Canning Season

Last week a friend suggested to me to use a rack from a canner filled with jars to hold flowers.

The very next day I found an old one at a garage sale that was covered quite nicely in rust and hard water deposits.  I had to scrounge a bit to find enough vintage green jars.  That surprised me!  But, I've sold or given so many of them away.

A few sunflowers were the perfect choice for flowers!

I really like the light shining through the jars.  It's currently on our dining room table so catches the morning light.

I plan to turn the enamel blue canner this rack came out of into a planter. :) 

Irish Poet Tassel Flower

On Monday, I mentioned the Irish Poet Tassel Flower that I thought was so neat. (I purchased my seeds here.)

I took these photos of one of my arrangements a few weeks ago, when the first little blooms were ready to cut.

Small, but mighty they are.

The perfect vase for this arrangement is actually a piece that had a candle in it that was gifted to me from one of my daughters.  Such a stunning vase it made!

Black-eyed Susans (or brown eyed), Liatris, Queen Anne's Lace, Gomphrena, blooms from a Hosta, and various greenery pieces were all included in this arrangement.  I have also enjoyed the Irish Poet Tassel all by itself in a vintage green pop bottle a few times too. :) 

A Secret Garden Tea Party...Six Months Ago!

Last August we celebrated this little one turning 3!

She had a sweet Secret Garden Tea Party!

I didn't take a lot of pictures and then I never got back to edit them.  By the way...what is it about little cucumber sandwiches that is so good?!  So simple and well, I ate a lot of them!

I checked out a book on flower arranging from the library and that's what reminded me about these pictures.  Spur of the moment, I had put together a woodland themed centerpiece for the birthday party.

I had the wood slabs, the logs, and the bark pieces just waiting for a project.  Of course when it got dismantled, I saved them all for another project someday.

I gathered not only the greens and flowers, but teacups and teapots from my dishes and it all was just so fun to make.

I think cups as vases are great any time.

This vine came from a plant that just kept on giving this summer and I brought it in this winter so it's still available to cut from.  I'll move it back outside in the spring.

It was actually a challenge to cut small enough leaves and buds as I was used to cutting big ones for big vases.

The paper cups my daughter made to stack up were really cute!

My kids and cheese:  It just goes poof.  Gone.

Pretty fancy. :)  And good. :)

It was all really adorable.  

 My daughter really enjoys decorating...pretty sure the next parties are already planned. :)

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I hear that snow may be coming again tomorrow so I guess I better bury into the seed catalogs!

Garden Post Part 2

Continuing on....

:)

The tub from the other side.  On the other side of this Cockscomb, is a pumpkin vine of some sort.  Like I said in the last post, trials and errors.  I transplanted a "Pumpkin on a Stick" flower in here and as it grew, it became clear that it is not like the other Pumpkin on a Stick flowers that I have.  So I'll watch and see if it produces something.  I should just pull it out and give the wave petunias in there room to grow, but I'm curious.

Cardinal vine.  So many volunteered that I transplanted them around.  I was thrilled to have them.

Last year, the washing machine tub sat empty, but I got it filled this year.  Coleus.  

If you look closely, there is a wire cross above the wire vine pot there in the middle.  I have moved that cross around everywhere in the garden.  It gets lost visually.  The hope was that the wire vine would crawl up it, but that doesn't seem to be happening as the vine is really slow growing.

I'm still looking for a place to mount that mailbox name plate I came across.  For now, it sits crookedly in my sink.

Hens and Chicks in bricks.  I bought them years ago in one brick at a garage sale and over time, I added more bricks.  slow growing for sure, but fun to watch none the less.

A late planted coleus and snap dragons waiting for cooler weather to bloom again.  There are also late to pop up Chinese Lantern Plants in there I planted from seed.  I don't think they were getting enough light, but Randy and I remedied that. :) Maybe they'll bloom this year?  I don't think so I'm afraid.

The cardinal vine is just beginning to get blooming!  These all volunteered back. ♥

Another Scarlet Runner Bean that also wasn't getting enough sun as the blooms are scarce yet.

A favorite spot.

I have no idea what that succulent is called there planted in the cinder block in the bottom of the photo. (The block that you can no longer see.)  I've planted the same thing a few years and I really like it there.

The flower spikes continue to grow and flower from the end, just like Cleome does.  I think there is term for this, anyone know it? Neat flower I think.

There has been one bloom on this Corkscrew Vine!  It is lavender in color and if you peer closely you may see it. It smells sweet too.  Hopefully, more soon!

Small little details like this vine meandering behind the window make me so happy.

I haven't had the greatest success with Dianthus so these pots are a little wanting.  Plus I've been cutting out the Dusty Miller for flower arrangements.

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The really big plant in my herb tank is Sweet Annie that I've posted about on Instagram.  New to me this year.  It smells like Juicyfruit gum.  I understand that it's used for dried arrangements so that's my plan for this fall.  I have more in the cutting garden and will probably not put it here again next year.  It's a little out of scale here, ha! 

Bee Balm...another favorite this year.  I think it's quite wonderful and it's in one of the herb pots.

The Salvia has been great this year too.

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The Sunflowers in the cutting garden are doing well!

This little guy was dangling from the thinnest string of web from the tree.  Later he disappeared after his little photo shoot.

This morning I found a caterpillar on one of the milkweeds.  Hopefully, it's a monarch!  

Something Different

Lemon Grass:  I think it's really cool and I'm not entirely sure why.  It's sharp and sticky so you need to be careful handling it.  But it smells great! I've had it in my head that I want to try weaving or doing something with it.  Today, I made this little heart.

To go in a little arrangement.

I have recently been so inspired by Christine de Beer.  Her site is chock full of tutorials and inspiration for flower arrangements!  She really helps a person think on a broader scale!

If you follow along on Instagram, you may have seen that the girls and I went to the farm to glean wheat from their one wheat field yesterday.  While we were there we also foraged some Equisetum or Horsetail Grass.  I discovered this grass last year and a friend let me dig some from her place.  Mine is growing, but I don't want to cut and use it yet as there are only 8 or so sprigs.  My husband told me he had seen some at the farm. It had been sprayed so the tops were dying.  I decided to just cut off the tops. :) 

This grass is so so so cool!  I made some bundles of it not really knowing what I wanted to do with it.  Then the idea came to use it as an armature so to speak.  I'm sure that inspiration came from Christine de Beer's work. She also inspired this arrangement I posted on Instagram.

I put a small vial in the middle of the grass stalks to hold water.  Christine used small balloons as little vases in one of her creations!

I chose Dill and Feverfew for my flowers.

The base is a simple vintage plate.

This was so fun to make.  I have had the tables and counters full of flowers from the garden now for weeks and this was fun to go a different route with the design.

I have some grass in a jar of water because I read that you can root it and  I'd like to plant a bigger patch of it. I've read it can be invasive though so I'll have to be careful.  I'm going to let this bundle dry, I'm pretty sure it should hold up.  I have one more bunch of grass and a lot of wheat yet, not sure what I'l do with it all.  I have ideas of a wreath and maybe bundles of it.

The last two days have been such beautiful weather here, I hope it is for you too!