A charming winter gnome has appeared in our neighborhood to brighten our winter scenery with cheer!
We have not learned its name yet! But he is very welcome!
Recently a creative and fun loving family took an afternoon to create an extension of their family! Yes, they sure do know how to have a festive and fun time. It appears more neighborhoods have had one of these charming creatures appear to brighten up their scenery!
Luck was with me again this year at that annual Garden Club Holiday Party....
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| The door prize that came home with me this year! |
A good treat of a message of warmth and sun to remind me winter will end and summer will once again be here and gardening will begin again! And it doesn't require much care and attention!
I am thinking of Mary, a special gardening friend I met at my Garden Club many years ago. I won this beautiful basket as a door prize several years ago at the club's annual Holiday Party. It was a donation to the door prizes from Mary and I absolutely love it. As I decorate it every winter now for the front door, I think of her and that fun evening event she continues to chair every year! Great food served and awesome visiting with garden friends makes it a festive evening!
At last, I managed to get my Christmas Cactus to bloom!
After two years since receiving it, I finally discovered the secret to caring for this lovely plant with amazing blossoms! Thank you internet! Last year I just got a few buds that dropped off so I decided maybe I was doing something wrong! Yep, I was! So I moved it into a better place it would be happy living in ....cooler temps and indirect light, added a bit of fertilizer for flowering plants occasionally and was rewarded with blooms that are delightful!
Yes, it is a different color than most of them, which is so lovely and soft among the holiday decorations this year! The label says: Zygo Limelight - white!
Thanks, my friend, Tammy for such a lovely gift two years ago....I am looking forward to this long lived plant keeping you in my life for many long years!
A peek out the back door at the first falling snow day of this season.....
Yep, tis the season for gingerbread house projects for the kids of all ages!
It is the perfect activity while waiting for that turkey to get done at a family gathering!
Our two great grand girls had lots of fun creating and eating the decorations! Landscape designs were thoughtful indeed! And tasty!
Well, almost time!
This week Barb, Rita and I did our annual greens shopping for our outdoor winter planters, etc.! Always more fun together than doing this alone but we skipped our usual lunch with it.
Our focus was on the warmest day out there this week!
Three stops, 90 minutes and we were done! Got some good stuff including some fragrant stuff for by the front door!
I sweet talked Denny into spraying mine with stuff that will keep them hydrated to prolong their freshness appearance to last all winter out there. Then I decided it was time to build my big pot while it was warm in the garage! The theme was a repeat of last years, greens and silver! One pot instead of three but fuller and bigger!
I'll share Barb's and Rita's creations when I get pics!
Our maple tree keeps its leaves until the rest of the trees are almost bare and then it rains a beautiful fall color by dropping almost all its leaves within three days! Such fun to watch it raining color in sunshine against blue skies right outside our living room windows!
Then when the green grass under it was piled of color...a windy day came along and blew them away so made of minimum last raking duty this year! Don't know where they went but all the front yards in our neighborhood suddenly were minus leaves on their green carpet and we all smiled at mother nature's gift of the wind at the right moment!
I so love this birdhouse and keep it facing the living room window to enjoy it's unique design. Can't say the birds are attracted to it and that's OK as it should maintain its beauty or many years to enjoy!
Almost time to move it under the protection of the inside of the garage for the winter!
Lovely to find a native plant blooming lakeside at Rush Lake in northern Minnesota!
My daughter and her husband live lakeside on this fabulous lake. It is such a treat to spend a few days there enjoying the Northern Minnesota scenery! Not to mention a great fish supper and time to catch up with each other. Denny gets a chance to fish a bit, which he enjoys! We only got up there once this summer. Their covid vax status in that area is a bit risky. With Tim's medical status because of a double lung transplant we are all in a quarantine setting when we are there. But we all enjoy time outdoors and on the lake!
A scene from visiting other garden beds....taken this summer!
We have been cutting down some perennials and pulling out annuals these last weeks of the growing season in SE MN. This is a good reminder of why we do this work! And a promise for next summer!
Hope you find this as refreshing as I do right now!
Reggie sure isn't bothered by the spooks residing in our front yard this year!
He just continues his naps undisturbed!
I am working with sorting pictures taken this summer and ran across this bit of smiles I found on a Hosta Garden Tour this summer!
My new favorite color mum!
I always pick the golden colors.....but this one really caught my eye this year. Striking to the eye with our house color....bright and I will be looking again for it next year for sure!
Last week I was waiting for Denny to pick me up from an Apt. at our Mayo Clinic and I took time to take a picture at one of their shade garden beds! It was a long bed under trees between the building and sidewalk and was so calming and relaxing yet colorful! Lots of textures plus bright and soft colors.
A friend, Phyllis, calls this tall grass "Grandfather's Whisker's"!
Denny was driving to a friends home a few days ago when the sun was beginning to set and he spotted this view. He couldn't resist stopping the car to snag this picture!
I just felt a need to share this peaceful view with you this fall season!
At last the nearest 2021 MN Fish Sun Flower Field is open in Albert Lea, MN! We took a quick visit Saturday with a neighbor and enjoyed every minute there again this year. The fields are only open for 10 days and with short notice as soon as they peak with the bloom time! This was the last field and 10th field planted this year opened last.
We are trying to get a car pool to there for our Rochester Garden & Flower Club this week but having problems getting email notices out! Darn! The person who handles those emails is out of town this week it seems!
I understand these fields are growing in popularity in other areas of this country now! They are planted in memory of different people in your lives. One of these in Albert Lea is to recognize veterans!
For more information on the Sun Flower Fields CLICK HERE
Fall is arriving and its time to start thinking about preparing my miniature gardens for their sleep time in the garage this winter. This year I plan to remove the annual plants and put tags in the containers of what perennials are in there and which themes I used. It will make it easier in the spring!
This summer I decided it was time for a winter project to create a Keepsake Picture Scrapbook for my past years of creating miniature gardens. Some years I've planted 25 - 30 different ones with various themes. This year I only did 17, deciding I did not have to use all my accessories I have collected every year! My porch/deck was a bit less crowded and I liked it. The plants are getting more costly, etc. I made sure to take good individual pictures of each one this year to add to my picture collection.
In the past I have done picture scrapbook memories of hostas. Also one of the summer plantings I have done from pictures I have taken over the years. It's fun to page thru them in the winter!
Each spring I wonder if I will have the physical ability to continue to replace some perennials and add some annuals to care for again. Although I have made changes for less and easier maintenance these last several years, I still plan to work in more flowering shrubs to reduce the work and still enjoy some flowers blooming. The hydrangeas have especially brought me joy!
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| This year a monkey joined my 'Out of Africa" theme! |
Finally a week of lower temperatures in SE MN! Time to escape the city limits of our town for an adventure for a day! It has been years since I visited the St. Cloud area famous Munsinger and Clements gardens along the Mississippi River! I recall how absolutely beautiful the plantings are designed with different colors featured in each area! A huge variety of focus on sun areas as well as shade areas also focusing on color and a variety of shade loving plants!
Denny previously had not been there so he was pleasing me. He quickly moved into picture taking mode when he discovered these are not the usual gardens he is used to viewing! Between us we took about 80 pictures during our two hour visit. When we arrived home it was wonderful to discover he had aimed his camera at the larger over all scenery while my focus was on close ups of flowers, planters and color groupings.
We also took some time to catch up with friends we became acquainted with during our 13 winters of Snowbirding in Az! We managed to have lunch with Ronita and Lloyd from St. Cloud and then met with Bill and LuAnn in Apple Valley on the way home and enjoyed an early evening meal in a restaurant patio! What a way to enjoy an escape from home for a day!
Click here for more information about these gardens
I just can't resist sharing a few pictures of the Sacred Clay County Inn and the scenery with its gardens, etc. It was an awesome environment to celebrate a marriage. The inn has 9 beautiful comfortable rooms, each with a private bath, that are very generous in size. Several areas for gathering and socializing complete with a scrumptious breakfast served in the mornings. It would be a fabulous place for a family reunion also! Lots of activities in the area including a wonderful trout stream that wandered thru the property! Nearby Lanesboro is a tourist attraction with quaint businesses, water sports, hunting, biking trails and theaters with plays running daily! Even a golf course! You can rent equipment for tubing, fishing, biking, etc.!
TIP: TO VIEW THIS IN MORE COLOR... CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE THIS TIP!
I had the pleasure of creating three center pieces for my grandson's Groom Dinner!
Earlier this spring I planted three round Mini Hosta Gardens of mini hostas for the three tables and they turned out just great! For the dinner, his mother added adorable designed pictures of the bride and groom when they were 1, 2 and 3 years old with a description of their personalities at those times! The dinner was served on the lower porch of the inn with that magnificent background of the valley below!
They looked very attractive on white table cloths with green chargers and green napkins! The Italian meal of Lasagna was mighty tasty! A good time was had by all including music and chatting around a fire pit after dark!
The Brides Mother took a center piece home and the two others were donated to my favorite garden clubs silent auction fund raising events!
Sara, the bride, asked me to create the center pieces for the reception dinner a year ago. This spring we took a drive to the venue location and met with the Wedding Planner of the Inn. She offered a great idea using lanterns lit by those lovely battery operated candles and adding a simple arrangement of greens and a flower at the base. So, with that in mind.... here is what I came up with! The lanterns added a very soft glow to the whole room that was delightful! More of the simple flower arrangements were added to the cake table also.
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| The accent color was similar to the bridesmaids dresses. My great grandaughter, Josie, a Jr. Bridesmaid is in the background! |
The inn where the wedding was held had only 9 guest rooms and with the bride & groom, their parents and wedding party it was filled. So, we had a room in Lanesboro, just minutes away, which was a location where we could "get away" from the activity and rest. (old people like this) Sunday morning we took a stroll down historic Lanesboro main street and look what I found!
As we strolled by a quaint grocery store, there sat a few pots of "Casa Blanca", one of my favorite lilies, which did not come back this spring! Two stalks in the pot and only $8! It jumped up and into my arms knowing I had a special home ready for her and Denny quietly followed me inside reaching for his wallet!
Ted, my grandson, and Sara selected a beautiful site for their wedding held mid August 2021!
It was at the Sacred Clay County Inn, located in SE MN near Lanesboro! It turned into a weekend event with the Groom's Dinner on Friday and the Wedding on Saturday, which was filled with fun events for everyone midst beautiful scenery!
Due to the ceremony site being a long distance from the Inn, they used a local horse drawn Amish Wagon to transport the guests to the site!
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| Grama Karen decorating the wagon with hydrangeas from her own garden! |
Yep, at only $13 each, I just had to keep going back to check the new shipments for a few days!
I figured out how to adjust my plant stand shelves to accommodate the height of a few more orchids!
When I get new orchids, they bloom for about 6-8 weeks! A bouquet of flowers sure doesn't last that long! And then they will rebloom again later! I am staggering my purchases through out the year with hopes the reblooms will also be staggered! I can display orchids a few at a time in the living room to enjoy them to the max!
A big bonus, as it is spectacular for people to see also!
A garden club friend, Sharon, recently shared this picture with me! I am glad to have some place to share it's summer joy to more friends who can appreciate it!
A new gardening friend, Julie, has designed a unique Deck Art Accent beginning with a basic bird bath!
The birds may not use it so easily now, but it has visual impact on her deck indeed! Loving the trickling water sound it provides!
We have three neighborhood parks close by! Thanks to a grant last year our neighborhood association created pollinator garden beds of native plants in each park! Most of the plants were little starts in 4" pots! All plants were chosen to attract monarch butterflies and other pollinators! We qualified as a designated Monarch Way Station also! My job was to find, select and obtain the 150 plants we needed! It was a fun educational experience due to my lack of knowledge of native plants!
2021 August and here it is inspite of a drought condition and very little care, Just as we expected...in all its glory. Pollinators are eagerly visiting and it is a joy to see! We labeled all the different plants with their names so visitors can identify them easily!
Amazing little flower garden this year. I replaced two perennials and added 8 yellow marigolds this spring! Also I added a fresh covering of mulch and a sprinkle of fertilizer and it has been on its own.
I only watered twice and those little marigolds have burst into color and continue to provide the cheerful blossoms to bravely challenge this drought we are in! Amazing, I just never knew they were so hardy and determined to brighten up our world!
They have definitely earned a permanent spot in this bed so long as I am maintaining it!
