[Friday – Ask the Experts] The Best, Smartest, Funniest and Only Plant Blog Panel of Experts Anywhere

Hello Novemberists, and happy Friday!

Welcome back to the Good To Grow site, and thanks for being here.

Hurray for Friday! Today we’ve got an all-new Ask the Experts Panel for you, as well as a new plant puzzler. Let’s get the festivities started by saying hi to the Experts. Hi everyone!

 

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Liza!”

You’re so cute! From left to right, that’s Andy Williams, Tim Thackaberry, EZ Ed Johnson, Dottie Correll and Lewis Casey. If you’d like to know more about them, please click here.

Let’s get straight to this week’s question. Here it is:

Q. How do you feel about November? Does it make you melancholy that summer’s gone, or do you get excited for the upcoming holiday season?

Expert Andy Williams, you’re up first as usual:

A. While November doesn’t get enough credit in most parts of the country, it is welcomed with open arms here in AZ, especially the desert valleys of the Phoenix area.  November brings with it virtually no chance of 100 degree days, and very nice cool evenings.  The average temperatures range from mid to upper 70s to mid to upper 40s at night.  THAT my readers is perfect weather, especially when the sun is shining so brightly each day.  November sunshine here is so heavenly.  One can actually proudly point their face toward the sun without it getting scorched.  We love that!  Finally, the wicked summer is gone.

As far as the holidays go, aside from Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday, there is not much else to look forward to.  Christmas ushers in a busyness on the streets, parking lots and stores that I just flat out hate.  So I try to stay away and protect my dollars while everyone else is spending theirs.  I love Christmas simply based upon the joy and excitement in a child’s face all amped up and waiting to open their presents.  But after that, you can have it.

A. I love November, absolutely love it. I feel energized in a weird way when the weather starts to cool off, no melancholy whatsoever, and I’ve been this way as long as I can remember.

On the flip side, I have come to dread the holidays in a way I never did when I was younger. There was a time a few years ago when my daughter was younger and still believed in Santa Claus that was awesome, but now the holidays are something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

A. Ah, weary November. It is crunched between Christmas and the first sweet senses of autumn. The clocks turn and brings a harsher morning light and a quicker, darker end to the day. But once it is accepted, once the colder mornings are embraced, the pause is welcome. Winter will be here soon enough. I still remember summer.

A. Fall is so special— my favorite season. The world becomes a portrait of brilliant lovely colors. The morning air is brisk and cool and enervates the soul!

Thanksgiving is a cherished time to reflect on the goodness in our lives and enjoy a sumptuous meal with family and dear friends. A time of remembering joyous times with the children creating turkey favors for the table by tracing their “spread -hands” on colored paper—writing things they were thankful for and wild hand-made paper, feathered Indian hats –recalling the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims. Culminating this celebrate week end, a visit downtown with the children to see Santa Claus, ride the Christmas train at the exciting big Department store and the special “Stove lunches” at Higbees, the amazing huge tree on the city square and all the colorful holiday decorations. Thrill, at all the sparkle and excitement in the air of anticipation! Those sweet secret smiles of happiness because you have made something special for someone!   Who can forget that special crisp smell of the first snow fall?—The traditional family Christmas eve service where all ones hopes and dreams for everyone seem renewed and possible to achieve. For one brief time all is well with the world.

I guess I’m just a kid at heart – I enjoy all of the festivities that occur from November thru December. Last, but not least, memories of rousing the children from sleep to bang pots and pans in celebration of the coming of the New Year and awed at being allowed to eat all those delicious foods and be up and singing and making noise at midnight!

Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah! A season when everyone is more tolerant, loving and kind to each other.   

——————-

Liza here. Dottie added a personal note, that I’m sharing below because it’s awesome, with her permission:

Here is my contribution for this week.  By the way, November 7th is my Grandmother’s birthday.  She was born in 1875 in Flushing Long Island, New York.  Her father was Benjamin Franklin Callender—the first manufacture of the “Crayola” in Rochester, NY.  Known as “Franklin Crayons”  Good Grief—That would make her 139 today! Wow. (Check out Franklin Crayons on Google —you’ll find the history interesting! Check the first reference gives you the history.)  Love to you. dottie

A. What I’m excited about is that the fricking election BS is over and we have a whole set of new fools ready for the Washington circus

I wish them well and hope that this is not another verse of the same old crap

All right, go get something done, play nice and work together, there are a lot of things that need work for America and the world

I can take the boots off now it sure got deep and I speak not of water

November, where the hell did summer go, yesterday was July wasn’t it

Though two evenings ago we harvested the last of our garden

because I thought it would freeze that night, I didn’t

About a half bushel of green tomatoes, eggplants, chiles, green beans and basil,

I did move a large pot of several different types of basils and other herbs

On to the porch for a little longer cause I love basil so much

Our pool table is a pool of green awaiting a creative finish

We have a freezer full, and several large containers brimming with dehydrated fruits, vegetables and herbs

So I welcome the Fall and its brother Winter for I know not how to tell it “Sorry I’ll pass no cold weather wanted”

But alas I’ll get out my long underwear which an old cowboy friend told me once “I put it on in November and take it off in March”

Sound advice for those of us who live in our beautiful New Mexico

The holidays are ok because family and friends comes together to break bread and what is more important than that

Harmony

Wow! You’re all amazing! I enjoyed hearing all of your answers. And I love it when you include photos, too. (Quite the harvest, Lewis!)

Readers, how about you? Did you enjoy their answers? How do you feel about November? Share your thoughts in the comments section, I’d love to hear from you.

Experts, once again, you totally impress me. Thanks so much for being here!

That’ll do it for this week’s Panel of Experts. The Experts will return next Friday. They hope to see you back here.

Up next, the answer to last week’s puzzler:

???Real or Fake???

Last week, I asked if this Bougainvillea was real or fake:

Let’s see how you answered:

Steph from Indianapolis wrote, “It’s real…they can still bloom in the Fall.”

Joseph Brenner of Texas wrote, “Yep! Looks like a realie.(B>{D}”

Martha from the Plowing Through Life site wrote, “I’m guessing real. I can’t imagine why anyone would put a saucer underneath a fake plant 🙂“

NiteflyrwomanAmanda wrote, “Fake”

That’s three votes real, one vote fake.

What’s the correct answer?

Maybe a wider view would help:

It’s real! And gorgeous! I couldn’t get a close-up to show you, because it’s on the other side of the (covered) swimming pool and the path to get there was blocked. But it’s definitely real. What a show stopper, eh? It proves without a doubt that real plants are much more beautiful than fake plants. No fake plant could ever match that blooming Boug.

Great job everyone!

To show my appreciation for you playing, I’d like to award you each the following prizes: A November weekend, one fall-scented candle, three spare dimples, six special privileges, 14 1/2 bonus points, upward momentum, one dinner invitation, four padded coathangers, Christopher Walken, potato soup, nine things in common, one walk along the bosque, 12 fall flavors, one full moon (redeemable yesterday), El Malpais, one cheese and fruit platter, the best time, four new window awnings, pear juice, twin manatees, one winning run, November love, a renewed lease on life, 25 fall colors, three lottery tickets, Debbie, a majority, one ticket good for half-off another ticket, five carefree days, 11 chocolate chip pancakes, a brush, Tucumcari, three romantic notions, a connection with your inner child, a fruit smoothie, two compliments on your outfit, and four breadsticks.

Congratulations, and thanks for playing!

Up next, a new puzzler:

???Real or Fake???

Is this plant real or fake:

Think you know the answer, smartyplants? Leave your best guess in the comments section. You have until midnight MST (that’s 2a.m. EST) next Thursday, November 13th, to cast your vote. I’ll reveal the answer and the winner(s) after next week’s panel of Experts. The prizes may be imaginary but the link to your site and the glory of winning are oh-so-real.