Wordless Wednesday

Welcome to my Garden

Here's a pictorial journey through the gardens here at BrightHaven. Enjoy!

The requisite lady bug larva

Lovely birdbath from Granny, complete with Mountain Aster and Gladioli

Amazing Amaryllis from Mrs. Faye down the street. Does anyone know the variety?

Don Juan rosebush from Dr. Hobbs in Milton

Ruby Red rose from a nice lady. She called it a Seven Sisters but since it doesn't match my image of a Seven Sisters rose, I named it after her. Oh, the lovely blooms and sweet smell!

Lovely hollyhocks from Linda

Anyone know this variety of lily? Reminds me of bright lipstick.

Wordless Wednesday with "Real" Mower

Yet another reason for using non-powered machines...
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Now, that's better!

I have the vintage linen/doily collection to rival most other collections. They are beautiful. If vintage linens are to be found at a garage/estate sale or thrift store, I will find them. One day, I bought a box FULL of linens and doilies for five dollars. I didn't even glance at them. Boy howdy, were they beauties.
However, the time has come for these beauties to put off their slumbering and prove themselves useful.
I have pondered their usefulness for some time now. A few of the plainer ones have already been pressed into usefulness in our kitchen. Some of them are lovingly displayed around our home. And...a couple of days ago...I finally found the use for them that I've been longing for: dryer sachets!

Tada!

I cut, sewed and stuffed these lovelies with organic lavender and dried roses from our own garden. Little ElfGirl just about sniffed all of the smell out of them, I believe. They're that wonderful.
More photos of our lovely Ruby Red roses. I can't get enough of this rose bush. You all wouldn't believe the sheer volume of roses on it. The woman who gave it to us called it a Seven Sisters, but it doesn't appear to be a SS. So, it's named Ruby Red in honor of her.

Wordless Wednesday with Ruby's Roses

A Simple Rose

Author: Kevan Mends

A simple rose I have found
It's not the flower that grows from the ground,
Its beauty is one of such delight ...
This rose is soft to the touch in all its perfection.

The envy for all the flowers in this garden
Its fragrance will consume your every obsession.
This rose must be a gift, a gift from above
A gift from Heaven to show us love.

Every morning I wake to see its petals glisten
Its easy to see how one could be so smitten
If love was a rose it would shine so bright
Because all I need is this rose in my life.

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Wordless Wednesday in Pink Azalea Time

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Still Life

The azaleas are amazing this year. They provide almost a screen of hot-pink privacy...



We hosted our first Easter egg hunt yesterday. I had a blast! Hope everyone else who was here had fun as well. Today, I am suffering with a stopped ear so any and all prayers along with remedy tips are much appreciated.

The kids hunted for eggs by flashlight, so we don't have any photos. However, we set up the tripod during the beautiful day and took some group shots. Here's a sampling of what we got. The ElfGirl and James are such photogenic subjects that I could barely control my shutter finger...

Late Wordless Wednesday...

There's a story behind this lovely brick walkway. I know this is supposed to be Wordless Wednesday, but hey, it's already Thursday. May as well not be wordless, right? A local church is selling these bricks (over 100 years old) for a quarter each. We dug them out of a pile, stacked them and cleaned them. We're not sure how long the pile has been there, but trees were growing from it. That's not saying much since weed trees grow pretty quickly here in Florida. Even ElfGirl got in on the digging. She smashed one of her precious little fingers and didn't even cry one bit. She is such a pleasant child (sick of hearing about how angelic she is, yet?) Anyway, Mr. James dug up the mulch with which we had covered the sidewalk to the house and laid down these bricks. We love them.

Wouldn't I love a flower cart?

This flower cart is for sale on craig's list for 800 Dollars!! You'd think we have that kind of pocket change lying around so I can have that right?

Here's a challenge...how in the world can I make something like that? It would be super sweet to take to flower shows and so forth.

Make it From Scratch #42

Don't forget to check out this week's MIFS. Once again, I have failed to produce an entry on time but I do have an unofficial entry nonetheless!

I will have to add a photo later. We are having momentary technical difficulties...

Later: here are the photos. I made miniature Christmas wreaths with herbs from my garden. The wreath pictured here is made of rosemary, wormwood (artemisia), plumosa fern and red berries (not sure of the name). I made another of sweet marjoram and berries. Beauty and function!

What's blooming at your house?

Don't you know that's poisonous??, originally uploaded by bekados.

Right now, we have a gorgeous peach brugmansia, modeled with the ever-lovely elfgirl. These beauties not only are a welcome color addition to the brown-y/green fall garden, they also have a sweet fragrance.

A gardening tip...of sorts

Most nursery owners/growers will tell you not to overwater your begonias. They will tell you that begonias do not like to be too wet.

Believe them.

Even if you seem to be having excellent luck with a begonia that you are watering daily. Even if you are blithely watering it from the top and it is thriving.

The day will come that your begonia will go away to that great greenhouse in the sky. When that day comes, you will repent that you overwatered your begonia. I tell you now...don't do it!

Note: This begonia is doing well. Its brother is in ICU. One can only hope...

Very Poisonous

Datura Inoxia from my garden!
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The Garden Chronicles--A Video Post!

I have fallen down on my resolve to post garden tips. Perhaps it has something to do with the heat...not sure. Anyway, here is the first of what may be a series of the Garden Chronicles, where I take you on a video tour of our gardens. Enjoy!

I got the idea to use a Kyte video from Susanna over at The Wardrobe Miser. She has some great tips. Check out her site, one and all!

Making it from Scratch...

Well, after Matthew's visit, I just haven't been in a blogging mood. Of course, this is Sunday--the busiest day of the week for me! That's really not saying much, considering I make it a point to keep busy-ness out of my life, but Sundays start at 5:30 a.m. and end when I get the MIFS published. What kind of energy does it take to post some pictures of a project? If it's me, obviously a whole lot. Why not just publish the MIFS earlier in the week? Well, ah, I'm sure there's a very good reason and I'll have to get back to you on that one...

James has made the most recent MIFSs, so I'm going to post one of them here. It's our own Tin Can Man
The beginnings
The hammering
The man takes shape...
Attaching his head
Sitting and waiting...

Gardening Tip: Don't Kill 'em All!

Can you believe the infestation??
When thinking of the title for this post, I was reminded of the phrase, "kill 'em all and let the Lord sort 'em out." It's a very cowboy-esque kind of ideology, usually without any really good results. In the garden, you especially don't want to kill them all...all the bugs, that is.

Just this weekend, I was giving my garden a thorough going over when I noticed a ginormous colony of aphids on my backyard fennel. I was horrified! I was aghast? Did I go for a bottle of "kill 'em quick"? More effective, did I grab my blowtorch? You bet your bottom dollar, I didn't. I immediately began to hunt for my red and black spotted friends. I didn't have to look too long before spotting one, either. Even better, I noticed a momma ladybug repopulating the fennel. How exciting is that? I have found ladybug larvae, but never seen the eggs! Sadly enough, I remember the day that I squashed a ladybug larva. These days, I am very slow with the squishing. I have to see proof that harm is being done...and then some.

Closer inspection yielded another ladybug (hence the repopulation) and a mighty colony of ladybug larvae. So, be on the lookout for these helpful beetles! When you find those pesky aphids, don't go searching for those high-powered insecticides, give the ladies a chance to do their job.
daddy ladybug
don't kill those just yet! the furry white ones are good ladybug babies!
what a nice lady...

Wordless Wednesday

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In common...

What do Shereen, Melissa, Linda and Sandy all have in common? They all write great blogs, that's for sure. They usually encourage me in some way when I visit their little homes on the web. They all love to garden. What else? In addition to all these great attributes, these ladies signed up for my giveaway for posting 100. What? Do you say you forgot all about that? Well, you have just been reminded. If Melissa and Sandy will email me with your addresses, we'll get you a little package out in the mail!

about that watering

After yesterday's post concerning watering of the garden, I proceeded not to water our garden. Ever so often, I would scan the sky, hoping for the rain that I saw written there. In order to encourage the rain, I washed several loads of clothes and hung them to dry on the outdoor lines. Still nothing.

Around 11:45 a.m., the rain began. Soon, it was falling in earnest. Gleefully, I dashed to the backyard to retrieve my damp towels and clothing. I am sure I did some kind of little raindance. I must tell you all, the rain continued until close to 7 p.m. last night. It was wonderful. Nothing died in the garden from lack of water. All the little plants were smiling brightly at me this morning. Lovely. All of that excellent rain made me think of another gardening tip. We'll call this tip 2A

Gardening Tip 2A: Weed after watering

After a soaking rainfall or heavy watering session, get out your gloves! Now is the best time for weeding. Those ornery weeds that refuse to leave the ground when it is dry, slide right out of the moist soil. Of course, one must be even more careful not to injure nearby plants because their roots will slide right out as well!

Gardening Tip #2: Water and Mulch!

I will be the first to admit that I hate watering my garden. Why? I really can't be sure. I just don't like the long hoses with kinks and lengths that just don't quite reach where they are needed. The hose gets dirty, water leaks onto my birkenstocks. What a complainer I am! In my opinion, this watering is a necessary evil--lessened drastically by the presence of mulch in your garden.

For example, even with temps reaching 100 degrees farenheit, I rarely water the plants in our front yard. Honestly, I don't have time for plants that need to be coddled. If I need to water it daily, it's probably not the right plant for my yard. If it can't be happy swaddled in oak leaves and rich compost, it probably needs another home. With the water shortage in NW Florida, my theory is really being tested. It's hard to justify extensive watering of roses and lilies when I know that our water table is being depleted. My solution? Three to four inches of oak leaves and watering maybe once a week. It really works well for us. An added bonus, is the reduction in weeds because they're not getting water either.

Anything that gives me fewer weeds to pull is a winner in my book!