IT'S A LONG ROAD TO TOPIARY!

 Because we seem to have Autumn with a vengeance ...cooler temps and a series of rain storms, the good news is that they've declared an end to fire season before October 1st. The bad news is that little Kathy has had to be head down and butt up (not a cute thing) cleaning out the greenhouse and finding room for her succulent addiction...err, I mean collection. That's the good and the bad of a very small greenhouse...you can only keep so much stuff.

One of my summer projects this year was finally growing a rosemary start into a "tree topiary." This isn't as hard as you might think, as long as you don't dwell on having to cut off most of the plant to encourage one branch to become the "trunk" of the tree. And then you have to have the fortitude to pinch off new growth to encourage it to get bushier. That's why I probably haven't had one all these years...that and the fact that I didn't want to fork over $35 for a "finished" one. It's that pinching back that gets to one but it seems to be working. I used a culinary rosemary, which just means it's the stoutest, bushiest and toughest of the rosemary family. Plus it is the most pungent. It will reside in the greenhouse this winter as rosemary can be sensitive to freezing temps, especially when it's in a pot. So, hopefully I'll have a cute, green ball with blue blossoms in the spring. Bon appetite! Did I mention that we've had lots of rosemary chicken this BBQ season?