June Blooms

Now that July has arrived I thought I would share what June brought to my garden.
The month of June has a special place in my heart. It was my sweet mothers name, (now two great grandaughters have it as a middle name) and also the month in which she was born. It is the official month of summer, and also when some of my favorte flowers bloom.


I planted pansies last Fall. Can't believe that they still look this pretty!
Normally I would have pulled them out by now. I guess all that Spring
rain helped. I've planted some petunias so there will be color when they
finally are spent. Don't you love that word 'Spent"? Just tells it like it is.
Sometimes we ourselves feel a little 'spent' after working hard and trying
to look good all day.



Sweet Peas-these are among my favorites

Delphiniums- Another favorite

Sweet Williams

Lillies, these were just given to me a few weeks ago, by my

friend, Shelley. Wasn't sure if they'd bloom this year.

Ground cover, Snow in the Summer

carnations

Salvia

Scabiosa

Coral Bells

Spiderwort

Wild Geranium

Penstemon-Husker Red

Jupiters Beard

Most of these are starts that I brought from my Highland home last Fall.
Don't you love that they are so willing to be moved to a new home?
In fact, sometimes they thrive in a new environment.

Creating the "Cottage Garden"-phase 1

Ever since we moved into our new home last July I have been dreaming of creating a new "Cottage Garden". You know, the kind where flowers and vines grow rampant everywhere. And the atmosphere is so inviting that you never want to leave. This will not happen overnite, but the anticipation is delightful! This year will be phase 1. I have a feeling that it will be phase 3 or 4 before it's finished. That's alright though, remember-"Patience is a virtue". I know that it will all be worth it in the long run. I thought that I would share my progress with you for the next few months. Hope you enjoy it. In one of my garden magazines it listed 10 things you need to do to create the 'perfect' cottage garden. Over time I will share them with you as well as a few of my own ideas.


1. Include Vintage Treasures in your landscaping.

As you might well guess, this was an easy one for me. I've been collecting treasures (junk) for many years. This chicken feeder is planted with a purple pincushion flower and a clematis is planted at the base of the small ladder.

I think that this milk crate and dolly saw some working days in their time. I'm sure that they'd much rather be holding plants.

Not sure if this pillar was ever used in a church. It certainly looks like something a preacher would have stood behind. Boy, I bet it could tell some good stories. If it could only talk!


2. Plant in unusual containers

This old mop bucket holds my mint in the herb garden. It's a great way to control the spread of the runners it shoots out. I couldn't have an herb garden without mint. Love the smell when you brush against it.

This vintage stove was given to me by a friend years ago. Originally, I had it in my family room. When I grew tired of it inside I coaxed my hubby to move it outdoors. The beast is SOOO heavy. He vowed to never move it again. I love it and hated the thoughts of leaving it at the old house. When Mothers Day was approaching I told my children that all I wanted was for my sons and son-in-laws to move my old stove up to the new home. Hooray! See, mother does know best. My hubby caved and helped move it. He's a keeper!

3. Provide homes for feathered friends

Still love birdhouses!

4. Plant flowering trees

Golden chain, I had one at my Highland home and I loved it.



5. Plant old fashioned flowers

Iris-one of my favorites because my mother had alot of them in our garden. That is where I developed my love of gardening, home sweet home! Some of my Iris are starts from my mother and sister Dolores.

Peonies-can't wait until they are big and bushy!

Poppies-these are starts given to my by a sweet old man who use to cut wood for a craft shop I ran with my partner, Diana. He and his wife have both passed on. I think of them whenever I see the bright orange blossoms.

Batchelor Buttons-this is the perennial version. I also love the annual ones that just reseed wherever they feel like it.

There are alot more flowers and ideas I hope to share with you over the next few months. Hope you enjoy! Until then, happy gardening!

Le Potpourri-A gathering of good things

For over 20 years I have been a member of a club
called "Le Potpourri". It means a gathering of good things.
We all have such diverse pesonalities, but when we get together
good times and good things are definately on the agenda.
We have about 20 members and meet once a month for fun
and every now and then something educational. Our youngest
member is almost 50 and I can't say how old our two oldest
members are or I may not be here to ever blog again! Each
Spring we get-a-way to St. George for our last HOORAH until
we meet again in the Fall. About half of the members go.

Like I said, diverse pesonalities; but oh so fun! We do get
a bit crazy now and then.


This is Roylene, our cute hostess who lets us
stay in her condo. While there it looks like a
twister hit it. Before we leave we all work
together and WA-LA! It looks like a home again.


One of the first things we do is head to Walmart to buy us
all matching p.j's. Over the years we've had some fun ones.
One time a lady saw us all gathered around a rack and she
came over to see if there was a blue light special. After I
snapped this pic a employee told me that I was not allowed
to take photos in their store. Oops!

This year 12 of us went. We had air mattress city going on.
We stay up late so Dawn had a bit of a hard time getting her
beauty sleep. Oh well, she's cute enough don't you think?

At night we watch movies and stitch. Everyone brings projects
from home to work on. This year Beth, one of our committee
members was determined to make eveyone a watermelon
hot pad.

TA-DA! with the help of Juanita and Kath -mission
accomplished.!!

Kathy bought fabric and Diana helped her make
this cute whack and stack table topper. Now she
just needs to add borders. Aren't the fabrics cute!

Sometimes we need a break from stitching and play greedy.
A wild and crazy dice game. Don't they look like a lively bunch?
Could be that it's because it's going on 1:00 in the morning.

During the day we shop. ( Betty and Marilyn)

And Shop. (Jeanne, Roylene, Beth, and Betty


And Shop. (Diana, Me, Kathy, Betty, and Beth)

And Shop. (Roylene and Beth) Believe me I could have

posted alot more shopping pics. Sometimes I was so busy

shopping that I forgot to take pictures.

Fri. we went to yard sales. (Deb, Diana, Dawn, and Juanita)

Oh what treasures we find! (Dawn, Deb, someone wishing

they were in our club, Betty, and Kathy)

Diana cheering us on to find more, more,

more treasures!

This year we went to the movies and saw "Letters

to Juliet" definately a chick flick! We got to shoot

an arrow (in celebration of the new Robin Hood)

If you hit the Bulls-eye you got a free combo meal.

Just watching us all try to shoot was entertainment

in itself. Actually though, Deb did win. She shot after we

had all moved on to the Juliet wall and we didn't get

to see her shoot. Darn, would have loved to see it!

Signing on the Juliet wall.

The committee had fun projects for us to make.

Jeanne is making a cute flower pin.

Deb working on the watermelon pincushions that they had

already pieced for us. We just had to sew them and stuff them.

Aren't they so SWEET! They also made us cute plate stands

to display them on. Two thumbs up committee!

Some of us are quite proud of our completed projects!

(Me and Diana)

Look what else the committee did. Pampered us with facials.

Dead or Alive? They look so relaxed it's hard to tell.

Juanita and Kathy prepping for their facial.

Marilyn - "ready or not, here I come"

After our facials we headed to the pool for some fun aerobic

exercises. Kathy couldn't get enough of the circle.

Connie snapped a fun pic of us in the pool, but

it turned out too dark. Here's a hint of what we

looked like posing for it. Not sure if we were

the ugly ducklings or the beautiful swan.

Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

One thing I can tell you for sure is that I love

these ladies. You couldn't find a more beautiful and

fun bunch of women anywhere! Can't wait till next year!!

Childhood Relived

Yesterday my youngest daughter Kylee and her husband came over to watch the Jazz game with us. They have only been married about a year and a half. They lived with us for 6 months while they looked for a home to buy. We thought that we had sold our home in Highland so I brought home some of the things that I had left in it. Among those items were Kylees toys from when she was a child. I put them in the closet of the spare bedroom, which is where Kylee and Dustin slept when they lived with us. I thought that would be a place where the grand children could get them to play with. In doing so I found some items that Kylee and Dustin had left behind when they moved out. When there was a commercial during the game I asked Kylee to go see if there were any of those items that they wanted. When she went upstairs to check she was gone for quite a long while. Finally, she arrived down stairs. I asked her what took her so long and did she want any of those items? She replied, "Sorry, I really didn't get to look, I was too busy checking out all of my old Barbies.This morning I went up there. The closet door was opened and when I looked in I had to smile. Remember, this is Kylee; my NOT girly girl. But, oh how she did love her Barbies. I think it's great that we all still have a little bit of kid in us. Hey, aren't there times that you would just love to do nothing but play with Barbies all day? What a great Mothers Day gift! Just knowing that your children have fond childhood memories would make any Mother happy!