All from my yard!

Take a look - budding roses from my climbing rose bush, variegated holly, branches from our beautiful fir tree and sprigs from my blooming rambling rose bush. 

 Ok, this will never make it to the table centerpiece competition at the Mill Bay Garden Club .... however, it is one of my first tries at floral arranging and .... I like it....and it is staying. What do you think? Should it stay on my table for my dinner event tomorrow night?

A Good Time Was Had By All!

2011 Mill Bay Garden Club

Christmas Banquet

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

To view a photo larger, click on the photo. 

To view more Garden Club activities view the Blog archive

Please feel free to leave comments or join the Blog!

It's Cold Out There!

Not sure if these frosty mornings are typical for this time of year: certainly last November did not bring so much frost - just buckets of rain.  Each morning we awake to see even more frost.  Thankfully, working from home the brutal task of scraping car windows is avoided.  Bryan stokes up the fire and we sit sipping our cups of coffee waiting for the sun to thaw the ice from the walks.  This morning after our walk along the beach, I wandered my garden and marveled at the beauty the hoar frost painted.  Take a look!

Here is my favourite....a tiny rambler rose

 Hydrangea

 Pieris...so pretty

 A small plant in my rock garden: love the symmetry

Viburnum bud and leaves

I am so enjoying the hydrangea leaves which continue on and on forever.

The last of the alyssum I fear.

Lace cap hydrangea

And one more look at my favourite :)

Trying the Book Pumpkin

So I was inspired last night - well, maybe just desperate to get away from my computer and working - that I tried the book pumpkin.  A blog I love to visit  320*Sycamore has an Under $10 Under 1 Hour posts!
There are so many people linking in that party.  Here is the one that inspired me. Lovely, right?  It is created from a trade paperback - well I have plenty of those!  Just finished one in fact which was mediocre at best, in fact I had relegated it to the garbage which means it is not even worthy of reaching the next used book sale (IMHO). 

  Last night, I retrieved that book, cut out a master 'pumpkin' and set to work with my cutting mat and my handy dandy sharp cutting tool from the oh so handy scrapbooking tool kit.  Thinking back on my few experiences with crafts - I did not have high hopes on this one actually turning out ok.  Hmmm..... I cut, and I cut.....then I folded the pages open...paperclipped the front and back together....and wow....it almost looked like the picture!  But wait! let's make it better......my thinking and my downfall....where are the rubons from the scrapbooking era?  Yes!  rub on the gold to the edges....hmmmmm.....perhaps I should have left it as it was.  It looks ok but the rubon seems to define the pages, and the holes, and it does not allow for great lighting on the pages.  What do you think?

 I like the stick though - from the scrap heap behind the shed. It looks nearly real.  My tribute to fall - thank you to my friend Pauline from Home Style Solutions for encouraging me to participate in celebrating fall on the Island.  Fall or autumn typically has been my second least favourite season.
* prelude to winter
* too much orange
* plants dying
*sweaters

HOWEVER! now that we live on the beautiful Island my viewpoint is slowly changing.
* little to no snow on the Island
* short winter - thing begin to bloom already in Jan/Feb
*many evergreen plants in my garden
*laurel trees and eucalyptus trees create a tropical feel
*no ice in the winter
*wood fires to take the chill off in the morning
*gardening into December
*planting pansies in November for the winter
*yes i have to wear sweaters but with working at home - with sweat pants! :)
*............................on and on and on

LIFE IS GOOD!
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Plums

Disappointed in the plum tree - plums are delicious but....really.... 20 plums from such a big tree?  REALLY.... to take up that much room in the garden you really must produce more than 20 plums.

(REALLY....you are a writing teacher? Where is my banned word list for 'really'?)

Not only that - what is with the shriveled up, curled leaves?  Not attractive. 

I am afraid this plum tree will be attacked shortly with the loppers and chain saw.  

No, we won't get rid of it -YET- just bring it down to size.  

It has become an arrogant, ugly, unproductive tree. 

Pruning will be beneficial right?

Treasure of the Day

They look retro - are they retro?

Today's treasure discovered at a garage sale.  Story is that these were owned by an 80 year old lady.  Sounds like the story that "this car was only driven on Sundays to church by my grandmother"  But something drew me to them and they sparkled in the sun.  How cool would it be to bring out ice tea to guests.  Must try it out.....anyone want to come for a drink?

TOO COOL!  Looked online and a set like this sold for $36!!!  Hmmm....any takers on this set?  If you comment I will let you know actual cost. :)

Hello Hibiscus

I was so excited coming home on Sunday night to find I had not missed the blooming of the Hibiscus!  We had been gone a week ..... on the day we left a few blooms were out but numerous buds were literally on the edge of bursting into glorious blooms.  For sure they would bloom and be done by the time we arrived home.  In the dark we turned into our drive....in the dark the lovely lavender blooms shone in the headlights......and in the dark I exclaimed - the hibiscus is still blooming!  Bryan backed up the car and shone the lights directly on the shrub for me.  Oh joy! 

I love the hibiscus flowers - don't you?  Is the hibiscus also a Rose of Sharon?  Are there other colors of hibiscus flowers?  The pruning last fall seems to have encouraged more flowers this year.  After the rush of spring madness, these flowers arriving in late summer prolong the inevitable march into autumn.  The flowers appear to be created from crepe paper  with a sweet fragrance. The bees buzz around seeming undisturbed as the camera focuses closely on their landings. 

Early this morning with coffee cup in hand, I again stood admiring.  Succumbing to my obsessive compulsive need for cleaning and deadheading, I began to gather handfuls of finished flowers.  Typically deadheading leaves ones hands sticky and gooey.  However, the finished hibiscus flowers are soft and dry.  Lovely.  Should one deadhead a hibiscus? Do you deadhead your hibiscus? Are you OC about deadheading like me?

Loving this COLOR

 Another Saturday and another exciting day of painting - yes, we are loving this paint sprayer.  Who knew one could experience a huge change in such a short easy time.  I must admit I find it easy because of my DH who does all the prep work, the setting up of the paint, cleaning the paint gun, fussing with the paint gun......  I contribute too.....sanding, spraying, serving lunch and iced tea.... it is a true partnership of love :) Okay, sounds corny....

We had picked up a set of Adirondack chairs at Costco some time ago, Bryan had put them together and we were trying to decide what color to paint them.  We found the perfect color BM "forget me not".

Here is the before picture.

And here is what they look like after:

 They sit in front of the bed and breakfast - Bayview Bed and Breakfast .

 And here is the folding chair we placed in the spare bedroom for the bed and breakfast.

Don't you just love this??  Watch for more of this color on unsuspecting pieces of furniture.

White Garden

The White Garden is coming along..... I see the vision, do you?  So often I view my garden, my plans through glasses tinted with the future in mind.  I see the possibilities beyond the actual. 

 This last picture has some added photo editing....really...hahaha, Can you tell I just discovered Piknik?  Oh the fun!

Rain, Rain, Rain...is this really summer?

A few weeks ago, we cleaned out an area behind our house to reveal a woodland garden bed complete with rocks.  Did not take long to get a few plants into that area and here we are today - I am thinking this may be a favourite of mine.

Cherries, Cherries......birds !

This year our cherry tree is loaded with cherries - apparently our mason bees truly did their work.  Yeah for cherries - but boo to the birds.

Each morning,

....a flock of robins fly over and begin pecking away at their morning snack

...flocks of little gray birds arrive to hide behind the leaves and nibble

...even a hummingbird flits by to take a look

.....but the crows are the most annoying! 

Last year only 3 crows were regular thieves at our tree - this year the murder has expanded to 5 - the 'teens' have joined them.  Caw, Caw, Caw...actually a sound more like a squawk....obnoxious and arrogant crows decimate our cherry harvest.

Garden Tour July 10th, 2011

And to end the week - my first hydrangea of the season displayed in the new treasure from the Chemainus garage sale - love that white ware! This is my first piece to collect and I am so happy it is just perfect for the hydrangea.

Ok, a newbie here -Today I am for the very first time!

  linking this to My Shabby Streamside Studio

Summer was this week.......?

We had 3 days of summer - don't get me wrong - it is still lovely out there however, the clear blue sky with the penetrating heat is gone.....for now. Good time for pics tho so here goes.
First, we had brutally chopped down the climbing rose bush at the side of the house and i had planted one piece in a pot. It is thriving and i find it odd to find different colors of roses on the same plant.

And my HOSTA!!! I am counting over 30 blooms!! I am so excited. Hmmm... strange there are only blooms on one half of the plant? Stay tuned for the blooming pics.

And finally the astilbe. I have never had such beautiful color blooms on an astilbe.

Sweet peas

Sweetpeas - how delightful! The fragrance is so 'sweet' filling the room. The flowers are not significant on their own except they are 'cute'. What is most wonderful is that one HAS to pick them for bouquets in order to encourage more flowers! I LOVE SWEETPEAS. Did you plant sweetpeas?
Are you picking yours?
Stop and smell them today.

I tried planting sweetpeas in a container this year. The leaves are turning yellow and crisp from the bottom up - do you think that is a result of being in a container?

Garden Tour June 29, 2011