Blooms... And A Garden Tour

 Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I know that most of my posts have been garden related lately, but I really love this time of the year.  My garden is planted and things are starting to bloom around here!  I thought it was time that I took you on a tour of my little wonky-willy-nilly garden.

 I have been so excited to show off these canterbury bells!  I remember the first time I saw canterbury bells-- I was working at a florist shop.  (Many, many years ago!)  I thought that these flowers looked like something straight out of a fairy tale or a Mary Engelbreit picture!  I've missed growing them and decided it was well past time to grow some at this house.  I'm so glad I did!

 My garden is kind of spread out... some of it's in pots, some of it is in a garden box, and some of it is planted in the side border next to the house. 

I like a bit of whimsy in my garden, and this year I added these fun skeleton lampshades into the mix.  I love them so much!  I found them at a vintage fair being sold by my-favorite-garden-art-people-of-all-time, Old Soul Studios. 

 Many of the plants that I grow are from heirloom seedlings that I purchased from a lady in my neighborhood.  She sets up her little heirloom plant stand on the sidewalk in front of her house, like a lemonade stand.  Don't you love that?!!  Her adorable little daughter helps her cultivate and sell the plants. This plant growing on the lampshade is some kind of an heirloom purple/scarlet bean.  I can't remember the name, and I've lost the marker.  It's just starting to bloom.  I've never grown these before, so I'm excited to try them.

It's crazy fun how fast things start to grow when they get to a certain point.  These are the purple beans, red and yellow peppers, sugar snap peas, herbs, and flowers.

 I like to mix flowers in with the veggies.  I try to companion plant where I can.  (Another link about companion planting here.)  Keeps everything happy and colorful.

Lots of herbs... I think that I really take them for granted.  I don't use them as much as I should, but when I do use them... yum!

 These peppers were starting to bloom here...

...and not long after, they looked like this!  These bell peppers will grow and turn yellow.  I'm not a huge fan of green bell peppers, but I do love the red and yellow!

 The sugar snap peas are starting to bloom here...

...and poof!  Seems like they turn into pods overnight!  These sugar snaps rarely make it into the house-- I love to eat them right off the vine.

  Every morning, usually in my pajamas, I go out to water and putz around in the garden.  This happy guy follows me everywhere.  It's kind of our ritual, and my favorite way to start the day.

 This garden box was already here when I purchased my house.  I've got about four heirloom tomatoes, a lemon cucumber, a dragon's egg cucumber, petunias, zinnias, sunflowers, and sweet alyssum growing in here.  The nasturtiums are from last year, so I let them stay and hang out with the others.  Oh, and there's a mystery plant.  I bought it from the plant stand. I know that it's "suppose to be good for the garden", but I cannot-for-the-life-of-me remember what it is.  Don't worry, it looks legal. (Ahem.)

The larger plant is a "Mortgage Lifter" tomato, and the one next to it is a "Purple Cherokee".  Do you see the chicken wire to the right?  I put it there so Hagrid wouldn't get in there and play "rototiller" like he did the day after I planted the garden last year.  Yep, he did.  The soil looked gorgeous-- so gorgeous-- but he dug up the entire box.  Seriously, the entire box.  Why couldn't he have done that before I planted?! Silly boy.

These two tomato plants are "Green Grape" and "Hawaiian Pineapple Stripe".  They're growing sooooo slow, and not doing as well.  I amended the soil before planting them, but some thing's off.  The nasturtiums are blooming like crazy and that's a sign.  Nasturtiums bloom well in bad soil.  I might also be over watering the plant on the right.  Any pointers, friends?  Although I've been gardening for a while, I'm still always learning.  I hope that I never stop learning.  I think that's part of the fun of gardening! 

I know, this ohm chime is kind of random.  I've had it for years and I love it.  I bought it at a Hare Krishna llama festival.  Yes, I did.   

 These are the lemon and dragon's egg cucumbers.  The dragon's egg cukes are new for me this year.  I'm kind of curious about trying them.

Nasturtiums... they're edible and taste kind of spicy, like a radish.  I love putting the blossoms and leaves in salad, especially my favorite tomato salad.

I had extra sunflower seeds leftover, so I threw a variety of them in here.  I'm so glad the birds didn't eat them before they germinated.  (I think they got to some of them in the box.)  The small pot has bee balm.  It comes back every year and I love the blooms.  So do the bees!

This is the first year that I've cultivated this border along the side of the house.  Everything looked so small when I took this photo.

This is what it looks like today.  That's a "One Ball Summer Squash" there.  C'mon, (nudge, nudge) I know you want to laugh at that name.

 The shasta daisies have been taking their sweet time.  I'm eagerly awaiting the first bloom.  Hurry up, shasta daisy!  How is it that some things seem to bloom overnight and others take forever?  Gardening teaches me patience every year.  It's all good.

 The summer squash blooms are huge and abundant!  (Watch out neighbors... someone could accidentally leave a bag of squash on your porch.  I have no idea who...)

Hello, cosmos.

 This "Dinosaur Kale" came from the plant stand.  I kept the original marker.  The plant lady's daughter drew a tiny dinosaur on it and I love it.  It makes me smile everytime I notice it.  This plant was teeny, here when I bought it, and has taken it's own sweet time to grow to a whoppin' five inches or so.  Right now it's struggling with a hungry pest of some kind.

Well, here I am.  After hunting for quite a while, I purchased a vintage lounger this year at the Sacramento Antique Fair. At the end of each day I try to spend some time out in the garden lounging and decompressing.  Hagrid looks for squirrels, visits (through the fence) with the neighbor dogs, plays with his toys, explores the garden, and lays around. 

Well, if you're still reading, thank you for hanging in there.  I hope that you've enjoyed this little tour.   It's a funky, wonky garden...but I love it.  It's my little piece of this big planet.  It's where I work out my stress and anxieties-- and find my calm and happy.  It's my happy place.

Hugs,

My Salad Bowl

Hello, Sweet Friends! Life has been busy around here, and part of what is keeping me busy is Spring!  I've recently been working in the back garden, so I thought I would show you a little bit of the outdoor nesting that's been going on around here.

Above, is what I call my "salad bowl".  It's full of all kinds of yummy heirloom lettuces.  It's nice to be able to pick a fresh salad for dinner.  There really is a difference in flavor with fresh lettuce.  This lettuce has been really easy to grow, and with it hanging I haven't had to worry much about slugs and snails.  Love. That.

 

Recently I've been picking up plants here and there to get my vegetables, herbs, and flowers going again.  I found a few of my herbs and tomato plants at a garden club plant sale at McKinley Park in East Sacramento.  I love going to garden club sales.  You never know what you're going to find.   

One of my basil plants is called "Goddess Basil".  I got a kick out of the name, so I couldn't resist bringing it home.  Apparently it has a fairly spicy flavor and is considered a gourmet basil.  I wonder if it's the basil often used for "Green Goddess Dressing" ?  I love how there are so many types of basil to choose from.  Check out this fun basil list-- I was shocked at just how many types there are!

I also picked up some low growing plants to refresh my fairy garden.  Winter was not kind to my fairy garden this year, so I'm excited to re-plant and re-fresh my tiny garden.  I think the fairies will be very happy with my choices.  The gnomes, however...

This is just a little peek at my potting bench.  It's just a teaser because I want to make a new skirt for it before I reveal the whole thing.  I've had this potting bench for several years now and although it's very simple, I love it.

Okay, so I love a good Buddha in a garden.  Is this not the sweetest face on this Buddha?!  I know, this is not exactly vintage/cottage style decor for my garden, but I adore him.  I picked up the little aqua pot with succulents at Trader Joe's last year.  I love Trader Joe's for little things like that.  They make great gifts.  This was, uh, a gift for myself.

Soooo... what do you do with a dead tree?  You hang bells and chimes on it!!  Can I call this repurposing and recycling?

This vintage water tank stand has been repurposed into a plant stand with a galvanized bucket and some flowers.  I love repurposing vintage items in the garden.

I love the columbine and ranunculus flowers.  The fluffy white ranunculus flowers remind me of Hagrid's fluffy head.  Oh, that is Hagrid's fluffy head!

I hope that you are all enjoying spring.  I'll be back soon to share more of the back garden.  I've been very busy-- this is just the tip of the iceberg, friends!

Hugs,



Under The Sea

This past month has been a busy one for stitchin'~ all gifts for special friends and family... and friends that I consider family. These two lovelies are going to make their way to Boise, Idaho to two of my favorite people in the whole wide world-- mother/daughter dynamic duo, Debra and Chelsey. Deb, Chelsey, and I have been lifelong friends.

When Chelse-Woman was a wee one, she loved Disney's "The Little Mermaid". She would spend hours in the tub singing Ariel's "Ahhhh... ahhhh... ahhhh...". Those of you who have kids may know that song well, as your little ones probably sang it in the tub too. When Chelsey sang, you could hear her down the hall, and Deb and I would just look at each other and giggle.

Chelsey was a fun, precocious little girl, with gorgeous red hair and an incredible imagination. Chelsey was often in "Chelsey-World"~ dancing and singing around the house in her tie-die leggings, and her twirly-whirly red square dancing slip that her grandma found for her. Seriously, (giggle) I don't think I ever saw her without one or the other-- or both. Chelsey could speak from a very early age, and introduced us to vocabulary we didn't even know existed. To this day, we still incorporate "Chelsey-isms" into our conversations. ("Oh my goodness-- Deb! We need to have a discussment!") Just goes to show, close friends have a "language all their own", right?

Well, Chelsey has grown into an incredible, lovely, talented, world-travelin' young woman. She's an amazing photographer (I love, love, love her photos), a great cook (she can cook Julia's boeuf like none other), and she's got great style (she wears her leggings in solid colors now). And yes, she still has that gorgeous red mane.

However, no matter how grown up Chelsey is now, whenever I see a great mermaid image--I think of her. Needless to say, this was the inspiration for choosing these vintage mermaid embroidery patterns to stitch for Deb and Chelsey. I hope these images will bring back sweet memories, and that they will love them as much as I loved stitching them!

Hugs,

Clay Play, And Some Sweet Vintage Embroidery

ost Fridays, my friend Kathy and I get together for what we call an "Artist Date". It's a fun way to stretch our creative wings, discover creative inspiration, and to simply have fun. Recently, Kathy and I had the opportunity to play with clay! Kathy has access to a kiln, so we have been excited to try our hand at sculpting. Above is my sculpture. Can you tell what it is??

Is it easier to tell in this photo? It's a pincushion! You know, the classic tomato with a strawberry needle sharpener. I used white clay, and decided to glaze it clear. I thought it would turn out with a more of a matte finish, but it's a bit glossy. I had hoped that the "fabric texture" would show more too. The strings came out okay though. (Okay, okay, okay, I'll stop the critiquing...)

Although I learned so much on just this little project, I have so much more to learn. This little pincushion was so fun to create and I'm really looking forward to the next project!

I love this little vintage embroidered dresser scarf thingy-- did you notice it under the pincushion? I collect vintage embroidery pieces here and there, and this is one of my favorites.

Each stitch is so perfectly stitched, and the images are so sweet. I love this mama duck and her little ducklings. Check out the baby duck butt-- that little duck is diving for something!

I love the trees on this piece also. They used two shades of green, and they look great.

Such a sweet stitched scene!

Hugs,