{Garden} Progress update on New Year’s goals

01 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Karen B. in Flowers, Gardening, Gardens, Maintenance

Tags

HAPPY MAY DAY!

Sometime in early January I posted about my “goals” for the year. I used this word to avoid the utter sense of failure I experience when I’ve set the usual “resolutions” and then dropped the ball within the first month of the new year. This year I was determined to set realistic “goals” for myself and keep them in my thoughts to achieve some measure of success. How did that work out, you ask? Well, it’s only May 1st, but I would give myself a solid B for achieving 2 of the 3 goals so far.

If you’re interested in reading the post visit me HERE, otherwise, here is a bit of proof of my work towards accomplishing at least 1 of the 3 goals. Goal #2. Plans for the Garden :: As I explained in my previous post, I have regularly worked in my garden, but in recent years, only to maintain it. I had really dropped the ball where adding new “bones” to the space was concerned. The pictures I had taken for blog purposes revealed lots of bare spots and some much needed updating. {You really can see your yard, or rooms in your home, more objectively by taking a picture and looking at it}

Our house is stucco on all sides, except for the front where we had stone applied some years ago. I’m sure there are stucco walls that are smooth and somewhat attractive, that is not what we have in our 1968 Southern California tract house. Which is why I’ve have ivy growing on many of the walls. In our side yard there is a particularly large expanse of stucco and the wall happens to get full sun. I had always thought about planting something that could be espaliered. My trusty nursery suggested White Lady Banks rose so I’m giving it a go. Don’t judge Lady Banks just yet. I’ve only planted her this past weekend. But with time, I’ve been promised she’ll grow and will at least break up (figuratively) some of the stucco wall.

I’ve got a David Austin ‘Heritage’ and an Iceberg rose growing in front of Lady Banks, she should enjoy their company while she puts on growth.

Iceberg are so easy and provide the best white blooms nearly 9 months of the year around here.

The other roses in this area of the yard are French Lace

~and~

a Burgundy Simplicity rose. They both put their best face forward in spring, but perform well all summer long.

Last year I discovered that by planting my herbs in pots I could avoid the little slug holes that plagued all of my basil and flat leaf parsley.

The patio bed was revamped a couple of years ago, but even with the Iceberg roses and climbers, Cecile Brunner and Eden, the rest of the bed needed some interest. This spring I was able to buy foxglove in color packs (a smaller, 6-pack of starts). The ‘foxy’ variety will last most of the summer and could be coaxed into blooming again next spring if I could tolerate the stage where they look so sad. They are up and strong and about to burst into a full riot of beauty. (Please pardon the boxwood, they are transplants and have been over hedged. I’m hoping this summer they will recover and be lush and green once again).

The back corner of our yard is deep shade most of the time so in 2011 we decided to throw in the towel on trying to grow grass and instead had our gardener create a pea gravel patio. The corner plants never did much since the trees that create the shade sucked the nutrients from the soil and water was a problem since the soil was filled with roots and little else. We have moved 3 sizable concrete pots to that corner and my hope is to plant them with a Japanese maple, Annabelle hydrangea (Thanks, Keri! Ivy Clad posted the best information on this hydrangea) and possibly a Camellia japonica in white. This is a work in progress so I’ll have to follow up with a future post on my progress.

Under the kitchen bay window, on our patio, we have had 2 large concrete oval pots. Last year I planted white azalea ‘Alaska’ and white ivy geranium…

and this year, the ivy geranium won. The white azalea have been moved to a more suitable spot in the garden and the white ivy geranium are having a party.

The formal garden is still under renovation. It needs plants that can tolerate massive roots from our neighbor’s beautiful Alder tree. I love their tree but it does wreak havoc with the planting beds. I continue to amend the soil and hope for the best. The Sally Holmes climbing rose is happy on the fence and the roses in each of the boxwood framed openings seem fairly happy. I had to replace one of the hybrid teas with a Romantica ‘Bolero’ this past spring. I’m have frequent chats with the rose, encouraging it to grow up big and strong.

The last addition so far is a favorite for Mr. B. I bought and hung a bird feeder. We get a lot of really interesting birds in our yard and Mr. B loves to watch their antics. I hung it outside of our kitchen window and I must confess, it’s been fun to watch the variety of hungry birds.

Have you begun to work in your garden yet? Spring has sure taken its time arriving here in California.

I’m linked to: The Polohouse {Favorites on the First}~and~

Savvy Southern Style {Wow us Wednesdays}

~and~ Stone Gable {Tutorials Tips and Tidbits}

~and~ Ricki Jill at Art @ Home: My Happy List

In two weeks, May 15th, I’m hosting my very first Linky party. I’m celebrating all things SPRING! I hope you’ll join me with your favorite things about this season…your gardening tips and projects, the touches you add to your home as the weather warms and your favorite recipes, table settings and entertaining ideas for SPRING, or really just anything you’d like to post. I hope you’ll join me, I think we’ll have fun.

{Garden} Keeping bees happy and other gardening pursuits

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Karen B. in Flowers, Gardening, Gardens, Maintenance

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

Bees

Pilgrims brought the first honeybees to America. There were honeybees in California by 1820.

I’ve been busy as a bee in my garden…planning and planting. (It was one of my New Year goals)

{tumblr ~ fresh as a daisy}

After ignoring my front yard during the month of December and most of January, I decided it was time to clean up a few things. My gardener had pruned the roses and I usually do a little detailing to make sure they are trimmed properly.

{Bethany House ~ Winter, 2011}

Working in the garden relaxes me and makes me happy. This past weekend the work inspired me to start making plans for the plants I want to install (as part of my New Year’s “goals”) and I came up with a list that I’ll order/pick up at the nursery and plant sometime between now and the end of March.

{Bethany House ~ backyard fence}

For now I’ve planted some infrastructure for the planting beds, behind the boxwood in the front yard are…

‘Alaska’ azalea, a lovely white blooming plant that should grow fairly fast in this part-sun location to cover the valves for the sprinklers.

~and~

phygelius ‘Passionate Pink’, a smallish, upright fuchsia. Bees and hummingbirds alike love this plant and the one below…

~and~

Spanish lavender, this will give me a little soft color around the white Iceberg shrub roses.

That plan instigated more thought about the back yard. I started thinking about plants and bees. I know, it does seem a little strange, but I would love to have the time and space to raise bees. I don’t have the time at this juncture but like my desire for a chicken coop, maybe some day.

I hope to move some planters around in the back yard and replace a rose or two. I purchased some seed in hopes that I can try my hand at growing ‘forget-me-nots’ and some Asian poppy seed to scatter.

{Forget-Me-Nots}

Meanwhile, I’ll have to search for a straw bee skep to tide me over…

{Country Cottage Primitives}

There will be more garden coverage this year…stay tuned. Like last year, hopefully, Olivia will help me with the watering when she visits this summer.

{August 2012}

Note: We have a constant stream of bee and hummingbird visitors in our yard. I think some of my new plants will be gourmet nectar to both.

Do you have plans for your garden this year? I know some of you are still shivering from winter’s cold but you and I both know it will be spring before we know it!

I’m over at Savvy Southern Style, drop by for a visit and Art @ Home sharing things that make me happy.

{Home} Faux greenery indoors, or real houseplants?

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Karen B. in Decorating, Flowers, House and Home, Maintenance, Uncategorized

≈ 30 Comments

Tags

houseplants

Age is a funny thing. If you’re lucky it teaches you tolerance and acceptance. For example I used to think I would NEVER have faux houseplants. I figured if I couldn’t have real I didn’t want to bother.

The twisted juniper on the mantle below are preserved evergreen.

{Kelly Harmon Designs}

A few years ago I discovered that there are now some very real-looking houseplants available, and some are actually “preserved” plants that were once real.

I’ll be honest, I’m certain that working full time has tempered my sentences that used to start with the words, “I’ll never…”. Actually, I’m happy about this because I did find that faux plants, when mixed with live indoor plants, can look very real and make life a whole lot easier for those of us with minimal hours to tend to them. I still love English ivy and topiary of all kinds.

Tone on Tone shared the vast array of their houseplants, including these lovelies below…

{Tone on Tone}

Another option for indoor houseplants can be found in some “outdoor” plant sections, like this creeping fig (below)…

{Tone on Tone}

My favorite fake plant right now is the preserved boxwoods. I really like the topiary in various sizes, the wreath and the globe shapes they come in.

{tumblr}

{Amazon}

I also feel that if you need a “plant” for a certain space, using something like willow-like branches can be effective.

{Ralph Lauren}

My go-to fresh plant of choice is English ivy. I’ve had pretty good luck with the ivy plants I’ve purchased and as long as I water them by soaking them in a bath of 2″ of fresh water when they get thirsty, they will last for 6 months to a year, or longer. Ivy seems to like to absorb the water rather than be watered from the top.

Alison over at The Polohouse recently posted about her Kitchen Hutch…the array of houseplants made for a lovely vignette. I believe she has preserved boxwood, real English ivy and a moss ball in the display below…

{The Polohouse}

Trader Joe’s has a beautiful selection of blooming house plants that are so inexpensive that I’ll often buy them and once they begin to look sad I’ll move them to a sheltered space outdoors and see if they come back and re-bloom. They also carry great orchids in a variety of sizes. Their blooms sometimes stay intact up to 3 months. I don’t have luck making them re-bloom but my daughter-in-law in Austin does!

{Ashley Goforth Designs}

{Haus Design}

There are other faux options such as dried hydrangea (which you can do yourself) and reindeer moss, which provides you with the green while not requiring any water

{Simple Everyday Glamour}

{Haus Design}

There’s another option that I’ve used for table settings…live annual plants. They won’t last forever indoors, but they are so pretty!

So I say, if you have a tough spot, maybe not enough light gets to the place you’d like to have a plant, search for something that mirrors a live plant, if you love it, no one will every know.

Do you have strong feelings one way or another where live vs. real houseplants are concerned? I love your comments.

I’m linking to: Savvy Southern Style::Wow us Wednesdays

and Stone Gable: Tutorials Tips…

{Garden} Spring planting and the knot garden

08 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by Karen B. in Flowers, Gardening, Gardens, Maintenance, Outdoor living

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Knot garden

I’ve been busy in the garden this past month. The season makes it easy to want to be working the soil and planting new annual flowers you’ve missed seeing during the fall and winter months.

We have a relatively smallish backyard in our home of 30 years. About 10 years ago I happened to be on a home tour of several homes in Newport Beach, California. One of the homes we visited on the tour backed to Newport Bay and the tiny, postage sized yard had a knot garden. I wasted no time, I cleared an area of my yard and planted almost 200 Japanese boxwood’s (believe it or not, I planted each and every one myself; I was younger and more energetic 10 years ago!). 🙂

Inspiration for knot/formal garden dreamers…

I had purchased a sundial from Smith & Hawkins a few years before (boy, do I miss that retail store) and that became the center for my garden. I selected roses (Romantica Roses: Guy de Maupassant and Eden; Hybrid Teas: St. Patrick’s and Pearl) for the center of each boxwood corner and have been happy with it each time I visit the yard. Each year I work on the outer edges of my formal space. Our neighbor has a wonderful, old Alder tree and the roots invade my yard so it’s a bit of a challenge to keep plants happy in this root ridden area. I did plant a Sally Holmes rose that puts on a great show each spring, but even Iceberg planted along the edges seem to struggle a bit.

You can see my neighbor’s alder tree. She always asks if we want her to take it out since she knows of the roots that it sends out…I always say “NO”. I’m a huge supporter of trees and plenty of them. The red flowering tree is a bottle brush. When the kids were little we called it the ‘bee tree’…when its in bloom like this all you have to do is walk nearby and you hear it buzz. No, none of us have allergies to bees and no, we’ve never been stung by our bottle brush bees.

I call my garden a knot garden, but it really isn’t a knot garden, formal garden maybe, the boxwood’s would need to interlink to be a knot garden.

(Above) is a photo of part of our patio, the window is my kitchen bay window.

(Below) is a close up of the Sally Holmes climbing rose.

Sally has a ‘waverly sage’ salvia in front of her…it’s not in bloom yet but will be shortly.

I’ve trained the star jasmine on a wired geometric grid. Sorry for the overexposed photograph. Below is my hydrangea…I wanted to grow them all around the edges but alas, all but this one threw in the towel.

This sitting area was finished last year…the shade of the ficus trees make it the coolest spot in the yard during hot days.

Gotta run, my sundial says it time to get back to work. Have a wonderful week. Let me know what you are planting this year.

I’m visiting Centsational Girl’s Garden Party, let’s have a look!

and

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

and

the Garden Party at Fishtail Cottage

and

Favorite on the First with Alison at The Polo House

{Home and Garden} Fall cleaning and organizing

04 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Maintenance, Personal Information

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

fall cleaning, organization, storage

There is something about fall that gives me a burst of energy. I find I want to clean and organize shelves, cupboards, my closet and just about anything that strikes me as something that could use a little improvement! I do all of this somewhat selectively as I’ve had weed through magazines and organize picture boxes on my list for months! I’m determined to tackle one or both of those sometime this fall. I’ll begin with a favorite image of “organization” with plenty of design appeal…

Brook Gianetti of Velvet & Linen blog…this was a closet that Brooke transformed into a smart and stylish space for storage and decoration in her office.

Our study is quite small and Hubby’s computer space is inside a closet. We’ve taken the doors off and painted, and it does look better than it used to, but the Gianetti closet is stunning and invites you to take a closer look at the art and decorative pieces she so creatively displays.

via Better Homes and Gardens

The above study is a little more utilitarian but I really like the color-coordinated storage boxes and it’s tidy appearance is always a goal in our study. Things like magazines and paperwork can take over in a matter of a few hours!

Better Homes and Gardens sent out an email about organization and I found a few of the ideas for creating more storage space, a particularly hot topic at our house. Martha Stewart always has some great ideas for cleaning and organizing…

via Better Homes and Garden

I have 4 pan drawers but they don’t have the dividers…as a result some of my pans to get scratched but since they aren’t on display via a pan rack I guess I’m okay with that. This image did remind me I need to clean out the drawers and make sure they (pans and lids) are where they belong. Do you ever put things back in a convenient spot as opposed to where they belong?

via Better Homes and Garden

Clever and efficient idea for the kitchen, although I believe the tray storage under the cabinets in the above kitchen would have had to be installed when the kitchen was designed, right?

via Better Homes and Gardens

I thought this use of an expandable organizing tool with children’s books would be fun…it could feature the books your grand daughter (oh, or grand son 🙂 wants to read that week at bedtime!

via Martha Stewart

I like Martha’s idea for storing umbrellas on the back of a door.

via Martha Stewart

I’m not sure I’d take a picture of the garment to put on the tag, but when I store my seasonal items, remembering what is inside the bag can be a problem. I like the idea of putting a tag on the bag with the name of the item or items.

via Martha Stewart

This idea is nice but the real reason I’ve posted it is because I need to paint the inside of our hall closet…not this color but just a nice, clean white. Not sure I’ll get to this project this fall.

via Brabourne Farm

If I had this closet I think it would be easy to keep your shoes and clothes organized, don’t you agree!

What’s on your list of cleaning and organizing this fall? Or, are you just enjoying the season without all the frantic activity?

{Garden} Backyard facelift

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by Karen B. in DIY (do it yourself), Gardening, Maintenance, Outdoor living

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Kooboo chairs, Outdoor living, pea gravel patio

My readers will remember that Hubby and I were able to take on two over-due facelift projects for the house this summer. One of the projects is the guest bathroom (to be blogged about later). The second project is/was the grass in our back yard, along with a pea gravel space for some teak chairs (otherwise known as the killer patio chairs). The killer chairs were relegated to the back yard when I purchased the Kooboo chairs from Cost Plus. The teak chairs were always quite comfortable but would NOT slide on the concrete patio and because they were adjustable chairs, they would collapse on our guests when anyone would try to scoot back from the table. So once again…

Once we placed the chairs under the trees it became clear we needed some kind of surface under them to create a sort of patio area. The grass has never thrived in this spot since there is so much shade. My blog friend over at French Kissed posted a picture of a similar area (she had helped design the area during a styling job) where she had created this oasis of pea gravel, potted fern and comfortable chairs. I knew that would work for our yard and voila...the inspiration for our project...

before:

This is after the grass (weeds) had been sprayed to kill out the invasive devil grass and weeds. Jose, my talented gardener had started the removal process when I remembered the “before” pictures!

You can see the sparse grass and roots of the trees. Our next door neighbor replaced the fence with a more weather friendly redwood fencing and the design is so much prettier.

after…

Now that our back yard has lush, green grass, sans all of the weeds, and a pea gravel pad where we can enjoy the shade of 2 very large trees when we’re looking for a spot to put our feet up and sip something wonderful we’ll be spending more time out there…that is until it’s too cool, which may be some time.

Amazing how much better the yard looks with green grass, not weeds and bare patches.

We’ve had this teak coffee table stored for years, it is so nice to be able to use existing items around the house.

The white cushions are $5 / Ikea. the gravel is birds eye pea gravel. We had our gardener plant a crescent of boxwood (above) which will provide a visual wall behind the chairs. We have a calliandra vine (below) planted on the fence. The vine won’t bloom in this much shade but the plant thrives even without sun.

This sasanqua ‘noel’ will be blooming by November. The stone border was the result in our changing out the stone bath we used to have leading to the teak bench. My gardener put the stones on edge to create a nice border for the gravel space and edge of the flower bed.

The white helebore has seen better days but its getting ready to bloom and hopefully will multiply for next season since it was given some new compost nutrition during our back yard re-do/clean up.

I’ve planted some Irish moss in this little metal bird feeder. I planted Spanish moss in the spaces between the river bed rocks…it’s a very shady area and I’m hoping it takes off.

This calliandra vine has gotten very large (it’s on the patio) and I’m hopeful the 5-gallon vine planted on the fence is as happy as this one.

The side yard was refreshed with additional Krista Mountain gravel; the lantern is lit when we’re outdoors at night.

We added the lattice overhang recently in hopes that it will provide a little break from the constant south facing sun that beats down on our bay window…it’s been a challenge for fabrics and furniture in the library, the room this bay window is in.

I apologize, our garden shoes are by the door…keeping it real.

So, the back yard is ready for relaxation and fun…even if it’s only a short time before it’s too cool to be out there!

Thanks for coming by for an update.

Happy fall. Do you have any fall yard work on your list?

{Garden}Cottage gardens…home improvement

25 Monday Jul 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Flowers, Gardening, Maintenance, Outdoor living

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cottage Garden

As any avid (or even an amateur) garden enthusiast knows, gardens are an ever changing landscape (no pun intended).

Plants grow, mature, and have seasonal fireworks of blossoms and, sadly, some die, joining the great compost pile in the sky (or backyard, as the case may be). In any event, the one thing I have come to understand is that the only consistency in a garden is its unpredictability (and inconsistency). Yes, I know that certain plants can and do bloom at certain times, but haven’t you had a plant that will suddenly stop performing for no apparent reason? I sure have!

Chive in bloom living with viola Nemesia beside a dwarf delphinium

As some of you may remember from my ramblings, I was a partner in a landscape business for 13 years. My partner (and friend, Wendy) and I planted cottage gardens for word-of-mouth customers. We attempted to monitor growth patterns of a variety of plants including a particularly scientific study of how frequently roses re-bloom once old blooms are cut off. *This study was brought about as a result of Wendy’s youngest daughter’s wedding, which was held in Wendy’s backyard. We discovered that most shrub and hybrid tea roses bloomed every 6 weeks (in Southern California) during the summer months.

A sad sample of the blossom of ceratostigma plumbaginoides astromontana ‘pink pop’

So knowing my garden is in constant transition I set out this spring to create a blue, lavender and white planting area. One of the sunniest locations in my yard (off our kitchen on the south side of our house) I am able to grow a ‘French Lace’ hybrid tea rose on one side and a burgundy iceberg shrub anchoring the other side. I know the color burgundy doesn’t fit the color palate I set out to achieve, but it’s a great bush and I decided it would be okay.

I have always loved columbine but had failed at growing it because I always planted it in planters, now that its directly in the soil it seems very happy.

I moved a rusty, old armillary that I had purchased in Rosarito Beach, Baja, Mexico to one of the beds and when the morning glories started popping up I transplanted some of the seedlings to the base of the metal structure and they have been happily climbing ever since. Some of the plantings didn’t make it (bachelor buttons, which may have been over watered or under watered, not sure which) but I have a variety of blue and lavender plants that have outperformed my expectations. My list of proven winners (at least for now) are {common names given where possible}: Columbine, delphinium (both the miniature and full-sized variety), French lavender, lobelia ‘fountain blue’, pincushion flower, morning glory, and nepeta tuberosa and lamb’s ear.

When I took this picture my French lace rose had just finished a spectacular bloom…it’s the white rose to the left of the armillary.

This morning glory vine returns every year without new seeds. I love it for that!

lobelia has always been a favorite of mine and it somes in so many lovely colors.

To take care of these I plant with “Super Soil” garden compost and then water and fertilize with Miracle Gro. I’ve read that Miracle Gro is junk food for plants but with my schedule it works for me and makes my life easier while making my garden happy. I use Gro-Power once ever 6-8 weeks. Be sure to water in in well. I sprinkle the fertilizer around the plants and then water. Gro-Power is also great for potted plants, it will green up an anemic plant in a relatively short amount of time, again be sure to water well and follow the directions. (BTW, the bag doesn’t look like this but this was the only image I could find).

pincushion flower produces all summer long and then repeats the following spring.

A little dusty miller in the garden makes a nice contrast for the flowers and green foilage. This daisy caught my attention because it had the lavender center.

Papaver hybridum ‘Lavender Breadseed’ poppy

I planted oriental poppies this year thanks to a recommendation from Trish of Trouvais. She has a lovely garden and if you’ve never visited her you will not be disappointed.

How is your garden growing this summer? Any favorite plants that are proven winners for you?

Your wish is my command

25 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Gardens, Maintenance, Misc, Outdoor living, Renovating

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

renovating

Hubby and I have been married a very long time. I consider this a good thing and sometimes scary the way we will inadvertently dress alike without seeing the color shirt/blouse the other one is putting on; or thinking we’re hungry for the exact same thing once one of us has mentioned a menu option.

An example of our being in sync occurred recently and I thought I’d share the story with you…am I desperate for post ideas, or what?

A few weeks back I posted about a new storage container I was fond of…this was a surprise to me because I had fought the notion of having storage containers cluttering up my ever so small pantry for years. Anyway, I blogged about the OXO pop storage container HERE in part because I like to share information with my readers on products that are all they are advertised to be and then some, I’m generous that way.

Hubby read the post, which in and of itself pleases me no end. I can’t tell you how sweet I think it is that he takes time out of his busy day to read my ramblings, but I digress.

So, along comes Mother’s Day and he tells me he has a gift for me. I had asked that he give me my usual hand-picked pound of See’s candy and that was more than enough. Alas, he had my requested See’s and a large box which contains a set of OXO pop-up storage containers. I was a little concerned at first that our smallish pantry wouldn’t be able to accommodate the set but low and behold, we managed. Thank you sweetie, for being such a thoughtful guy.

This is the best (IMHO) and I keep my list of favorite specifics.

To that end I thought I’d blog about some other items on my wish list…hey this just might work!

Our back yard is in desperate need of new grass…specifically Marathon sod, with sprinklers. We have never put sprinklers in the back yard and have gotten by without them up until now. We sometimes travel in the warmer months and it would be wonderful to have auto timer sprinklers taking care of business while we’re gone.

Our guest bathroom is a fright. When we purchased the house 29 years ago the previous owner had installed chocolate brown Kohler tub, toilet and sink. Some time about 15 years ago the brown, much like a black car, showed every scratch and scrape that it had endured and we had a company come and coat the tub and sink with white enamel. We replaced the toilet. This lasted us until about 2 years ago…the coating has begun to chip…we now have a tub that resembles the Gateway computer box (except it’s brown and white) and the sink is brown (since the coating came off in nearly one piece there).

Finally, our patio set is from Costco and is made from “tropical hardwood” which is meant to look like teak and mostly does. It has grayed with age (something I like) and is well designed. Here is the catch, the chairs weigh a ton and will not slide on the concrete. No matter what we try, including fancy “guaranteed to slide” feet. So when we entertain al fresco we must warn our guests to move the chair in a certain way lest the chair collapse on them. *I forgot to mention the chairs have a couple of settings and can fold. So I would like to replace them with the Kooboo chair from Cost Plus. You can read about them in detail (and compare them to the Pottery Barn chair) HERE.

So, just in case we hit the lottery and you are looking for gift ideas, honey, here you go. {giggle}

Fun in the sun

27 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Entertaining, Gardening, Maintenance, Outdoor living, Renovating

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Outdoor living

As the weather warms I begin to focus more of my attention on life outdoors. I want to be in the garden, working or playing, and I look forward to meals on the patio.

This lovely outdoor seating space is Cote de Texas‘

Image via Country Living

Villa Saladino in Santa Barbara has a lovely outdoor seating area.

Image by Simon Upton ~ Jill Brinson Home

Our patio~teak, gray with age

Image via Velvet & Linen

As I’ve mentioned before, we have lived in our house since 1982. Each room, inside and out, has been renovated at least once, sometimes more. Our back yard is in need of new sod right now and a decision must be made about the 2 gigantic ficus benjamina trees growing there. Roots of these trees threaten to take over the world (beginning with our back yard). The trees do provide a canopy of shade that rivals an outdoor air conditioner on the hottest days.

I visualize this…

Image via French Kissed

I would love to create a gravel or decomposed granite pad where we could place some furniture, maybe dining furniture under the umbrella of the trees and living room furniture on the patio. Pictures like this (above) are my inspiration (Thank you Jermaine).

Image via 5th & State

When we replace our sod (which is now a combination of assorted green weeds and grass—fortunately when its mowed most people don’t realize it isn’t 100% Marathon sod.

Villa Saladino—nice vista, but the grass is lovely, so green.

I think there is something very soothing about green, whether it be grass or plant, it cools me down in the summer months and cheers me up on a gray day.

Image via House Beautiful (Edmund Barr photo)

Image via 5th & State

Vines are another benefit to a yard with cinder block fencing or overly plain wood-fencing. They can soften the space and add interest. Our back fence is cinder block and it’s completely covered in vines so its very soothing and makes a lovely backdrop for the other shrubs and flowers.

Oh wait, how did this get in? Well, you have to admit, Mr. Darcy walking in your yard would be exciting!

Have you started any landscape improvements this year?

The Secret Garden

06 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Flowers, Gardening, Maintenance

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Secret Garden

Aside from the fact that I loved the book “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett, I always loved the idea of having a space in my yard that would be unexpected, a bit self-contained and hopefully pique curiosity.

Peter comes out in the spring. This is my side yard garden.

Having a small yard, for years I didn’t believe it was possible to realize my dream in this house. But after a home tour of a Balboa Peninsula home (where yards can be the size of postage stamps) and the homeowner had a lovely knot garden, I was inspired to try my hand at creating my dream, or a slightly modified version of my dream.

This is my friend, Carla’s beautiful secret garden. She has walls on 3 sides so her garden is truly more “secret” than mine.

When I embarked on this project I had my own landscape business, Blooming Borders, in partnership with my dear friend, Wendy. I knew I could get the plants wholesale and figured I could do most of the planting. Importing and installing the gravel as well as the 1” x 2” border boards was another story so I employed the help of a team from another self-employed landscaper who generously allowed his guys to do the backbreaking work of grass and root removal, installing the borders and gravel (all for a very affordable amount of $$$).

This image was taken last spring…Sally Holmes (climbing rose) is on the fence between my neighbors yard and since it blooms only once a year I’m considering moving it to a different spot in the yard and installing an espaliered tree of some kind. What do you think?

I completed this garden 10 years ago and I still enjoy this space in my yard, even if it isn’t truly “secret”. (There’s no hidden entrance and you clearly see all parts of the garden from the back yard, but it is unexpected and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it as a “room” in the backyard.

This is Pearl (a hybrid tea rose) and it’s never really done well, although this picture was taken at it’s best. I may put Mr. Lincoln in its place.

It is now in need of some renovating, that word is beginning to sound like a broken record around my house! I want to plant a line of hydrangea, replace a couple of the roses and work on removing the ever-invasive roots from my neighbor’s tree.

Here is the look I’m going for and a list of the work ahead of me…

I have a hybrid tea rose in each of the center planting areas of the knot. One of the roses isn’t very happy and I’m thinking of replacing it with Mr. Lincoln. Isn’t it a beautiful red.

This is an espaliered fruit tree, wouldn’t that be nice…visit the secret garden and pick an apple!

The main thing I will need to do in my “secret” garden will be to being to replace the border boards that have, after 10 years, finally started to break free of their restraint posts. I am thinking of trying my hand at placing a line of used brick in its place.

I realize this image is of some other kind of brick but you get the jest. I would make the border a single brick width. I will keep you posted on how this goes.

This is the formal knot garden from a wonderful blog site called Brabourne Farm

This little plaque was a gift when my grandmother passed away so many years ago and it resides in the secret garden.

Newton’s Winery, their knot garden is spectacular. We visited in 2008 with our dear friends Julie and Dave and it was a bit on the blustery side but still so beautiful. Truly inspirational for me.

So wish me luck. I’ve got some serious work to do, but maybe by this time next year I will have the row of hydrangeas and some of the other plants performing their best.