Uncategorized
SPECIAL BIRTHDAY
Next week is my mother’s 90th birthday and I am looking for a gift. Due to my recent shoulder surgery and inability to travel, our celebration will be a few weeks late. Still, I would like it to be a very special day. If we lived closer, I would bring her huge bouquet from my garden, but that is not possible. I’m in Georgia, she is in Canada. So I visited my favorite site for gift inspiration…
http://www.intrflora.co.uk/category/birthday-gifts
Wow!! Having a hard time choosing. She loves chocolate so, handcrafted chocolates from Lily O’Brians is one possibility…
then again personalized biscuits sound like fun.
Flowers of course, are a given. She prefers the hot sunset colours so I think this may be the bouquet for her.
Deciding on a gift for mom has always been difficult, and although it is not getting any easier, I hope I am faced with this challenge for many more years.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!
MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE GARDEN…
I have mentioned often, how I find the large mophead hydrangeas very effective in the landscape, but when they start to look like this…
They have my heart!
In my mind’s eye I can see my grandmother’s garden, and smell the rich fragrance of old roses.
The last lily of the season is starting to bloom. More on her later…
I have been short on posts lately but hope to be back posting more regularly soon. If you are curious, here is my kitchen …
I have to ‘DO’ something with all if this!! Where does gardening end?????
Hopefully my friend Julieta of LINDARAXA can help. Her recipes are divine!!
Happy gardening!!
AMISH GREEN TOMATO RELISH
Amish Green Tomato Relish
2 quarts green tomatoes chopped
3 green peppers diced
5 large onions chopped fine
3 TBS salt
Sprinkle salt over chopped veg. and let sit 4-6 hr. Drain well.
Combine, in a large pot the following..
2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp. celery seed
1 tbsp. allspice
2 tbsp. mustard seed
2 tea. dry mustard
1 tea. turmeric
1 tea. ground ginger
Simmer 10- 15 min. Add vegetables and simmer 10 min. more, then bring to the boil.
Pack boiling hot in to hot jars leaving 1/4 ” head space & process 10 min.
ENJOY, THESE ARE DELICIOUS!
FATHER’S DAY GIFT
While trying to decide what to get my husband for Fathers day, someone brought this site to my attention. http://www.interflora.co.uk/category/fathers-day-gifts/
What a great idea! Instead of another wheelbarrow I could send my husband some fabulous gift that he could share with me!! I am thinking …
This great picnic hamper… we could share the wine, while we decide where to plant the David Austin Roses that are also available .
This is a gardeners dream! Also I am not too late to order!
I used to give my parents perfume for their anniversary… for my mom to wear & dad to enjoy the fragrance!!
BLACK POOLS
Black pools reflect the sky, clouds & trees.
There are NO reflections with turquoise…..
Which do you prefer?
© All photos 2011
POTTING ON..
Another week has just slipped by! So much garden…so many weeds…so little time.
All the plants started from seed have been ‘potted on’ i.e. planted into larger containers and watered with diluted fish emulsion.
I do love the names on some of these tomato plants. “Boxcar Willie” was a favorite last year, new to us this year is “One Time Charlie”. Who makes up these names ?
The garden continues to unfold. Below, Clematis‘Liberation’ and ‘Barbara Jackman’ mingle with Viburnum ‘Kern’s Pink’ ( It never was pink. ) 
Showing off now too, are the early blooming Buckeyes. In my garden I grow three of the species. The early blooming Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia), below…
the Painted Buckeye (Aesculus sylvatica) …
the third,the Bottle Brush Buckeye ( Aesculus parviflora) is later blooming, end of june. Too bad these are such neglected & underused plants. They deserve a place in any garden with some dappled shade.
MEANWHILE…IN THE GARDEN
Sorry for being away so long. Family health issues…..
Meanwhile, back in the garden… early spring ephemerals have given way to roses peonies mid-season viburnums and early clematis.
ENJOY
More tomorrow.
© All photos 2011
CHARLESTON SC
I’ll be at the Charleston South Carolina 64th annual Festival of Houses & Gardens next week. Can’t wait to share the fun.
Hope you have a wonderful week.
CAMELLIA MADNESS
The Camellia Walk is in full flower.
The Helleborus are also at their peak, I love them together, makes for a lush planting…the only kind.
Just about here, I turn around to see………
The daffodils in The Meadow.
Up close & personal……… 
© All photos & text 2011
NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
I just read a post on New Years Resolutions that is in perfect sync with my own thoughts. Check it out and let me know if you agree.
http://www.bluestonegarden.com/blog/
This is a beautifully written and informative blog.
BABY ITS COLD OUTSIDE!!
Just back from Montreal. 30 cm (17″) of snow fell the day I arrived!
Photo above taken from the window. I would not venture out in that!!
Back in Georgia…for another cold snap but NO SNOW!!! I’ll post when I thaw out!
© All photos & text 2010
MORE ON MEADOWS
Please see what my friend Tara has to say about meadows.
http://taradillard.blogspot.com/2010/07/tara-turf-big-mouth.html
What I wanted… what I got.
I envisioned a soft carpet of moss beneath my feet as I walked through the garden… 
and then the weeds came.
So now not only do the beds require weeding, so do the paths! YIKES!
I have been resisting the pea gravel alternative. When I am alone in the garden the crunch of the gravel is delightful but when accompanied, it is so distracting it is difficult to have a conversation.
FAUX GARDEN
Delightful little courtyard garden? No. Just all the ‘driveway plants.’ Every plantaholic has these. The plants that are unloaded from the car waiting in the drive to be planted.
This vignette was put together by our British host just before we arrived for a tour.
© All photos & text 2010
Recreating Eden Landscape Blog 