Category Archives: Gardening
I Love Topiary
Filed under topiary
Christmas Eve Surprise
Twice-Blooming Iris – these usually bloom in April and then again in October. To have these throwing open their arms on Christmas Eve is such a delightful surprise!
And this is a pot of wave petunias, One of the most beautiful flowers, I think. Such happy flowers.
I think you can guess what my favorite color is…. :0)
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening
World Class Topiary
Claude Ponti- “Sleeping Baby Bird”
Wonderful Yard Decorations
Filed under Gardening
Thoughts on a Tuesday 12-21-2021
Highs in the 50s today here! Woo HOO! And lots of pretty sunshine. I’m hoping to spend some time outside this afternoon. I have lots to clean up and winterize in the yard. It looks like I’ll have a GREAT week for it. :0)
I go for a haircut this morning, so Michael will make me look like ‘someone-had-a-plan.’ My hair is thin and fine and ONLY does what it wants to. Michael understands that and works WITH it. He’s wonderful.
Nothing exciting going on today – that I know of – so I’ll look forward to getting the planters around the yard in better shape when I get back.
Have a wonderful day!
Spectacular Garden Decorations
Filed under Gardening
Challenges
I’m trying to get our yard ready for the winter, but Mother Nature isn’t cooperating well. It’s been cold, then warms up and is rainy, then back again. It’s rainy today, and we have storms that might be severe tomorrow. Fingers crossed we come though the next batch of storms in one piece.
I keep listening to the news about the awful tornado damage and lost lives in so many states recently. It’s heartrending. My irritation about it not being comfortable to work out in the yard is selfish and I’m embarrassed.
Wish me luck on trying to keep my head on straight and my mouth firmly shut.
Filed under Challenges, Gardening, Mother Nature
More Incredible Topiary
Thoughts on a Saturday 12-4-2021
I sent an email to a long-time friend on the 30th of November, his birthday, wishing him a happy celebration. Yesterday I saw his email address pop up on my incoming mail. It was one of his daughters, telling me he had died of complications from cancer. He was creative, funny with a wicked sense of humor. He loved his family. I will miss him.
This is the time of year when Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, starts bringing deer parts into the yard. Over the years I have built up my ability to take care of this myself, rather than bothering my husband with it. Today it was just deer skin. This is the first time for this. I can only think that someone killed a deer, field dressed it, and left the parts he didn’t want close enough for Amber to find. GREAT. :0(
While I was out, though, I saw a rose in bloom! It looked especially lovely with most of our plants gone now. I cut it to bring inside, then found one red rose bud on another plant, plus two twice-blooming iris. It really lifted my spirits to be able to bring them inside.
We are about ready to run some errands. On the way out, we will put up this mailbox decoration. We will have a very quiet Christmas, so this will be a fun way to wish any passers-by a wonderful celebration.
Yesterday I finished the cards and ornament I was working on in my art room. I’ll take pics and share them with you in another post.
Have a fun Saturday!
Cycles
We turned off our irrigation system to the yard, and the one to the garden a few weeks ago because of threatened freezes. It always makes me a bit sad because things start to wilt almost immediately when we do.
Our elephant ear plants did really well this year, giving us many hours of pleasure. They are looking quite sad right now. As soon as they are completely down, leaves brown and hanging down, I’ll cut them off as close to the soil surface as possible and lay thick layers of mulch as tightly as I can to see if they’ll over winter in place this time, as digging them up and storing them in the garage in peat moss last year was unsuccessful.
We had kind of a weird growing season this time. Our lettuce did well, giving us lots of nice salads. Our spinach was nice, too. Then things warmed up really quickly, causing all my spring garden to bolt at once. We had nice tomatoes, but due to the weather changes, they weren’t ‘pretty’ this year. Thankfully, our stomachs don’t care about that a bit! :0) This is the way we winter over our raised bed, square foot garden. I carefully weeded, then topped off the 4’x4′ wooden boxes with fresh Mel’s Mix (peat moss, vermiculite, and 3 kinds of compost (I used mushroom, barnyard, and cotton). Hopefully, I won’t have a whole lot to do to prepare the boxes for planting in the spring. I’m already itching to get the plants in as soon as they are available.
I’m going to start getting serious about pruning flower planters and readying things for winter very soon.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Terrific Topiary
It’s probably strange, but I really don’t like yards or gardens where the bushes have all been rounded carefully like balls or cones, but I LOVE it when the greenery is made to look like animals or people. I guess the process then moves – in my weird mind – from manipulation and control and rigidness to creativity – making me smile or laugh. The creation above is my favorite of all time, so far. I think it’s magnificent.
I can’t imagine seeing this and not smiling or laughing in delight.
Sweet!
End of the Season
A couple of days ago my husband turned off the irrigation system to the planters in our yard, turned on the propane heater in the well house, and plugged in the electric heater out there. Several weeks ago I cleaned out my raised bed square foot planter boxes and put tarps over them for the winter.
Today I unhooked the hose on the outdoor agricultural faucet that goes to the garden and unhooked the garden irrigation system control and stored it in the shop.
I will now try to clear out and neaten things up for the winter in the yard, along the driveway, etc. so it looks like someone cares. I will try to do something out there each day where the weather is cooperative.
The end of the growing season makes me sad, but I realize that everyone needs a rest before the whole cycle can start again.
Filed under Fun with Fingerpaint, Gardening, Mother Nature, Seasons
Topiary is Fun
Before the Storm
We are due for some possibly severe storms this afternoon and evening, so I got out yesterday to take more pictures of my elephant ear plants, just in case the storm is ugly and mean, and batters and breaks my plants.
I feel lucky to have be able to enjoy these all summer long and into the fall. I hope they last until we have a hard freeze. Every time I go out in the yard they lift my spirits. :0)
Filed under Gardening
Terrific Topiary
Sing It!
It’s quite cool right now – 46 degrees F. and sunny here. It’s due to get to 74 this afternoon, so no complaints whatsoever from me. :0)
I’m pleased that the “ugly” Wonder Wart-Hog is up on the mailbox now, ready for the school kids to see it as they pass the bottom of the driveway on the bus tomorrow morning. I wonder if they’ll like it. My husband seems pleased with it, so that’s the most important.
Since I’m split between “should clean up my art room” and “should do some clean up in the yard,” I’ll try to devote half my day to each of those.
My art room is still a mess from the last ‘acrylic pour’ attempts (no success there yet), so I’d like to get it cleaned up and try to do one of the ‘impasto’ technique paintings with a pallet knife.
I’m trying to do a bit outside each time the weather is cooperative to get us ready for the winter.
Such a beautiful day! Enjoy your Sunday.
Tantalizing Topiary
After the Storm
Last night we went to bed about 12:30 am and the wind was gusty and there was lightning. I didn’t hear it rain, but severe weather was possible overnight into this morning.
We awoke to 60 degrees F. and bright sunshine.
I took a walk around the yard to see if there was damage. We lost a couple of leaves on my elephant ear plants and there were leaves all over the civilized part of the yard around the house and our driveway, but I didn’t find any damage yet.
I did find several things that brought my spirits up –
There’s a bird’s nest in the tulip tree!
Filed under Gardening, Mother Nature
Creative Planters
Filed under Creative Planters, Gardening
The Topiary Cat 2
Richard Saunders created The Topiary Cat in his own yard, then got the idea to place him in places all over the world via Photoshop.
The Topiary Cat
Richard Saunders lives in the U.K. He created the topiary cat on his own property. From there, he got the idea to put The Topiary Cat in places all over the world using PhotoShop and a lot of creativity and imagination. Here is some of his work.
The Topiary Cat
Rock Garden 2
Rock Garden – DeWitt ‘Old Dog” and Joyce Boyd
Article by Beverly L. Jenkins, inspiremore.com
Filed under Gardening, Rock Art, Stone/Pebble Art
Continuing Work Outside
I’m about to fix lunch, and then I’ll go do a bit in the yard.
Today I’m going to mix up a container of KillzAll. I mix two gallons at a time in a nice sprayer. I’ll lug it out to the garden and see what needs to be sprayed. If I’m not totally pooped after that, I may mix up another container full….
Filed under Gardening
Rock Garden
Rock Garden – DeWitt “Old Dog” and Joyce Boyd
Article by Beverly L. Jenkins – inspiremore.com
Filed under Gardening, Rock Art, Stone/Pebble Art
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…
I finished the weed whacking I wanted to do yesterday! The tomato planters are clean, the debris is gone, and I got the grass and weeds down from around the planters, under the house, under the deck, down the back sidewalk, and around the brick planter beside the garage pad. And now it’s raining, right on schedule. Hooray!
We’ll run our errands in half an hour, delighted by the rain even if we drown while we’re out. My husband will spew bad words because he’s tired of mowing for the season, but the plants are all breathing a sigh of relief.
It’s quite dark outside, looking like nighttime instead of morning, but we aren’t supposed to have severe weather, just a cold front with cooler temperatures. I’M READY! :0)
If the wind isn’t blowing a lot when we get home, I may get out my umbrella and enjoy a walk in the rain.
Enjoy your day!
creativeartworksblog 