Return of the Roses

So where were the roses? The roses didn't go anywhere, but they suffered the yearly attack of the Japanese Beetles. This year, I tried a different approach in caring for the roses during the invasion.

These are Knock Out™ Roses, which means they are pretty tough and bloom for a long time. As soon as I saw the first beetle, I cut off all of the blooms and a foot of foliage on all seven of the rose bushes. It wasn't pretty! Without the blooms, new buds and new growth to attract the beetles, there were fewer of the pests.

When the beetle population dwindled to just a few, I started up the drip irrigation for an hour a day (we're on a well) until we had a good rainfall. Just prior to the heavy rainfall, I fertilized the roses. Within two weeks of this boost, the roses are now producing new foliage and plenty of buds.

In past years, I've tried picking and dunking the beetles into a bucket of soapy water every morning. It's unpleasant work, tedious and is rather disgusting to do before breakfast!

I've tried organic sprays, too. That required mixing and spraying in the evening when the temperatures were cool. I had to reapply the spray every few days, especially after a rainfall. It worked fairly well, but since the mixture couldn't be sprayed on the blooms, I had to cut those off anyway.

This year's method was the easiest. While the roses looked bad for a month, they have completely recovered and will bloom until Thanksgiving.

This method of beetle protection was without stress, at no cost and definitely organic. I'll always be looking for better solutions. The only other thing that I could think of was to cover the roses with a fine mesh netting. Maybe next year?

Photo and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; July 2009

Bird Comes Smashing in....

Hmmm, what to blog about today. Well, early this morning a bird flew up and smacked right into my glass door and dropped down. I felt horrible, but I guess you can say Windex really does make it shine through. Okay that wasn't really funny, the bird actually got hurt and didn't seem to be able to fly. It kept hopping up like it was trying but would fall back down. By the way my glass door is on a

Make Life a Little Better Blog Tour

Summertime is all about making those beautiful memories you'll share with your loved ones for the rest of your life. So why not also start them small? I have four kids and I've learned that it is the smallest of things that really count with them. They don't care that they had the most birthday gifts, best school books, etc. It is the time you spent with them, the picnics you shared, swings you

Garden Inspiration: Black and White Flowers

I never thought about combining black and white flowers until I visited the Giverny Musée des Impressionismes in France. The garden worked well as a separate garden room within low walls and hedges. The space was tranquil and not jarring as I would have expected with such contrast. I liked it, but the flowers weren't labeled, so we have to guess as potential candidates for this color scheme.

Obviously, some of the "black" flowers are very dark red or purple enough to look black. There were many white and black tulips, black pansies, white forget-me-nots and what looked like varieties of shasta daisies and erigeron.

The trick to finding the right white and black flowers is probably in identifying plants that will bloom at the same time and with the same growing conditions with regards to soil, water and light.



What went through my head was the meticulous planting of the interspersed black and white tulips! The gardeners had to keep track of the separate colors. They most likely measured the distance between the bulbs in order to establish the meandering design.

Planting annuals in bloom would be easier for establishing the design, but planting enough to create the masses would be a tedious task. These gardens (I'm guessing) were probably planted by volunteer gardeners.

Getting out of our own gardens to see the creations of others gives us new ideas. Do you have a black and white flower garden? Do you want one? If so, what plants have you/would you select for your garden?


Photos and story by Freda Cameron; Location: Giverny (village), France; May 2009

Staycation?!................make it good!

Travel is a mainstay of my life. (why is this underlining everything???) But, time and finances are too. When not traveling for business, these days it is at home during the weekends doing paperwork, massive quantities of paperwork. For the moment I would rather dream of having an at home escape, a garden shed.


Love this one. You can hardly call this a garden shed but maybe a magical structure on water, beautifully decorated and enchanting evening garden house.
This is a treasured clients outhouse turned storage shed. Robin's home is an 1870's ish Italianate Victorian and this is the original outhouse. We created the Chicago street brick surround and miniature garden to nestle it within it's surroundings.



This is a 100+ year old writer's space detached from the main house. Wild about the door/window curved paneled feature. Any of these structures become immensely important within the confines of a thoughtful garden.


I could throw on my wellies, lots of sweaters, light the pot belly stove, hot chocolate, dogs, blankets and magazines


Allow your imagination to soar. ANYTHING MADE OF STONE IS SPECTACULAR. Size does not matter, just the details.


This could be the shed of my dreams too. A perfect potting shed set within the vegetable garden.
Look at that door, the triple eight topiaries, the three dimensional design element near the peak and a cupola.



Some, however, I could live in full time




Stay with me here for a moment, we can all do this, really! Lot size does not matter, Daddy Warbucks is not needed...............Let's take your basic shed, one handy man/woman, imagination, paint, a garden or call Scentimental Gardens for all of the above.
Here is what I would do to this poor soul;

• a tin roof
• shingle siding
• painted to match the color scheme of my home
• remove solid door and replace with french door
• add a huge window to the left of the door
• put wooden shutters on windows WITH SHUTTER DOGS
  
• window box under big window
• trellising on the ends (see next photo)
• add a lantern
• add climbing roses, boxwood.....

Maybe not all at once, but have a plan...............


Elements can be borrowed from this photo to dress up your shed; trellising over shingles, adds dimension and textural interest. How about trim? This is substantial trim that makes a statement. Personally I favor the color scheme too.



Charmingly simple. The addition of this overhang makes all the difference.



The tin roof, monochromatic color scheme, shutters, small front porch.......



Stone again.....sigh......... unless this was strictly for storage a french door would be swapped out



In England, the private chapel, yesssssss, all estates of merit possessed a private chapel!
Today, it resides as a treasured get-away, with faded chintz down arm chairs, ottomans, a tea trolley, dog bed, lace curtains and magazines. (I made the last part up, can you tell I am longing for England?)



Open air, good views



Take one little underused shed, add flea market found columns, one sign, gardens and voila! A charming outpost.



An urban setting in San Francisco. Imagine this setting, which is quite small, minus the garden shed, what would you have? Yes, a beautiful view in San Francisco, but.............the shed becomes an architectural focal point in addition to the function of a garden cottage.




Could you handle this!? The inside of one woman's shed. Composed of mostly found bits which together create a unique haven.



Conversely, here is a more masculine but cozy interior. Below is the artistry of this special garden house.

Look close, to the left, there is my friend Marsha, covering her face. But she is running, running out of her shed to the approaching tray.
What would summer in the garden be without a little getaway cottage and a bit of Lillet on ice with an orange slice served on a tray?
(Yes Marsha you know I am talking about you xxo)

Remember us, Scentimental Gardens, for all your garden needs

Debra

Starbucks and Boob shirts

Since it takes me a whole day before getting back to Starbucks, it means I don’t always get to write about newer things on my mind. Such as the following:The girls are currently cleaning their room, SoccerBoy has just finished mowing the grass and Little A is sitting in front of the TV watching a “So Smart! Video” which we’ll review in a day or two, right now I’ll just say he LOVES Iggy on it.

Zinnias - An Annual Event

This is the first summer that I've sown zinnia seeds. The success rate and beauty of these annuals has convinced me that these are great flowers for the garden and for cutting. Zinnias have earned their way into my garden from now on!

I've focused on the taller varieties such as Benary's Giant Purple and Giant Lilac as well as Lilac Emperor Cactus Flowered and a few other miscellaneous types.

The tall varieties that are 30-36 inches tall fit in well with perennial salvias such as 'Black & Blue' and 'Mystic Spires'. The zinnias are also easy to mix with other plants with spire-shaped blooms such as agastache 'Heather Queen' and 'Purple Pygmy'.

This year's color scheme has been based on deep rose/magenta to light pink and purple blooms. I also have a few of the green blooms and have recently sown Giant White (not yet in bloom).

As sometimes happens with seeds, there is one "stray" in the mix, but it is such a pleasant golden yellow/orange zinnia that I want to use it in a mass planting.

I will mix hot colors of zinnias in the butterfly garden next summer. I've not had a problem with deer eating the zinnias, but the seedlings must be protected from rabbits until the flowers are tall enough to be out of reach.

Since early May, I've been direct sowing the seeds about every two weeks in the cottage garden and even out in the deer resistant garden to see how quickly they germinate and bloom. I try to sow the seeds right after, or right before, a good rainfall. Keeping the seeds moist in full sun works well for starting the zinnia seeds.

With annuals this pretty and this reliable, I may move a few perennials from one of the cottage garden beds to make room for more zinnias. Next year, I won't be so tentative about when and where to plant the zinnias! I want huge mass plantings for more impact instead of a scattering here and there.

One more thing... I love to photograph these blooms!


Photos and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; July 2009.

The Life of a Home Mom: Blog Hop '09

Alright ya'll, as you already know I am not going to be at BlogHer, no matter how hard I click my red shoes together. But I am going to jump in and join all those wonderful blog ladies that are doing the Blog Hop 09. What does this mean? Oh I simply introduce myself and the family.Howdy ya'll, how ya doing? Let me Welcome you to The Life of a Home Mom! I'm so happy you can make it and hope that

Killing Time & Getting a Break

Okay I'm still waiting but I hear I should have that little device on Monday. So ya'll wish me tons of luck. Honestly it hasn't been all that bad, I've discovered that I won't die with my internet off for a few days but I will come very batty. I mean you take out the TV, four kids that don't always want to play with mommy and only movies you've already watched a bazillion times and tell me what

Beware an Email Scam

Over the last few months, I've received the exact same message from folks who have my email address. The message was roughly "I'm stuck in England without my wallet, please send cash." Since I had a long career in information technology (IT) I knew a scam when I saw one.

While the spam scams look like legitimate email accounts of people you know, these are actually spoofed addresses. I know how to look at the full message header of an email to see the real addresses. These emails did not come from the person or the email address that you recognize!

In other words, if you reply to that scam message, you are not replying to the real owner of the email! You are replying to a hidden email address. Then... they have YOUR verification that your email address is real. To email the REAL person about the email, you need to create a separate email message and tell them.

DO NOT REPLY to the spoofed email! Delete the message. Write a new and separate email message to the owner of the account to tell them what you received. They can change the password to their account and inform their email provider.

Since the address looks like a legitimate email address, if you mark it as spam, then you won't receive the emails from the real owners of the addresses.

How does a scammer/spammer get your email address? Typically what happens is that someone opens an email that contains an attachment or image that unleashes a malicious program. That program "reads" the entire contact list stored in the address book... first names, last names and email addresses. The program collects the data and sends it back to the spammer/scammer who is then able to then "write" emails to every address collected.

If you get a scam email, it doesn't necessarily really mean that the owner's email account was hacked. It could be that their email address was picked up in someone else's contact list. What could also be happening is that one of the social media websites (forums, chat rooms, etc.) could have been hacked to obtain all of the email addresses.

What does the scam text inside the email message say?

†††
Hello,

How are you doing? Hope all is well with you and your family, I am sorry I didn't inform you about my traveling to England for a Seminar/conference.

I need a favor from you as soon as you receive this email, I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money, and other valuable things were kept. Can you urgently assist me with a soft loan of $2,600 US Dollars to sort-out my hotel bills and get myself back home. You are the only one I can trust with this, please can this be between us? You have my word; I will refund you as soon as I return.

I will appreciate whatever you can afford, I'll pay you back as soon as I return I promise, Let me know if you can assist, to enable me send you the details to use in sending the money through western union.

With gusto,

†††

Whenever an email sounds suspicious, it probably is.

When I first starting seeing this scam, I removed my email address from my blog. That's why my "Drop me a note" widget is missing from my blog. It is also a possibility that a "bot" crawled the blogs looking for standard email addresses and the email tag within the html source code of the web pages.

I don't know if anyone has received one of these from my email address, but just in case... I'm not in England either. I'm home!

Freda Cameron

Hello blogging friends! Thank you all so much for the sweet comments that were left on my last post. I hope my formula works for those of you who are giving it a try. Honestly, this is the best year I've had for hanging baskets. I thought I'd show you a picture of the other hanging baskets. I am still amazed at how much they've grown.

I also thought I'd share the view we have from our porch...this is it on a nice day. I love this view so much and really enjoy how it changes through the seasons.

As you can see, the view isn't that good on a rainy day.

This is Lil Mama...one of the kittens. She is one of the sweetest little gals ever! They all spend a lot of time enjoying the comfy furniture on the porch.This is Bubba, the only boy in the bunch. He didn't appreciate having his picture taken...lol.

Thank you so much for stopping by...I hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Please stop by again...I enjoy the company.

♥ Kim

Garden Fresh Meals

I could just sip from this hummingbird feeder, but I'd rather have garden fresh meals. My gardener works very hard to grow flowers just for me, so let's see what's blooming in my garden.


I have to start my day early in the morning. I'm very methodical as I check out all the blooms before the competition shows up. More hummingbirds have been trying to move into my garden lately, so I have to sit up in the top of the trees where I can stand guard over my food source.


My gardener grows salvia in so many different colors. She has red, white, purple, dark blue, light blue and these magenta blooms. Because the deer don't eat the flowers that she grows for me, there's plenty of nectar available here.


Although I love all of the salvias, the one called 'Black & Blue' is my favorite! My gardener knows this and is growing fifteen of these cobalt blue salvias just for me. Don't those flowers look delicious?


There are also several pretty colors of bee balm (monarda) growing in this garden. Those are tasty, but they don't bloom all summer long. It's a good thing that my gardener grows other flowers for me. Her husband keeps the hummingbird feeders filled when there aren't many flowers in bloom. My gardener recently deadheaded the monarda. Maybe they'll bloom again. I noticed new buds forming on the plants today.


Of course, my gardener grows a lot of hummingbird mint for me, too. I've noticed people call it agastache. It smells so good. I can't decide which flavor I like the best, but the 'Purple Pygmy', 'Salmon & Pink' and the 'Heather Queen' have perfect flowers for sipping nectar. The agastache blooms all summer long and lasts until I migrate south in the autumn.

If more people would grow hummingbird food, maybe I could have this garden all to myself!


Photos and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; July 2009

Garden Report

Baby SparrowJuly 19, 2009We continue to see below average temperatures with above average rainfall. On rainy days garden planning continues indoors where I'm working on the final design for the vegetable garden. I've been doing a bit of research on fruit trees, grapes and chickens all of which we hope to have incorporated into the garden by next spring. Over the next few months there will be a

Bad Week and I broke the Internet Connection Now

Hmmm, what can I blog about today? Well for starters, I broke the connection to the internet. Ya know that little part that you stick in the side of your computer to connect it? Well I won’t go into full details but we’ll just say I tripped and it fell on its side and broke off that little piece. I now have to wait until Friday to get it and hope that they will have it in the store on Friday. If

Wrong Label - Buy When Plant is in Bloom!

I didn't learn my lesson! Two years ago, a friend and I both bought gaillardia 'Golden Goblin' that turned out to NOT be that yellow blanket flower. I shopped the same nursery several times this year and came home with more 'Golden Goblin' in small cell packs without blooms.

Those plants started blooming this week and they are NOT yellow! I have to move them out of the bed they are in and move them to the hot colors of the butterfly garden. Again. I still haven't moved all of the other blanket flowers from the first mislabeling mistake.

This is a rant of mine. I've been bitten by the mislabeling of plants too many times. It's difficult to dig up plants and take them back to a nursery for replacement. Should I? Would you? I've contacted mail order nurseries in the past and gotten replacements. They were very nice about it and didn't want me to return the plants.

These mislabeled gaillardia were purchased as small cell packs of four plants for less than one large plant. While I'm upset about my waste of time and garden space, that's not a significant amount of money to go get replacements - it would be a two hour roundtrip and I know that I'd just spend more money on other plants.


Does 'Golden Goblin' really exist? Yes. I bought a few of those plants in bloom (for $4.99 in large pots) at another nursery this year. The blooms are lovely, especially with the deep blue salvia 'Mystic Spires'. It was worth the higher cost to get the correct plants!

Gaillardia 'Golden Goblin' and all other varieties of blanket flower have been deer and rabbit resistant for me, planted at the top of the garden edge along the meadow within easy reach of all critters. This perennial is a lovely soft golden yellow color through-and-through. GG is rated for zones 3-9 and is a bit more than 12 inches high in my garden.

Back to the garden... I have gaillardia to move!


Photos and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; July 2009

Wordless Wednesday: Mom & Daughter

Happy WW! I decided since I don't normally post pics of myself this would be the perfect one. I did post it on facebook for those that follow me there you may have already seen it. This was done at the request of my daughter who said, "Mom, please take a picture of me." Then she requested I put my hair in pigtails too.Happy WW! Leave a comment so I can visit you too.

Need a Deer Fence Around Your Flower Garden?

You don't necessarily need a fence to keep the deer from eating your flower garden. It all depends upon what you plant and how you plant it.

Yes, deer will eat a lot of plants like hostas, phlox, hydrangeas, daylilies and other favorite flowers. To grow plants that deer like, you do need a fence or a high-maintenance repellent plan. Spraying plants repeatedly with repellents is costly and time-consuming. And, just when you miss an application of repellent, the deer will move in and munch the plants. Do you really want bars of soap hanging on your plants? Do you really like to go through electric wire to see your flowers?

To garden happily alongside deer, give up on what they like and find your new favorites among the many deer resistant plants.

There are lots of colorful flowers you can grow that deer won't destroy. My favorite perennials are agastache, salvia, nepeta and gaillardia. Cleome, snapdragons, marigolds and larkspur are my favorite annuals. Buddleia, osmanthus fragrans, clumping bamboo and crepe myrtle are my favorite deer resistant ornamentals. Herbs like thyme, lavender, rosemary, oregano and basil grow in my gardens. Bulbs include daffodils, Dutch irises, allium and Spanish bluebells.

Deer will sample a lot of plants, so even the most deer resistant plants may have an occasional missing bloom or leaf. However, the deer aren't as likely to do sufficient damage to keep you from enjoying the flowers and foliage of select plants. In times of severe drought or overcrowding of habitat - when no food is available in the wild, starving deer will eat unusual plants in order to survive.

I've also learned that a large garden that is wide and long, with no clear path for the deer to travel is less likely to be entered. I do have stepping stone paths through my garden and the deer know where those are located. However, since I grow deer resistant plants, their efforts to come into the garden haven't been rewarding. What's the point of going to a restaurant if you don't like what's on the menu? The deer have learned that my garden isn't appetizing or filling.

To block the deer path that was established before I started the garden, I planted large woody ornamentals such as clumping (not running) bamboo, ornamental grasses, bronze fennel, rosemary, buddleia and mass plantings of tall agastache 'Blue Fortune' and 'Salmon and Pink'. These tall and wide ornamental plantings have now grown close together to form a "green" deer fence that cuts off their old trail.

Deer do not like to enter an area where they cannot see an exit. They do not like to be trapped or cornered. By forming "walls" with the taller deer resistant plants, I've blocked the view and not given them anything interesting to nibble.

My deer resistant gardens were planted in 2007. I am still adding and subtracting plants for design and weather conditions, rather than the deer.

I don't stress out over the deer in my garden. I can relax and enjoy the flowers.


Photos and story by Freda Cameron; Location: Home Garden; July 2009