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Modello® Designs Ornamental Center Stencil (OrnCen130): ◼ Link no longer valid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