Bittersweet and Winter
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
Canada
December 16, 2017 7:15am CST
For the last few days it has snowed quite a lot over the nights and
during the days.
I drove my best friend to her surgery yesterday and I was glad to have clear roads. It did snow all day but it was fluffy and beautiful, not nasty. We stuck to the smaller highways, it was a lovely drive with no crazy going on.
I need to drive my husband for surgery today so fingers crossed it will say clear. So far so good, no snow over night and I'm sure our highway will be clear.
I remember in the olden day when it snowed at night it would fall by the feet not inches. We had 3 to 4 inches each night.
I need to finish my shopping! Why do I wait to December to buy Christmas Gifts, I keep saying I will do it in the summer but it never happens.
Have you finished your holiday shopping?
The photo above is my bittersweet that I grow in the back yard. My mother grew it too and made beautiful arrangements using the bittersweet berries. I usually do that too. I like to add the berries to my wreaths and porch decorations.
Maybe I'll get that done this weekend. I noticed how colorful they were the other day and walked in the snow to get a photo... The photo is the snow shot on the bottom and an earlier shot that is clearer taken after a rain. I need a new camera.... Maybe Santa will bring me one....
17 people like this
19 responses
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
16 Dec 17
I often find bittersweet growing in the wild. When I find it I pick enough to make an arrangement for our fall decor.
Years ago my first husband's nephew would have us drop him off in a wooded area where he would pick huge bunches of the vine. He sold it to one of the fall vendors and made a good profit from doing so.
2 people like this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
19 Dec 17
@PainsOnSlate I would like to grow some and will try to root it this year. Thanks for the idea!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Dec 17
If you find it in a flower shop it is outrageously expensive. We have them in the wild too. I took some cuttings of my moms' bushes and got them to root so mine are connected to my mom. My sister lives in moms house (renovated) and she didn't like the bush so she cut it down.That's fine with me as long as I have some at my place.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (73368)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
16 Dec 17
Lovely photos and hope you get a new camera.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
18 Dec 17
Mr too and if I don't I will go buy one for myself. After Christmas...
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71664)
• United States
6 Jan 18
Ohh I love the way this plant looks. I have never seen it in person just in decorations where the berries were fake. It seems when I was young we always had a lot more snow as well. I hate the snow now as an adult so I won't complain about not getting much although my son wishes we would get more snow.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71664)
• United States
7 Jan 18
@PainsOnSlate wow lol that would be quite a site to see the dog on the roof. I might have panicked though.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
7 Jan 18
I remember when the snow would cover my barn for my horse when i was a teen, it drifted off the roof so our dog could walk up to the roof. I was awed one morning going to take care of the horse and found the dog on the roof and proud of himself. My mother loved bittersweet she used them in flower arrangements, I learned from her and love the look of the berries.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
16 Dec 17
Hope surgery goes well! My shopping was finished in November and my wrapping done a couple weekends ago. I'm all set, and grateful that I am!
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
18 Dec 17
@PainsOnSlate Yeah that's hard. I went for stocking candy today and didn't find what I wanted. Had to get something more expensive. Last year I waited till Christmas Eve to get the stocking candy, and it was all gone and replaced with Valentine's Day stuff!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
18 Dec 17
I wish I would do that, now that its so close I wonder if I will find what I want.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
19 Dec 17
@katsmeow1213 Valentines at Christmas, too funny. I am going for candy today... I did get the big stuff done yesterday.
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
21 Dec 17
@PainsOnSlate That would be so exciting!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Dec 17
I am almost ready for the holiday, I will be stuffing stockings for the kids with little treats inside, even as adults they seen to still like their stockings...
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Dec 17
@salonga Its supposed to snow today and tomorrow so I'm glald I don't have to go out...
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Dec 17
We have never eaten them, I did hear they are very bitter and then obscenely sweet in your mouth. I just looked it up and according to what I saw it is poison to animals, we always had dogs and cats that never touched it.. Its one of the nightshade plants but not toxic to humans. I just read it will kill cows and other farm animals so not a happy sight for a farmer.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
21 Dec 17
The like button might not be working for me!
Hope your get things taken care of in time.
Sorry some are dealing with surgery there. Seems it never ends.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Dec 17
All is well now, surgeries are done and gone, because we are older, there are many doctor's apts, but that's good, we are taking care of ourselves. The kids will be here this weekend and today I am making cookies....
@amadeo (111948)
• United States
17 Dec 17
@PainsOnSlate same to you there.Best Wishes
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11121)
• Malaysia
19 Dec 17
I don't think we have bittersweet berries here but they're really pretty! I really like the first shot.
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11121)
• Malaysia
20 Dec 17
@PainsOnSlate Oh yes I've been reading the posts about snow and winter and thought about how nice it would if we're able to send some some sunshine over there! 
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
19 Dec 17
Thank you for your kind words, I love my bush. The actual name of the bush is American Bittersweet, I know it grows in the north states and Canada so I'm guessing it needs winter's cold to continue. Right now I wish I had your warmth, its too darn cold where I live.
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
21 Dec 17
the berries will look lovely on your wreaths and other arangements... I just finished my shopping yesterday ....
just got to wrap or drop them in a gift bag now... hope your weather stdys good so you dan finish yours....
just got to wrap or drop them in a gift bag now... hope your weather stdys good so you dan finish yours....1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Dec 17
I'm finished shopping now its time to bake..
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Dec 17
All I have to get is a few things from the grocery for tasty things (fruits) for the kids stockings, looking forward to Christmas now... I'm ready.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
19 Dec 17
All is well with my friend and my husband who had surgery, thankfully its over and we are ready for our children to come home for the holiday.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
18 Dec 17
All is well with my friend and my husband, so glad its over. I do love my bittersweet.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Dec 17
Looking forward to have a ll the children together for the holiday. I hope Santa is good to you too.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
17 Dec 17
Same here, just one thing more...and a few little things for the stockings. I intend to bake cookies for all the kids too...
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
16 Dec 17
I do not know how you deal with all the snow and driving.
No I have not shopped and I plan to pick up a few small gifts, but mostly I gave money to families with children, me and Tony did 4 this year.
Those are still beautiful photos and I love those berries and would not mind a few of those bushes around here.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
17 Dec 17
The berries are lovely, a favorite of mine. I will be finishing my shopping soon, I have just one gift more, and few stocking small gifts - fun stuff.. I grew up in upstate New York and had snow and ice in my life my whole life except a few years in Kansas. In Kansas (at least in my towns) they didn't have snow plows, when it snowed everyone waited for it to melt, which didn't take very long. Here in Canada its just like New York with the weather, The roads are plowed and we have special tires on our cars so if we are careful, driving is not a problem.
@rina110383 (24495)
•
16 Dec 17
I'll buy my Christmas presents for my parents on Monday.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Dec 17
I have to take the time to do it. I only have a few things to get, one big gift and then stocking stuffers...my adult kids still look forward to the stockings.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
16 Dec 17
Really colourful berries.
Hope both surgeries go off well.Snow is something that is magical for me coz never seen it
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Dec 17
I have seen people who have never seen it when they first do see it and they are awed. I loved it when I was a kid, not so much anymore.
1 person likes this
@thedevilinme (3905)
• Northampton, England
16 Dec 17
I'm an expert on bushes and that looks unkempt and foreign
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Dec 17
It is foreign to you but not to me. My mothers bush was huge, very old and gorgeous looking, I planted new babies in my back yard where we are covered with trees all summer , so it has grow tall and skinny. When the leaves are on the bush it is lovely, now that its winter is does look unkempt and foreign.
Bittersweet vines are North American native plants that thrive throughout most of the U.S. Find out how to grow them in the home landscape by reading the article that follows.
