang out looking through my windows all day and night. I am definitely not considered a couch person and I am up moving around a lot. I always glance out my windows while passing by.
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Okay the other thing that I do to get through long hard winters is forcing bulbs over water. I force about 60 hyacinth bulbs, 10 or so paper whites, 15 plus amaryllis and sometimes other bulbs each year. My attraction to forcing bulbs over water besides the blooms is the bonus of watching their roots grow which to me is the most beautiful part of the whole process.
Above and below were my kitchen windows one year right after having removed the bulbs from the darkness of the beehive oven. They had been kept in darkness for about five weeks until their buds had grown about an inch high.
I do not put so many in windows nowadays. One year a drafty window with freezing temperatures caused an antique hyacinth vase to freeze and break in another room. Instead I’ve been placing them in wooden boxes and such, like this copper tray then setting them on chair seats close to windows.
How could a scene like this not lift your spirits
I grow a lot of amaryllis with several being many years old. They are also forced over water.
Lights and Hyacinths. Just a window candle and a hyacinth bulb. They’re a great cheap winter survival kit, at least for me. Try’em.
Winter is also when I attempt to identify animal footprints and sometimes follow them. We also need the exercise, light and Vitamin D especially during winter.
Stay warm
Be kind to others and yourself. Simple gestures could change a life.
CHEERS
My location in the Connecticut Valley has a possible 4” snow forecast for this afternoon. The forecast keeps going up and down. Other parts of the state could receive up to a foot. I guess I won’t be raking leaves today.
What’s going on in your garden and world?