Making the earth laugh

"the earth laughs in flowers" -e.e.cummings This blog is a journey into that laughter. From my childhood when my job was weeding the dreaded vegetable garden (which I despised with every fiber of my being) to my very early adulthood when I planted my first impatiens (which promptly died) to now - a gardening lover and business owner; gardens have made me feel something. This is my tribute to the hard work, the boring work, the failures and the immeasurable joys of gardening. Yes, I continue to garden...and laugh.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A bit of color in the spring gloom

I am interrupting my fall retrospective of 2010 and zipping forward to spring 2011.

I know it's supposed to rain in the spring and I am very grateful for it...but for crying out loud, enough is enough!  It has been COLD and WET and GLOOMY here 5.5 out of 7 days a week here.  I am about dying for some warmth and sun and color.

So last week I threw in some flowers to cheer myself and my client up a bit.  For those of you in the same glum boat, enjoy...

Spring is here (believe it or not), Easter will be here next week, and although it is too early to begin planting permanent pots for the season, there are some hardier flowers that can withstand the cold.
 
In this window box, I planted purple and white osteospermum (daisies), mixed pansies and (my favorite from last summer), snow princess alyssum.  The overall effect is cheerful and a bit different from the usual spring arrangements of tulips and hyacinths. Another bonus is that everything in this widow box can be pulled out and reused for the summer, so I'm not wasting plants or money.



This pot has yellow ranunculus, mixed pansies and again, snow princess alyssum.   I loved the combination and overall effect of color and texture.  The only bummer about this arrangement is that the ranunculus aren't terribly hardy, so they have to be under cover if the temperatures get near freezing; which is why I put them in a pot rather than the window box. 



This may be hard to see, but if you put your face really close to your computer screen, you'll see that mixed in with this gorgeous old can of pussy willow are artificial pussy willow lights.  They were a bit pristine and white when I bought them, so I dirtied them up to make them blend.  I thought it added a bit of warmth and whimsy to the arrangement.



So there you have it.  Today it's cold and rainy, tomorrow its supposed to thunderstorm, and then I believe we will actually get a respite for a day!  My girls have spring break this week, so it would be nice to have at least one day of sun and warmth.

Happy gardening!

Monday, April 4, 2011

An Autumn Retrospective Part Deux



Today I want to highlight a few things I did outside.  I wanted to give the entrance to this property some interest and fun so I put together three huge corn stalk bundles.  To keep them sturdy, I hammered a 2x4 into the ground and tied the stalks to it layer by layer until I got to the final layer when I cinched them together with twine at the top, pulled some of the corn out and worked to make the tops pretty.  At the bottom, I put dozens of tiny pumpkins.  Though it was a pain to mow around, I think it was worth the effort.
















There are stone fence posts (or pillars) at the actual entrance of this property.  Again, I've been itching to do something with them, so this fall I draped them with grapevine and tons of bittersweet.  (The picture doesn't do it justice - a cell phone is only so good, ya know.  And I'm just too lazy to figure out the new camera.)  I placed the bittersweet before the berries popped, so the vines were still green and super pliable.  The grapevine was soaked over night in water to make it the same.  At the base, I placed the largest pumpkin I could find.  (I'm not actually sure its considered a pumpkin, but I'll call it that for now.)

  

 The summer window boxes were tired and needed to be refreshed, so I pulled out all the flowers and replaced them with ornamental cabbages, peppers, small mums and bittersweet.  I loved the combination!  To add a little whimsy, I put artificial twigs in the back.  What is special about these twigs is that they are covered with mini lights.  Because they're battery powered, I was able to stick the entire thing in the window box.  In the soft autumn evenings, these lights gave a bit of romance to the setting.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

An Autumn Retrospective

It's spring.  We're still freezing here in PA, but it is spring. Right now, I'm cutting things back, getting the lavender ready and pruning the roses.  I'll write more about that in another blog.  In the meantime, I wanted to show a few pictures of fall and winter (since I ditched the blog and all).  So.  Read on and stay tuned over the next several days.

In all things creative, it's easy to get into a rut.  I find myself battling this in my gardening and decorating regularly.  Those are the times I hit Barnes and Noble (such a punishment) and Google images.  I almost always find something to inspire me.  Now and then you just need to grease the wheel, ya know?  I hope these images will help you think outside the box an bit.  I had a ton of fun doing it, and so will you.

I'll start with the barn.  I have been drooling over this barn for a year.  My client renovated it to be used for entertainment and it is bursting with possibilities.  For the fall, I decided to make the new fireplace the focal point of the room, so I went all out with color.  I dug around her basement (and my garage), and was able to find boxes, an old shutter, some banged up wooden candle sticks and a few other things to give it some interest.  Then I twisted some grapevine and bittersweet vine around it all and added some mums and corn.   For a little added fun, I made a topiary out of pumpkins and squash. 



 
  
This picture was taken a little later in the fall after a project made it necessary for me to redo the mantle.  In the green bucket, I have the fall remains of black-eyed susans.  I love the way they look. 




Around the rest of the barn, I decided to be as muted as possible, so I purchased tons of small white squash and white pumpkins.  The challenge was trying to get all of them to be similar in size and shape.   Then I put them in every spot I could . 

Along with the white, I hung up some of the hydrangea, grass plumes, and lavender from the property to dry.  It gave the entire space fragrance and a quiet, peaceful feeling.

While you may not have a beautiful barn to decorate, there are many spaces around your home that can use some of these touches .