Chorreador & Fall Gardening | Soft Conversations for Cozy Evenings

In Chorreador & Fall Gardening, Amanda and Marco step away from their usual setup and settle into an unintentionally atmospheric recording space — complete with squeaky chairs and the soft hum of everyday life in the background. The ambient sounds blend gently with their voices, creating a naturally calming podcast experience that feels warm and unpolished in the best way.
The conversation begins with familiar household comforts like radiators and their steady clanks before drifting south to the traditional Costa Rican coffee maker known as the Chorreador. Marco and Amanda describe the wooden stand and cloth filter that make this brewing method so distinctive, savoring the ritual of slow coffee preparation. From there, the episode meanders into fall gardening — planting bulbs, outsmarting squirrels, and noticing the seasonal rhythms of places like Toronto and its famous black squirrels.
As always, the pace is soft and unhurried. This relaxing conversation is designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. Let the gentle talk of coffee and cool-weather gardening wash over you as you drift toward rest.

​Chorreador & Fall Gardening


(Original airdate: October 25, 2023)

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax, lean into your rattan squeaky chair as we are going to do today on today's podcast. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Marco Timpano, also in

Amanda:  a rattan squeaky chair, Amanda Barker.

Marco:  We are not in our studio but we wanted to, uh, ensure that we, we had a podcast episode for you today. So we are not in the most ideal recording situation, but we are certainly with our most ideal listeners.

Amanda:  It's morning time and some of you listen to this podcast. In fact, I know it's funny because

Marco:  this podcast was never designed for people to listen to when they wake up. It was designed for people to help them fall asleep.

Amanda:  Well, a lot of things, uh, take on a new purpose for things they were never intended to do. And, um, and we're happy about that. I mean, a lot of people like to listen to this while driving. They just want some natural, easy conversation while they drive.

Marco:  I don't recommend listening to this podcast

Amanda:  while you're driving or operating machinery.

Marco:  Heavy machinery. It's always heavy machinery. What heavy machinery do you operate during

Amanda:  the day that I can't operate? If I'm on certain medications, I guess.

Marco:  Car.

Amanda:  A car would be a big one.

Marco:  That forklift that I operate, you know, the backhoe.

Amanda:  The backhoe, yeah. Um, I'm trying to think of any

Marco:  actual lawnmower, I guess while you're thinking, I also.

Amanda:  For the wreckage. I've never been on a lawnmower. It's not a chore I enjoy.

Marco:  Fair, fair. We, you may hear trucks and cars going by. We're doing our best to mitigate that, but that's just the sound of where we are.

Amanda:  The sweet sound of a cabin in the woods, pretty much that has a

Marco:  lot of trucks near the road. I, uh, also had to turn off our water pump. Oh. That's why I'm like, I'm going to turn the water off. Because it makes. It makes a constant sort of noise,

Amanda:  tick, tick, tick, boom kind of sound.

Marco:  Well, I think it's more of a click, chill click.

Amanda:  It's actually a kind of click, tick, hiss.

Marco:  I think there's more of a beat to it than a click. I feel like the. The sound is a little bit more, you know, there's more length to the sound.

Amanda:  I think it's like a radiator where it's like, tick, tick, tick, tick, and then a like, release. Like a hissing sound.

Marco:  Okay, yeah, I'll buy that. I'll buy that.

Amanda:  Okay. Have you ever lived with a radiator that. Like one of those old timey radiators like that because they're quite loud in buildings.

Marco:  I lived with a radiator. It sounds like. Have you ever lived with.

Amanda:  Have you ever taken in a radiator as a companion?

Marco:  No. Uh, yes, maybe I have, but the radiator was very. Was new, so it didn't make that noise. And that would be new. York. Yeah. So.

Amanda:  Yeah. Um, so my residence in university that I lived, um. I had two different rooms there in first year and then a different one in second year. So especially I lived on the top floor in my third year. It was a hot little, tiny, tiny, tiny room. And those radiators, man, the clanking. Clanking. You never. That university was just the constant clanking sound of radiators and train. And a train going by twice a day.

Marco:  I do like the sound of trains going by.

Amanda:  It is a very comforting sound. Yeah.

Marco:  I did want to mention Amanda last week episode was only 10 minutes long and it wasn't. It wasn't meant to be a full

Amanda:  episode, but do we upload that as a full. As an episode episode?

Marco:  I did that by mistake.

Amanda:  Oh. I thought I was a Patreon.

Marco:  It was supposed to be. And it's a long story, but you and I have been recovering from a long. A longish kind of illness and we haven't been able to record as much as we'd like. So if anyone's listening right now and they have the sniffles or under the weather, we totally sympathize with you. You're not alone.

Amanda:  So for the last month, I have to say, and I just said it to a friend, I felt like I was living under a weighted blanket.

Marco:  Yeah.

Amanda:  So. Which is not the worst feeling, to be honest.

Marco:  No. Listen, if. If you enjoy weighted blankets, which I do.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  Then it's a great feeling. But you're not so, so much of a fan of weighted blankets.

Amanda:  I'm not. I'm. I'm a fan of the idea of weighted blankets. But then my hot feet don't like them. I have a confinement thing that I deal with.

Marco:  I'm a fan of the idea of apple cider. It's just the taste of it that I don't love. And, uh. And to watch your shaking of the table.

Amanda:  I'm sorry I was laughing.

Marco:  I know we're on the worst.

Amanda:  Funny that you like the idea of apple cider but not apple cider itself. That makes me laugh.

Marco:  I love anything apple. Right. I love apples. I love apple pie. I love cooking with apples. I love all that. Except apple cider, which I love, which I thought I'd love. Cider made with apples. So the alcoholic version of apple cider and candy apples. Not my favorite.

Amanda:  So candy apples and I don't have a good relationship for lots of reasons.

Marco:  Much like radiator. Is it someone else you've invited into the home that you've had?

Amanda:  Yes, candy apples. I Do want to love them, but my teeth are not fans. They don't get along with my teeth, so I stay away from them. But, um, apple cider I love and I used to always buy big jugs of it and I. I gotta be honest, I don't buy it anymore because I know I'm the only one drinking it.

Marco:  Then don't buy the big jug. Buy the smaller jug.

Amanda:  Yeah, I might do that. Uh, but that said, you do love an eggnog.

Marco:  I do love an eggnog. And we're approaching eggnog season and I'm not gonna lie, I saw eggnog ice cream in the store for an inexpensive price and so I picked it up.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And I'm gonna have some. Not today, but I'm gonna have a little bit as a treat in the next day or two.

Amanda:  Soon I'm gonna go to that coffee shop chain and go get you an eggnog latte.

Marco:  They never make it the way I want it.

Amanda:  I know. The thing about that too is they used to have my all time favorite flavored latte of flavored lattes in the. In the beauty pageant. Of flavored lattes.

Marco:  Yeah.

Amanda:  M. The one I was always gunning for was the gingerbread latte.

Marco:  I like a gingerbread latte too, but they discontinued it. What are you gonna do? You can make your own.

Amanda:  I know, but I'm not gonna do that.

Marco:  Speaking of coffees, I don't know if I've mentioned this in the past and all our listeners who email us and write to us, please continue doing so. I don't always see them right away, but we will get to them. So Diane commented a while ago on our podcast. I think it was on the Facebook page. Page.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  That she's been making cappuccinos every morning for most of their married life. We're talking, you know, upwards of 20 years.

Amanda:  Great.

Marco:  Their recent trip to Costa Rica got them reacquainted with chorrerado.

Amanda:  What's that?

Marco:  Choreo. Sorry. And I have to turn my face to look at my computer.

Amanda:  And so a chorero.

Marco:  A choreto.

Amanda:  Not a chorerato.

Marco:  No, a choreto. Know what?

Amanda:  A ch.

Marco:  It's. It's an intense chedo. Um. And there's some skill and experience required to make the chedo.

Amanda:  Please tell me all of this.

Marco:  The right grind, the right water temperature. I love it. Because now we're dealing with science and the time taken to pour it in a circular motion. Oh. So I'm going to take a look at it. And once again, we may have talked about it and if we have, while we're dipping back into it. But look at this thing you have to use, Amanda.

Amanda:  Oh, it's one of those science kit things.

Marco:  It's really cool.

Amanda:  And it looks like. Is that. Am I thinking right? Like I've seen some, some coffee being brewed and it looks like a beaker.

Marco:  Well, the chorado consists, and this is, I'm reading it from Wikipedia, of wooden stand, Amanda, which holds an, um, elongated cotton bosita.

Amanda:  Wow.

Marco:  Do you know what a bosita is?

Amanda:  No idea.

Marco:  It's a little bag shaped rather like a pocket. So picture almost like, you know, when you get tea and you put it in your own, um, tea bag. Uh, mhm.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  What would you call that?

Amanda:  Like the. When you. When you get. But it makes sense because I'm. Because I'm learning Italian. What's it called again?

Marco:  Well, this is Spanish and it's called a Bolsita.

Amanda:  No, I know. Bowl. Oh, with an L. I was thinking Borsa purse.

Marco:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Uh, and then sita, I figured is a dominion. Yeah. So not quite.

Marco:  But yeah, I hear what you're saying. So it's kind of like a little filter, um, pocket.

Amanda:  Yeah, like the tea filters you get from a tea shop when you put loose tea in. That's what you're trying to say.

Marco:  Yeah. So the mouth of the bosita is held open by a circular wire or wooden rim. So picture a plank of wood that has a hole. Cut it into it.

Amanda:  Huh.

Marco:  And then if you were to take a coat hanger and fashion it into a circle with a handle as if you were going to blow bubbles with it, but instead you put your Bolsita in it, and that would allow you to lift the bosita in and out of that wooden plank.

Amanda:  Uh-huh.

Marco:  Now, I've never made this coffee and I've never seen this, uh, device. I'm just going from what I see in the photo and what I read, Amanda. Okay, so don't. I don't want anybody who makes pulsitas to be upset, nor do I want people.

Amanda:  We don't want a Pulsita spleen.

Marco:  I certainly don't want. No one wants to both sit. No one wants to be Bolsita spleen, but that's what I'm doing right now. So the stand used to hold a coffee or coffee pot on its base is at the bottom. So you could put your little coffee mug underneath the bolsita, uh, which is being held up by this Wooden stand. Does that make sense?

Amanda:  Kind of.

Marco:  The bolsita is suspended from the top of the chorado. Uh, chorado stand m. Hanging above the container.

Amanda:  Wow.

Marco:  The chorado can be made at home simply. And as Wikipedia says cheaply.

Amanda:  I don't. I just. It looks like quite a contraption to have on your kitchen counter.

Marco:  It's actually very basic carpentry and sewing skills.

Amanda:  But, guys, it's sewing and carpentry for coffee.

Marco:  Yeah. But once you make the Bolsita out of linen and I make the.

Amanda:  Are you gonna make this?

Marco:  I mean, we have so many coffee devices in our home as we speak.

Amanda:  We have very little counter space, and it is very filled with.

Marco:  But if you want me to make a bolsita or.

Amanda:  I don't. I don't not want you to make a Bolsita.

Marco:  So the carpentry doesn't look. Doesn't look too difficult because you would just need four dowels and two pieces of wood, which you would put one piece of wood, a little small plank, a rectangular plank, or.

Amanda:  Can I just buy this? Probably, like, online. I type it in and I can buy it.

Marco:  There's another truck going by. Probably.

Amanda:  Amanda, is that the pulsita truck? Coming to deliver a pulsita on live podcast.

Marco:  The word choredo is related to the Spanish verb chore, meaning to drip or trickle. Oh, that's why, um, that's why.

Amanda:  What's the word in Italian for that? Do you even know? Like, I've never.

Marco:  Drip or trinkle.

Amanda:  Trickle. I've never even heard a word in Italian that would mean that

Marco:  I know gotcha means drip. Like a drip. Like a drop. Okay, so I'm sure it's related to that. You could look it up, perhaps. Well, Diane did mention that it takes time and patience. I do love a coffee that takes patience. Like a. Like a Turkish coffee. I don't necessarily love. This sort of coffee's got to be made fast. M. Press the button, it's in. Ready? Instantly.

Amanda:  Opposite of my parents.

Marco:  Listen, if you'd like instant coffee, more power to you.

Amanda:  Instant coffee. Not sprinkles in a hot water. Have you ever had that, by the way?

Marco:  I've had. I've used it in making milkshakes when I want coffee. Make milkshakes. Oh, you use those. Yeah. So that's when I'll use it. Not that it. Listen to me. As if I'm making a lot of coffee milkshakes.

Amanda:  Well, I've never seen. And you go, hey, do we have that instant coffee for that Coffee milkshake

Marco:  I need to have. That's not, that's not something I've done.

Amanda:  When have you done that?

Marco:  Listen, I'm sure I've done it in the past.

Amanda:  Sure.

Marco:  I would use it. Okay, so here's where I would use those instant coffee granules. If I was making hot chocolate.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And I wanted a bit of a coffee or mocha kind of flavor to it. Put some of those sprinkles in m. Your hot chalky. Uh, in your hot.

Amanda:  I like a hot chalky man in the winter. There's nothing I like more than a little hot chalky in my mouth. I don't know.

Marco:  Sorry. No, I was shaking the table. I was like, yeah, everything we're on right now is wicker. Every move we make, it's a wicker.

Amanda:  It's a wicker wonderland where we are and.

Marco:  Wicker, of course. And it's.

Amanda:  And it, you know, it's a wicker world in the autumn.

Marco:  Um, so back to the coffee.

Amanda:  Back to the bosita. Uh, the construction and the sewing involved with coffee making.

Marco:  So the coffee cup or pot is placed beneath on the bottom stand. Also on the bottom.

Amanda:  That makes sense. You drip it in and you drip it in through the purse thing.

Marco:  Through the bolsita. Boiling water is poured on top.

Amanda:  Okay. Not unlike a lot of coffee situations.

Marco:  Sure. And the liquid seeps through making coffee, which drips into the waiting container. But unlike, um, let's say North American drip coffee.

Amanda:  Sure.

Marco:  This one here is based on its grind. So I bet it has a tighter grind, which means that the water takes longer to go through, which also means you get more of the coffee essence and you get more notes of the coffee.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  Um, and I bet it's fantastic and delicious. And I'll be honest with you, I would totally be into this thing. More so than a French press.

Amanda:  Right? I know you don't. You don't have a lot of love for the French press.

Marco:  Listen, I. I love the idea of the French press.

Amanda:  Oh, really? Do you?

Marco:  I like the way the contraption looks. It has a neat kind of look to it. I like everything but the taste of the coffee when it's made through a French press.

Amanda:  Fair enough. Fair enough.

Marco:  So don't forget to wash and dry your Bolsita after each use because you can reuse it as dry Bolsitas produce the best results.

Amanda:  Oh, who knew?

Marco:  Um, so, yeah, so that's, that's my, uh.

Amanda:  Speaking of coffee and variations of that, what did you have in your coffee this morning?

Marco:  So Like I said, we're not it. We're not at home right now. We're not in our ideal. I think we've established that recording, um, location. And Amanda made me a coffee. She woke me up, actually, very early because she had to record an audio audition for a bank of some sort of voiceover.

Amanda:  It's a glamorous, glamorous life that we all live here.

Marco:  So we had to throw a blanket over Amanda's head and have her under the blanket with the microphone, which we're not doing now because we don't have enough blankets to do that. And, um, recorded the voiceover. I edited the voiceover, and then I said, okay, let's record the podcast on squeaky chairs. And so you're like, let's do it.

Amanda:  The only way I could get him up was to lure him with a coffee.

Marco:  So she said, I have a coffee for you. And I knew something was up. And then I said, and I know we don't have milk up here. And I said, where did you get the milk? Knowing that there's an A coffee I got yesterday in the car. And I thought you took that coffee, the remainder coffee, I see, and poured it into this coffee to milk. Ify it. The milk. Ification of the coffee.

Amanda:  No, I did not do that.

Marco:  Instead, we wisely bought condensed milk and stored it in the cupboards up here.

Amanda:  Yeah. For that reason. In fact, I got it on sale. It was cheap, so.

Marco:  So we had coffee with condensed milk, which is, I believe, what a Vietnamese coffee is.

Amanda:  Sort of the base of Vietnamese coffee.

Marco:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Ah. And it's delicious.

Marco:  It's a bit sweeter. It's got a, uh.

Amanda:  I was a heavy pour with the condensed milk because we're only going to be here a little bit longer.

Marco:  So the viscosity of the coffee is a bit. Bit thicker.

Amanda:  Sure.

Marco:  It's darker and it's tasty.

Amanda:  Yeah, it's really tasty.

Marco:  So on that note, I woke up really enjoying it, and we. We did. We did that little audition, and it sent out. I wanted to mention, because we talk a lot about flowers and gardening, but we rarely, if ever have talked about fall gardening.

Amanda:  Uh, let's do it.

Marco:  And our listener and I don't have. I think it's. Dee said last week that they really enjoy when we talk about T. T, E. Sorry, not D. Yeah, okay. We're talking about coffee.

Amanda:  D is somebody else.

Marco:  Yeah. I want to shout out both T and D, who are listeners, and we

Amanda:  think it was T. Then I'm pretty

Marco:  sure it was T. Yeah. Okay, So I am taking my calla bulbs out of the ground. I have to because I think they're gonna freeze. And I, and we had such beautiful.

Amanda:  But how expensive were they?

Marco:  They're not cheap.

Amanda:  Every year you're a little more. And this is true for all of us, you're a little more like your mother.

Marco:  Well, I mean, I don't. Listen, my mother has a green thumb.

Amanda:  Yeah, she does.

Marco:  And I don't necessarily, but she does

Amanda:  take those calla bulbs out every year

Marco:  though, because we're in a zone where they would freeze in the ground.

Amanda:  It's called Canada.

Marco:  No, there's certain zones.

Amanda:  Oh, I see.

Marco:  So I think we're in zone five. But if we were in Windsor, which is much more southern, or if we

Amanda:  were in Victoria bc, Windsor is that much more southern. Really?

Marco:  Yeah, I think, I think Windsor's in four. And I think like Victoria bc.

Amanda:  I don't know if I buy that.

Marco:  You have a phone right there. Look up the zones.

Amanda:  Okay, so what am I looking at? Gardening zones?

Marco:  Yeah, gardening zones, I guess. I don't know. All right, so I'm taking my calabulps out and I've planted tulips. I planted 50, that's five, zero tulips because they made a mess of our front. And all my flowers except my peonies, um, which I, I corded, uh, off, I guess. I, I, I put those little metal wire gates in front of them so that the workers, the city workers who are working in our front didn't destroy them. But I planted 50 tulip bulbs.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So I cannot wait till next year till those tulips come up. But I can't find crocus bulbs. And I'm a little bit upset by that because I love crocus bulbs and I had seen them in the store, but I think I'm too late for them.

Amanda:  Oh no. Maybe online we could get them though.

Marco:  There's also that large gardening center not far from here.

Amanda:  Oh, that's a good idea. Maybe we, we go there.

Marco:  They should. They're just a bit expensive. I find that gardening center.

Amanda:  Yeah, but it's end of season.

Marco:  True.

Amanda:  I think maybe we go there anyways.

Marco:  So I've planted my, I've planted my tulips.

Amanda:  All right. I'm looking at this map here and

Marco:  they've got a peachy pinkish tone to it. What's that called? You have, you have like a ring that has a, an orange pink tone to it.

Amanda:  I don't like an ombre, I don't know.

Marco:  No, it's like orange and pinky. Oh, that's me.

Amanda:  Orange and pink. I mean, there's no. No word for orange and pink.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  Uh, you mean like a mixture of orange and pink? Yeah. No, but you're talking about tulips that are both orange and pink. Like they're orange with a pink rim or pink with an orange rim. You're not talking about something. A color that's between orange and pink?

Marco:  I think I'm talking about a color between orange and pink.

Amanda:  Well, then it would be like a salmon.

Marco:  Yeah. But a bright salmon. Anyways, I have salmon tulips. I'm gonna call them salmon tulips.

Amanda:  Tasty.

Marco:  That are coming up. And, um, I can't wait for those then. So we have flower pots here in front of the cottage that. The flowers this year had a decent start.

Amanda:  You got them in early.

Marco:  I got them in early.

Amanda:  I had nothing to do with them this year.

Marco:  They were having a good time.

Amanda:  May. There were some geraniums, right?

Marco:  They were. No, they weren't geraniums. I didn't buy geraniums this year.

Amanda:  Well, what are the. What are those?

Marco:  They're not geraniums. They're, um. Oh, other flowers. I can't think right now. Uh, were they geraniums? There were geraniums and other flowers.

Amanda:  Yeah, they were geraniums.

Marco:  Yeah, you're right.

Amanda:  They were geraniums.

Marco:  I like geraniums. Yeah, I know not everybody loves geraniums, but I like geraniums in pots in front of places.

Amanda:  Well, they get full sun, so you need a hearty flower out there because we're also not here a ton.

Marco:  So they had a great start. Heart of the summer. Beat them down a bit. And now it's as if there's new, different flowers in those pots because they're different colors.

Amanda:  It's a second bloom. The blooms look different.

Marco:  Different and beautiful. And not blooms on the geraniums. These are blooms on the secondary flower.

Amanda:  Both, though.

Marco:  But there's geraniums out there. I don't think so.

Amanda:  Yes. So the pink flowers.

Marco:  Yes.

Amanda:  Are geraniums.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  And they have had a second bloom.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  And they look. They're small blooms. They almost look like. Like hearty roses or, um, begonias. They almost look like begonias, but they're not. They're geraniums.

Marco:  And then the secondary flower, whatever those were, whatever it was, they were kind

Amanda:  of like a ground cover flower. Yeah.

Marco:  They were meant to just spill over

Amanda:  and fill the pot.

Marco:  And fill the pot, and they didn't really spill over. But now they're beautiful.

Amanda:  Yeah, they're living their best life.

Marco:  So.

Amanda:  So I feel bad because we're gonna take them out soon. I mean, the truth is we probably already would have, but we've had a bit of a funky fall.

Marco:  Yeah, we've had a funky fall.

Amanda:  And so we have been up and now we are up and here they are and they're. They're having a second bloom, just like us in life. And you know, Amanda, I wish everyone a second bloom. Yes, I really do.

Marco:  Yeah. And then I got a rose. So it's not a rose. It's um. Okay, so there is. We had a whole rose episode, remember?

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So last year, end of season, I planted a bunch of. What's that flower? Did you find out the zones were.

Amanda:  Yeah, I did. I didn't want to interrupt you.

Marco:  No, no, talk about zones because I'm going to look up this flower.

Amanda:  Okay. So we are Toronto, from what I can tell is in the zone five.

Marco:  That's what I said.

Amanda:  Yeah. And then I think you're right. I think down and I guess it is Windsor. And just the tip of Windsor and the southern tip of Nova Scotia. And then BC is its own thing. I mean, BC is like zone 7B 8A. But tip of Windsor is, um, I guess a 7A. Just a tiny little part of it. So you're not wrong.

Marco:  What about Victoria?

Amanda:  Um, yeah, so Victoria is an 8B, I think. Looks like it's very temperate there, so. Yeah, I didn't know. I really didn't know. But yeah, there are some growing zones, so it's good to know. I didn't know Windsor was that much more south than us. Because I think of Detroit as a pretty cold, windy city.

Marco:  I think Detroit, it starts to go up. It's. I think Detroit is m. The Windsor's

Amanda:  on the border to Detroit.

Marco:  Yeah, but I think Windsor. Then you start heading up because there's more Michigan that's higher.

Amanda:  It's true, there's. I always think of Detroit as the highest point of Michigan. And you're right, it is absolutely not so. Good point. What are you looking for?

Marco:  I'm looking for this, um, flower that I planted outside. It was, um. So I really dug this flowering plant that looks like a hibiscus, but the size of the. Of the bloom of the flowers, almost the size of a small plant.

Amanda:  I thought it was a hibiscus.

Marco:  It's a type of hibiscus.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  It's like the rose of Sharon or the rose of. I can't Remember if it's the Rose of Sharon or the Rose of. It's got, it's got a name that uh, is a woman's name. So Rose of Esther. Rose of Sharon. Rose of something.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  I was trying to look it up and of course there's a rose.

Amanda:  It looks like Rose of Sharon. I think you have it.

Marco:  But the Rose of Sharon looks, looks like a big bush and that's not what.

Amanda:  Yeah, but anything can look like a big bush if it grows long enough and in the right temperature. If it's in zone 8B, that's a bush. But you look at that.

Marco:  But that's not what it looks like.

Amanda:  It looks like that's the Rose of Sharon in the, in the 6B zone.

Marco:  Okay. Well anyways, I bought this end of season at the store we call Canadian Tire here in Canada, which sells more than tires.

Amanda:  We don't call it that. It's called. Called that.

Marco:  Right. They were getting rid of a lot of their plants that you should have planted early in the season.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So I picked up like five of them because I want these giant blooms planted. Five? M Only one survived. M not happy about that. But the one that survived had beautiful late blooming blooms.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  They were the size of a hand, not the size of a plate. I guess it takes a couple years for them to bloom to the size of a, let's say a 10 inch plate.

Amanda:  Sure.

Marco:  I'm excited.

Amanda:  Sandwich plate, if you will. You want, you want a dinner plate?

Marco:  No, I don't necessarily need a flowering plant that's the size of a dinner plate, but a sandwich plate would be nice. Okay, I'll post a photo on our.

Amanda:  Uh, right now they're dessert plates.

Marco:  Yeah, right now they're desserts. Dessert place.

Amanda:  Okay.

Marco:  Maybe if you were going to serve an after 8 on a plate to be finished.

Amanda:  A dinner mint.

Marco:  A dinner mint plate. So I'm very happy about that. Do you have any insight into fall gardening? I love a November rose. October. November roses. They're so beautiful.

Amanda:  M Hm. Well that was the thing. When I first went to England for the first time, I just couldn't believe that there were roses still blooming in, in January and just December. January. I just didn't even understand that that was a possibility. Which. And then you go to England in June and you're. The temperature is actually not completely dissimilar. Like it's just. They don't have the variation of season that we have. They have seasons, but they just don't have the variation of seasons. That we have here.

Marco:  I don't know. Every time I go to England in the summer, it's always really hot.

Amanda:  Oh, really?

Marco:  Yeah. It never rains when I'm in England. Everyone talks.

Amanda:  We were chilly when we were there for that wedding in June.

Marco:  You were chilly.

Amanda:  Okay. Um, in any event, um, I don't live there, so. Fall gardening. I think the biggest thing is trying to protect bulbs when you first plant them from squirrels and birds. Squirrels in particular or any possums are now a thing for us, which we don't mind. Um, raccoons.

Marco:  I don't. Raccoons growing, living under our porch. Not fun.

Amanda:  We think it was living under a porch. There was some skunk skunkle activity happening. We're not exactly sure. Um, so I think that's the biggest thing because once bulbs have had a season, they flowered, the season has passed, and then you just wait on them for next year. Then. Then they seem to be. The skunks don't want them. They don't have interest in them. But what's hap. What's happened? Oh, that's the fridge.

Marco:  That's the fridge now. Yeah.

Amanda:  It's like, what is that? What's happened is, um, we've had to have a lot of our front little tiny patch dug up by the city. It's fine. They had to do it twice. Twice. It was a. It was a very dirty, dirt filled summer and they repaved everything in front of our house. Which means you'll know which one is our house because my initials are now in the pavement.

Marco:  Amanda's like, I'm gonna write my initials in the pavement. I said, do it. Thinking she would do, you know, like an inch size of writing. No, she did like five inches. You can spot it from space, what you wrote.

Amanda:  And what's hilarious is they, they. And this is an aside, but they put fresh cement, a fresh new cement sidewalk right in front of our house. And then I open the door to go out to work and they just look at me like, uh, there's nowhere to walk.

Marco:  I know.

Amanda:  So I had to get creative, Kind of climb the tree over through the dirt. I mean, it was crazy.

Marco:  In a suit, no less.

Amanda:  But I just. I was in a suit, but I just was like, what was. I just looked at them all and they went, uh. And I just said to them simply, what was the plan? You know, there are humans living in this house. What was the plan? And they didn't have one.

Marco:  Yeah.

Amanda:  Anyhow, um. Yeah, I have big initials outside, um, but less plants. So that first planting of those bulbs, you really got to try and protect them from squirrels. And there's lots of different intel around that. I think the best thing to do is just get them really deep because you don't want to do something that's inhumane to the squirrels.

Marco:  Sure, sure, sure. Or I don't want to do something I don't. For the record, I don't think skunks eat bulbs.

Amanda:  I think it's the squirrels.

Marco:  Yeah, but you had said skunk.

Amanda:  I just wanted wildlife.

Marco:  Sure. We don't have. We don't have deer, but deer often will.

Amanda:  Yes.

Marco:  Bulbs. They don't like daffodil bulbs.

Amanda:  They're. Well, I was told squirrels didn't like daffodil bulbs.

Marco:  Lies our squirrels delicacy. It's their foie gras.

Amanda:  I think Toronto squirrels are a different breed anyway. They're very hungry and big, but.

Marco:  And black. We have. Really?

Amanda:  Yeah. We are known for the black squirrel.

Marco:  I said Washington D.C. right?

Amanda:  Yes. Because we actually sent black Squirrels to Washington D.C. sounds like we sent them as a. As a weird joke gift, but we sent them to deal with a population of something. I can't remember.

Marco:  They had a, um, chestnut problem.

Amanda:  They had. They had a overabundance of something that only squirrels could help with.

Marco:  Right.

Amanda:  And um. And so they sent Ontario black squirrels to DC So you'll still see black squirrels in DC from time to time.

Marco:  They're beautiful, but man, are they.

Amanda:  They're big. They're not what I thought of when I thought of squirrels. I thought of something akin to a chipmunk. These are a whole different beast.

Marco:  Yeah. Anyways, so that's our winter gardening and Chorado episode.

Amanda:  I guess you could say. No. Two great bedfellows. Like a. Like a bachelor and his radiator.

Marco:  There you go. On today's episode. We hope you enjoyed it and we hope at this point you have fallen deep asleep. Until next time. We hope you listen and sleep.