Many people miss an opportunity to decorate their homes in a very simple way.  Arranging a few inexpensive plants from the grocery plant stand, or a local nursery, in a basket adds color, freshness to the air, and a little life in a dreary winter. Place them near a lamp which remains on through the day or all night, assures they have enough light, because the ones they sell for house plants are ususally low light plants anyway.  A second great easy is bulbs. Preplanted ones have done the best for me.  Leave them outside during their off season, and when they begin to sprout bring them in.  They will love the warmth, and bloom in the winter if you want them to.  These also make great gifts.
My son's mother-in-law always adorns our table at family dinners with a basket with several 4" blooming plants tucked inside. They sit low enough on the table to have a conversation over. And they sometimes come in colors difficult to get in floral arrangements.  Plus they last so much longer, often can be transplanted outside to bloom again and again, and they cost so much less than a florist made offering. 
So few of us have extra income these days, that it is a blessing to have something that can be purchased over a course of weeks.  An ivy this week, a pathos next, a bloomer next week.  Don't like baskets? Be creative. So many things hold plants.
 A key element for long life in most plants however is to keep them up out of standing water. To be certain the plants get the water they need and you don't overwater, raise them above the bottom of their liner with broken shells, gravel, stones, hard foam chunks, marbles, or other washable, reusable chunky bits of material.  Never water plants to a point that the water is above the level of the top of this material.  Allow dry out between waterings- super important. Only a few plants like to be moist all the time. Remaining dry will wilt plants but they will often survive it.  Overwatering kills, and causes funguses etc you don't want in your home.  To allow the plants access to the excess water that drains into the shells, stones or whatever, use any material that will absorb water, and make a narrow strip of it.  Lift the plant from its pot when the dirt is at its dryest point.  Insert the strand of material up through the drain hole in the pot and over the edge of the pot and replant the foliage with its roots and dirt as much in tact as possible.  Lay the end of the strip across the top of the dirt. The other end of the strip should be dangling from the hole in the bottom of the pot. Set the pot into the liner, arranging the stones or shells so that the wicking material can be on the bottom of the liner with  the drainage material arraganed over it. This will assure that any water the plants soil does not absorb, will drain into the drainage material, but will be wicked up as the plant needs it, keeping the available water accessible.  If however the plant is being overwatered a lot. and never allowed to dry between waterings, the plant will not live.  Draining water off is critical.
Some plants will want more water and some less.  It is an effective tool, if those which need less water don't have the wicking material.  Therefore they get less water. 
Periodically wash all the materials in a water and a capful of bleach. Use antibacterial hand cleaner when handling materials that have set for a while.  Or use gloves that keep hands dry. Bacteria can grow where water stands.  Another reason to allow drying.  Seems like work. Not really. Its easy if you don't keep it all too wet. 
Plants in glass or glazed ceramics are in the most danger of dying from overwatering.  They often don't allow for appropriate drainage and can't dry effectively.  A strong warning is given for  standing water in a deep glass container which turns red.  Dangerous bacteria is present.  Use caution when disposing of it, and cleaning the containers.  Also clean the areas where the water splashes or is poured out into.  Not down a sink! Toilett or outdoors disposal please. Did I scare you?  I hope I only convinced you to not overwater your plants and make a way that the water can evaporate or be used by the plant.  Do not ever water plants everyday.

Just for the fun of it, Jimmy planted seeds from one of our pumpkins.  It has been fun to watch it put on blooms, and see them unfurl.  It has produced huge leaves and a 9 foot vine, but so far no pumpkings.  Finally there came a white mildew from all the rain. It has infected a lot of the things growing in our gardens, and it covered those huge pumpkin leaves and wilted them away.  Much to our sorrow.  So I am so glad I took this picture.  Where in the world do you often find this gorgeous color. And check out natures color notes. Blue green looks good with a soft yellow green, with this lovely canteloupe color of the bloom.
 What is our project?
Well, we (Jimmy and I) are gathering seeds from our gourds, tomatoes, pumpkins, and whatever..and I pulled out some colorful envelopes from an old collection I had.  All of them were card envelopes from one company, all the same size. After saving them for all these years, I am finding they are the best for saving seeds in. Nothing fancy, I am writing what's inside with majic marker and holding the collection together with a large clip. Seed central, and I am storing it among the jars in my kitchen cabinet.  I am so looking forward to planting some of them and watching them next year!
In fact, I am already thinking what kind of junk I have that I can make a peice of art for them to cliimb on!  How cool is that?

I hadn't realized it had been so long since I posted here. This morning it is raining and I am so glad it is.  With the evening rains from yesterday and the morning rains from this morning, it is a relief from the heat and also the exercise of having to water my gardens.  But the extremes of heat this summer have done a lot to cause things to die back.  It is difficult to stay out and weed for long. An extreme wind storm took down a lot of limbs in the yard and cleaning that up has taken pecedence over what I wanted to do.  But I am happy to have a yard that needs my care. I hope Jesus is happy to have my life which is also in constant need of care. LOL
The rain will foster the weeds as well as the recovery of the wilting flowers. So I need to prepare to spend a few mornings with a hoe. And that may mean that I can't post again here for another great while. But, it is best. I need the sun and the exercise. Besides that, I have a lot of Prinking to do. Always something in need of dressing up a bit.
Lord, Please provide the means. In Jesus name, AMEN

Dolls in my Garden

Dolls in my garden, are mini china dolls, that are in memory of my precious grand-daughter who went on to live with Jesus on day prior to her birth.  But they also add a bit of whimsey tucked into gardens and hanging baskets.  They only cost a dollar at the dollar stores, and are way more beautiful than they cost.  They hold up especially well in the weather, and some have been used in her cemetery flowers already.  This is a great way to repurpose them, and also enjoy them while I wonder what adventures she and Jesus are having.

Making Vine Wreaths

Mostly Ivy, formed slightly square.

A tree limb fell from a dying tree during a wind storm earlier this year and brought down a large amount of ivy with it.  I thought I would take it and add some to it to weave a moderate wreath.  As it turns out, there was more than enough to make the wreath and with a little left over, I went about the house finding more vine needing to be cut away from hedges and shrubs, and made a secon one of mostly grapevine.  Then as I pulled back the vines that have overrun their bounds, of vinca and ivy and something hardy that my mother gave me, I discovered the short lengths made very good plate size wreaths.  It's fairly quick to do, and very easy, so I shall try to keep abreast of it throughout the summer and fall, and use the vine to constuct as many as I have leisurely hours to make.

Grapevine

To have them dry quickly, I could put them in the attic, but I am enjoying seeing them in the garden and they do add a bit of dressing to the wood pile.   I will like it very much when there are quite a few more.

Baskets in the Trees

Jimmy loves Hanging Baskets in our Dogwood trees.  When the blooms die away they will become the feature.  They seem to do well there, because they are shaded from the harshest sun but get plenty of light.  I did find that we needed to move the fern to the tree furthest from the morning sun, because the exposute to open wind was less and it didn't dry out as fast:

The wire hanging basket is an old one I had.  Over the years I have collected several, and was determined to use them this year.  Finding the coconut liners to fit was a bit difficult.  There were plenty of small ones, so I had to buy two.  I hope it lasts several years because they were expensive.  I put a mix of sun loving flowers in it, hoping that in time they will spill over the sides.

Purchased preplanted and taking a chance on the weather...

The basket in the forground is an Angel Wing Begonia in various colors.  They are my favorite Begonias,  especially the dark leaved, double varieties.  They can be repropogated and are versatile.  It is a difficult to overwater them,  and they will survive in sun or shade.  Filtered light helps the blooms last longer.  These have had blooms that get over 3 inches wide!

Sunloving versus shade lover

We hung this very large basket which I repainted by a strong chain from a tree in the bird garden.  These are sun loving plants.  The one above is full of shade lovers and hangs under the deck stairs.

A Garden Called Gethsemane: The Garden

A Garden Called Gethsemane: The Garden: Actually the correct color of these Iris,


Fuscia ~ Dancing colors


Peony in front of Aunt Birdie's Old House, Burnsville, ...

Spring Color

Everything popped early this year.  The Pear trees didn't even last a couple of days.  The blooms were smaller too. So glad for the pictures last year.  But the Dogwoods had more blooms than ever! This week following rain, the blossoms are falling, and they are covering everything.  But I will gladly clean them up to have been able to enjoy thier mass of color. Didn't get many blooms dried.  I am a little disappointed with that, and no close-ups in pics, but they were a lovely back drop to my landscape shots.  Jimmy hung hanging baskets in them.  They are just remarkable, with colorful baskets hanging from them. There is one very large Boston Fern, too.  Perfect place for it! And the Azaleas!  What ever will I do for color when they are gone?

 We found some fencing sections to support the Spiderwart, and my Lilacs have quite a few blooms this year for the first time.  The Nandina from Mom's will make a wonderful backdrop, and I believe the Lily of the Valley have finally taken hold. I miss her sitting in her rocker on the porch this year.  The Hostas are ready to transplant, so I moved a few to fill in spaces today.  Completely filled the spaces. The Tiny Tears ground cover did well close to the house, but was over powered by early weeds that I didn't get out of the bed in time.  But it is recovering.  Might not be enough sun to bloom well though.  I found the Trillium in the Ivy and Vinca, and opened out some space for it.  But the stem is already spindley. I bought a support pole but the sun was able to get to it, because of the limb that was broken from the tree in the wind.  I hope it will make it anyway.  Cleaned the Peony beds finally, and took a little Shamrock from the mailbox bed to scatter between the Peonies.  Lots of buds on the Peony plants.  I found an excellent trellis for the Clematis at the mailbox.  It has been a few years since it had something to climb on.  I put in mulch on one half of the bird garden.  Pulling grass plugs to use in Heather's yard, and weeding before I put the mulch layer down.  On the hill around the tree, I am getting some Toe Tickler varieties started.  I am really loving how hardy they are.  The Hyacinths on the deck are just about spent, but we found a large healthy pink Lily to take thier place.  I am so proud to be feeling more like tackling all of this again.  Each day we get a little more done. My yard is certainly looking so much better for the effort, too. I'll add picts to the pages as I am able.  Lot's of beautiful close ups I can hardly wait to share. Happy Gardening!

The Ever-Changing Garden

And early sunny spring has given me a bit of a head start on planning.  Planting and potting in places where taking pictures will pay off.
( Pardon the alliteration. LOL )

A broken limb which took down power lines, meant that a large truck had to push its way into my back yard.  In its way were my old arbor and a leaning wooden swing on wood posts. So when they had to push it all over to get to the pole, I was glad we hadn't replaced it with new.  Time for a back yard redesign, and I could use the discarded posts for a bird feeding station that I had dreamed of placing where the children's swing and trampoline had been. Now that it was gone, I had a large place with pea gravel as the base. No sense trying to grow grass ....sooo ---

 

I stacked the old posts to provide a background and a definition of size. I took old sections of trees that hadn't been chopped into firewood yet to make perches. I placed stepping stones from the paths where vines had grown over them, into a pattern around a ground feeding station. I pulled limb sections from the back of the lot, and laid the unusual ones that had mushrooms growning on them as anchors for the spaces. And I leaned a limb or two against the trees.  Ornamental items which I stored for the winter went in next and I pulled together the concrete items from Mom's.