Friends and visitors do a double take when they come to the house… first staring at the red geraniums .. then blinking and asking ” That isn’t a poinsettia, is it? ” They gasp in disbelief! ( I do too … actually! )

Everyone wants to know my ” secret?” No secret… I do nothing … as in nada!” After I took down all the Christmas decorations… I placed three left-over poinsettias on the hearth for as long as they were still attractive… one by one the other two dried up and could not be revived.

I finally took the blooming happy third poinsettia and placed it in a tall planter up against the wall on the porch- it survived frigid cold days , wind storms and other hazards … nothing seemed to bother it… ( frankly I forgot about it except for watering it occasionally. )

The question rises often in conversations… what is it about that front porch that seems to maintain healthy plants ways past normal life expectancies? Since honestly I don’t know… I fall back on my good luck Gullah haint-blue porch ceiling … it keeps the bad spirits out and the good healthy spirits in!

I have told you about my haint blue ceilings, doors, and bottle trees before… but this southern gal would rather be safe than sorry! And Mollie’s mom, Marcia, gave me my good luck hanging door angel holding my blue September sapphire birthstone for extra good measure many years ago!

Gullah tradition also suggests that windows doors and shutters be painted haint blue… I stopped with porch ceilings and my inside den door!

Except… When the YA’s got into bottle trees a few years back… we all got each other bottles and all of us had to have a cobalt blue bottle to ward off evil spirits too!

In colonial times in the south… it was Eliza Lucas ( Pinckney) who first successfully grew indigo ( became SC’s third leading crop export) and from the crushed indigo leaves the indigo color of blue spread quickly throughout southern culture, homesteads, houses, and plantations.

During WWII … on Folly Beach … the older men ( too old to enlist) … took turns protecting the beach while searching for German submarines. It was later discovered espionage ( through top secret written notes) were placed in bottle trees for secrecy and delivery.

So until tomorrow…

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh