A stroll through the gardens

Today it is overcast outside so I thought it would be a good day to take a few pictures of the gardens.  Come along with me as I tour the yard. 

Ignore my truck in the picture, I don't know how to edit it out of the picture.  This is one of the driveway beds.  I am growing Castor beans, Melampodium, Gomphrena, and Chrysthemum.  In the back is a palm I bought in Houston.  It has to come into the greenhouse during the winter.  

The yellow Melampodium and purple Gomphrena reseed themselves each year. I love this color combination.  

Beside the path in the woodland garden I am growing Plume Delight Chinese Fringe flower, various hostas and oakleaf hydragena. 














My small collection of cactus.  Most were given to me by a friend in Houston.

Pass along elephant ears tend to travel in the garden.  They like growing up through the middle of this Colorado Blue Spruce.

Our walking path from the garage to the house.  My favorite plant in the yard is this Varigated Tapioca.

On the deck I have a pot of Angelonia and Blue Daze Evolvulus.  You will notice the pot has chipped.  I left it outside 2 winters ago and it has caused the surface to crack and chip off.

Zinnias have taken over the cottage garden.  They reseed themselves each year.  Most of the vegetables have been harvested.  The zinnias fill in the empty space and make the garden very cheerful.

Thanks for joining me in the garden.
Kclily

Baseball Quilt for BFFL

I finished this quilt 3 weeks ago.  I made it for my best friend who lives in Indiana.  She is a big Chicago Cubs fan who married a big Cincinnati Reds fan this past May.  I made this quilt as a wedding gift for them.  I had to add a little St. Louis Cardinals and a lot of Texas Rangers since those are my teams.

The pattern I used is called Charming Log Cabin by the Threaded Pear Studio.  It is a good pattern for using those large prints you might have in your stash. 

The quilt is 66"x88".

I used fleece on the back so the quilt would be very warm and soft.  The primary fleece on the back is Cincinnati Reds with a little Cubs running along each edge.

I gave them the quilt last week and they both loved it.  It will get to stay at their lake house and keep them warm during those cold Indiana nights this winter. 










Bye for now,

Kclily

DPS Treasures

Yesterday, Kelley at Teacups and Ponies was talking about her estate sale purchases and said her husband called them "DPS, Dead People Stuff". I got a big chuckle out of that and my husband did too. I thought I would show the DPS I bought this weekend at estate sales.

Silver candlesticks $5

4 piece silver plated tea set $25

5 piece silver plated teaset $40 (I now have 3 silver teasets...note to self...I don't need anymore)

I couldn't resist this little bottle. It looks like the bottles in the new Harry Potter movie that hold Dreams. 50 cents

I will be posting about a quilt I finished tomorrow.

Bye for now,

Kclily

Butterflies Everywhere

It is so exciting when there are dozens of butterflies in the garden.

Aren't they just beautiful creatures?

I have my gourds growing on a piece of fencing that forms an A frame shape. They look pretty in the garden but so far no gourds :(

I am also growing "Moon and Stars" watermelons. You can tell that the foliage is also speckled with stars. This is an heirloom variety. I save the seeds every year and grow them mainly because I think they are pretty.

I had fun this week trying to photograph some of my quilts outside. I am a member of "The Quilt Show", an on-line quilt show hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. This is the 2009 block of the month quilt and this is just the center of the quilt. I am still working on the outer borders.

I am studying French so for now...Salut!

Kclily

Introducing my 3 cats

This is Patty. She is the mother of our 2 kittens. She is named after my Mother.

Patty had her kittens in our back yard. I was saving pallets to build a compost pile. I guess it was a good place to raise a litter of kittens. You can barely see Patty sitting on a board at the back of the pallets.

This is Nosey. I bet you can guess how she got her name.

And this is our boy, Brutus. He is one wild and crazy cat, the most friendly of all three.

This week in the Garden

The rain we have had in the last week has really helped the garden rebound from the 100+ temperatures we had in July.

The Purple Coneflowers are raising their heads to the sky. They are looking so pretty right now.

The variegated plant in the center above is a Tapioca Plant that I purchased from Bustani Plant Farm. I have had this plant for 2 years. It is not winter hardy so I have to bring it into the greenhouse in the winter but it is worth it. It is one of those plants that gets a lot of attention from visitors.

Oakleaf Hydrangea, Acuba, Mugo Pines and Caladiums thrive in one of the shade beds in the Cottage Garden along the Charished Path.

I love these caladiums. I bought them at Walmart as bulbs for less than $5 last spring. I stick the bulbs in the ground and they are beautiful this time of the year.

This is Tovara, a plant that loves to grow in the shade. The gray underneath the plants is shredded newspapers that I am using for mulch. In the fall I will cover the newspaper with fallen leaves. By spring I should know if using newspaper is a good idea or not.

I found this turtle in my compost bin this week. You can tell I have been throwing whole vegetables in the pile.....yes, I know they are supposed to be chopped into smaller pieces. But this guy is pretty happy with me.

Bye for now,

Kclily