movin' on.....

up? over?

Over the past few years, blogger and google have made it increasingly more difficult to do this. Their site is not user friendly in the least, and there have been many hours of frustration just figuring out how to do anything.

I originally started these blogs to chronicle my knitting and the progress of our house building, and they've served that purpose well. When I first started them, blogging was all the thing to do and places like ravelry and facebook just didn't exist. Now they do.

I really love ravelry, and I like the instant gratification that facebook gives me. Not to mention it's much easier to quickly post a thought or a pic.

So, I'll be moving on from here. If you're already my friend on facebook, well, there ya are. If not, most of my stuff is public anyway. I never post politics or anything controversial, there's enough folks out there that do that already. I promise you'll see cats, dogs, gardening, mosaics, crafting and glass. Because, well, that's what I like.

So, come on over and join me on facebook......I've made a blog page there.
Feel free to "like" it so that you can see my creations.
My Recycled Garden.....
See ya there!

how can you not love a plant that blooms in december?

This week, the hellebores started going.....

Love my hellebores....this is just the beginning. There are some really cool ones out there, and some really cool black ones out there. I'm always on the lookout for more really cool ones. You can just not have too many hellebores.

The seed catalogs have started to arrive too. I've been busy watching it rain and making my wishlist on pinterest with my 2016 goals in  mind.....cool stuff, fragrant, reblooming, and rare, ought to be fun this year.

In crafting news, we've become the home for wayward bowling balls. My sister delivered 3 last week, with one more left in her attic. Not sure what I'm going to do with them all, but I'll think of something.

mosaic bowling balls

who knew??

A couple of months ago, I joined a mosaic group on facebook. Little did I know, it would change my mosaic outlook altogether. I have learned SO much from this talented group of people, and my mad nipping skills have gotten 1000 percent better. (since I never did it before). It has helped me cut glass more accurately and precisely, and I have a boatload of projects in mind right now.

The most current one is the hummingbird bubbler/ fountain.....I worked on it a bit this week because it was raining, and I'll probably do some more today too. I find that mosaics are best done in "bits". Work on it for a while, step away, let it simmer, work on it some more. Gives a good perspective.

 

When this is done, it will go out in the "to be grouted" collection. I'll do a bunch of things one of these days. Grouting is a messy, time-consuming project, so it's best done it batches.

 

Next up, I'm thinking about doing a bowling ball fairy house.....why not?

I have lots of ideas and a bunch of things set back to be projects, so I won't be bored.

 

P.S. bought flower show tickets this week too...Can you say "spring fever?"

Planning for next year.....

I know, this one's not even over yet, but I'm already thinking about the garden for next year.

I've bought some martagon and oriental lilies to be delivered this spring, and it gave me a serious case of spring fever, already.  Also spent some time on pinterest making my wishlist, which included a list of irises I already have. That took a while. I didn't realize I have so many irises already.

For 2016. the plan is to be discriminating.....In the past, it was all about filling the space, and that has worked well. For the next phase, it'll be about the cool stuff. Wishlist stuff that might be a bit more expensive (so there will be less of it), but cooler.....more fragrance, more distinctive and rare, more reblooming.

We've done pretty well with projects this year, but there's a few that are still left. Yesterday, we took advantage of a black Friday sale to buy some solar panels. The idea is to use the solar panels to power a pump, which will pump the water out of the cistern (already installed), to water the garden. We'll also install drip irrigation in the raised beds and worm towers too.

I'd like to get my chicken coop going again in 2016, and also put in a Japanese shade garden over by the bamboo. It's good to have a goal.

Since the ground is frozen, and there's not much gardening to be done, I'll be spending the rest of the winter dreaming of daylilies and doing mosaics. I have 3 bowling balls ready to go, one that will be a hummingbird fountain, a cute bumblebee needing to be done, and whatever I find at the goodwill that strikes my fancy. I want to  make a multi layered pond scene too......

There's a birdbath and an owl that need to be grouted. I'm saving that project for a warmer day, and I'll grout a bunch of things all at once. Now I just need to make them.

fall

Is it bad that I'm already checking out things for next spring?
I've been working on my wishlist for next year. The plan is to be more focused on what I buy, not just any old plant, but some really cool ones, with focus on rebloomers and fragrance.  I'm making a wishlist on pinterest and checking it twice!

In the meantime......some of the daylilies are still going....I just planted these in august, so I'm excited to see what they look like. I don't think they're rebloomers, just confused.

The weather has been nice, so the garden is still going pretty strong. Lots of the Echinacea are getting a second wind after being baked all summer, and some other things are still hanging in there too.

Last weekend, I made a major score for my winter projects. A gal named Claudia was selling a bunch of stained glass and tools. I made her an offer, and came home with a TON of glass, a new grinder, and some other misc stuff. Sold the glass I couldn't use and a couple of tools that were duplicates (more money for glass), and spent a rainy Saturday making this.....

Bought that birdbath at a yard sale for $10 this summer. It's  not quite done yet, needs a background, but the weather's supposed to be nice today, so, it's outside to weed for me!

I'll finish it the next time it rains. (soon)

 

Still going.....

Here we are at almost the first of October and the garden is still going. It's been inspired by the recent rain, and things are enjoying a second life.

Some of the daylilies I planted in august are already blooming. They say you're supposed to cut off these late blooms, but I just can't. I just have to see what they look like before they go to bed for the winter. I can already hardly wait for next spring.

(a little beat up from the weather, but still cool - plum perfect)

 

I found a couple of things in the clearance rack this week, some crocrosmia, and a pink lavender. They're all snuggled in and I'm caught up on planting. (not weeding and spreading gravel, though)

 

We've also been doing some crafting.......cement pumpkins.

 

They're heavy, but they'll look great on the front porch.

 

I'll leave you with some garden goodies that are still going.....

 

Winding down

Well, the summer is winding down and it seems like fall happened overnight.

It started raining last week and has pretty much kept going since then. That's ok.

There have been a couple of good clearance rack buys......some Echinacea (green envy), a honeyberry, and a nice itoh peony that was half price. (still expensive).  They're all planted and getting a drink this morning.

There are still some daylilies blooming. Some of them are new, having been planted only a month ago. They're pretty cool, so I hope they make it through the winter. I can hardly wait to see what they do next year.

Speaking of next year......I've been thinking about the direction to take the garden next season....The last couple of years have been about filling up the space, which I've managed to do pretty well. I've gotten practically free plants because they were a mystery and literally picked up some free ones off a sidewalk. Next year, the theme will be quality. I'll be looking for things on my wishlist, and maybe spending a bit more on individual plants, but buying fewer. I can also weed out some of the freebies that have multiplied, and trade them for others. The theme will be "the cooler, the better".

Off to get that list started!