Blog Author
toni
(view profile)
 


toni's Blog




Faerie Garden Chair - Pictures

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 8:53 pm

Chair and garden are done. The chair colors are buttercream (pale yellow), orange and hunter green. The spindles on the back of the chair that you can not see are the hunter green ones. Our camera is not very clear....or it could be the picture taker herself, but I prefer to blame it on the camera.

The garden includes, Wooly Lambs ear, white Oxalis, cascading Rosemary, creeping Thyme and in the center is as Lavender. I planted plugs of Irish Moss in three places hoping it will eventually cover the bare dirt and make a comfy place for the fey to have a tea party.





This blog entry has been viewed 588 times


Good Golly Miss Molly

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:17 am

April 2nd and the temps are in the 90's, the hot air from Mexico has arrived early this year and formed it's cap over us. That means the temperature at ground level must reach the low 100's to break the cap before rain will have a chance to move across us. This thing doesn't usually start to hang around until June and after.

Got the cucumber seedlings in the ground today too, had to get them in the ground before the full moon. I made the mistake of planting them last year in the wrong moon phase and they were a dismal failure even before the drought started.
Anyway, I went to the garden center yesterday and found Patchouli plants that I was afraid I had missed the chance to get....got three in the ground this morning. Along with a Santolina Virens....Green Lavender Cotton....never had one before and it certainly smells nice.
Also got a Red/gold Yarrow, two white oxalis and found two of the eyeball plants that pinkiered had mentioned in a forum post a couple of weeks ago. Really cool, I have one planted out back and will plant the other in a pot out front tomorrow.

In early March I was given a semi-ratty old wooden chair to use to hold a faerie garden. Bought a cascading Rosemary, creeping Thyme, Lambs Ear, small Lavender and some Irish Moss. One of the white oxalis will go in there too. Still need to find Lady's Mantle and Sweet Woodruff, but I know of garden center a few miles from here that usually has those two.
I painted the chair, buttercream (pale yellow), orange and hunter green. Just need to spray with sealer, let dry and get the plants in their planter.......and decide where to put it.

Also found a couple of my hollyhock youngun's that are blooming already, my roses are in full bloom and all the perennials are climbing to the stars with all this warm weather we are having. The chocolate vine is even finally putting on some growth.

I hope to get several pictures taken and posted on the forum this week. Plants, garden "art" and the plant markers I made from plastic CD holders.

This blog entry has been viewed 644 times


Married a Looooooong time

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 2:15 pm

My husband and I will be celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary on May 22nd. There are times when May 22, 1980 seems like only yesterday.....then there are times when it seems like an eternity ago. But over the years we have given each other the same Valentines Day cards and Anniversary cards several times, finished each other sentences, and all those things that "old married people" do.

This year we were able to use our income tax refund on eye exams and glasses,first time in about 4 years it hasn't been needed to pay for major car repairs or replace a major appliance instead. Of course, I do need a kitchen stove, but I am liking not having to do a lot of cooking so I refuse to take seriously the need to buy one yet.

So yesterday we (including our youngest daughter) had the eye exams and spent a while wandering thru the hundreds of frames available. We got quite a few laughs at what some of them looked like when we put them on, some caused gasping and gagging too.
We all finally found pairs that we liked and sat down to have the necessary measurements taken and orders filled out. Amanda and I were with one young man, Randy was with the other one. When we got to the counter to pay we realized that he and I had chosen the exact same frame in the same color. I had been looking thru the womens frames and he had been in the mens section but the one we both chose was a unisex frame.

This blog entry has been viewed 623 times


Soap-soap-soap-soap-

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:31 pm

Tommy - soap,soap,soap,soap,soap,soap,soap,soap
Dicky - What are you doing?
Tommy - Singin' about 8 bars.

Old,really old routine by the Smothers Brothers

The soap is setting up, all except the Peppermint. The stems are still steeping for more scent and the peppermint will turn the soap a light green. That's the fun part of using plants in the soaps. I made some last year with the Chocolate mint,that came out a nice shade of green with a wonderful mint scent.
I also use Rosemary cuttings for some that my oldest daughter just loves.

I have an oblong shaped plastic container of Sandalwood, a mini-breadloaf pan of Patchouli, a round plastic bowl of Chocolate, a tall Pringles chip canister of Freesia and the Peppermint will go into another mini-loaf pan.
I use a melt and pour goats milk soap base, really easy project and my family loves the way the soap feels and cleans.

This blog entry has been viewed 842 times


Red, Orange, Blue, Purple, Lavender, Black

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:49 pm

The candles are done. I make mostly votives, the molds I have will make only 6 each....my hot plate is on it's last leg and is slooooow to heat up so getting them all done took longer than usual. I had a large bag full of candle bits left over from other candles so it turned into a major project.

The house certainly smells good now, all those scents permiating everything and I haven't even started burning them yet.

Well, not burning the candles that is. Almost set a pot of wax on fire yesterday. Multi-tasking is not the thing to do when one of those tasks is melting wax. Remembered and got back into the kitchen in time to see lots of thick white smoke rolling up out of the pot. No flames but boy did it smell. We have a large exhaust fan in the backroom so I stood out there with it for awhile to cool it down.

Red is cinnamon
Orange is Patchouli
Blue is Rain
Purple is Frankincense and Myrrh
Black is also Frankincense and Mryyh
Lavender is....chocolate by special request from my youngest daughter







This blog entry has been viewed 635 times


It's 15 o'clock in the morning

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:26 pm

Has to be cause my cuckoo clock just said so. What can I say, my oldest daughter brought it to me from Switzerland in 1985 when the high school jazz band performed at the Montrose Jazz festival. It is getting old too and with the road construction about two blocks away going on for the last 6+ months, it is probably clogged with dust.

For the first time in what seems like forever, I have the house to myself for the day. No one to ask, request, want or suggest I do anything for them....well except for the dog wanting out once in while.

I was going to work in the garden but I got somewhat caught up yesterday since there is a chance of storms all weekend. As soon as the dishwasher shuts off, I am going to start making candles. My Mom ran out sooner than I expected so I took her most of mine last Sunday.
Haven't decided on the scents yet, but I need purple for the bathroom, orange for the kitchen, red or dark blue for the bedroom, sage green for the living room. While I wait for the wax to harden in the mold, I plan on knitting and watching some of my favorite movies to knit by.

This blog entry has been viewed 608 times


Worms, a Snake and the Hawk

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:43 pm

I don't often get to spend 4 hours working in the back yard but with the sky darkly overcast preparing for the spring storm moving our way this evening it was just too good to pass up.

Allium bulbs are in the ground and the Sweet Broom plant is nice and snug in her new home.
Moved the Hyacinths out of the various garden locations into a large bucket.....I now have a Hyacinth Bucket, "noooo it's pronounced Bouquet". Yes I watch a lot of British sitcoms on our PBS station.

The cucumber seedlings have broken the surface but the other seeds are taking their dear sweet time. Too impatient I know.

Found lots of worms while digging thru the flower beds pulling out weeds...always a good sign.
Found a baby garden snake curled up under a brick I moved to clean up the edge of a bed....also a good sign just quite startling. I needed to work where he was, so he took a flight across the yard to a more out of my way location.

Now the Hawk, not such a good sign for the birds who were enjoying their lunch at my feeders but really cool to watch. I was working on a bed and had my back to the feeders that were alive with a noisy lunch crowd....heard the swooshing sound of 30-40 birds ranging in size from sparrows to large grackles all taking off at once. Nothing really new, I figured one of the local cats had been sighted by the lookout bird. I had to empty my bucket of weeds, figured I would chase the cat off while I was up. Couldn't find the cat but looked up to see a good sized Hawk circling over the area.....three doves in the Hackberry tree and not another bird in sight. Several minutes later I heard the noisy diners return so I knew the Hawk had moved on.

This blog entry has been viewed 621 times


In Like a Lamb

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:44 pm

March is definitely coming in like a lamb today. Nary a cloud in the sky and warming into the mid 80's.

Most of the new herbs are planted now. I didn't know that another name for Tarragon was Mexican Mint Marigold....I have had one of those for a couple of years and love it, now I have three.

I put almost all the herbs in containers. I can move them around with the sun as the trees leaf out besides I really want to grow some vegies this year and need the ground space.
Got the cucumber seeds in pots this morning. Went back to the old standard variety for pickles this year. I attempted some white cukes last year, even before the rain stopped there was trouble with them. They flowered but only 4 blossoms set fruit.....can't make many jars of pickles with only 4 cukes.

I need to get the Okra started and maybe more cotton this year.
I am also going to try a Three Sisters garden plot. It is a Native American form of planting corn, pole beans and squash in the same hole. The corn stalk becomes the pole for the bean vine to climb and the squash vine circles around the base to act as mulch to keep the weeds down.

I have six red Freedom hedge roses that I planted long before I really started gardening and before the Hackberry tree got so large. Three of them just don't get enough sun, my oldest daughter wants them in her backyard so I cut them way back a couple of weeks ago to make it easier to handle when moving them and they are really starting to put out new growth. Guess they liked it.
The three I am keeping are really bushing out too, won't be long before the buds form.

AND the Sweet Autumn Clematis is coming back!!! It didn't do very well at all the first or second year it was planted so I figured last years drought would have been the end of it. But there is new growth all up and down the vine and the vine is getting longer.

Working in the front yard on Monday I found two acorns that were beginning to sprout. The squirrels had planted them where I didn't want them so they are now in a big pot out back to see if they continue growing. Really hope they do, we sure could use some trees in the front yard.

This blog entry has been viewed 544 times


Evil Day Star

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:35 pm

10 days since we have seen it, I must close the doors and curtains - hide from the brightness of it. This strange, large, bright ball in the sky....it hurts us!!!

I really prefer cloudy days, the heavier the overcast the better.

It is going to be hard to live with hubby for a while. He bought me that humongous rain gauge on Friday, got it mounted in the back yard just as the rain was really starting to come down heavy and we got just over 4 inches of rain from then thru last night. He is certain he made it happen. The upside is we got just over 4 inches of rain.


This blog entry has been viewed 520 times


New, Large....really Large rain gauge

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:50 pm

My hubby bought me a new rain gauge at the garden center today.
He has trouble seeing the markings on the small one I have used for years and apparently translated that into MY having trouble seeing the markings since I am older than he is.

I know he is trying to be helpful, thoughtful and sweet...... remembering that prevents me from doing him bodily harm.



This blog entry has been viewed 2442 times




You're reading one of many blogs on GardenStew.com.
Register for free and start your own blog today.





Archives All Entries
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006