November is the month of the Full Beaver Moon

Sunday, November 17th. Get your cameras ready! ◼ The Old Farmers Almanac

Rain, and Fall

After a rainy week, it's sunny today, and things are drying out. The ground is loving the moisture, but we were hoping for a little bit more time to enjoy Indian Summer.

The roses are putting on their end of summer show.

The succulents have put on a burst of growth - as if they're enjoying the sudden colder weather, which seems odd.

There's not a lot of fall color, but that's just the nature of things here.

I'm running out of time to get my projects done. The futon does have its waterproof cover, but it may have to be moved off the deck and into the greenhouse, if it is going to survive the winter.

(Looking back on that statement, it may seem odd, but this is an area where the climate is mild, albeit rainy, all year long. You can pretty much leave things out - EXCEPT things that you don't want to get wet. This is an area where we hoped global warming was real, because then we could grow bougainvillea, and corn and tomatoes.)

I picked up 2 round table tops that are crying out for this treatment....

Fresh stenciling brings a vibrant pop of color to this round farm table! Beautiful work by ◼ Deelite Design llc!

Modello® Designs Ornamental Center Stencil (OrnCen130): ◼ Link no longer valid

Wooden Step Stool - Frontgate

◼ $89, From Frontgate via Houzz

Crafted from solid wood. Steel-reinforced steps. Safety rail adds comfort. Oversized platform locks into place for added security. Rich mahogany finish. Forget flimsy plastic and step up to this high-quality Wooden Step Stool. This step ladder is ready at a moment's notice for lending a helping hand, then folds neatly away in a 2-1/2"-deep space. . . . . . Folds flat for easy storage. 225-lb. weight capacity.

The Full Sturgeon Moon

◼ Traditionally, many Native American tribes named the full Moons to keep track of the seasons. Here are examples: Sturgeon Moon, Green Corn Moon, Wheat Cut Moon, Moon When All Things Ripen, and Blueberry Moon. - The Old Farmers Almanac

And, In 2013, the August moon will REALLY be a Blue Moon. That is, it will be the third full moon in the summer season which has four full moons in 2013. This is the original, correct definition of a Blue Moon. The definition about the second full moon in a month is a more recent simplified usage.

Hydrangeas and crocosmia

Some years ago, the Garden Tour poster featured an old garden gate, with hydrangeas and crocosmia, summer dried grass on the lawn, and a beautiful sunlit day. I commented at the time that it was funny, because in reality it was the antithesis of the purpose of the Garden Tour - it represents the unattended, left and forgotten garden, where no one has lifted a finger in years. It's charming, in its own way, and it was a beautiful watercolor - but...

Hydrangeas weren't high on my list, even as Martha Stewart brought them into vogue. Our neighborhood sports huge bushes covered in deep blue-purple mopheads, like those in the picture but prettier. The biggest problem they have is that people were coming and cutting all the blooms off, sometimes with permission to take a couple, and other times without asking. Not sure where they were selling them, but apparently there was quite a market.

I've started some successfully from cuttings, and I planted a beautiful white florist's hydrangea that came as a gift. It was small, and planted in the back of the property alongside the now-huge cherry tree, and as we're clearing, I find a full-size hydrangea loving the shade and sporting the biggest, and purest white blooms imaginable.

Couple that with my fascination with the Shooting Star hydrangea, and I find myself liking them, and as I am redoing everything, I find myself planning them into the design. At the same time I find it ironic that I've been reduced to that, or come back to the fold, maybe.

Why? The indestructibility. The proven performance, the sheer drama, and graphic appeal of the big flowers. And, yeah, not having to have to worry about it factors in.

So - this article by Carol Klein in the Guardian was interesting, along those same lines.

◼ Hydrangeas are the butt of many a garden joke. Perhaps it is a question of familiarity breeding contempt. While nobody can deny their omnipresence, they are popular for good reason: easy to grow, floriferous and dependable.

She says: Those in the know grow the superb white mop-head H. macrophylla 'Soeur Therese', which does best in partial shade. H. paniculata does what it says, producing large terminal panicles, cone-shaped collections of tiny, fertile flowers and very visible sterile florets. White cultivars such as H. paniculata 'Unique', with weighty heads of pure white flower, are exquisite. Quirky but lovely, the flowers of H. paniculata 'Green Spire' always stay on the green side of white. On a similar scale, H. quercifolia has similar though less ostentatious flowers, with the bonus of rich autumn colour, and H. arborescens 'Annabelle' smothers itself with pompoms of pure white. Peerless.

Image source

◼ And now there's Incrediball, "the flowers really are more than a foot long... A new selection of a native species, this is without a doubt the largest-flowered mophead type in the world, its blooms approaching the size of beachballs!

Incrediball® arose, like so many great inventions, as an accident -- it was part of a breeding program designed to improve the stem strength of Hydrangea, so that the blooms would stand up rather than flopping. Well, it worked -- but who could have imagined the blooms would emerge so enormous and so packed with florets? It is descended from Hydrangea 'Annabelle', a beloved favorite for decades, but each of Incrediball's® flowerheads contains 4 TIMES THE NUMBER OF BLOOMS as 'Annabelle's. It's simply amazing."

I still like my Zebra Hydrangea better, the petals themselves are larger, and it's much more substantial looking, at least so far, than the Incrediballs at the nursery. But, I'm tempted.

And then, there's the wedding bouquets this past week - it's enough to win you over forever:

Is this the little girl I carried...

Sometimes, neglect is exuberant

The roses are amazing - the 'carpet' rose is 4' tall, profusely flowering; Hot'Buttered Popcorn also flowering like crazy. The white parahebe is an amazing addition, and looks especially nice at night, lit up with a solar spotlight.

BUT.

Sometimes it's not...

And this is what I mean when I say I am starting over. Everything has to be cut back, blackberries are mixed in with the good stuff. The devastation is amazing. We're unearthing lots of what was once good, but it's not as easy and romantic as The Secret Garden makes it seem.

Nonetheless, there's hope. We'll see.

How-to Patina: Pinspiration, Thunderstorms, And Artwork Using Chalk Paint®!

◼ AnnieSloanUNFOLDED: How-To, with pics. Blues. Greens. With zip and zing and a bit of berry accents. - See more at: http://www.anniesloanunfolded.com/UnfoldedBlog/pinspiration-thunderstorms-and-artwork-using-chalk-paint/#prettyPhoto

Summer Drinks

Blackberry-Chambord Royale ◼ via My Recipes Champagne Cocktails

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Chambord (raspberry-flavored liqueur)
2 cups fresh blackberries, frozen
1 (750-milliliter) bottle Champagne or sparkling wine, chilled
Preparation

Pour 1 teaspoon Chambord into each of 6 Champagne flutes. Place 3 berries in each glass. Pour about 2/3 cup Champagne into each glass. Serve immediately.

Summer treats

Arbor Mist Frozen Wine: Blackberry Merlot, Strawberry White Zinfandel, and White Pear Pinot Grigio. These are cheap, and easy. And, single serving, so you don't waste a bottle of wine when you just want one glass.

It's a great idea, but better to make your own, the sugar content in these is astronomically high.

◼ Make your own, recipes on Pinterest. Frozen ◼ or unfrozen.

A better bet - ◼ X rated Fusion Liqueur - A sensuous fusion of ultra premium French vodka & Sicilian blood orange mingling with mango and passion fruits, freeze, and it's only 10g sugar (compared to 30-40 in the Arbor Mist), higher alcohol content though.

Inspiration Turquoise

We're having the best summer weather

The best in decades. Sun, not too much fog, and not too much wind. Downright warm. You can go outside on a sunny day without wearing a ski-suit!

We've got tons of goldfinches, lots of hummingbirds, some cedar waxwings nesting in the back tangle (saw the baby begging the mama to feed him). The Chilean Jasmine is blooming right now, roses are going strong.

Except for my long-neglected disaster, everything is good, and we're working on remedying that.

The deck now has two full coats of stain, it's drying as we speak. It's taken some weeks to scrub, dry and then stain it, but it's done, and water beads up.

The futon frame is almost all painted, and will make a nice summer daybed out there. We generally have our best time of year in Indian Summer, which is ahead of us yet.

It's encouraging. I love this time of year anyway, and this is the best year in memory.

Today, July 22, is the FULL BUCK MOON!

◼ The Old Farmer's Almanac - Bucks begin to grow new antlers at this time. This full Moon was also known as the Thunder Moon, because thunderstorms are so frequent during this month.

Australian Bluebell Creeper: Sollya heterophylla

Put in a couple years ago, LOVE it, beautiful color, and it turned out to climb up adjacent plants, peeking out here and there. Highly recommend it, planning to put in a couple more.

◼ Wildflowers of Western Australia - Australian Bluebell Creeper, spreading evergreen shrub, gets 2'-3' tall, and climbs vine-like to 8' tall w/support, blue, bell-shaped summer flowers, can grow under Eucalyptus trees, needs good drainage, drought tolerant.

That, and the white parahebe, which looks like a cute little alpine plant when you first bring it home - resist the temptation to plant it close to the edge of the path, tucked into the stones, move it back a few feet and you'll be rewarded with a spectacular shrub, tons of white flowers.

Refinishing the deck

Scrubbing, powerwashing, hoping the weather holds, the warm (and dry) days are rare here. One quarter of the deck is restained, another quarter prepped and ready, the whole thing should be ready by the weekend, and we'll stain the rest then.

Keeping the dogs off it is almost impossible, they have (and need) free-rein in the backyard. They're liking the new space, and we're finding lots of their little hidewaways.

The disaster

Ripping things out. Blackberries had overtaken everything, and choked it out, trees were growing almost prostrate, trying to reach out for the light. What isn't being ripped out is being pruned back drastically. What survives, survives.

It's starting over, albeit with some mature plantings that didn't exist before.

It's about restoring some of the charm and details, the little barrel pond under the Coral Bark Japanese Maple (the water seeped out just enough to keep the maple well watered), the pathways... everything is gone, obscured or disintegrated.

Some years of neglect have that effect. Now it's about the ruthless breaking of eggs to make the omelet. And that brush pile marks the beginning.

Update: A few years later, we finally got rid of that pile. Should have done it as we went, but didn't, and once the pile got so big and so entangled it became a massive undertaking to disassemble it. So many truckloads of greenwaste later (couldn't burn it, because there's been no rain and thus no permissive burn days), it is clear, and a nice lawn is in its rightful place. Yes, the pile did affect our ability to enjoy the space, but we were busy and working, and putting it off 'til later' just became a long time.

Inspiration Boards: White ideas

Zebra Hydrangea

Going in the back, against the house, in the 'Japanese garden' - very shady area, gets light but no direct sun, is under the eaves.

It's a white mophead, with contrasting black stems, very excited to see it grow. Pics to follow, this one is off the internet.

◼ Comcept Plants: Image source

Broken umbrella?

The umbrella canvas makes a great outdoor tablecloth for round tables. Especially ones with the hole in the center for the umbrella pole. Stencilling makes it even better.

Succulent project

Class at Miller Farms. Mitered picture-frame box, a little wire mesh, with a small backed box on the back, filled with a bit of soil, tuck the stems through the mesh and into the soil, let set for a week before watering, a few more weeks to really dig the roots in before you hang it. Next step is a bigger one.

Clearing

It's deceptive. You can see some of the 'clearing in progress' tools in the background.

Summer Sangria

Orange and lemon slices, nectarines, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, limoncello, pink lemonade concentrate, two big bottles of Pinot Grigio. Great!

And while we're on the topic of alcohol :) ◼ The Drunken Botanist,by Amy Stewart, is a fun read, and a great collection of plants.

And more boards, blending inside and out...

More boards

That bottom board, btw includes pics of ◼ Little & Lewis pieces/gardens, Check 'em out, it's a cool and inspirational site. And here they are ◼ on Pinterest

This Sunday, June 23 is the Full Strawberry Moon.

June's Full Strawberry Moon got its name because the Algonquin tribes knew it as a signal to gather ripening fruit. It was often known as the Full Rose Moon in Europe (where strawberries aren't native). ◼ The Old Farmers Almanac

The summer solstice heralds the beginning of summer.

Setting up 'boards' as desktop screensaver

They change every 5 minutes, so it serves a similar purpose to keeping an inspirational (hardcover) garden journal. It's like a scrapbook/pinterest kind of thing.

So much to do. It's like starting all over again. The only way to do it is to take one little piece at a time. Otherwise it is too overwhelming.

Tonight is the Full Pink Moon

--also known as the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and the Fish Moon by Native American tribes. ◼ The Old Farmers Almanac

Garden lights

Contemporary Outdoor Lighting design by Other Metro Certified-Lighting

◼ These garden pots light up the evening yard and are certain to spark conversation
trying to track down the where to buy and how much - very cool idea.

Journals, Sketchbooks, Book Art on Pinterest

◼ A Plethora of Journals

The New Year

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce