Indian Corn and Chrysanthemum

Did you decorate for fall yet?

Or, are you discouraged by previously failed craft attempts?

(I often am.)

Why not try one of these Indian corn decorating ideas?

Believe me, it doesn't get easier than this.

I don't remember where I saw this idea for a corn banner.

But all you need to do is:

tear the husks off,

screw an eye hook in to the corn,

and hot glue some husks around a piece of rope and hang the corn on it.

I did it in less than an hour.

Picture and idea from Better Homes and Gardens

I love this fork!

I'm gonna keep my eye out for a vintage farmer's fork next year

so that I can make this one next fall.

You just take some corn and use wire to attach it to the prongs.

Quick and easy but it has an extremely high nice factor.

Picture and idea from Better Homes and Gardens

I've come across several pictures of corn tied around candles.

The link above has directions on how to make your own.

A friend told me about a farm down the road (Applefield Farm) that sells dried corn that you pop on the cob in the micro wave. I thought that would be something fun to do with the kids.

Unfortunately, after buying, I realized that I have to let it dry for another month before it's ready to pop. I've become very Americanized in the 15 years that I've lived here and now prefer instant gratification.

Hmpf! I now have to wait, and then wait some more, before I can show and tell you about this popping.

At the speed I've been cranking out blog posts lately, it'll probably be just about Thanksgiving then.

Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath on that one.

I'll end with a few pictures of my Chrysanthe-mummified garden.

Mums, mums, and more mums...

Thank you for stopping by!

I appreciate each and everyone of you.

Have a great fall weekend!

Contrasts

At Roses and Stuff, Katarina is hosting Bloomy Fridays, and today the theme is contrasts.

I decided to tag along.

Katarina is asking us to share how we use contrast in our gardens.

"It can be contrasting colours, light against dark, big against small, hot against cold, soft against hard, shiny against matted and so on."

Yes, how do I use contrasts, if at all?

I had to look waaaay back into my iPhoto archive to see if I could find any documentations of contrast to share. So deep into winter I am far removed from what my garden looks like without all the snow.

I realized that I do have a bit of contrast in my garden. It may not have been a fully conscious goal while working in my garden, but I think aesthetically, it's something I naturally strive towards.

In my picture above, I love the color purple against the yellow-green.

And I like how the tall, razor-sharp leaves of the iris contrasts against the soft, small-leafed rounded shape of the spirea.

Also, the many small flowers of the salvia provides some contrast against the larger single iris flower.

Gosh, I feel as if I'm getting a little bit too institutional writing this. As if I'm writing a college essay on contrasts. Lets lighten this up!

Pondering...

If a tree falls in the forest,

do the other trees laugh....

Grass, grass, grass...

Is all I see...

I can't imagine what the backyard looks like.

Actually, I think I can.

I'm guessing more... grass!

This is a house I drive by occasionally and it just cracks me up.

Garden mischief

When we moved to this house this short blanket flower was growing on what is now my "perennial hill".

A cute flower with red and yellow petals with a red and yellow button.

It's a self seeder.

I purchased this tall blanket flower, Gaillardia Burgundy, with (burgundy) red petals and a yellow and red button. Also a self seeder.

And now I have this tall blanket flower.

I suspect some botanical hanky panky has been going on.

But I don't really mind, in fact, I'm quite happy because I like them all.

(Pardon the drab middle picture)

Bargain gardening

It is hard to pass up a good bargain when you see one.

And, that's the reason I came home with a little more than I had set out for.

There were:

3 Shamrock Hollies (what I needed)

3 Little Giant Arborvitae (sort of need these too)

3 Emerald'n Gold Euonymus (kind of need those)

2 King's Gold Cypress (just had to have)

2 Butterfly bushes (love the color on these)

Here's the trouble area and the reason for the visit to the garden center. Three shade loving, over-grown, Hostas in a full sun location that have been begging for a replacement since we moved in eight years ago.

And, here are the replacements. Three happy evergreen Shamrock Hollies. They are so beautiful.

The price: $25 for the three of them!!! Makes me a little excited to think about it.

Ta-da!

Alright, the "after" picture isn't great and doesn't do the replacements any justice. But I just didn't have the patience to wait until the sun had come all the way around the corner.

I am truly enjoying working and being in my garden right now, and I'm so happy to see someone else (the butterfly) is too.

Before and after

Hydrangea before vacation

Hydrangea after vacation

What happened???

I think perhaps the guys who put on a new roof had something to do with this.

Oh well, she'll come back again next year.

Other vacation casualties:

a few potted plants

my zucchinis

cucumber plants

icebox watermelon

an annual bed with zinnias and marigolds

Not too bad considering that I didn't arrange for anyone to care for my plants for the second half of my vacation when my husband joined us in Sweden.

The lawn also took a big hit, but that's not even my area.

Strangely enough, lawns are often considered to belong to the man in the house. I believe that it might have to do with the fact that a big power tool is involved in its maintenance.

Is it working?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the pesky little critters that ate all my strawberries, and how I was determined not to share my vegetable crop with any four legged little critters.

At the local home improvement store I found a life size plastic owl and a solar powered sonic spike that I decided to take home and try out.

Two boxwood basil, one oregano and one icebox watermelon plant just happened to jump in to my shopping cart as well.

For two weeks now, the owl has guarded my vegetable garden,

and the spike has sent out sonic pulses every 30 seconds.

And, I have not seen any signs of nibbled tomatoes or vegetables.

And the Sun Gold cherry tomatoes are ripening.

Surely must look tempting to a chipmunk or a squirrel, no?

Or how about a baby zucchini?

And look, ripe blueberries! Yeah, I know, just two of them, but still. When I bought these plants, I was advised to put a net over the shrubs because birds know the day before you do, that the berries are ripe.

The owl is working!!! It's deterring the birds from eating my blueberries. Last year I didn't get any.

But wait now just a minute... Do you see that bird poop right on top of the owl's head???

I'm puzzled. Did a bird fly over and just happened to drop one on top of the owl? Or, did a bird actually sit on top of my plastic owl to go to bathroom? But then, if the owl is not deterring birds, why do I have ripe berries?

Well, in general, so far I am happy with the results of my purchases, but I suspect the battle might not be over just yet. But I am thankful for every ripe berry or fruit that I may harvest.

I better do something - quick!

Strawberry season came - and left. I have lot's of strawberry plants, but I didn't get to eat a single strawberry, neither did my kids. I did however catch the fellow below, Mr. Chipmunk, leaving my vegetable garden quicker than quick carrying a green strawberry. More than one time. This year we have more chipmunks than ever, and I suspect that they find my garden to be a wonderful farmer's market.

Picture from Wikipedia

As I've been watching the flowers on the tomato plants turning in to little green tomatoes, I've really been looking forward to the taste of the first sun-warm tomato.

But today, my hopes were slightly deflated by the sight of a half eaten tomato.

Damned be those chipmunks. I've come to terms with having shared the strawberries, but I am NOT sharing my tomatoes.

We have a chicken fence around the vegetable garden, but they easily squeeze through it. Last year we tried putting netting on top of our crops as well, only to find chipmunks all tangled up, and we had to cut our netting up just to save those little thieves. Don't have the heart to kill them.

Is there anyone that has a tip for how I might save my tomatoes from being savored by chipmunks?

Moving on to my huckleberry plant, I notice that something has been eating the leaves.

Could it be this little beetle that I found on my morning glory?

Any advice here?

At last, something to be really happy about in my garden. My zucchini plants seem to be exploding with flowers, and I did see little miniature size fruits.

-Chipmunks, I warn you!!! Don't even think about it!

Oh, great! The kids had a sword fight last night with my bamboo stakes, and I asked them to nicely put them back where they had found them. Looks like they just tossed them right on top of the herbs.

Today I feel surrounded by pesky little creatures.

Lady in Red has the blues

Moving on to another Hydrangea in my garden.

May I present: Lady in Red

She opened up blue.

This is my third year with her, and the first year that she flowers.

The description said:

"Lady in Red Hydrangea has lacecap flowers that open a pinkish-white to bluish-white, depending on soil pH, and turn a lush burgundy rose as they mature. The foliage is rich reddish-purple in the fall with distinctive red stems and veins throughout the growing season."

It is no surprise to me that it opened bluish-white, with all the pine trees that we have in the yard. Azaleas and Rhododendrons thrive in my acidic rich yard. But now, the question is, should I alter the soil pH to get the pinkish color to match the stems and the foliage?

I don't really mind the blue flowers, in fact, I like them quite a bit. The pink on the other hand would match the foliage and stems.

Maybe I'll just wait it out and see what the fall and the mature flowers have in store for me.

What do you think?

Annabelle, my belle

I bought my Hydrangea Annabelle five years ago. It was about a foot tall and wide. Didn't know much about hydrangeas at the point, but the picture looked nice.

Today Annabelle is close to 5 feet tall and just as wide. It has been the one plant in the garden that shines, with minimal, if any, attention from me. The summer that I brought this baby home, I watered it frequently of course, but since then, I cannot remember ever pulling the hose out to give it a drink. May sound a bit harsh, but I've never seen it drooping. And fortunately, no bugs appear to have taking a liking to Annabelle, with the exception of the Hydrangea Leaf Rollers that I found one year. But they were not able to do any noteworthy harm.

Annabelle has a simple beauty that is so easily appreciated. The mop heads that open up in early June, are of a chartreuse green color that slowly transform into a soft white. I absolutely love how I right now can enjoy a range of mop head colors on my shrub. All backed up by a bounty of healthy dark green leaves.

The one thing I've struggled with, is whether I should cut it back, how much, and when. And seriously, Annabelle looks its best this year when I didn't do anything at all. No cut backs. I just removed broken branches. Someone told me that if you want large mop heads, cut them back. And so I did, but when the hard rains came, my beautiful big mop heads were heavy on the ground in the dirt. This year the mop heads are smaller, and they have held up well to the rains - so far.

Now that we know that we like each other, Annabelle and I, I've been a bit eager to get my hands on a pink Annabelle. It was on my shopping list for this spring, but it's nowhere to be seen.

What I have noticed though, is that my shrub has a branch that is growing horizontally on top of the ground with tiny shoots coming up like little mini shrubs. I think if I cover the branch with a bit of dirt I can maybe get roots to grow? And, and.... maybe have little Annabelle babies?

What do you think? Would that work, or am I being a bit optimistic?

Orange poppies

The other day, my oldest son brought home a poppy he had made for me in school. Bright, bright orange tissue paper wrapped around a wooden stick, colored green. Held together with a pipe cleaner. Pretty cute. Mommy likes!

Do you remember a couple of posts back how I had forgotten what kind of poppy I had planted? Well, I've been waiting patiently, checking in on it several times a day.

This morning when I walked out the door with the kids to wait for the school bus, I saw it. The kids saw it too. My oldest who had made me the tissue poppy (of the same color, who would have thought?) ran up to it and said "mom, it looks just like tissue paper." And it did, the flower must just have opened up. There was creases and folds all over it after staying wrapped up in that tiny, hairy bud cover. Quite honestly, I'm a bit amazed that this big flower came out of a little pod like that.

The center of the poppy was astonishing. Bright, bright purple.

Then later the same day, a severe thunder storm pulled through our area with massive amounts of rain. I was so concerned for my baby. When the sun came out again, I went out to check on it, and it was fine. It had closed up a bit during the rain, to protect itself I assume.

But, who wouldn't?

Shared excitement?

Yesterday afternoon, I finally cleaned up my herb/vegetable garden and planted the herbs that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I can't tell you how good I feel about getting that done. I've felt like a bad garden mom, neglecting those little herb pots that needed transplanting. I had it scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend, but what really prompted me to get it done was the gift that my brother-in-law brought me for our big family bbq on Sunday. In a paper tray with a patriotic red, white and blue ribbon was a chocolate mint, a fennel, a cilantro and a specialty basil. How sweet and thoughtful was that? I just had to get those into the ground - pronto.

Look how nice and clean! Well, if you had seen the before, you'd most definitely have been impressed.

As I proudly take a picture of my neat and clean vegetable/herb garden, enter Mr. Groundhog at the edge of the lawn.

The groundhog normally feeds on grasses, insects and snails, but will absolutely feed on berries and vegetables if they are available. And in my garden they are. My strawberries are as of now beginning to turn color, and my blueberries are growing. Next weekend, hopefully, the tomatoes, cucumber, zucchinis will move in, among many goodies.

My fence was originally put up to keep out squirrels, chipmunks and little cottontails. Will it keep out the groundhog? I'll have to wait and see I suppose.

I just wanted to add this little Baltimore Oriole below, that kindly posed for me yesterday on a workbench. I've often listened to its song, never knowing who the bird is. But as this bird took off, he chirped for me. I love solving mysteries.