I have so many daisies; they fill several pitchers and vases, and still the plants look FULL out in the gardens!
Here, in the pitcher I bought at Eddie and Jaithan's yard sale (read about it here and here), the white and yellow look perfect:
Flowers (and pitcher) are very happy in my new "home studio": lots of A/C but also nice morning sun!
I'm linking to Susan at A Southern Daydreamer!
Luckily, the weekend spanned several days...
Just like everyone else, I had many plans for the holiday weekend. But I'm betting my plans were of a different kind than almost everyone else. At the very heart of my weekend was...MOVING. Yes, I am moving out of my downtown studio/office space. I have to be out by the 15th of July and, thank goodness...., I got started early. It has been so much more time consuming, and I have SO MUCH MORE STUFF, than I had imagined, or accounted for! We go down there every evening to pack some more, throw out some more STUFF, begin to mark CAREFULLY all the USB ports on the computer and modem, take down the shelves with their endless screws, give away some of the furniture....you get the idea.
Here it is torn apart:
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Cleaning out a drawer, I came upon ALL these old credit cards! It felt good to CUT them up...
I've been working on a post "of place": I wanted to show you the above office (before) and all the gadgets and everyday items I use. I'll post those tomorrow!
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That was on Friday. Skip ahead to Saturday morning and I was out in the garden cutting some flowers to bring inside. Delphinium, Lavender, Bee Balm, Daisies and Lythrum. I've never cut my delphinium before: it always seemed too precious to actually cut and bring inside! But it gorgeous and lasts for days and days. The plants are SO tall that some of them have fallen over, and the vines around them have also started to invade, so it was time to clip a few flower stems.
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And finally, something RED WHITE AND BLUE:
What could be better than lobster on July 4th? But the placemats and napkins just make the holiday table!
Funny thing: my friend Kelly at Color Sizzle just posted a very similar picture!
Seems we're both into creating colorful flower "designs" from our garden.
This is the pitcher I had bought at Eddie Ross's-now-famous-yard-sale.
And the flowers I have included are Coreopsis, Lady's Mantle, Evening Primrose and that purple flower I have yet to identify.
Nice color combination, no?
Today I'm joining the party at A Southern Daydreamer:
Let's go sit in the garden!
It's that time of year (thank goodness) when we can be out in the garden. Whether you have a large garden, a small terrace, a balcony, or a pool...you need some thing to sit on when you go outside.
Rather than present you with the tried and true, I am showing you here some fun
and different kinds of outdoor furnishings. Umbrellas are a great way to make a
(color) statement and they are available in so many great solid colors, stripes and
patterns. A good source for these is Ballard Designs; also Crate & Barrel; Pottery Barn
and....I've found great ones by going to Ebay.
Here's a cute idea I had never seen before: a finial for your outdoor umbrella!
To finish off, I thought I would show you some photos of a trip we took to
Hudson, New York a few weeks ago. If you are ever there, you must go to
Le Gamin cafe! It's the northern outpost of the series of New York City bistros of
the same name. Fabulous, delicious food in an authentic French bistro.
In keeping with the season, and because I am in love with garden ornaments, I thought the timing was just right for this post (and besides, I have had more fun researching it!). As a matter of fact, I've had the basic reasearch in my drafts folder for many weeks, just waiting til the time was right. This is it! All gardens everywhere are beginning to look so wonderful and once again my mood (yours too?) is what.....? joyous? playful? optimistic? Yes, that describes it all right.
Here is an assortment of garden goodies, from the very serious, classic accoutrements to the playful, silly, colorful ones. There is truly something for everyone and every garden.
This wonderful fleur-de-lis ornament was a gift to me from my friend Ellen...a TOTAL surprise! We had spent the day at Brimfield, and then left in our respective cars. Well, months later, at my birthday party, she surprised me with this! It had stood in a booth of a garden/antique dealer from Missouri...I will be going back this May and will find him again. I DO bring it indoors in the winter to sit by our fireplace.
To train your climbers, or restrain your annuals:
Have a seat! In your garden, or anywhere:
This garden bench, European, from 1900:
Here I put the pillow on the chair!
{ terrain}
And, to hold your plants or pots:
Another favorite of mine: stone troughs. Whether old or new, they add texture to any garden setting:
This one, from 1880:
And last, but certainly not (by any means) least, I want to introduce you to :
I want to go... do you live anywhere near it? Please, let us know what your experience has been, what is especially wonderful about it, or what you have bought there.
Aside from selling so many great garden items, they have events i.e. seminars, classes; they have a variety of workshops, like this one on June 10: "Girls Night Outdoors: Herb Cocktails"! Want to join me for that one? Or how about: "Children and Pet Friendly Gardening". The website also has recipes, tons of pictures of what's for sale for garden and home, and then the Cafe where they post a menu.
Do you have a favorite flower?
I mean, a really favorite flower? One that stands out beyond all others? One you like to grow; one you like to buy in a bunch; one you adore to receive as a gift?
For me, it's a tulip! I adore them. Yes, oh for sure, I love sunflowers, snapdragons, peonies, iris and petunias....but the tulip stands alone!
Each fall I pour over the catalogs. It's the color, of course, that grabs my attention. I buy at least 100 bulbs every year. And, what's more, each spring after the tulips have bloomed, I dig up each and every one! No repeats for me.. They are never the same the next year, you can't possibly know where they are going to pop up again, and it's difficult, if not impossible, to garden around them all summer. Much easier to dig them up (it's very satisfying!) and start fresh in the fall. That way I know exactly which color combination I have put in which garden...
Here is a sampling of this year's crop in the front of our house. I wasn't sure about orange but now I am positive: it works beautifully! And it's even better combined with that deep magenta.
I'll be showing you more of my garden, so stay tuned!
It's January: it's winter, it's dark and there is no color, right? Wrong! Here is what I found yesterday at my local farm/garden market. Moral of this story: always carry your camera!
These below were my absolute favorites: from Italy. The colors, the graphics and even the SIZE of the package is fabulous. As designers, we are always told to remember the color on the shelf: that is a large part of what sells a product. And here it couldn't be truer. Now, also, take a look at the contemporary graphics: the veggie icons are, quite literally, outside the box. In each case, they extend outside an inner box, and also bleed off an edge or two. Scroll down to see some seed packets from the 1930's: we've come a long way, baby!
I had bought a huge collection of these at Brimfield
And they became a set of dessert plates! (combined with crate labels)
How about these gourds? I had never seen anything like this! Great idea for some craft projects....
Moving right along down the aisles: even the accoutrements of gardening are colorful!
And finally, for a totally different take on color: some neutral cachepots.
This post is for PillowMint! You will have to go to her blog and read the comment section, and her post, on "Do You" to follow this entire story!
Here you go: THIS is my wonderful indoor palm plant, after receiving tender loving care for almost twenty years! Naturally, I did not have a picture of it in its early, pathetic stages; and in fact, I had trouble even finding a picture of any palm that looked as scraggly and pathetic as the one we bought and that was kept in captivity in my husband's office!
I searched for an image of the original, and this is the closest I could come:(it looks much too healthy!)
But plants are essential in our house...I now have the 7 ft. palm in the top image, and I bring in a few geraniums for the winter. They thrive in an east facing bay window. Here they were this morning:
Last, but not least, are three little bulbs in a row. These are Paperwhite Narcissus Bulbs. I want to direct you to a wonderful gardening blog from Margaret Roach. Her advice is great and always with a bit of humor, her photographs are extraordinary, and the entire blog just well done!
Do YOU have plant stories? Things that grew, unexpectedly? Or didn't make it, much to your amazement and chagrin? What works for you?
If you remember, I did a post on a farm project in Concord, Mass.(Dec. 11, 2009) called Gaining Ground. I just received their new cookbook for Christmas and am busy planning which recipes to try first!
This is a beautiful book! and can be purchased through Gaining Ground. Everything in here is, I am betting, just as good as this picture! The design of the book: the layout, the type, the organization, the sidebar information, and of course the recipes are all superb. Scroll down to see what I made today....
This is what I wanted to try first. We just finished our first servings, and yes, it is very very good...
To step away from all the holiday hoopla, just for a moment, let's focus on another local, hand crafted subject: food. This time it is the planning, planting, growing, tending, harvesting and ultimately, the giving, of food.
Gaining Ground farm is in Concord, Mass. and was recently visited by Alice Waters. This farm is very, very unusual, and is very successful...with five employees and hundreds of volunteers, it grows AND gives away all its food. The farm's mission is "to provide free fresh fruits and vegetables to those who can least afford them."
To find out more about the farm and Alice Waters' visit, click here...
Now, to be totally up front about this story, I have to tell you: my brother is the Treasurer of said organization and has worked the farm, in many and various capacities, for many years. He is truly one of its biggest fans and supporters! Here are just a few of his pictures of the farm and activities there:
Here is a picture, from their website, of the main site with garden:
A young volunteer:
"The Pavillion":
View in the autumn:
