Sunrise, Plant Propagation, and My Foot

This post is a little bit of a Hodge-podge of topics. A conglomeration of a couple of interesting things and one maybe no so much for you (but something I can whine warn you about!)

Sunrise

This morning we had a gorgeous sunrise that highlighted the early morning clouds.  I snapped I picture from our upstairs bathroom window. It's a small narrow window up high above the tub so I had to be creative with my picture taking but it's what I had to do in order to actually get the sunrise photo from above the neighbor's trees!

Plant Propagation

Today you might say I'm giving you a hand with your plant propagation techniques!  Yes I know that's a bad pun but it was irresistible (and you know the worse the pun is the more irresistible it becomes). What is actually in my hand is a rooted cutting from my winter blooming jasmine.  The cuttings easily grew roots in just a couple weeks with nodal cuttings taken with aerial roots. You can see more by looking at my how to propagate winter jasmine post.  It really doesn't get much easier than this!

Here's a closer look at the roots:

I planted a few winter jasmine cuttings in 4 inch pots along with other cuttings of catmint and hydrangea. The hydrangea was sent as a potted plant from relatives for my father's funeral. I planted the hydrangea for my mom in her garden and took a couple cuttings for myself to add to our garden. 

My Left Foot

Alright, this may be going a little out there for a post about garden but there is a reason for me talking about my left foot. Sunday evening I was finishing up weeding just before I went inside for dinner.  I was back in the shed gardens which was getting choked out by crabgrass, Johnson grass, and all kind of other weeds. I pulled a few weeds from the front of the garden then moved toward the inside areas of the garden where I suddenly felt an extremely intense pain on my ankle.  I looked down and couldn't see anything immediately but I knew what had happened as I heard the buzz of a wasp fly by my head. Apparently I stepped near where a wasp was and unknowingly agitated it, and you know they don't take kindly to agitation. I remembered a similar pain two years ago and raced hobbled inside as fast as possible to get some sort of treatment. I'm not severely allergic to wasps, bees, and other critters but you don't need to be to get this result (please excuse the ugly foot picture you are about to see - farmer's tan and all):

The swelling has gone down considerably after a doctor's treatment and I can walk again without pain.  If I actually was allergic to stings this could have been an awful situation. Just heed this word of warning - watch where you walk in the weeds!