Peonies

More of those gorgeous blooms just begging to be shown off...

Blueberries

We've talked about getting a blueberry bush for three or four years and finally got one. It even produced a few edible ones in it's first season. A few for us and the rest for some backyard critter.

In Bloom

We've had such a nice spring and the garden seems to be doing particularly well.

It's provided enough blooms to bring some indoors. Which is always lovely when some of them smell as good as they look.

Market to Marvelous

I saw a link to this tutorial on how to turn the flowers you buy from the market into beautiful arrangements on The Nester's blog [I think]. You can find the how-to at The House of Earnest site here. It really works!

My husband brought these home one evening "just because." Love that man. Here they are straight out of the package:

Not too bad, but after reading the instructions I was able to come up with this:

And then with the lilies blooming:

Dressing Up the Porch

My friend gave me this great idea to use the storage ottoman/tables we had in our house as planters when the lids had seen better days. I'd been wanting boxwoods but didn't want to spend as much for some of the bigger ones. We ended up going to a great local nursery and getting two reasonably sized and priced plants. I got the Amish barn star at Gordman's on the tip from a friend. 

We also dressed up the front porch with some more planters - I'm especially liking the blackie potato vine and coleus - and now things are looking better. I love small improvements that make a big difference.

Rosemary?

If you remember the rosemary wreaths, I thought I would update just a bit. They are still green, but they went brittle and I find a few leaves on the counter every few days - especially if someone has moved or bumped into them. They also lost their potent smell after about two to three weeks. 

So overall, they have been a success and I'll be sad to take them down whenever I get around to doing it. The real reason they are on my mind though is that the plant outside [that I harvested for making the wreaths] that usually stays green throughout the winter, is brown and looking so forlorn. I don't think it liked me hacking away at it in very late fall. I'll add some compost and hope that it rallies, but I'm already thinking we may have to get a new plant. We'll see, but thought I would just add that as a little reminder/warning.

In other garden news, the peas have been planted but no signs of green yet. The daffodils and daylilies are starting to come up and soon there will be more pruning, planting, and all the fun of figuring out how to fill out our beds in front and back even more.

Indoor Green

I got some roses from my husband "just because."

The amaryllis finally bloomed and it's got five flowers open now. It's nice to have a little life and color in our home.

Rosemary Wreath

We have a fantastically healthy rosemary shrub in our backyard. Did you know it's an evergreen? We brought some in for Thanksgiving and it filled the house with such a wintery aroma I wanted to use it again. I picked up some wreath forms at the dollar store, clipped a quarter of the bush, and started putting the wreath together. It ended up looking like this: 

I tried tying a bow around it to hang it in the kitchen, but I really preferred the simplicity of no bow so instead I created two buddies for it and hung them all up. Yes, they smell wonderful and I love how they look in here. If they age well, I'll keep them up all winter.

I also learned that rosemary is a great plant for topiaries. So I am toying with the idea of starting some new plants from cuttings to test that out.

Bringing Fall Inside

Once the cold temps hit, I don't mind the kids bringing any flowers they find inside. That's just what they did the other day and I was impressed with what they found.

In the Garden

Cucumbers are really taking off right now while everything else is slowly dying away. They have all been so sweet and perfect in salads or as a snack with coarse salt and crushed pepper. 

It is also time to start collecting marigold seeds. We've been planting seeds from the previous year's growth for seven years now. It's a great flower for borders as well as in vegetable gardens and the seed heads couldn't be easier to harvest, store, and reseed in the spring.

Finding Inspiration

I love to go to our local botanical garden to get ideas for our own flower beds. There seems to be a beautiful scene along every path.