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New plans for the front yardPosted: 14 Apr 2008 Posted: 28 Mar 2008 Posted: 26 Mar 2008 Posted: 03 Mar 2008 Posted: 04 Feb 2008 Posted: 26 Dec 2007 Posted: 19 Dec 2007 Posted: 18 Dec 2007 Posted: 09 Oct 2007 Posted: 20 Aug 2007 Posted: 12 Jul 2007 Posted: 08 Jul 2007 Posted: 22 May 2007 Posted: 26 Jun 2007 Posted: 09 May 2007 Posted: 06 May 2007 Posted: 02 May 2007 Posted: 01 May 2007 Posted: 23 Apr 2007 Posted: 20 Apr 2007 |
toni's Blog
To the rescue!!!
Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:34 pm I really hate to see good, useful things on the curb waiting for trash pickup. If I had the courage and a larger vehicle my yard would have more garden decor than plants. The people across the street evidently have been redecorating and remodeling. They put a couple of couches and mattresses (no I didn't want those) on the curb Sunday evening. And a door. I kept a watch on that door all day, but since they were home I was not going to go check it out (that is where the lack of courage comes in) but I kept telling myself that if it was taken by someone else before the conditions were ripe for us to get it then it wasn't meant to be mine. But I wanted that door. There are many people in our neighborhood who drive up and down streets on Tuesdays picking up scrap metal before trash day on Wednesday and many people who are brave enough to pickup other things that they can use. Tuesday morning it was still there but so was the lady of the house. I asked Randy if he could take a couple of minutes of his lunch time and help me bring it home. Luckily, the lady left as he was putting his shoes on. We scurried over and brought it home. It has a metal frame, the hinges and door knob will be removed. The glass is in perfect condition and the fake leading design around the edges is perfect too. Now, when the weather cools some I am going to paint flowers on it...probably like the ones I painted on the old kitchen cabinet doors. The area near our back bedroom window will be changed to a plant nursery this fall and the door will be attached to the side of the shed in that area. That's my Mom's old screen door behind it still waiting for it's garden decor debut. 
This blog entry has been viewed 168 times
Been Thriftin' Yet Again
Category: Thrift Store Finds | Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 3:45 pm Found this really cool wooden barrel. It is 12" tall x 10" diameter (31cmx26cm) Will probably seal it and plant in it of course. 
A decorative beeskep made from grapevines. 
A step stool that will be perfect for a couple of small potted plants to sit on...or for me to sit on when I need a rest. 
Two teapots for making birdhouses similar to Zuzu's 
Another teapot and a china watering 'can' that should make a cute birdhouse too. 
This blog entry has been viewed 152 times
Our Blueberry Day
Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:20 pm We picked Lisa up around 7am, she had been sitting out on the front porch reading the Sunday paper since 6:30. Her family was still sleeping soundly, so she could make her escape without being noticed. First stop is for a coffee to take with us. It is about a two hour drive east of Dallas and as you get further east the trees become tall Pines and so much prettier than the city-scape we have left behind for the day. We noticed also that the further east we went the more cloud cover there was and we were hoping that it would still be with us when we got there. Just a few miles before the town of Edom, we drove thru a rain shower and hoped it would be over or at least down to a sprinkle when we got there. It was still very overcast and very comfortable the whole time we were out in the field picking berries. The berries this year were plentiful and large. Last year the drought was terrible on the crop, they could only stay open about 3 weeks and the berries, when you could find some were small. The picking time goes by pretty quickly because we are talking so much. After paying for our berries, we went into Edom to The Shed, a really good cafe. After lunch we wandered thru the shops then headed back home but on country roads instead of the highway. Planning on stopping and wandering thru whatever little shops we find but they were all closed, we usually go on Saturday and forgot they would probably be closed on Sunday. Back on the highway,in Terrell we stop for another coffee. We stopped at a couple of wonderful antique shops, they are huge and filled with garden decor goodies and stuff ranging from furniture and doodads to huge yard statuary....like a Triceratops and a T-Rex and a really old MIG that Randy kept trying to talk me into letting him put in the yard. No AC in any of the buildings so it was hot in there, but not hot enough to make us want to leave in a hurry. After I skim a sufficient amount off the grocery money for the next three months, we will be going out in the pickup truck to load up on goodies. They had piles of enamel pails and tubs, old rusty metal things, wood stuff and wire odds and ends...just the sort of things to give this Mistress of Garden Junque heart palpitations thinking of all the possibilities before me. By the time we got back to the cityscape, we were getting hungry so we stopped at one of our favorite Tex-Mex restaurants before taking Lisa home. This blog entry has been viewed 127 times
Anniversary weekend away
Category: Life happenings | Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 1:28 am After giving Amanda last minute instructions that were actually repeats of the instructions we had given her a couple of times already Friday morning, we left home a few minutes after 1 on Friday, got back home about 5 minutes later because Randy forgot his pocket stuff. Realized later that we had forgotten the camera but by that time we were too far away to turn around. Oh well. The BnB was really pretty, the two acres it is in the middle of has lots of trees but very few flowers since neither of the owners have time for that much gardening. They use the grounds for weddings so the plainer the landscaping the better. Saturday we wandered thru several antique/junque shops in downtown Denison and then went to Sherman to do the same. I lived in Sherman from the age of 9 thru 18. We found the houses I had lived in easy enough but the downtown area is so different, it seemed strange to wander around there remembering what it looked like 43 years ago. Saturday night there was a wedding at the BnB, we sat on the patio at the back of the house and watched. The couple couldn't have been older than 20-21 yrs old. They stayed at the BnB Saturday night and we got to meet them at breakfast the next morning. They looked even younger up close, but they were a very nice couple and we sure hope they have a fun and long life together. We left Sunday about noon, stopped in another town on the way home and wandered thru more shops. I didn't ask to stop at any garden centers even tho we did pass a few really nice looking ones. But I did get some cool garden stuff. The ladder is about 18 inches tall, don't know where it will go yet. The white buffalo isn't going out back, Bears and Buffalos are my favorite animals. The gnome has a spooky looking face but I liked him anyway. 
These two I found at 50% off, couldn't resist them either. The birdcage is going to hold a wave petunia, probably in red. The copper tea kettle was just too cool to pass up. 
At a shop on Saturday we had seen a kerosene can that had Bluebonnets painted around the middle, then Sunday we found this can that I can paint myself. 
One of the last shops we went thru had these three wood spools of thread, the thread is not that old so I think it will be perfect to use as the warp on my small loom. 
And the window is something I have been hoping to find for several years...at a decent price at least and found this one for only $10. I plan on painting some of the glass panes and I will probably knock out a couple of them to hang a couple of things in then of course it will go into the garden. 
Last edited: Sat Jul 07, 2007 3:41 am This blog entry has been viewed 224 times
A guiltfree buying trip to Calloways nursery
Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:56 pm This was a really fun trip, not that all the other trips to garden centers haven't been fun, but this one was almost free!! I had a coupon from Calloway's for 25% off one plant and the birthday money from Randy's folks. So the total cost of this trip was $3.50 When I checked out I asked the young man if I got to choose which plant the coupon was used on, most of the times coupons can only be used on the cheapest one, but he said yes so I chose the Spiderwort of course. Buying a rose bush had been my original plan for the birthday money, but they don't have the ones I want so I wandered around for a while. They had gotten a big shipment of plants since I was there last week too. Last week I had found this gorgeous succulent and planned on going back this weekend to get some, good thing I went back today because there were only three of them left....now they are mine. 
This is all three of the Aeonium hybrid 'Zwartkop', they are such a dark purple that they look black and the Tradescantia x 'Sweet Kate'..aka Spiderwort. You can barely see some of the blue flowers already open. 
This blog entry has been viewed 738 times
A "Mile(age)stone" was hit today
Category: Puttering Around The House | Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 12:02 am I have never owned a car that hit the 100,000 mile mark. Several years ago we bought a 1978 Mercedes Sedan with well over 200,000 miles but then a Mercedes is supposed to last almost forever. Before we sold it, we had reached at least 250,000 before the odometer quit working and got a Grill Badge from Mercedes Benz. When the transmission went out we decided it was time to buy a new car instead of putting more money into a used one. So January 2nd, 2001 we bought a brand new Mitsubishi Galant just off the delivery truck, it had only 1 mile on it. Today it rolled, clicked actually since it is a digital odometer and not the rolling type, 100,000 miles. We took it out for a drive so we could get these pictures when it happened. Since Randy faithfully changes the oil and filter every 3000 miles, it should last us many more miles. 
This blog entry has been viewed 206 times
It all starts with a list
Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 7:23 pm 1. Make a list of plants required for the beautification of specific areas of the garden. 2. Take list with you to the garden center. 3. Remove list from purse and read it to remind you of what you came to get. 4. Find have to have plant, put in cart 5. Read list again to remind you of your mission. 6,8 and 10 Repeat step 4 7 and 9. Repeat step 5 11. Accidently loose list while picking up the 5th must have plant that is not on the aforementioned list so what do you need that silly list for anyway. 12. Bring home plants, sneak them into backyard. Oh darn, I forgot that Randy reads my blog entries. Hi, honey. 13 and the funnest step of all....find new homes for the plants and dig in. Todays newest arrivals to my garden are.. 4 red Petunias....now planted in the wheelbarrow 4 Alchemilla vulgaris - Lady's Mantle...planted in front of the Iris that are in front of the picket fence. 2 Double Hollyhocks - Golden Yellow...planted in front of the Fig Tree. 2 Coronette Snapdragons - Solstice Gold tricolor..planted in front of the other three snapdragons. 1 Eustoma grandiflorum - Bluebell....planted in the faere dish garden with the clover that wintered over. 4 orange Cosmos that are going along one side of the bloom house 4 Fiber Optic Grass - Isolepis cernus....will be planted in front of the Cosmos 4 Ajuga - chocolate chip....haven't decided where they will go yet. This blog entry has been viewed 157 times
May the oneth
Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 6:03 pm I know that as you get older the months and years just seem to fly by, but I am not 'THAT' old yet so why were January, February, March and April combined only a week and a half long?? I just hope that May thru August, the hottest months of the year for us, go by as quickly. This summer I really do not expect to have to whine about the drought killing my plants like I did last year. We have had more rain in the last 4 months than we did in all of 2006. The lakes where water for the cities come from are back up to their normal levels, all except the largest one which is still 6 feet below normal. So even tho we will still be on watering restrictions, I will be able to water everything sufficiently. I will, however, still complain about the temperature I am sure because I really do dislike summer. Summer is my least favorite season since I do not tolerate the heat well. The good side to a hot summer is that I will get more indoor things done....like reading, knitting, soap and candle making and maybe I will even learn to use my spinning wheel, for all of these things can be accomplished with the curtains closed to block out the sun and the AC on the 'icicles hanging from your nose' setting for maximum comfort. Sunday evening when the kids were here for my birthday, I took Lisa on a tour of the garden then Kenny and Randy brought out the wine and joined us for some time sitting and enjoying the view. Lisa kept looking at the TipsyPot I have and asking questions about it's construction. She sat there studying it for a while then remembered that she has several different sized clay pots in the shed. I will try to get over there this weekend to get a picture of the one she will probably build on Saturday. She also has a coffee cup totem she made after seeing mine that I have to get a picture of too. Kenny wandered the yard looking at everything, just amazed at the lack of actual lawn. He comes from a non-gardening background and is not used to yards that have anything other than grass in them. Nicky, the 7 yr old, loves to wander around the garden. His favorite flowers are Dandelions so I have to remember to leave a couple of them at the side of the yard when I am digging the others up. He liked the purple Scabiosa in the wheelbarrow because it looked like purple Dandelions. I showed him the two pumpkin vines that are really starting to take off and waited for what I knew was coming next....he started jumping around, clapping his hands and licking his lips. He loves pumpkin pie without the crust, me too. So I make pumpkin pie for everyone else and a big bowl of crustless pumpkin pie for the two of us. I don't expect Lisa to have the time or dog/child free space to grow a pumpkin vine so I think I need to see about putting a third plant out there so he can have all the pumpkin he wants. I had shown him a few weeks ago how to rub certain plants with this fingers and smell his fingers ....lavender, mint, rosemary and the lemon balm in particular. So he was instructing Lisa on the proper way to do it when she came out. She really liked the lemon balm, I gave her some cuttings to use in making a pitcher or two of tea and I will dig up one of the smaller plants for her to plant in her yard. Last winter I designed a Harry Potter garden for her but we just never got the chance to get it started this spring. I think next October she and I will have to designate a weekend specifically for doing that. This blog entry has been viewed 150 times
What do these plants have in common?
Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:09 pm Munstead Lavender 2 Obedient plants 2 Impatients - hot Red in color 4 Persian Shields Greek Oregano 3 Patchouli 3 Artemisia 'Powis Castle' Ganzia Linearis 'Colorado Gold' aka African Daisy Aegopodium 'Snow on the Mountain' The question was just too easy, they all will soon be residing comfortably in my garden of course. Yesterday we headed out east of Dallas to check out an 'antique gas stove' that had been offered on freecycle and we had been given first choice of. Well as it turns out the description was not as detailed as it should have been, so instead of finding a neat stove that could have been made useable with a little work, we found one that rodents and dirt dobbers (relative of wasps) had been nesting in for about 8 years. With that much internal damage it would never have been safe to use and is most likely headed for a scrap metal dealer. Anyway, the trip was a nice outing for Randy and I. Had breakfast out, got to see a little town neither of us had ever visited. Also, we went right passed the location of a really good organic garden center that I only get to once or twice a year. Randy had the pleasure of pushing the cart while I loaded it up with plants. He also found a really neat hummingbird feeder for his Mom for Mother's Day so 1/3 of the final cost of that visit was not my fault. After we got home, Randy worked on the bathroom sink drain and found he needed to make a trip to Home Depot for a part. He should have known not to ask me to come along, but he did it anyway. I was hoping to find some summer bulbs on sale and promised I wouldn't buy much, if anything. I didn't buy much, just one Elephant Ear bulb to replace the Sweet Broom bush out at the back fence that didn't make it thru the winter....and 3 Purple Coneflowers 'Echinacea purpurea'. Today is another dentist appointment for Amanda, then it will be either too warm or possibly raining this afternoon. Tomorrow is supposed to be really stormy, so it will be Wednesday before I can get started on the planting. I already know where everything is going so the planting will be the easy part. Getting Randy up off the floor after he saw the total at the garden center was more difficult. This blog entry has been viewed 407 times
Up, Up and Away
Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:26 pm I was looking out the front door yesterday afternoon and saw a lot of buggies flying up from the sidewalk, checked it out and realized that we had termites and they were swarming. I hosed them down with a bug spray and got the ones I could see. Later I went out back to water the seedlings that were out soaking up some sun and saw the same thing happening out there. Looked around and there were literally thousands swarming and flying off. This time I went to HD for some stronger insecticide to hose down the whole backyard. By the time I got back almost all of the swarm was gone, flying off to cause damage to other places. With apologies and regrets to the beneficial bugs out there, I got the yard sprayed, Randy sprayed the sides and front yard. Had a termite control guy come out this afternoon, he said that in a house this age it would be a miracle if there hadn't been termites already. Sure enough he did find evidence of some previous damage, but since we have not seen any of them inside and two years when our side room was gutted and rebuilt those guys didn't see any evidence of damage when they took off the interior walls he didn't think there would be any real concern yet. He suggested we get some termite monitoring tubes and place them in the ground several places thru the yard, check them every month and if they show up then put a food stick in the tube so they will have an easy meal instead of eating on the house, call him and he would come do an extensive spraying. He was really nice, he is a local Fireman, the name of his company is Off Duty Fireman Termite Control. We would much rather help out his business than one of the big companies. He was the one who suggested we get the tubes at Home Depot instead of paying him $300-$500 to do it since he didn't think it was an emergency but was something to keep an eye on. Would have been interesting to see him in full fire fighter gear, he was cute. Yeah and probably young enough to be my son. ;) This blog entry has been viewed 125 times
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