Clay Pot Birdbath

I found this wonderful terra cotta tray at BigLots the other day. They have a wonderful shiny, mottled blue finish. They are the type of trays that you set under your clay pots. It is 14" wide, and was only marked $9.99. The plain unfinished ones are around $20 in other stores. I have been wanting a birdbath for some time, but I really didnt want to pay out the $25 and up that they cost for little ones. I have seen pics on GW and other places online where others have used clay pots, and they trays to make one. They were usually stacked like you would see them on the shelf but of different sizes. I wanted a taller one with a little bit of shape tho. So I bought  a pain unfinished 10" pot, and a 8" pot. I also bought one of the little 6" trays. I turned the 10" pot upside down, then glued on the 6"tray upside down onto the bottom of that. Then I turned the 8" pot right side up and glued it to the bottom of the tray. WaLa! a birdbath base.

I had to take this pic inside since it was raining outside. So its a little dark. I wanted to take one of everything before assembled, but in my excitement I forgot :)

Now , as I said the blue 14" enameled pot tray already had a wonderful heavy, shiny (glazed) finish on it, so I had to attempt to paint the base to match. It wasn't easy, but I kept working at it until I was satisfied it was close. I used regular craft acrylic paints. I also used Gorilla Glue to Glue everything but the "bowl" together. I figured I would leave it loose for ease of storing and cleaning. Once everything was dry, I sealed with several coats of a gloss finish. An hour later it was ready to be assembled and placed in my flower bed.It stands about 2 ft tall. The flowers are just starting. I also have a lot of winter sown seedlings I started placing around it. Hence the plant markers. Once these has matured I can pull the markers  if they are noticeable in the foliage. What do you think? A close match?

PS: I just entered this into the DIY Club Inc. July Contest

Bloomin Tuesday

Below is my contribution to Bloomin Tuesday , sponsored by Jean at Ms Greenthumb.

Bleeding Heart at peak of bloom.

One of two of my Crabapple tree's.

Close-up of the Crabapple Bloom. Arent they gorgeous!

White Daffodils

Quince

Ornamental Pear

Another beautiful Tulip bloom.

The Potager Is Finally taking Shape

  We worked all weekend on the potager, and things are finally starting to take shape. Its not as big as I first planned, but I figure its plenty for me to take care of anyway. I ended up with 3 beds instead of 4. There is still loads of work to do, but at least I can start planting. I put in my Latham Raspberry, and 30 Sequioa Strawberry plants. I also put in some wallflower seedings I had winter sowed. We still need to add the paths, stain the fence, and till the remaining beds. Oh, and finish the arbor and gate.

I just got done spreading mulch around the strawberries and giving them some water.

I think I need to wash my hands now.

Update, I just read where Bonnie Plants are updating their strawberry tags to show that these are June bearing strawberries.

Bleeding Hearts

     This beautiful old fashioned plant (Dicentra spectabilis) graces many homes. I dont know why is has such a gory name though. The little flowers do look like perfect gorgeous, dangling hearts, but thats as close as it's appearance even hints at it's descriptive name. Mine is growing to the back of my house, mostly in the shade. It does get some direct morning sun. I showed pics previously of the foliage just starting thru the ground sporting magnificent fringed burgundy coloring. But then after is is up, it appears mostly green. It is a perennial that grows 24"-36" in height with gracefully arching branches.Hardy from zone 2-9. It is blooming right now in my zone. It is just starting to show its brilliant pink heart shaped blooms.

Snow On The Mountain and Grape Hyacinths

   A lot of people get confused over this one, as their are two totally different plants called by this name. One is  Euphorbia marginata. It is an annual that grows 18"-24" tall. Its picture can be found HERE.There is a warning with this one that handling can cause skin irritation or allergic reaction. It is a beautiful plant. But I think I prefer "my" Snow on The Mountain", a very popular ground cover. Its Latin name is Aegopodium podagraria variegatum, or commonly "Bishop's Weed". Most people hear "weed" and shy away. This is a spreader, but I dont consider it aggressively so, and it is easily removed from where its not wanted.  I have it growing now between my garage and cement  walk. It is filling in this area nicely, and believe me, the soil is terrible. These were planted here long before I started getting into amendments . Lots of rock and clay. It only gets about 10" in height, but later will throw out a few stems with greenish/white flowers on it that appears to be Queen Ann's Lace flower. if you remove these flower heads before they go to seed, you can control the spread better. It is rabbit and deer resistant and extremely drought tolerant. it can take full sun to full shade, and is hardy zones 3-9.

 have mine planted with Grape Hyacinths, and the contrast between the deep purple of these with the bright green leaves with cream margins, looks fantastic together.

This is a close-up of the Grape Hyacinth, Muscari armeniacum. Notice the pale lavender/white ring around the rim? There is also a light green stripe that runs down the center vein of the leaf. These little bulbs are also pretty tough.They only grow about 6" to 8" tall for me.They are hardy from zone 4-8b. Seeds are easily collected when dried. They also spread, but usually are almost done blooming before the yard needs mowed. They are a very nice spring flower and look fantastic among other spring bloomers. I especially like them among my Snow On The Mountain.

Checkered Lillies

   I just found my Checkered Lillies in full bloom last night. Their latin name is Fritillaria meleagris, but also commonly called Snakes head Lily. Their bell-shaped flowers appear on slender stalks, and see to make their entrance suddenly, almost overnight. Mine came up as the daffodil blooms are dying and turning a dirty cream. I have had these for a few years. I moved them from another bed to the raised bed after it was built. They are very delicate and fragle looking, but seem to be doing well in my hard clay soil. I have just the burgundy colored with the noticeable checkered pattern, and the creamy white. They grow approx 12" tall, and are hardy from z 4b to 8b. They also come in a pink color which I dont have.They bloom late winter/ early spring, and prefer sun to partial shade.These were grown from bulbs, but can be grown from seed, but I am sure it would take a few years to bloom from seed.

Wordless Wednesday

I know its supposed to be wordless, but I had to add this is my first tulip bloom of the year, and for awhile since the deer usually eat them.

The Horse's Made a Donation!

   Yesterday, my son volunteered to take his little truck to the neighbors and get a load of horse manure. They have a stable and several horses that they keep and train. The neighbor used his tractor with a bucket and loaded 3 large scoops of manure onto his truck. It was almost up to the top of his cab. Poor little truck handled it tho. It is partially aged, a dark brown to blackish color, and mostly dried and flaky. There is still some mild odor, but not too bad. It was enough that my 4 yo "girly" grand daughter didnt come near the beds. However, this little want-a-be gardener also threw a screaming fit over having to walk past an earth worm. I shoveled each of the 3 beds full of this stuff. It was probably a good 6" thick in most places. I still have to take a rototiller to it and work it in.

I also spent a couple of hours outside today cleaning up a couple of small beds, and top dressing with the manure. The soil is such hard clay, I could barely get my shovel into it to loosen up the top layer. In the one bed outside the hot tub, I also planted some seedlings of orange poppy, and Lauren's grape poppy in with the hosta's and tulips. I think the orange and purple should look good together. These were just a start of the winter sown seedlings.

Flowering Crabapple......NOT!

  Remember those crabapple cuttings I have been so proud of? Well the cuttings are blooming......and they are NOT  crabapple. These have WHITE blooms. I would say I got these mixed up with my Yoshino Cherry cuttings when labeling. Oh well, I can't complain, the cherry is my favorite anyway,lol.

Yoshino Cherry In Full bloom!

Winter Sowing Progress

  My first attempt at wintersowing is showing real progress. So far I have 224 container so far. Roughly 72 sprouting. I just got done spending about 1/2 hour carefully watering each one. This is probably the second time I have watered them since sowing out. I am real excited about these, and can't wait to start planting out all the little seedlings. I am sure I will probably regret that last statement once the time comes. I plan on doing the hunk-of-seedling method. This quick method involves just taking a "hunk" of seedlings and planting them. Survival of the fittest. So far the list below is what I have coming up as of today:

Butterfly bush mix colors
Joe Pye Weed, regular and chocolate
purple Coneflower
Delphinium Pacific Giant " blue jay"
Foxglove
Superba Clustered Bellflower
Coreopsis "Early Sunrise"
Pizzicato oriental poppy
Cardinal Carnation
White Peached Leafed Bellflower
Ballerina Sea pinks
Canterbury Bells
Hollyhock..Rose red and yellow
Snapdragon giant tetra mix
Snapdragon Crown "Candy Corn"
Schizanthus Angel Wings
Rudbeckia Tiger Eye Gold
Rudbeckia Cherokee Sunset
Rudbeckia Prairie Sun
Gaillardia Summer's Kiss
Rudbeckia Cappucino
Nicotiana Hot Chocolate
Dianthus Siberian Blues and Eastern Star
Sidalcea Pink Mix "Elsie Hughes"
Penstemon Cobaea
Penstemon Barbatus navigator
Shasta Daisy Goldrausch
Campanula Glomerata Superba
Heuchera unknown
Hollyhock Chaters Double Icicle
Mallow Pirouette
Maltese Cross
Veronica gentianoidus "Blue Streak"
Feverfew Double flowers
Poppy Orange
Echinacea White Swan
Larkspur "Blue Butterfly"
White Peach leafed bellflower
Cardinal Carnation
Rudbeckia ToTo
Coneflower Orange
Caryopteris "Summer Sorbet"
Helenium Red
Dianthus Carnation "Raspberry parfait" *
Coreopsis "Sunray"
Alyssum "Gold dust"
Calendula Bon Bon yellow
Lupine
Foxglove Dwarf Foxy
Cherianthis Wallflower Bedding Mix
Kitaibelia Chalice
Antirrhum Rembrandt
Malva Moschata Alba
Daylilly (open pollinated)
Liatris kobold
Nemophilia "Penny Black"
Annual Hot Pink poppy
Annual Poppy Mix..single and peony
Lavatera Trimestris Rose Mallow
Digitalis Mertonsis "Strawberry Foxglove"
Jupiter's Beard
Rose Campion "Angels Blush"
White Variegated Money plant
White balloon Flower
Thyme
Agastache Korean Mint
Bachelor's Buttons mix
Sweet Alyssum "Snow Crystals"
Alyssum "Carpet Of Snow"
Poppy Annual dark purple fringed
Blue thimble Flower
Shrimp plant
Cornflower "Blue Midget" dwarf
  What's funny is, I almost bought a "Dianthus Raspberry Parfait" plant at Lowe's the other day, but talked myself out of it. Now I see I have seeds sown of it, that are now coming up. Many, many seedlings. A lot cheaper than paying roughly $4 for ONE plant.

Foxglove

Lupine

Mellow Yellow Monday

This is my contribution to Mellow Yellow Monday sponsored by The Mellow yellow Monday Blog. It is Crescendo Golden Primula. Primula x polyantha. It gets to about 8"high, and very compact.It is hardy in zones 5-7.

Progress On My Potager

My husband and I worked on this most of Friday. We got all three of the larger 4x8 beds made and leveled in, and the corner posts set for the fence. We are kind of eye leveling things as we go. The lower right side will need to be filled to raise it some, and the back side will need to be lowerd a little. To get it true level would take a dozer. Our backyard has a slight uphill grade, and slopes downward on the right. I talked my husband into putting it in where the trampoline was so it can get pretty much full sun. We are planning 2 foot deep perimeter beds on the inside left, right, and back. He didnt want to put one in the front, because that brought it down closer to the retaining wall. I think I am going to plan a seating area off to the right, in the shade where he wanted to put the potager at first. I plan to document the progression of the garden as we go.

Yoshino Cherry

This gorgeous tree is probably my favorite, except for maybe the weeping varieties of Cherry Tree's. I bought this as a cheap twig many years ago. It is now probably 15 feet tall, but can grow to 50 feet at maturity. I love the pink blush on the flower buds. It name is Prunus x yedoensis. It is considered the most popular white flowering cherry trees.It blooms in the spring before the leaves emerge.It likes full sun and moist well drained soil.

The bumble bees seem to love it as well.It is located in the lower part of my front yard. The white board fence is where my yard stops.

This was taken early this morning,its a little overcast so its not as bright a shot as I would have liked. It does show its interesting shape though. Especially that of the trunk.

Grow Project

This Sunday ( the first Sunday of the month) officially starts the Grow Project using  Renee's seeds. As you might remember from my first post, she generously donated seeds from Nasturtium "Spitfire" for a sort of online online community growing project. Each month we are to document our progress. Since it's too early yet for me to direct sow, so I put  6 seeds in a container for wintersowing as shown below.

This container will now sit outside and take what weather conditions mother nature throws at it. Then when all dangers of frost are past, they will be planted out in their permanent location.I will also direct sow the remaining seeds after dangers of frost. We shall see how each fares. I also wintersowed the beautiful Cosmos "Rose Bon Bon" she sent as a bonus.

 "I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project, thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds."