“Be nonsense, be whimsical, be your own kind of beautiful.”
– Kenneth I. Zheng
11/20/17:
The bougainvillea and white dipladenia (mandevilla, rocktrumpet) that we planted in July are still blooming wonderfully. Some of the white flowers have started to show up with pinkish petals, which is a pretty surprise. The red dipladenia has only half as many blooms on it and some of the leaves are turning yellow. Steve is concerned about it; he put in a lot of effort to dig holes for these three plants and set up a trellis for them to climb, and would be disappointed if one died out. I give them fertilizer, insect and disease repellents, and they're watered appropriately, so there's not much else I can do. I am, though, fairly hardened to the experience of having plants expire even when I give them proper care. It happens over and over again in the life of any gardener (but that's one of the reasons I prefer perennials).
It is that time of year that less cold-hardy plants will die out or go dormant, and fewer flowers are blooming. It's getting down to 45 Fahrenheit at night now and won't be much longer until the first frost. The days seem so short; I treasure any time I can get outside in the sunny hours. I may have to wait until next year to see flowers on my recently planted columbine, or another bloom cycle for the butterfly bush, but I suppose that just gives me more to look forward to in spring.
Steve climbed up our tall ladder and cleaned the gutters on Sunday, in preparation for a rainy winter. The cats, birds and squirrels were quite startled to see a human near their rooftop realm. So much mud, leaves and pine needles! I gathered a few bucketfuls of this to use as mulch in containers and around the roots of smaller shrubs.
It is that time of year that less cold-hardy plants will die out or go dormant, and fewer flowers are blooming. It's getting down to 45 Fahrenheit at night now and won't be much longer until the first frost. The days seem so short; I treasure any time I can get outside in the sunny hours. I may have to wait until next year to see flowers on my recently planted columbine, or another bloom cycle for the butterfly bush, but I suppose that just gives me more to look forward to in spring.
Steve climbed up our tall ladder and cleaned the gutters on Sunday, in preparation for a rainy winter. The cats, birds and squirrels were quite startled to see a human near their rooftop realm. So much mud, leaves and pine needles! I gathered a few bucketfuls of this to use as mulch in containers and around the roots of smaller shrubs.
Clicking on the cropped images below will show the full image in a new window.
Columbine in a new pot.
Decorating the soil.
Silverleaf Cotoneaster.
I did some general yard maintenance myself, while picking up fallen flower petals, little pinecones, and berries from the cotoneaster for the next batch of potpourri. 8 of the 12 sachets I'd made sold at Friday's craft fair. My garden flower calendars were also popular, the jewelry and coloring pages not as much. Overall, I made $106.00, so am happy to have participated.
Recently, I bought a set of three cute flowerpots from the Houzz online store. I wanted inexpensive decorative pots to replace plain plastic ones that had cracked. I decided on these because the square shape was different from anything I already had, and the wallpaper-ish design is charming. They are not high quality, the printed design could peel off, and I'll need to add drainage holes, but I still like them.
At times, when appreciating the cute things I own and grow and create, I remember how a former manager at my workplace would call my graphic design work "whimsical crap". I like to think about how he'd groan to see me decorating bare soil around my plants with plastic cats and lizards, seashells and fake gemstones. Maybe that's what I should call my Etsy shop? ;) Actually, I'll probably name it GreenWise Design.
Recently, I bought a set of three cute flowerpots from the Houzz online store. I wanted inexpensive decorative pots to replace plain plastic ones that had cracked. I decided on these because the square shape was different from anything I already had, and the wallpaper-ish design is charming. They are not high quality, the printed design could peel off, and I'll need to add drainage holes, but I still like them.
At times, when appreciating the cute things I own and grow and create, I remember how a former manager at my workplace would call my graphic design work "whimsical crap". I like to think about how he'd groan to see me decorating bare soil around my plants with plastic cats and lizards, seashells and fake gemstones. Maybe that's what I should call my Etsy shop? ;) Actually, I'll probably name it GreenWise Design.