Happy Solstice 2025!

It's been a couple of months, but I'm feeling much more optimistic now. We've had cleansing rains and fairly mild temperatures recently. Solstice rolled into Durham this morning at 10:03 a.m. EST. I stepped out back into the spiral and faced the sun. With outstretched arms and open palms I drank in the sunshine. That turned out to be a brief moment as clouds appeared just a little while later. It feels like early Spring here. I woke up to chirping birds. We have Carolina Wrens who sing year round, but I think I was hearing the Cardinals.

As I had hoped the Merlin hellebores are now emerging after the rains.

Merlin hellebores

Just a few inches in front of these are very dark ajugas. They have an extremely tough spot with competition from two large willow oaks. So here's living proof that ajuga and hellebores are dry shade tolerant

Black Scallop ajuga

Looking South there are two bands of dark blue sky showing as the clouds grow. It's hard to believe that this photo was taken in the morning. Still, I am thrilled that solstice has arrived. I love having the light return in the evening. We've gained a couple of minutes on the sunset side already. Our earliest sunsets begin at 5:01. Today, we are up to 5:05 p.m.

We've had a few cold snaps, but overall very mild weather so far.

John Clayton honeysuckle

The pink oxalis is in Spring green mode. We've seen a few blossoms recently. There are none at the moment though. Likely they will die back sometime in January.

Well, I was interrupted while writing this blog entry. It was for a very good reason. Cousin Bobby, who I haven't seen in several years stopped by to visit my mother who is 95. I rushed over to her house and we had a great visit. He was in town to visit the unofficial family grave site at Maplewood. He did not want to let this Christmas go by without seeing his Aunt Dot.

So, I will leave you with a little solstice magic from our garden room. It took me years to have the aha moment that I should light the beautiful stained glass fairy that was a birthday gift from Nichola. She sits on top of a tall bookshelf.

.

Happy Solstice!