Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Fun products for your home and garden

Spring will be here soon, and gardening is on my mind. Garden Trading is a great source for practical yet stylish accessories for the home and garden. 


Look at this rattan planter - planted here with lavender - stunning! 


 The Kingham planter looks great with a shaped boxwood.


 I adore this wooden box. This would be great for carrying your little potted plants out to the garden, along with a trowel, as you prepare to plant them.


 Garden Trading has some really fun containers. Fresh apples, anyone?


 More wooden boxes: there are so many decorative and  practical ways to use these.


Do you entertain outdoors? Wouldn't this wooden bottle holder look decorative on your patio table?


Check out this great butler table - practical and fun too!


Garden Trading has a great assortment of kitchen items as well.

Love this egg basket!


Here's a very cool apple peeler.


This rectangular cake stand is pretty and functional. Garden Trading sells a round cake stand as well.


Numbered ceramic bowls - what fun!

Be sure to check out Garden Trading's online store for garden, kitchen, lighting, and furniture here.



This is a sponsored post for Garden Trading.


Saturday, February 23, 2013

Pinks for Sunlit Sunday

It's time for another Sunlit Sunday, hosted by Karen. Today I'm sharing some garden pinks from two summers ago.


 'Queen Elizabeth'


A washtub full of impatiens on the patio

Be sure to stop by My Little Home and Garden to view more of Sunlit Sunday!



Friday, February 22, 2013

Portrait of a snowstorm

We've known for days that a big snowstorm was on the way. The Weather Channel has dubbed this storm 'Q.'   Follow along as I show you my point of view, in this portrait of a snowstorm.


Thursday, February 21  11:30 a.m.    The calm before the storm


Thursday, 3:20 p.m.   It began snowing here around 3:00 p.m.


 Thursday, 5:20 p.m.  At this point, there was about an inch and a half of snow.


Thursday, 5:20 p.m. In this photo, I'm trying to show the flakes falling. The weatherman said it was falling at the rate of 1/2" per hour, and there were gusts of wind blowing it around.


Friday, 7:00 a.m.  6" on the ground and a very light snow continuing to fall
It turns out our total for this storm was right around 6". Not as much as predicted - still enough to pretty up the garden, and to require use of a shovel and/or snowblower!


 The raised beds are covered with snow. Only the borders are visible.


Beauty of a black spruce in snow

How much snow did your area receive from 'Q?'


Would you like to see my cottage garden in summertime? Click here to see green instead of white!






Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Delight of a Cottage Garden

What is a cottage garden? It's a style of country garden, originally English, with dense plantings. It includes annuals, perennials, shrubs, and vegetables - even fruits. Pathways are a common part of the cottage garden too.

Popular cottage garden plants include roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, campanulas, larkspurs, delphiniums, carnations, herbs, and ornamental grasses, all of which I have, or previously had, in my cottage garden.

Here's a peek at my take on an English cottage garden:


 Daylilies, yarrow, phlox (not blooming), ladybells, hollyhocks, and clematis (not blooming)


 Grey-headed coneflowers, yarrow, coneflowers, Asiatic lilies, and an ornamental grass


Hollyhocks 


 Yellow loosestrife and ladybells


 Lupine


 Daisies and coneflowers


 Kniphofia (Red hot poker)


 Roses and peonies, and a dwarf Alberta spruce

 Fun with a piece of picket fence


 A cute corner that will become a fairy garden soon...


 A shrub rose


 A look from above: note the paths and the raised beds for vegetable-growing


 Every garden needs a cat! This is Tortie. Isn't she beautiful?


 Foxgloves


 Campanula - no longer welcome in my garden - too aggressive!


 Larkspur


 Phlox


 Verbena bonariensis and a visitor


 Cleome - love that color


 One of the shrubs in my cottage garden is this Rose of Sharon


The essence  of a cottage garden is captured right here. Love this view!

Linking to Home and Garden Thursday, Open House, Fertilizer Friday


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Tea and Violets

Violets and tea, my theme for tea time today. Violets are one of the first flowers to emerge come spring time. Although there are no violets in my yard yet this year, I have some images to share from past springs.


Violets aren't just the traditional violet/blue in color. Note this pretty bi-colored variety.


Have you ever seen a yellow violet? I have them in my yard and garden.
I have a confession to make: I transplanted these, as well as the purple and white ones, into my garden.


We see large numbers of white violets in our yard and the pasture behind us. I apologize for the focus, or lack thereof, in this photo.


Everyone is familiar with the common violet. Violets are pretty, although I've learned they can be quite aggressive in the yard and garden. I found that I really shouldn't have transplanted any into my space.


Violets are pretty on my teacups.

 I found this beautiful teacup at a local thrift store last fall. I was just waiting for the right moment to show it to you.


 The delicate colors are just beautiful. The backstamp is worn and unreadable.


 More violets! Notice the shape of the saucer too; quite unique.


 This is also a thrift find. The cup is extremely delicate. Notice it is translucent - you can see the design on the back of the cup, as you look inside the cup. The backstamp is "E526," and there is a gold sticker that says "EW Japan."


I've set up a tea at the kitchen table today. I'm using a thrifted "silver" tea service.


 I baked a coconut cake. Would you like a slice along with a cup of Numi organic chocolate puerh tea?


White on white - lovely to the eye.

I want to thank each and every one of you for coming by to share tea with me today. Thanks, too, to my followers both old and new; I appreciate each and every one of you!

Please leave me a comment so I'll know that you visited and I can visit you as well.

Linking to Tuesday Cuppa Tea, A Return to Loveliness, Tea Time Tuesday, and Friends Sharing Tea



LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails