Home Decoration | Art Crafts | Ethnic Decoration

>

I've always thought it would be fun
to start flowers for my yard from seeds. This year with finances so tight, and still having a desire for
a bounty of beauty,
it has become a necessity. To help fill our gardens with flowers,
I decided to try my hand at sowing seeds indoors. I purchased little green houses and
gathered a few packets of seeds. Now, just a few days later, I'm excited to report
a little growth.

Does it concern me that I should have
started this process about six weeks ago
in order to enjoy blooms before the fourth of July?
No.

Not really.
Okay.
Maybe.
But isn't that what real growth is all about?Overcoming our mistakes and
blossoming despite them.

>

With the heat of the summer upon us, I was feeling the need for a gorgeous summer centerpiece. Not wanting to spend any money, I walked through my backyard to find what was in bloom. I grabbed my clippers and nipped off a few blooms from my butterfly bushes, then added some grasses for filler. Now I have a wild, bountiful, beautiful, and free bouquet.Since seashells evoke the feeling of summer, I thought I'd add one into my seasonal vignette. Of course, I couldn't resist giving the backside a glitzy little makeover

so that it would be as pretty on the outside as it is inside. Then I finished the setting with a little ceramic bird candle holder,
adorned with an old key tied on with rope.It gives me a thrill to add beauty to my home
without spending any money!

>I thought I'd share a few pretties today. The first being that pretty little "J" that you notice up there by the http://.
It's called a blog icon or fav icon. It replaces the big orange square B that's next to almost every blog address. It makes my blog name stand out and be unique. I love it! Cara, the RockSTARRMom, designed it for me. Thank you Cara! She can personalize your blogicon too. Just go visit her at Your Blogicon and tell her I sent you. She'll create something wonderful for your blog and give you step-by-step instructions on how to install it. She's such a sweetie!

As you know I've been a little light on my posting lately which has given me time to catch up on things. I've been doing some yard work (finally!). Of course there's still more to do. Lots of flowers to plant and the weeding is never done. But I wanted to share a few photos of my yard.
The roses look spectacular this year. My clematis has never had so many blooms. I'm amazed that everything has managed to thrive even with my neglect. I learned a lesson from my flower beds. They look great because I planted plenty of perennials. I applied that lesson to my huge flower pots and planted perennials in them this year. There's beautiful hostas in the pots under the trees. And fragrant lavender in the pots out back. With perinnials in my pots I can enjoy their beauty this year and for years to come.

>

I want to thank you all
for your very warm and
welcoming comments
on my comeback post.
It's good to be back!


Summer days have come to an end but luckily
my vegetable garden is still in full production.
The tomato plants have filled the obelisks that we built. I grew heirlooms this year and it makes me giddy
to see them ripening.I've had so many tomatoes, zucchinis and summer squash
that I set up a table on my front porch
and asked my neighbors to come help themselves.I am delighted to see so many pumpkins and gourdsof all colors, shapes and sizes growing in my garden. I'm sure this may seem strange to some,
but sometimes I think that my purpose
for growing a garden is more for the
happiness
I get from decorating with my harvest
than from the eating of it. I suppose both serve a similar purpose;
one feeds the body, the other feeds the soul.

>Oh how I would love to incorporate some of these ideas from the Botanic Gardens in DC.Huge pots packed with plants and flowers. Don't you adore the overflowing potato vines.
I would really enjoy having a large rosemary bush like this one.
I would loooove to have rows of boxwood bushes!
I'm already planning on planting rows of grasses similar to this.
Don't you think that this is an awesome way to grow tomatoes?
I wish I could find a spot to plant two shades of ground cover plants in long rows with a garden statue in the center.My very favorite idea was this checkerboard design made by alternating ground coverings and small, smooth black stones.
Isn't it beautiful!

>We have had sooooo much rain this spring that it is really dampening my spirits! Rainy days equal no spray painting outside; thus my home improvement projects have been few and far between. But all this moisture is also having an affect on my surroundings outside. While the grass is a little greener than usual, my flowering bushes are the most sparse I have even seen.
Last year my "snowball" bush was huge and laden with blooms.This year I wondered if it was half dead. But upon closer inspection it's just shriveled and sad, with smaller blooms and ugly brown spots.Last year my homegrown bouquet was abundant with blossoms.This year I gathered a small cluster of blooms, determined to not let the rain shrivel my spirits as much as it has shriveled my bushes. It may be smaller than last year's but it's still just as beautiful!

>One of the first places I visited in Washington DC was the Botanic Garden, one of the oldest botanic gardens in North America.