Pink Saturday in My Garden

Honestly, my garden is mostly shades of lavender, yellow and green . . .
but I found a few pink blossoms to share.

 This beautiful rose starts off pink, then fades to cream with just a hint of pink at the end of its petals.

Rescued by my son from the compost pile at the garden center where he worked,

it reminds me that given enough love, water and sunshine we all can bloom!

 These lavender buds will turn pink in a few weeks.

 My son's secret corner of the cottage garden beds.

Ice Plant and Franklin.

 Pinchusion

The bees happily forage these blooms.

Bee Balm

The low growing variety has just started to push blooms.

No garden of mine or my son's would be complete without succulents.

The Hen and Chicks were moved at the end of last summer

and have been happily growing and throwing off lots of "chicks."

I didn't know they bloomed, and pink no less.  Cool!

Enjoy your weekend and visit Bev's blog How Sweet The Sound to catch up with the pink doings of a few of her friends!

Snow Day at My House -- A Photo Essay

Doesn't look like the snow will melt today!

Reaching as high as the peak of our three-story house,

I've been told these are two of the tallest Holly Trees on Cape Cod!

 

The lady Holly with her lovely red berries.

Her mate stands behind her and a little to the east.

 

 The barn where my shop & studio reside on the first floor.
The upstairs neighbor lives on the second floor.

Snow in the Garden

It snowed last night and before it has all melted away I wanted to share how pretty it looks.

 My front garden.

A labor of love and fellowship for me & my son.

 The rain chain my son gave me.

He also put up the gutters, hung the chain, and designed what the water flows into.  He knows me so well: he used an old galvanized bucket inside an open wire basket, sitting on used bricks.  The fish you can barely see was a throw-away from his nursery job.  He found the front half, asked if he could have it and then spent 30 minutes searching for it's tail.  It's now glued together and sitting nice & shabby to the right of the bucket.

 The sunflower was made by a former upstairs neighbor.

We spray painted it after I saw the sunflower fields of France.

I like how the rust is slowly seeping through on the petals.

Hidcote Lavendar

Garden, Unexpected!

 The garden, put to bed.

Weeds removed, mulch applied, quiet expected.

But look closer.

What are those roses doing on October 25th?

My crazy garden, or maybe I should say, crazy New England weather is so warm that all my roses:  Golden Showers climber, Jacob's Coat climber and the pretty pink hybrid tea my son rescued from the nursery's toss pile are all blooming -- like crazy!

Leaves changing beautiful colors has not happened in our yard.  But we've got roses -- that's magical!

Our heroine will return to continue the tale of her France Adventure soon.  Seems her friend's passing was more upsetting than she realized and it has taken this long to get her equilibrium back. 

Oh My Goodness!

Giveaway winner &

A Backyard surprise!

CONGRATULATIONS Marie from Lemondrop Vintage,

you are the giveaway winner.  Send me your mailing info and I will send a package out to you!  Thanks to everyone who left messages and shared what you celebrate.

Backyard Surprise!

My son & I both heard the "crack."

He, being a tree guy (degree in Environmental Studies, Senior Project - Sugar Maples), knew exactly what the sound meant.  I knew when he told me -- I think he actually said, "mom, the tree you hate is now gone and it means more light into the back of the house."  When I saw this, I actually felt awful, as if my not liking this tree caused it to break and fall over.  I'm pretty sure it was the wind gusts of up to 60 mph that knocked the tree over, not my thoughts!

 

The best part of this photo is the house --

No part of the tree is touching any part of the house.

We are truly grateful!

This Magnificent Spruce once stood 45' tall.

Currently it is leaning on one of our 20' Holly trees.

My son & husband spent some time cutting off lots of the branches.  I was worried the holly tree would be pulled over by the weight.  The hollies are unique, maybe the tallest on Cape Cod & really beautiful.  I wouldn't want to lose them.  My neighbors love the hollies, always remark on how cool they are.  They probably look at them more often than we do, since they can see them out their front windows and we can't see them from our house at all.

We called a tree service, they came out, assayed the damage, gave us an estimate we can live with, and will return next Monday to turn the tree into mulch.

More excitement than we planned for this week.

Hope your day was way less exciting!

Death to Plants

Our garden has been organic since we bought the house and almost 2 acres ten years ago.  By organic I mean we have not put any chemicals on it.  The delicate ecosystem that is Cape Cod is best if one doesn't add too much to the mix.

 It's probably why we produce such a bumper crop of dandelions each year!

 

But this particular bed has defeated all my good intentions!

The exposed dirt is where I have been digging:  removing weeds and vines and ivy.


 Sadly, whatever is in this bed does not agree with me.
I have tried all my usual healing methods.
So far I have determined I need to kill everything here or I will continue to be too cranky & itchy for words.

 

The garden bed on the other side of the brick patio is blooming!

It is still organic and agrees with me.

My son put in the patio last summer: Brick Path  &  More Bricks

I love the attention to detail he put into the brick-work.  He cut these wedges to fit all the little nooks and crannies.

  About 4 years ago my son cleared out the same bed that is giving me trouble and he had a similar reaction.  So, instead of either one of us digging, I went to the garden center.  They were actually nice when I said what I needed was "death to plants!"  They suggested Ortho Max.

It will probably look very awful when all this greenery dies.

 But I think it will look beautiful when I add garden furniture . . .

 an old ladder with potted plants (imagine the potted plants).

And these rusty pieces that need a little TLC.

Best pf all, I will be able to work there without cursing, crying or itching!

More Bricks

Did you know sand & gravel yards have concrete piles?

Brick, concrete, pavers, etc all can be dumped for a fee.

However, if you want to take said brick, pavers, etc there is no cost.


We were able to salvage 50 of these stamped bricks.
The fancy brick is my favorite.

I found this cool, curved rock. It works great at the corner of the raised garden bed. The stamped bricks border the patio


The pathway from the front porch to where we park our cars.


The unexpected patio!
The bricks on top as waiting to be cut with the tile/brick saw.
The buckets hold stone dust.

I think it took my son an hour to get all the brick dust off the saw & table.

Covered in brick dust. He's usually a natural blond.
I was very sorry we don't have an outdoor shower, and one with hot & cold water. My son determined this much brick dust would play havoc with our drains, so he turned the hose on himself to rinse off.

For previous posts about this project, click here here, and here. I will share more pics of the finished path and patio (yes there are more!), but my son has asked for posts about bricks and I want to honor his request. He's off on a new adventure. I'll post about that soon too.
This is for you sweetie!