Cool Aqua

 Hello everyone,
            Hope you all had a happy weekend and for us Canadians it is a long one as today is still a holiday.We had beautiful weather here but my heart goes out to our American friends who have had extreme weather conditions.

 This old sea shell belonged to my aunt and I would like to know the story behind it but alas too late.

Aqua pitcher with white roses

I took these photos last week after my aqua daze tablescape and they were a lot less work and in the end I think I liked them better. There is something to be said for keeping it simple!

All thrift shop or yardsale dishes.

I hope you enjoyed some cool aqua!

Thank you for visiting,

Carolyn

The Garden Bench

 Hello everyone,
             I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend. Here in Canada it is a long weekend as we are celebrating Canada Day .today.

Come and sit for a spell on the garden bench and smell the roses. The roses are Snow Pavement and they have a wonderful fragrance.

A basket full of peonies

The hydrangea in a planter.

The roses are more abundant this year then ever before-must be the weather.

I hope you have some time to stop and smell the roses and to all my Canadian friends Happy Canada Day!

Thank you for visiting,
Carolyn

Refreshing 'Little Lime' Hydrangea

First bloom of 'Little Lime' Hydrangea. June 28, 2012.

What's the most refreshing bloom color on a 100°+ summer day?  My vote goes to the huge, cool snowballs of 'Little Lime'™ hardy hydrangea from Proven Winners®. 

I know! I know! I'm obsessed with refreshing lime and refreshed light green garden benches to cool down my garden!

After seven years of waiting for shade, I finally have a spot for hydrangea, my favorite summer shrub. At previous homes, I grew so many different varieties, but here in my small cottage garden, the small sliver of all-day shade requires a small shrub. In late May, while on a plant shopping trip to Big Bloomers in Sanford, I asked for 'Little Lime' and they had it in stock! Fortunately, with deep watering, it is well-established in time for this run of triple-digit heat.

'Little Lime' is not that tiny—the height and spread will be between 36-60 inches. I'm totally okay with a bit of overlap onto my path and through the fence, but since it blooms on new wood, size won't be much of an issue. With a zone rating of 3a-9b, I'm also encouraged by the hardiness since I'm in 7b. My theory is that if a plant can handle at least two zones colder and two zones hotter, then it should be a stellar performer.

In my excitement to show you this hydrangea, I took photos before the shrub is in full bloom. None of the companions are in bloom, but my color scheme is simple—use lime-to-white with blue-lavender-purple flowers.

There's an existing clematis 'Jackmanii' on the right that blooms purple in late spring.

To the left (and not shown because the plants are newly planted and not blooming), I'm using white phlox 'David', white milkweed (asclepias incarnata 'Ice Ballet') to provide flower form similar to the hydrangea.  The blue mist flowers of hardy ageratum 'Wayside' were transplanted to fill in around the perennials to provide some separation between the lime and white blooms.

In front of the tall phlox and milkweed, I've added purple/blue hardy geranium 'Rozanne' because this combination, with white phlox, is a favorite in another bed in the cottage garden. 'Rozanne' mounds and scrambles as well as provides another leaf shape.

For a bit of foliage filler in front of the blues, the green/white leaves of annual 'polka dot' plant echoe the white theme.

On the outside of the fence, the row of lavender blooming crepe myrtles (probably 'Muskogee') are assisting the weeping willow to provide shade.

What's your favorite color of cool?

Blue-purple geranium 'Rozanne' scrambles up the tall, white Phlox 'David'
in another location in my cottage garden. June 28, 2012.

Hardy ageratum (shown from another garden section)
is to provide filler between the white and blooms of phlox, milkweed
and the lime hydrangea.

A row of three lavender crepe myrtles outside the cottage garden
provide shade for the new hydrangea
(inside the fence and away from the deer). June 28, 2012

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

~♥ Kitchen Corner ♥~

I enjoy spending time in my kitchen.  Whenever I was little I spent a lot of time with my Gram in her kitchen.  I'd watch her make pies, helped her cut squares for her quilts, play cards with her or just spend time talking with her.  I wanted a kitchen that was as welcoming as her kitchen was.

I thought I'd share a little corner of my kitchen with you.

I like to keep things handy for my family to snack on.  There's usually something yummy in the cookie jar or on the cake plate.  I love having my Keurig available for a quick Cup O' Joe.  I keep the K-cups handy in the bottom bowl.  Above it are various breakfast bars for when we're on the run in the morning and we don't have time for a good breakfast.  I have started to collect juicers.  I have two on the table that I bought at thrift stores and the green one on the window sill belonged to my Gram.  The school chalkboard was given to me by a friend.  I like to change the message on it using my Chalk Ink markers.   Click Here to Visit the Chalk Ink Website!

Thank you for stopping by...I always enjoy the company.

♥ Kim

My Ornamental Garden Plans

When we first viewd our new home, the garden that accent the front and sides of the house as well as the perimeter of the back yard appeared lush.  When we moved in, we quickly realized thistles were quite problematic in most of the garden beds.  The plantings were ecclectic, and too much.  Once again we resigned ourselves to ripping out the gardens and starting fresh with the look we wanted.

Love Is In The Air

Love is in the air, everywhere you look around.

Love is in the air, in every sight and every sound.

That was Mr. Comforts and my song.  We met 34 years ago and married 33 years ago.  

So this weekend for our anniversary we are taking a little 2 day trip to Blowing Rock, NC.

See you all in a few days.

Garden Benches Refreshed

Many, many years ago at a property that I no longer own, a neighboring farmer teased me when I was painting my old, weathered barn. He said "A little bit of powder, a little bit of paint will make it look like what it ain't."

It was true that the old barn had warped boards and a rusty metal roof. It needed more help than a coat of paint. Fortunately, my metal garden benches were showing only a bit of rust and faded color—easily remedied by a good scrubbing and a coat of fresh paint. After seven years in the garden, I was ready to use some color.

I bought the spray paint, Valspar® Satin Leafy Rise, as my color of choice. It's a pale green that looks so much cooler than the dark bronze of the cottage garden bench or the black of the gravel garden bench. I also painted a rusty metal plant stand and a pot.

I'll have a solid color deck stain mixed to match the benches to use on our two wooden bridges. One wooden bridge is in the cottage garden over the flowing stream and the other is over the dry stream in the gravel garden.

For the last few days and the last cool temperatures of June, we've enjoyed sitting on both benches. With temperatures soaring to above 105°F today and tomorrow, we won't be sitting outside on the benches again soon!

Cottage garden bench was painted from bronze to green.
The willow tree has matured over seven years. I removed a jasmine
from the stone fence column as well as two large shrubs on either side of the bench.
I've been replanting the areas with perennials and will finish the make-over in the fall.

The gravel garden bench was black (and rusty) before being painted.
I'm still using containers that I had on hand, but continue to look
for upgrades that I like (or paint all containers to match).
The lavender plants in the urns have just been trimmed and a
few annuals were added around the juniper.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.