Gardening: I Has It!

The other thing that happened over the weekend, after I got back from vacation, was a LOT of yardwork.  This last Sunday, the front yard got a good mowing and a fresh coat of grass seed (maybe it'll grow this time..?)

The back yard got the same treatment, along with some flower seeds in/near the shady corner garden - a mix of pink and red and white Cosmos, some native annual and perennial wildflowers, and larkspurs. Yay!

I also found some really cool stuff around the yard:

a volunteer Lemon Balm seedling in the yard!!!  Another plant
joins the ranks of survivors of the Martian Death Fungus. I
potted it up to keep it safe, and to keep it from spreading into
unwanted places, as mints are prone to doing. 

New berries/flowers on the Mulberry tree

OMG LOOK GRASS!!!

The little Chasteberry I planted last Fall, going strong! 

A white Yarrow, one of only three plants in the former Herb Garden
to have survived the Martian Death Fungus in the first place.  Until
this spring, it survived as a wee, weak sprout.  Now it's glorious! 

I heart my Mulberry tree. :) 

Unfortunately for the grass seed in the front yard, and the flower seed in the backyard, last night it stormed like you would not believe.  I knew it was going to rain, but I neglected to check the weather reports, or I'd have seen that it was going to rain frogs and plagues, and wash away not only my fresh seeds, but also about half the dirt in the part of the backyard still mostly only covered by dirt.  SIGH.

plans for the veggie beds I want to build in the backyard...

Hey, guess what? I built something.  Show you tomorrow. :)


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More Front Porchness

Plants for me! :D

Hostas & Tradescantia ("Wandering Jew") by the front door

purple Petunias and Asparagus Fern hanging from the porch

 (and some weird little nerly-black purple crinkly thing on the far left...I forget what it's called).

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A plant! I've got a plant!

Before:

no shit, that wall planter's been empty for six years

After:

can you spot the zip-top baggie in this picture?

That's right:  a zip-top baggie.  The planter's a weird shape, and it's terra cotta, which means it's dry as a bone, even though it's painted most of the way around (all but the back) - and that Schefflera needs moisture.  Moisture that would ruin the fake-ceramic-glaze paint job on the pot.

Solution:  a 1-gallon plastic zip-top baggie, with three rows of small drainage holes poked into the bottom, inserted into the pot's opening and filled with soil - basically lining the pot with plastic.  It drains well, but not too much, and the plastic is practically invisible under the foliage.  I put a few rocks on top of the soil in the pot to keep it from washing away when I water it. 

Microsoft Paint: kickin' it old school

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I Want Plants!

With any luck, I'll get lots done around the house this evening, and have good stuff (and after pics!) to post tomorrow - assuming I don't fall off a ladder or trip and step in front of a bus or something.  *knocks on wood*

Until then, though, allow me to share with you some gardening stuff - this actually relates, as my plans for the evening have to do with re-vamping the front porch a bit, and there's a garden very near the porch.  With me? Great. Bottom line here is, I was bored yesterday and stopped at Lowe's on the way home and went phone-camera-shopping...

First stop:  I need new plants for the silver planters at the front door, and the hanging baskets above the porch.  And I need them to coordinate with the front garden, which is green and frothy punctuated by purple/rust-colored foliage and white/purple/pink/black flowers.   So I'm thinking...

"Black Magic" and bright green dwarf Elephant Ears! Six bucks a can!

 Alternanthera - aka Joseph's Coat - this variety was labeled "Royal Tapestry", but when I google that I get a completely different plant.  But these are gorgeous, and I wants them, Precious.  My front garden needs more dark purple foliage (the Loropetalums I put in two years ago turned out to be...brown...gross).   And since these 4" pots are like three bucks each, I'm thinking 2 for the front bed itself, 1 in each of the tall silver planters, and 3-4 to make up an entire hanging basket of this frothy, dark stuff.  YUM.

 At least one of the other baskets will be full of Hostas like these, probably with a bit of purple Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea) trailing down around the sides (of which I don't have a picture).

And I absolutely MUST have THIS.  This is another one that comes up wonky on a google search - this Coleus is labeled "Stained Glassworks", but I can't find info about that variety online at all, which means it's probably (a) very new and/or (b) proprietary to the breeder and not "out there" in the world yet.  Anyhoo, it's freaking gorgeous, and I adore Coleus, and I want it.

I've never been a Pentas person, but these were just show-stopping.  Dark, textural leaves and almost aggressively vibrant red flowers (making up for thier small stature, no doubt).  

I've also never been a red person, and I hesitate to bring another color layer into the garden...but maybe in a pot on the porch? Or in the backyard? And now we're getting way off-topic...






And since we're on the subject of me lusting after plants...

I never paid attention to Azaleas until I saw white ones.  I need it. In a pot on my back porch.  Off-topic again.

 

This is a Southern Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera), aka Southern Bayberry or Candleberry.   It's native to the South and southeast coast down through east Texas and NE Mexico.  It's interesting and light, pretty darned water-wise, and seems perfect for a spot by (not in) the front garden that I think needs a BUSH.

And there at he front corner of this pallet-o-plants (drooool) is a Long-Leaf or Saber Fig (Ficus alii) with braided trunks.  LUST! PLANT LUST!  

I had a red-flowering Mandevilla vine last year ("Brazilian Jasmine" - native to Brazil and northern parts of South America, and throughout Mexico).

It disappeared.  It didn't die, it was just gone one day.  I'm pretty sure That Puppy dug it up and destroyed it.  But she's over that now, so I think I'll try again.  I may not be much for red flowers in the front yard - but I want tons of them in the back!  Off-topic again!






Hee.

Outdoor B&A: Back Porch

The other thing I did over the weekend...

Before:

Old dog-chewed table, piles of empty pots, dirt, old doormat just thrown on the ground (not visible in picture), garden tools left out.

"After:"         *work in progress

Porch decluttered, swept and washed, "toys" put away.  New table (from in the house), Ficus tree moved to the front to shade the chair in the back.


(No, the chairs don't match.  Yes, the black wicker chair is the twin to the one that's now in the bedroom. Just go with it).

 The other corner, cleaned up, bunch of matching pots = beginning of a container garden.  Little Indian cowbell hung next to the door where I can whack it every time I go through. :)

And the ceiling's painted blue; but it's been that way for a couple of years.  I heart it. :)


<-- that blue hanging pot I painted to make it look like ceramic.  It does...when it's not covered with dust.  Whoops.  It's also been empty since the day I hung it up there FOUR YEARS AGO.  Double whoops.  

Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus) - one of my very favorite annual tropicals.  This little guy was five bucks.  I'm gonna put more in the blue strawberry jar behind it (I painted that!), with some yellow and maybe some bright red, too. 













To be continued...


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Bedroom Art Wall!

In the meantime (while I await that elusive moment when I'm home during daylight hours (stupid Daylight Savings Time) and happen to catch that ONE MINUTE during the day when the living room is actually fully lit by the windows so that I can get a decent picture of the couch cover that is *finished*),  I have fixed the art wall and the Ung Drill frame in the bedroom!

before - meh.

After:  yay!

The "painting" (a printout made with Blockposter.com) is a section of Bougereau's Evening Mood, which is one of my favorite paintings in the entire world.   Also shown: a couple of pairs of Divine Lovers (Radha/Krishna and Shiva/Parvati) and a print of a Thai tapestry depicting similar themes, one of my favorite Orientalist Odalisques (which one, though...Fortuny? I think?), and a purple sitar painting from...somewhere?  Love, God, beauty, and music.  :)

taller nightstand; still-unplayed guitar

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Tuesday!

Man, work has been CRAZY today!  And the hurricane is CRAZY!  And I'm CRAZY because I've had way! too! much! caffeine! today! omg! 

Not much time for a big post, but I did manage to pick up a couple of side tables over the weekend, from a friend who was getting rid of some extraneous stuff:

This side table, which is Ikea's FORNBRO (no longer available as such) - this will get a new coat of paint (I'm not sure what color yet), and is already serving as a second side table next to my couch in the living room. 

And...

This beautiful little ...table? Display stand?  I'm going with "stand," since it's about 30" high, and too tall for an end or side table.    It's a gorgeous little piece - right now it's on my East living room wall between the entertainment center and the computer desk, under a HUGE "Janet Craig" Dracaena (also given to me by this friend with the tables over the weekend, along with another large tree and some clippings - yay, plants!)  I'm not sure what to put on top of it just yet, but I think my little red doumbek will look nice displayed on the lower shelf. The finish needs some cleaning up, and a loose joint along the bottom shelf needs to be repaired, but it's mostly in great shape.  And I loooooove it. :)

More stuff to work on, yay! 

This week, though, I'm picking away at my craft room.  I spent much of the weekend cleaning it up and spiffing up some of the furniture, and hanging a clock and a corkboard and a window treatment.  More on that later this week!

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Plants + Sewing Room

So...ever wondered where the inspiration for all those awesome wallpapers comes from?  Here's one:

 various "Acanthus" prints in wallpaper, tile, sculpture, stencils, fabrics

actual Acanthus plant (Acanthus mollis, a.k.a. "Bears' Breeches") 

And, just as a teaser...

Mood board for my sewing/craft room, as I slowly accumulate things I need to pull it off - which includes several variations on a black-white-green acanthus-y  "damask" theme. 

More on that when I actually get working in that room - gotta get the laundry room painted, then the craft room is next!

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