Afternoons in the garden,milkweed, hosta and painting

 We let a lot of milkweed grow here for the butterflies.

We divide and move hosta every year and it never disappoints. The color and the flowers are always a welcome change in any part of the yard.

 Most days in this part of the summer we keep both the work table and the tea table in the shade of the front garden where it's handy if anyone stops to visit or just to see what we're working on around here.

Sunday Bird Watching and other hobbies

It looks like we're getting a positive reaction to the new art work on the bird bath. The cardinal has never used it before in all the years it was green or blue and he ignored it when it was plain white so we were really excited to see him today. Doug shot this photo.

Good Morning!

Yes, I shot this photo from my living room chair. The window screen keeps it from being as clear a photo as I'd like it to be but there was something delicious about being able to sit back and have one more cup of coffee before writing this post. I'll include the other photo and finish up so I can get busy around here.

As I'm doing this, I'm also embroidering a handkerchief for my Mom and sorting through some things on my desk. Yes, I'm easily distracted and anxious to get back out in the garden again.

My first project will be to smooth out the finish on the big patio table  and paint it white. It's a disaster right now because I've been using it as a worktable for painting and carving projects as well as a potting table for transplanting container plants.

Once it's been painted ( I'll start at the legs and go until I run out of paint)
I'll be using it to replace the small tea table in the front garden so that I'll have more room for my guests. I always use a tablecloth for company so If I run out of paint it won't show. (I'm aware of the impact on the environment and try not to use anymore spray paint than I have to. Most of the time I'm just recycling bits of cans that people had left over)

Once that table is taken care of it will be time to get back to my plants before they run away completely. The last rains we had did have them growing like mad and tumbling out of the pots already-I LOVE it! 

I'm off to the garden now,
Julia

Garden Tea

 This is just the unused end of the driveway but I'm attempting to turn it into a patio and container garden. Work is going slowly but each year it gets a little better.

I sewed the cloth napkins by hand.

 I also sewed the cloth under the teapots.

I like the idea of entertaining in a space where herbs fruits and veggies are handy providing anyone drops by when things are ready to pick.

I ended up bringing in some TV trays so I am trying to decide whether to use a larger tea table after this or just move plants off the small mesh table so that we can keep it as an end table next to the glider.

We've brought an old, white wicker chair up out of the back garden and we'll try to put the stack planter on that to free up the mesh table. 

This part of the garden is also where we've created a bit of interest and fun by setting up little scenes in some of the plants.

 This table is down in the front garden and is a good place to escape midday heat and sun.

Teatime in the garden

The lace is nice, isn't it? The great thing about this is that it's vinyl and you can even leave it outside if you want to. It all looks even better when I put the cushions and pillows on the furniture.

Every day I pick a bit of whatever's blooming and put it in that old granite ware coffee pot.