Indoor pants

 It rained off and on today so I thought it would be a good time to give some of my houseplants and fairy gardens some attention.

The other nice thing about spending the day indoors is that it gave me a chance to make some pretty cards, do some watercolors and write a few letters.

In the middle of this table is a fairy garden that becomes a bit funnier all of the time. It's now got a little party going on in it with gnomes and a fairy at the bar and a few turtles wandering around the place.

Many of these small pots were transplanted into larger planters so that should clear off this table a bit and make it more useable at tea time.

Every plant tells a story

My father in law was famous for the strawberries he grew so this little garden combines some strawberries with chives given to me by a good friend and a bit heritage lettuce to round out the theme and add to lunch.

As you can see many of my plants have little scenes in them, First they're just there for fun and the added benefit is that having enough things in the way seems to keep the animals from digging up my plants.

 
The trees tell a story too. These are at least 70 years  old and leave a good part of the front yard in shade all of the time. Cool and comfy but a real challenge got trying to grow a garden here. We have no idea how tall they are and no one who's been here can figure it out either.

Humor, fun and lunch in the garden

This tea table sits up against the edge of the driveway to make it handy for guests that can't walk very far and to make it easy for me to roll up to in the wheelchair. It's working really well so far.

All of the plants in this fairy garden are lunch. there are strawberry plants, chives and lettuce.

 I love the view going down into the garden from the deck at the top end of the ramp. When I get all the plants and flowers in it will be even better.

As well as humor in a garden it's important to have a bit of heritage and some fond memories.

The agates I've top dressed this pot with were collected and polished by a favorite Aunt and Uncle on their travels and makes us happy whenever we see them.

Gnomes in the Fairy Garden

I don't have any actual fairy gardens yet but I've been gathering things together and sticking them my plants while I plan a few for this season.

House Plants

Now that I'm putting some of the garden seedlings outdoors I'm getting a bit silly with houseplants left behind.

Bringing in the fairy garden for the season

I removed the summer flowers and the agates and took a few minutes to re-arrange things and trim the "trees". Now I'm kicking around plans for the winter garden season. If I get enough sunlight from this window I'm considering using it for an herb garden or filling it with micro greens so that it will be useful as well as ornamental. I'll keep you posted on my progress..

Becca's Art in the Fairy Garden

Becca is a clay artist too and made the Gnome, horse and birdbath here.

  

Julia painted the furniture, Birdhouse and watering can along with the little stand for the gazing ball.

It will be time to bring the fairy garden indoors for the season soon and a few changes may be made then.
(those tiny purple flowers don't do well in the house)

The little plants that I'm using for trees in here have nearly doubled in size this summer!

New Potatoes for Lunch Raspberries for Dessert

I had a chance to get out in my container garden today but forgot to bring my camera along. It will be a while before I figure out what I can and can't drag along with the wheelchair.

I trimmed up and re-arranged the Fairy Garden and then noticed my potato plants had more or less dropped over and were staring to shrivel up so I though I might as well pull them and make lunch.

When I've finished cleaning out that big pot I'll try some late season lettuce, radishes and maybe some peas.

That end of my driveway doesn't get a lot of strong sun so I think they'll be fine.

We've had enough black raspberries coming that I've been able to send pints home with everyone that's stopped by to visit.

I'm thinking about throwing some into muffins at tea time.

I need to be doing some drawing and painting but haven't quite gotten around to it lately

Mysterious Islands, Multi Colored Carrots and a Fairy Garden

As you may have noticed by the gap between posts I've been spending most of my time designing products with my drawings and paintings on them for Zazzle and Cafe Press.

The weather remained wet and cool so there wasn't much that I wanted to do outdoors, still I wanted to "play in the dirt" so I consoled myself by adding some Alyssum plants with purple flowers to the fairy garden and saving some money because I got 6 plants for 1.88. (You just can't go wrong with about 30 cents per plant) I'm hoping that by cutting them back often I'll be able to keep them from outgrowing the garden.

Yes, I picked up the flowers while over at the garden center to pick up the soil mixes that I wanted to plant my favorite carrots in. I have the heirloom seed that grows white yellow or orange and I mixed in a packet of atomic reds just to make the assortment a bit more interesting. I used the large containers by the studio that I had such good luck with last year so that will make thinning and picking the carrots easier.

I also painted some daisies on various items in the fairy garden to brighten things up. In between all of this we made a double feature of Mysterious Island movies starting with the 1961 version, breaking for lunch and the garden center and following with the Hallmark Version which has Patrick Stewart playing Captain Nemo. As you can imagine there are an interesting array of differences between the two and made it a pleasant way to spend the day.

Fairy Garden for indoors

  I paid two dollars and ninety eight cents for a schefflera called "moon drop"  which will become a couple of trees in my little garden. I'm adding an echeveria called "lola" (which cost the same amount) as an accent. They have similar light requirements but different water needs so we'll see how this works out.

There were several places to fill in as some of the summer/outdoor plants had failed.

  I've also added a clay birdbath that one of my sisters had made and a few agates collected by an uncle and aunt. I'm liking the look of things so far, aren't you?

My little garden will be sharing my little work space in the dining room for the winter.

A gazing ball for the fairy garden

It looked like this when I bought it.

I base coated it in two shades of white and added a few designs in blue.

I'll be adding a couple of new plants and more agates before bringing it in for the winter.

 I photographed it from a few different angles to help me decide whether or not this is the way I want things arranged. It might look nicer if I switch places between the chair and the gazing ball, what do you think?

 The possibilities are endless and I think it will go through a number of different looks over the winter to keep this gardener happy when the snow flies.

A walk in the front garden, The big rosebushes are blooming

I never did get these roses untangled. There are at least 3 or 4 different varieties in this mess but it's all blooming and I guess we'll just enjoy that and hope to get back to transplanting next spring.

Are you tired of all of this blue yet? I Love it!

Finishing touches on the fairy garden and where I put it

Fairy Garden

I'm having a lot of fun with this, I painted the chair and table with Martha Stewart craft paint in a color called Greek tile which goes really well with the other blues that I use in my regular garden.

I'll be painting that bench to match and also a tiny arbor to go along with the one at the front of my regular garden.

The finishing touch is a collection of agates from a favorite Aunt and Uncle. this little garden celebrates all of the things and people I love most. There's even a tiny shovel and watering can to remind folks how much I love to garden.