Butterflies & Dahlias

My yard has always been something I've dedicated a lot of time to. I take great pride in my gardens - I love having my boys grow their own vegetables, keeping herbs close at hand for cooking, and planting an assortment of flowering perennials, so I always have something in bloom. However, not unlike everything else in my life, I've been so busy my yard has been neglected. I had so many weeds to deal with, they were beginning to outnumber the desirable plants!

This, combined with the fact that I had my Mother coming to stay with us, motivated me to finally dedicate a weekend to tackling the yard. It was no easy task, and it's still not completely done, but I got enough accomplished that it feels good to step outside and admire the yard.

In Connecticut, we've had a very wet and unseasonably warm Autumn so far. Because of this, many of my plants are still colorful. The bugs, especially the bees and butterflies are enjoying this Indian Summer we've been having as well. Towards the end of the day last Sunday, I grabbed my camera to capture the show Mother Nature was putting on outside - most abundant of which were the Painted Lady butterflies and Dahlias.

Garden Flowers

For the past few weeks I've been trying to play catch-up on some projects that were in desperate need of attention. This past school year my boys had schedules busier than ever, and because of that I haven't had time to take care of as many things as I used to. One area in particular is our garden.
However - school and spring sports are now behind us...and the days of alarm clocks, driving from sport to sport, and letting my yard be overtaken by weeds are temporarily over {woo-hoo!}. At the end of a recent long and very arduous day working in the yard, I collected some blooms from a few of my favorite flowers.

When I brought them inside, instead of doing what I usually do...which is snip off the ends and arrange them the best I know how in a tall vase, I decided to try arranging them in a short square one. You know - the kind you might get an arrangement from a floral shop in?
In the past, I haven't had much luck with getting flowers to look anything like the ones from a shop. But I remembered reading an article on the website, Goop, that gave specific instructions on how to arrange flowers based on the kind of vase you'd like to use.

I gave it a try and it came out beautifully. The directions are fairly simple, and I honestly wasn't that far off using the methods I had previously attempted. A few tweaks, and suddenly I was arranging flowers like a pro. If your garden is currently overflowing with blossoms, I suggest you give it a try!
For this arrangement, I used a combination of blue and white Hydrangea, magenta Astilbe, and Buddleja {butterfly bush} blooms. I also made an arrangement with some yellow Yarrow mixed in - which I especially love. In the photos above, I used scalloped edge frames inspired by some I found on the website, Pugly Pixel - which I can't say enough nice things about. I'm obsessed!
Some other posts about the Garden - 2010's Garden | Ladybugs | Growing Container Potatoes | Peonies

Happy Autumn!

This is the second time I've posted on the Autumnal Equinox. I don't think I've ever posted about the start of any other season...and the reason is, I love Fall. It's my most favorite time of the year.
For some of you, who may not live in an area with defined seasons, Fall may not make as big of an impression. But, here in New England, it makes the best impression. I love the changing leaves, the pumpkins, Halloween, fires in the backyard, the crisp air, and sweaters.
Life has been very busy, as usual...but, I hope to sit back and enjoy some of the wonderful changes around me.

I have many great things coming your way this Fall. They will be surprises, but I think you'll really enjoy them...at least, I hope you will! I'm really excited to start cooking cool weather foods...digging out the cast iron, and cooking the kinds of meals that take all day, filling the house with amazing smells.
I have several things on the burner, just about ready to post. This weekend I'm attending a Photoshop blogging workshop in NYC, called Blogshop. I'm super duper excited about it, and hope to learn some cool new tricks! I will tell you all about it this week, I promise. In the meantime, check out this video from one of their past workshops. Looks so fun!

Growing Container Potatoes...

Every Mother's Day I do the same thing and receive the same thing. Some might find it boring, but for me, I get what I want...so, it works out well. Each year, we head to our local gardening center {Gilbertie's, for the locals reading this here blog} and I get to go hog wild buying my plants for the season. Then, we come home and my 3 mens get busy helping me in the yard all day. It ends up being a back breaking day for me {and them} and the older I get, the more I'm reconsidering my Mother's Day pastime.
But, to get to the point...while there this year, I saw they had a display of burlap potato sacks, with seed potatoes and everything else you needed to get started. The burlap bag was like $2 and the seed potatoes were pretty cheap too. I had a container I could use to hold the bag and the soil...so, I decided to go for it.

Garden 2010

Every year, our gardens get bigger & bigger...and, become more & more work. This year, DH built us two raised garden beds in our backyard. They replaced two very large & overgrown Forsythia bushes, that I've been dreaming of getting rid of for years.
Growing up, we always had a vegetable garden. So, enjoying summer harvests has been something I have always looked forward too. But, having our very own garden, is even more rewarding. We have moved on from our little container gardens & can plant so much more.
We've planted loads of tomatoes. Along with, eggplant, cucumbers, raspberries, strawberries, acorn squash, peanuts, amaranth, radishes, arugula, lettuce, sugar snap & sweet peas, dill, tarragon, basil {which is mostly all gone now, due to some insect, or rodent}, cilantro, beets, rapini {broccoli raab}, leeks, shallots, chocolate mint, spearmint, chives, bell peppers & of course, parsley.
I've already been using plenty of the herbs & this weekend we harvested our first ripe cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peas & eggplant. So amazing!

Peonies

Right now, my peonies in the garden are in full bloom! And, there are loads of them. I think these might be my favorite flower ever. Not only are they gorgeous, but they smell amazing.
The only down side is that bringing them into the house, can also bring in lots of ants. Because the variety of peonies I grow release a sweet nectar from the buds, teams of ants come from all over the garden to eat it. Once, the buds have opened, they leave.
To avoid bringing them indoors, I cut the flowers & then swish them around in a sink full of water. Not only does this separate the ants from the plants, it also washes off any remaining nectar, on the unopened buds, so that they will open indoors.
I really wish I had these all year long.

Begonias

Green Salad

For me, one of the best things about summer is how easy & delicious it is to eat healthy. I made this simple green salad using peas from our garden, along with cucumbers & lettuce from Mima's.

2009 Garden {After}

I meant to do this post a few weeks ago, when everything in the garden was at it's peak loveliness. It's still looking great, but some of the plants have begun their slow decline. This shot is from our perennial garden out front. You can click here to see the "2009 Garden~Before" shot. It certainly has come quite a way.

{Globe Thistle}

{Coneflowers}

Ladybugs

I recently discovered a black aphid infestation in our garden. And, along with them, several ladybug larvae walking around. I was happy to see them, as I knew they would do a job on the aphids. But, unfortunately, there didn't seem to be enough of them to handle the task.
So, we went out & bought a container of adult ladybugs from the local garden center. Since ladybugs don't fly at night, they needed to be released after dark, to avoid their natural instinct to migrate for food.
The next morning, I was eager to see if they had stuck around. I sent Max out to the garden to check on them.

He came back inside, happy to report that not only were they still there, but that one of them was giving a friend a piggyback ride!

Peoria Gardens

It's hard not to brag when it comes to talking about my sister, Lauren. She has a BS in Horticulture, is a certified Master Gardener, and is one of the head growers at Peoria Gardens in Oregon. In other words, she's super smart.
I have always thought she was smart, but I realized just how smart, when we were driving around one day & I was asking her about certain plants we saw along our drive...I wanted to know their names, so I could plant them at my house...and she knew the Latin names for them all.
The thing is, I am in awe of people who have an aptitude for Science, because it is certainly not my forte. I also love gardening, but I am a complete novice. I rely on her expertise with everything I do in our yard.

Whenever we come out to Oregon, one of my favorite things to do is to visit her job. It's just amazing. The following pictures will show you just how amazing it is. I took 300 pictures yesterday...here's a sampling.


Impatiens.




Coleus in more colors than I've ever seen before. I love using this plant in containers with ornamental grasses.

Bozo #2, getting a kick out of Uncle Billy.




Geraniums. I love them.

The perennials.

I saw so many plants & flowers that I had never seen before. I am completely inspired to start this years flower garden.
I love this one. It's called Red Leaf Armeria.



Some ornamental grasses, or Phalaris. I love this Strawberries & Cream Ribbon Grass. I will be looking for it when I get home.



I have no idea what this is. But, I love the furry flowers.

This picture shows just how massive an operation they have going on.

Aunt Lauren turned on the sprinklers for the Bozos.



They grow lots of vegetable & herb starts too.
I am so ready for May!

Signs of life

I love Connecticut winters. But, when it snowed yesterday, on the first day of spring, I thought enough is enough already.