The Last of Summer's Bounty: Sunflowers

Grew all of these beauties from seed and faithfully watered aaaaaaaaalll summer long, then staked so they wouldn't fall over. Now, I'm finally being rewarded with multiple blooms on each tall stalk. Happy, happy, happy. 

The First Sunflower of the Year

When you wake up to find this lovely addition to your garden, you know it's going to be a good day. :)

Gifts from Nature

Took a break from designing today to gather some of nature's bounty to brighten up my kitchen and to admire the close-up, intricate details of my newest arrivals.

 I've got a bumper crop this year (and the bugs have been kind - not eating that many holes in the petals). My kitchen is so much happier now with this terra cotta jug of Purple Coneflowers to brighten it up.

New Zinnia blooms are popping open every day! I love the bright colors of the blooms and the geometric shapes of the buds are so interesting. These will last into October. 

July and Purple Coneflowers

All year long, I look forward to July, when my Purple Coneflowers finally bloom and all of the sudden my garden is an explosion of color. These last til the end of summer too, making them an especially welcome addition. Up next, Zinnias and Sunflowers! 

If You Have a Garden and a Library You Have Everything You Need

 I have had this quote in another style pinned up in my office for a while now. Obviously, it's meant to be kept in a certain context, but at it's heart it is a great reminder to me that sometimes the simplest things in life can bring you the greatest pleasure (especially when that's all you have at the moment...you learn to be very grateful for every good thing). Words of wisdom from Cicero, many moons ago.

My Bargain Shade Garden

Back in April, I promised I would share a pic of my flea market planters that I scored for just $16, once they were all filled in. Now that it's mid-June, they are looking quite lovely, if I do say so myself. The two long wooden ones sit on either side of my porch, where a blend of New Guinea Impatiens, regular Impatiens, Vinca Vine and Coleus thrive in the shade. Didn't get the big metal tub planted this year, as I had too much yardwork to do before the bugs and heatwave arrived, but there's always next year. 

My Russian Sage and The Scent of Summer

The Bluebells are gone and my Irises are already starting to fade, but while I'm waiting for my Purple Coneflowers to explode into bloom in July, I have purple, wavy and deliciously-scented Russian Sage.

Bluebells in the Morning

This is the first thing I see when I open my curtains each morning. These gorgeous bluebells come up every year on their own and are the first flowers to bloom each spring - a very welcome sight after a long winter. I love to sit in my kitchen and just admire them while I sip my tea or coffee. It puts me in a great mood for the rest of the day!

Growing Herbs in Containers

Something like this is what I have in mind for the big metal tub I picked up over the weekend. I've always loved planting things in containers, as they get less weeds, I don't have to worry about moles destroying the roots and if I add a little fence around the edge, it should keep the rabbits out too. In recent years, the local deer population has made a regular habit of visiting my front yard as well, so luckily I have a fenced-in backyard I can start my new herb garden in. I haven't had a lot of luck growing herbs/veggies in the past, but I'd like to give it another go. Found a helpful article here on growing herbs in containers. Wish me luck!

Thrifting Scores - April 2014

Spent a pleasant, sunny day yesterday hitting up garage sales in 3 different cities with my junking pal. By mid-afternoon, we were tired and a little discouraged as we hadn't found much to get excited over. But onward we marched and after grabbing a drive-thru chai tea latte I was re-charged enough to continue the hunt. At our very LAST stop (an open-air flea market), 5 minutes before closing time, I scored these two 24" long wooden planters and the 24" wide metal tub for just $16 from a vendor who simply didn't want to load it back into his truck for the drive home. Talk about a score!!! Can't wait to fill the wooden boxes up with flowers and I'm thinking about doing a miniature herb garden in the big tub. I'll post more pics later after I've got 'em all planted up. :)

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort...with a new mug!

After a sun-filled weekend, we're back indoors on this blustery, last day of March. But I just got a new gardening catalog in the mail today and I picked of this gorgeous green ceramic glazed mug for just $4 yesterday at Walmart (I know!). If I must be inside, I can't think of a better way to spend my last day off this week than with a hot cup of chai as I dream up ideas for this year's outdoor palette. After all, sometimes 'there is nothing like staying at home for real comfort'. (Jane Austen)

Sneak Peak...NEW Flower Art Coming Soon!!

It's been a while (read: several years) since I've sat down with pencil and paper and actually created something brand new...to say that life got in the way is a major understatement. But now that I'm getting back in the swing of things I've decided I want to take my shop in a 'new' direction. Get back to my 'roots', so to speak, and do more of what I've always loved about art (like drawing!) and less of what I didn't love so much (like doing the same thing over and over and over again). The nice thing about starting over is that I no longer feel constrained by the need for a steady income. I don't have to keep doing something I don't enjoy just because it sells well. Of course, I want my shop to make money. But this time I won't let that stop me from doing what makes me happy.
. . .
So anyway...this is a drawing I am working on that I hope will turn into a line of new hand-drawn prints, featuring beautiful & whimsical artwork mixed with inspiring quotations. This one will read, "Bloom Where You're Planted", which has become the mantra of my life.

Blue Bottle Garden Sculpture

What a creative way to re-use old bottles...make your own garden sculptures! I love the way this glass and metal piece looks like a larger-than-life flower. It would be the perfect way to dress up an otherwise 'bare' spot in the garden.

Vintage Upcycled Red Chandelier Planter for the Garden

This chandelier may be the coolest garden idea I've stumbled across yet...I only wish I'd thought of it first (I've passed right by dozens of 'junk' chandeliers at flea markets). Wouldn't it look lovely, hanging from a tree, over a patio set? You could even put candles in the planters to add a touch of romance to an evening spent outdoors. Now I really can't wait for summer! Be sure to check out all the other amazing garden decor by Twisted Metals as well.

Rustic, Flattened, Silver Spoon Herb Markers for the Garden

Something about the rustic, beaten-up nature of these Flattened, Silver Spoon Herb Markers calls to me...like they've been through some things and marked the spots for many prior successful growing seasons. It's a nice thought anyway, especially when you love to garden, but your 'green thumb' tends to come and go (like mine!).

Casual Country Flower Arrangement Using Grouped Glass Bottles Tied with Twine

I wish I would have seen this idea before I set out garage sale-ing this past weekend (as these etched-glass bottles are so pretty and something you don't see every day), but what a lovely, effortless flower arrangement! Just tie several glass bottles together with some twine. I can't wait to try it out the next time I have company.

My September Garden

 

My ever-patient Sedum plants waited until everything else in the garden was beyond hope of saving to finally burst forth in fluffy purple blooms (picked 2 of them up for $5 a piece at a garage sale about 5 years ago). I suppose it helps that the leaves are succulents so they can retain precious water - even in a crop-killing drought apparently. And even though it looks slightly out of place, I couldn't bring myself to pull up the lone Zinnia flower, which must have re-seeded itself from last year. I admire its perseverance!  

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I've never had much of a 'green thumb', yet every spring, I can't help but respond excitedly to the displays of multi-colored seed packets that seem to pop up just as soon as Christmas merchandise is slashed down to 75% off in retail stores nationwide. This summer was no exception. The only problem is, with the record-breaking heatwave/drought that paralyzed the midwest for pretty much the entire growing season, I got to enjoy what few flowers did come up for about 3 weeks and after that, I simply could not keep up with watering them. Even the grass gave up and turned brown and crispy, while all other living things hunkered down indoors with the air on HIGH and the shades drawn.

Then September came to our rescue with an almost instant shift in the weather pattern, and I tentatively ventured outside again. Usually, I consider this time of year to be the END of the growing season, but as it turns out, I'm finally getting to enjoy and appreciate my garden - only in a different way than I expected...

* * * * *

 

Who knew that while everything else in the garden was dying on the vine, Coleus plants and Impatiens would thrive in the combination of heat, humidity and shade just off my front porch? I even forgot to water them for weeks at a time and they just kept on growing. That monstrosity of foliage is actually several different containers that were originally planted with much smaller plants which are now at least 10X BIGGER (I'm not kidding). Picked up for a song at a local plant sale in April, I'd say I got a good deal!

Here's a top view of my Coleus plants, showing the 3 different types of plants (red, green and white) and how they expanded from their containers to reach all the way from the grass in the front yard to the front of my house (about 5 feet).

I've always been a sucker for Mums - especially this year, when the sight of their cheerful, round faces gave me hope that I might still be able to enjoy a little color in my garden before winter (hint: they only look like they've been planted directly into the ground - actually it's just a row of them that I plopped into decorative pots and set in front of my garden to distract from all the other dead flowers).

Of course, the minute I saw neatly stacked bales of hay on display at a local garden center, I couldn't resist bringing one home to cover all that dirt on the planter whose original flowers had already gone to heaven. I still had my fall wreath from last year, stored in my office, so 5 minutes (and some sweeping) later, I had a new front porch to look forward to coming home to after long walks with my one-year-old son. Now it just needs pumpkins!

Today I'm Thankful For: Free Fresh Flowers

The simple gift of being able to come home at the end of a long day and breathe in the scent of a peony blossom truly is priceless (especially when it comes from your garden!). Here are some of the lovelies I've been bringing indoors for so far this spring, for however long they will last...

Pink Peony (perennial)

Yellow African Daisies (annual) and Coreopsis (perennial)

Allium (perennial)

Note: perennial: comes back year after year on its own; annual: must be planted each year

Adventures in Gardening: Starting from Seed

Every year around mid-January when all the holiday hype REALLY has worn off and the weather is just depressing, I get a little gardening bug buzzing inside me and feel the urge to draw elaborate plans and make to-do lists for my upcoming outdoor masterpiece. I usually only make it as far as a few extra pots scattered here and there before both the money and the enthusiasm dry up, because, as easy as they make it look in the magazines, gardening is A LOT of work. So this year, in an effort to make my outdoor dollars stretch a bit farther, I decided to try starting seedlings indoors, to avoid having to pay full price for plants later in the season.

I bought one of those peat pellet trays (mine has 72) for a reasonable price - I want to say around $5 or less - and it really is as easy to get it started as it looks in the picture. I measured 2 quarts of warm water, as directed into a pitcher and poured it on the dry pellets (shown above). It got pretty splashy, so I had to go slow and was glad I'd chosen a "safe" spot at the kitchen table.

They expanded almost instantly. I was surprised. I didn't have to pour off any excess water, because they soaked it all up and I could feel the heat radiating off of them - weird. I wonder if they were "drier" to begin with because my tray is actually 2 years old (never got used last year)? Oh well, they seemed usable enough once watered. The next step was to "carefully" peel back the top of the netting (it does rip easily) and "fluff" up the dirt inside. These things are only about an inch and a half wide, so I used a chopstick, to make it a little easier. This part took about 30 minutes.

Next, I opened my seed packets, one at a time and poured the contents onto a saucer for easier access. I quickly determined that I would need about 10 trays to plant all the seeds, so had to settle for 1-2 rows in my starter tray per seed type. Some of these little buggers are impossibly small, like the size of a seed bead. I found it best to pick up one at a time and rub my fingers until it fell out over the spot I wanted.

Occasionally, one went astray. Thank God for tweezers!

Finally, all the pellets had been seeded. Most of the seeds were small, so I put 3 in each pellet (directions recommend 2-3). With the larger, zinnia seeds (slightly smaller than sunflower) I put 2 per pellet. About an hour. Pressing the seeds into the dirt and covering them "lightly", as directed, took another 15 minutes or so. All together, this was about 1.75 hour project.

As you can see, I have ambitions to have access to both fresh herbs all summer long as well as a variety of colorful flowers. I suppose it's a good thing that I wasn't able to get ALL the seeds started at once. If I start a new batch outside in about a month when the risk of frost is gone, perhaps I will have another burst of blooms later in the season when the first ones have faded. I usually try to pick plants that have long bloom periods though...I'll have to check and see if there are any shorter ones that it would be worth planting several times. Then I just have to remember to do it!

Since, I will have no clue otherwise what is what when these pellets start sprouting, I made myself a chart, complete with pink mark so I know which end is up (see corresponding on above photos), and wrote down which seeds I'd planted where.

The directions said to cover the tray with clear lid and place in a warm spot, out of direct sunlight (wonder why?) until all pellets have sprouted. So I chose the only out-of-the-way/out-of-sunlight/warm spot I could think of, which happens to be under my printer cart in my office, in front of the heating vent. When I pulled the tray out this morning to take a pic, there was a lot of condensation on the inside of the lid. I hope that's a good sign.

Update on 3/2/2010: OK, I never got around to finishing this post because the results were, frankly, depressing and not worth blogging about. I waited as long as I could to transplant the seedlings (a few weeks at most), but they quickly outgrew their little greenhouse. Next, I transplanted them and acclimated them to the outdoors for a few hours each day, just like the instructions said (and every non-newbie gardener knows to be proper). Then, when it was warm enough, I left them outside for the summer. I watered only when the soil was dry (hint: over-watering is the biggest plant killer) and I used an all-purpose liquid fertilizer occasionally, as directed. The big payoff for my meticulous efforts? What seedlings didn't die within a few weeks, remained scrawny and pathetic all summer until I finally gave up, dug them out and planted store-bought versions when there was just enough time before fall for me to enjoy them.

Maybe it was just a stroke of bad luck. Maybe I should have gotten a more expensive brand of starter pellets, or seeds. Who knows? But, I won't be going this route again. For people like me who HATE spending lots of time on worthless projects, it's better to leave some things to the professionals.

On a side note, I did pick up a couple of plantlings from a lady at a garage sale last year that have absolutely thrived in my garden. That's saying something about home-grown goodness!

In Preparation for Spring

I feel it - even though everything outide is still brown and the air is chilly and I'm wearing socks and sweaters constantly - an inner sense that the earth is changing. As someone who hates winter and cold with a passion (even though I live in the midwest and should be used to it by now), I always look for the earliest signs of spring, long before most other people would: tiny brownish-red buds forming on the naked brances of the trees in my yard, the sun that feels warm (not just bright) through my car's windows. And I am tempted to peek under the clumps of dead leaves in my empty flower beds for those first yellow-green spikes from early bloomers. It still feels like winter, but in only a few weeks, Spring will popping up everywhere and there will be no stopping it. Just knowing that the end of winter is in sight, puts light in my heart and a bounce in my step. I feel a new energy and my hands itch to start making lists for plans well into the summer months. Already I have some new flower bulbs lined up, ready to go into the ground as soon as it's safe. And I also am seeing my house - really seeing it - in a new and very dirty light and realizing that it's about time I gave it a thorough cleaning. One thing I always have to do to welcome a new season is buy a new silk floral arrangement - this time it was yellow dogwood blossoms on an irregular branch. It looks very lifelike and spruces up my kitchen just enough to inspire me to get going on the rest of my house.

Life goes on and on, and just when we think it's out of anything useful, it recycles it'self all over again and if we are lucky enough to be a part of that process, we should be very thankful.