And moving on into the Holilday Season....

Who can resist one more container planting for 2015!

I just happened to find these fabulous 4-5 Ft tall red dogwood twigs..... and some healthy looking tree tops....and recalled I had some large red wooden beads.....

Then I found a fantastic price on a mixed green bundle that was just right for filling two hanging baskets I've been hanging seasonal decor in.....

So, keeping it on the simple side this year!

Fairy Garden of Joy!

Just got to share my friend's winter Fairy Garden of Joy!   

Rita's added a green tree to it this year!  Gave  it a great added accent punch of color!  

Our speaker last week at the Garden Club meeting featured how to "Glitz up the Mundane Porch Pot and Wreath" you buy at the store by adding more greens of various varieties along with few quality winter interest pieces!  Was fun to see that Boy Scout wreath become a true work of art and the porch pot became an awesome winter accent piece!  Wishing I had taken some pics to share with you!  Jan Vitse, owner of New Look Floral here in Rochester, MN.  She does workshops on this subject for small groups!  I've been to one of her workshops on flower arranging, had a great time!

My indoor fairy garden is still in Thankskgiving mode, but Josie is coming Tuesday to make sure we do our holiday decorating right again this year!  If only she liked to come and help us undecorate later!  I'll need to work on that aspect of it!  Maybe I can connect it with decorate for spring all at the same time?  Worth try!

Poinsettia Time!

It just isn't Christmas without a poinsettia in my home!

I just simply love visiting a big garden center full all the varieties and colors of poinsettias available! It is always a hard decision to decide which one I want this year and I have been known to purchase several different ones because I couldn't decide on just one. 

They are such fun to give as gifts!  

Isn't this just beautiful!  Would be lovely to enjoy all winter!

For information on Poinsettia Plants click here!

Ready, get set, go.... the Holiday Season has started!

Our annual  Gardening Gals. Day in Faribault , MN

First we go to Farmer's Seed to see what's new in Christmas Tree ornaments and gardener's gifts. Then we head for Donahue's Holiday Decorating Event for an awesome lunch, an entertaining program on holiday decorating tips. Also we sip a bit of holiday spirit and munch on fruit while we roam their huge inventory of poinsettias, indoor plants, holiday decor and gifts.  We always manage to have room in the cars for us and our purchases for the trip home!  Nothing like spending a day with gardening friends having fun!  We are now ready to tackle the Holiday Season ahead!

Pilgrims have moved in now!

I was shopping the other day and found two adorable pilgrims who were looking for a comfortable place to live!  I told them about my Nov. Indoor Fairy garden with a turkey and pumpkins in it and they hopped right in my hand begging to come home with me!

They are so happy and so am I!  I am enjoying their joyful company when I am "computing"!

Gobble, gobble, gobble....

Yep, I woke up this morning to find my little goblins are gone from my Fairy Garden on my desk!

Yep, there was noisy gobbling going on from one loud mouth turkey who has moved in!  

He thinks he is safe cuz he heard us talking about our Thanksgiving Dinner will be at Josie's house!

Christmas at Mayowood

The Olmsted County Historical Society in Rochester, MN. is once again preparing for their annual fundraiser Christmas Tour of our Mayowood Mansion.  

Each year the rooms are decorated by volunteers and volunteer community organizations for a special treat for visitors to tour Mayowood Mansion at its finest and happiest all decked out for the holidays!

This year I ended up helping two friends who are on the Rochester Garden and Flower Club's Mayowood Christmas committee.  Cindy and Judy had the responsibility to contribute a winter fairy garden to the room the committee had been chosen to decorate!  I had plants I could donate, Cindy contributed the base and potting soil while Judy lent the project the accessories.  Together we made it happen and had lots of fun.  We are not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion, so you'll have to get tickets to tour and see all the festive decorations!

If you attend the Mayowood Christmas Tour this year, be sure to look for this winter fairy garden in one of the many bedrooms and then take special notice of rest of the beautiful decor in that bedroom and admire the beautiful decorating skills of the RGFC Committee!

It is so nice to see all the restorations and renovations at Mayowood Mansion!  It has once again become a home filled with light and life.  Thank you Mayo Clinic!

Sleep well my friends!

Yep, here are my friends going to sleep for the winter.....

Sleep tight!

See you in the spring!

What a difference a month makes!

Snow in the air today!  

It's a typical late fall, early winter day, gray, rainy and dreary. I decided to take a picture when I went out to check the status of the hosta leaves.  I'm waiting for them all to lay down and dry up a bit so we can just take half an hour and pick them up and haul them to the compost site!  This way those slug eggs that are carefully left under the leaves to winter over, so they can feast on my hostas next spring,  won't be so protected from our MN winter!  There will be less that survive!  I'm not into all the work of  cutting off the leaves, it's  easier just to pick them up!  And I don't risk passing a disease from one plant to another.

I just had to come in and look at pictures taken this summer to remind myself what awaits me after they wake up again in the spring!  Sleep well my friends!

Oct 29 2015

Hosta Guacamole and Clematis Huldine