Monday, May 31, 2010

Hardy Geranium


In the shadow of roses and scampering along the path, hardy geranium 'Rozanne' is proving to be a great performer in the garden.

My plants had a difficult start as they were nibbled so badly by rabbits that only three survived. This year, with the help of a repellent with natural ingredients, the rabbits have stayed away and the geraniums are glorious.

There is another hardy geranium in the cottage garden. 'Brookside' is edging the path beneath my azaleas. Both work well for edging the paths, but 'Rozanne' is gaining ground as my favorite.

Hardy geranium (cranesbill) 'Rozanne' is rated for full to part sun in zones 5-8 and is from Blooms of Bressingham®.

The ground-covering foliage habit is perfect for hiding the fading foliage of alliums and Dutch irises. Daylilies and coneflowers also make their way through the geraniums with no problem. The mounding habit of the perennial is covered by a lovely display of dainty blooms. The flowers should repeat until frost.

I'd love to have additional plants, but with the wonderful 36 inch width, it only takes a few 'Rozanne' geraniums to edge a path!


Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

happy memorial day!

From our family to yours! Hope you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

See you back here tomorrow!

Out With The Old and In With The New!



This is a picture of the front of my house right before we closed on it.  The inspector was inside looking for issues (he found many, if you remember).  To the left are our Realtors, Loretta and Fitz.  Center is Mr Comforts of Home.

I showed you this picture so you could see the landscaping - or lack there of.  The evergreens you see in the picture were neglected and half dead.  We were able to save one and move it to the back of the house.

Here is what I have been up to.  Removing dead evergreens, removing sod and planting some new plants...



Above you can see the 7 Nandina's I planted.  The grow about 2 feet high and 2 feet wide, so they will fill in and be just the right height. (edited to add...a couple of comments about Nandina getting HUGE...these are a DWARF variety - see the label in pics below.  In the second label pic you can see that it gets to be 2 feet tall and 1-1/2 - 2 feet wide.  Perfect for the space.)







I still have to add mulch.  I hope to plant spring bulbs in front of the Nandina this fall.

Below you can see the left side of the front porch.  I have been enlarging it and digging up sod (like I did here in the back of the house).


So as you can see, it is raining and work outside has come to a halt for a few days. 

Before I end this post, I wanted to show you a wonderful piece of garden art I have had for about 6 years.  I bought it at a local art fair in the area.  It is a copper hummingbird and it just keeps getting better with age.

Did you ever watch the gardening show on HGTV a few years back with Rebecca Koll?  I am going to borrow her saying, that she said at the end of each show.
"Get Those Hands Dirty"
Welcome Home,
Penny

Sunday, May 30, 2010

In Memory






The Beaches and American Cemetary in Normandy, France.

Comments Are Turned Off Today.

Gardening

I am playing in the garden today.  Planting some more lavender and some Nandina.

Above is a picture from France.  I couldn't believe all of the beautiful outdoor flower markets there were. 

I have planted sunflowers next to my Potager and they are about 4 inches tall now.
Welcome Home,
Penny

Saturday, May 29, 2010

A Deer Miss



When I came home at 10:00 pm last night, there was a herd of deer sleeping in the meadow above the flower garden. They didn't bother to get up when I drove the car down the long driveway—with headlights beaming on their sleepy little heads.

The deer must be well fed and lazy this year as they have literally given up on taking the time to even LOOK in my garden! In doing so, the deer (so far) have missed out on a luscious yellow lilly.

Of course, I didn't plant this deer candy in my deer resistant garden. There's nothing deer resistant about the lily. It was a gift from an anonymous bird who kindly planted the seeds a year ago. My feathered friend didn't provide a gift tag, and I haven't tried to identify the lily.

I'm not going to try to incorporate this lily into my garden plans. The bird did a fine job of planting the lily in the "hot colors" butterfly garden —with gaillardia, monarda 'Jacob Cline', crocosmia 'Lucifer' and an osmanthus fragrans. It's a pretty good design for a bird!

I don't want to get too attached to these beautiful flowers. As sure as I do, the deer will return—and, they won't miss the chance to nibble the lilies to nothing!



Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Maison Rose and Fleurs (Pink House and Flowers)

I promised to show you some more pictures of France.  Since today is the 2nd Birthday Celebration of How Sweet The Sound's Pink Saturday, I thought today would be the perfect time to do it!


I want to take a moment the thank Beverly for Hosting this wonderful event for the last 2 years!

All of these pictures were taken by me this past April while in Paris and Provence.
Fleurs...






Maisons...



If you love pink, then head over to How Sweet The Sound and see hundreds of pink posts!  Did you know that Pink Saturday was featured in the current issue of Artful Blogging!  Happy 2nd Birthday to Pink Saturday!
Welcome Home,
Penny

Buying Online: Perfectly Packaged Plants


Ordering plants online can be confusing and sometimes the results are very disappointing. There are always those nagging questions. What is the price of the plants? How large are the plants? Will they be healthy? How are they shipped? I'm happy to report my wonderful experience with Lazy S'S Farm Nursery in Virginia.

I had a list of plants that I had coveted, but couldn't find locally. My web search led me to Lazy S'S Farm online store. I checked the Dave's Garden Watchdog list and they are ranked in the Top 5 for perennials.

With their huge selection of plants, I had no problem finding everything on my wish list. (By the way, you can save a wish list on their website and come back later to purchase.) The prices, based upon the description of the plants and shipping methods, was reasonable. I got out my credit card and placed an order.

A few days later, I decided to add a few more plants to the same order. Easy to do.

On April 8, my box of plants arrived on my covered front porch. Opening the box was surprising—in a good way. The health and size of the plants exceeded my expectations!

Look at the packaging—stakes to support the foliage; plastic covering the soil meant moisture was retained and no soil dumped out; no damage at all.

I followed the instructions to let my plants adjust in a sheltered place and gradually move them to the sunshine and then plant in the garden after danger of frost had passed (April 15). Of course, we had no significant rain in April and early May, so I had to be diligent about giving the plants a deep, thorough watering until established.

Now that all of the perennials have been in my garden for over a month, I'm still thrilled with the plants. Each is growing well, still healthy.

Would I order from Lazy S'S Farm Nursery again? Absolutely! I have no hesitation in giving a recommendation as this was my best online plant ordering experience—ever.

No free products or discounts were received from the vendor, nor was the nursery notified in advance of my review.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Friday Madness!

Friday Madness
All table linens 20% off!
Choose from napkins, tea towels, seed sacks, runners, tablecloths and more in linen, vintage linen and burlap!




A gorgeous Copenhagen apartment in white with bold contrasts

Happy Friday! A little eye candy for ya...










Love the old leather chair in the corner


via Indenfor

Thursday, May 27, 2010

I love This Fabric!

I love this fabric!  It has all of the colors of my decor.  When I was antiquing with Gretchen earlier this week, I saw this fabric under a pile of stuff.  It is about a yard and a half and cost $8.00.

I have searched online for more of it, but can not find anymore.

Such a shame because it looks great with this couch...



This cheetah chair...



This red chair in the living room...


And it even looks good in the master bedroom!




I have loved this green chair for 10 years....but it really didn't go with my yellow toile.  It is comfy and a PETITE recliner - that somehow doesn't look like a recliner.  Somehow with this new fabric added to the room (curtains?) it looks good.  The prints on the floor ready to hang seem to match and the vintage oil painting over the chest looks good with it too.

Since I can't find any more of this fabric, I will probably use it for throw pillows in the great room.  But now I am keeping my eye out for something like this to make curtains for our bedroom.
(edited to add:  A few of you have suggested looking on the salvage edge for the name and then looking on line.  The salvage edge does give the manufacturer - Bloomcraft, but not the pattern name or number.  When I search Bloomcraft I find all kinds of fabric stores, but after looking at all of their patterns, I can't find it.)
(edited again to add:  I didn't want to recover the chair with the fabric, but make curtains with it, which would make the chair look like it belongs in the room.)
And now the project list has one more item added....
Welcome Home,
Penny