It is still horrendous weather here today - one of those days where you can see the rain blowing across the garden - so I have been looking for inside jobs to do in between the necessary flower picking.
I am intending to make some Christmas wreaths this year that are suitable for porches and tenement stairs - not quite dried flowers like the hop and hydrangea wreaths which don't like any dampness - but not fresh wreaths which don't like heat.
I am also wanting to incorporate textiles and trimmings into them. I have bought some wonderful Liberty damasks in red and silver grey which I have bought to make up stockings but thought that they would also look stunning in door wreaths with purply greys and silver.
So I have spent time today harvesting, trimming and bunching up purple sage to dry in the airing cupboard to see if it works. I think that it should as it is a dried herb that keeps looking good in a damp steamy kitchen atmosphere but would be robust enough to keep from year to year if necessary.
Sage is obviously a herb that I shouldn't handle too much - my mouth feels wierd, as though it is slightly burnt and my hands are itchy. I shall have to look out some gloves.
All this Christmas stuff feels ridiculous - I am designing decorations and Euan has begun pantomime rehearsals and we are not even out of September.
4 comments:
Its ok - Tesco here had Christmas cakes in stock before the kids were back at school and we were still shopping around in shorts.
Wheat and barley would be good in christmas wreaths - they dry so well and can be easily structured.
I was chopping back a shrub (large enough to be called a tree really) and I itched everywhere - it was hot and I put it down to being sweaty - but a few days later I went back to it and had exactly the same reaction - I approach it now with long sleeves and gloves.
I seem to become increasingly sensitive to things the more I am in contact with them - I moved some hyacinth bulbs this morning and am now itchy. I think that it must be a build up as I started out completely itch free,
I shall have to wear gloves though I hate them.
Actually what you describe is called sensitisation and you need to be careful because the sensitivity builds up over time and exposure - until you can develop a full blown allergy of some considerable force which will be irreversible.
Avoid contact as much as possible and yese though cumbersome - gloves are a necessary evil if you already have some plants causing dicomfort.
I have a stock of hospital type latexy gloves that I use for weeding in the winter (2 pairs worn together are realy warm,dry and you can still feel things) so I will use those. I am just a bit concerned that I may become sensitised to the latex.
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