Maybe Lenten Fridays Aren't So Bad . . .

 One of my "go to" sources when I'm in the mood for a taste of home - check it out - Homesick Texan.

The Winter That Never Was

Now in the end of February, we haven't seen snow since October. The daffodils are blooming and the tulips are up out of the ground as though it is mid-April. I'm not complaining, but I haven't had my "slow months" to catch up, plan and write. As a landscape designer, I count on the cold nasty winter days to reflect and refresh before diving into the busy spring and summer seasons. Rather than completed, my winter projects - including my own garden changes - are still brewing in my mind.




Adding Vaccinum corymbosum, or Highbush Blueberry, to my own garden has been percolating in my brain these days, and not just to have a bushel of juicy berries to make a yummy crisp. This native plant also offers sweet flowers in spring and brilliant fall color. It can take a little shade in the garden, too.




But absolutely keep it away from the deer - they love the berries as much as I do!

Yeah, I've Got the Christmas Spirit

Tomorrow's To Do List:

• Early morning meeting with client to review drainage plans
• Attend Christmas Show at daughter's school 
• Bake cookies for daughter's holiday party
• Check client's garden installation progress, site new location for river birch tree
• Pick up quick gift for "secret Santa" exchange at daughter's holiday party
• Finish addressing, writing little personal notes, stuffing, licking, stamping and mail Christmas cards (picking up where I left off after the "F"s - only 135 to go!!)
• Review gift list and pick up last few stocking stuffers
• Send copies of client's patio plans to contractors for estimates
• Find 5 sweet little hostess gifts to take to upcoming parties over next 3 days
• Get gifts to husband's family to Federal Express (while 2-day is still an option!)
• Hang wreath outside that has been lying on the ground for a week waiting until I attach the bow and buy some more floral wire
• Buy more floral wire (at the hardware store - pick up a couple of stocking stuffers while there)
• Plan Christmas eve and day menus
• Prepare grocery lists for 2 different grocery stores
• Finalize dog sitting schedule for post-Christmas trip to niece's wedding
• Buy wedding gift for niece
• Take husband's tux to cleaners
• Write 3 thank you notes for holiday parties last week
• Buy new slacks for son to wear to wedding
• Shower and dress for 3 holiday parties
• Drive children to various events for evening

Really, this is my list for tomorrow.  I don't get excited or worked up over Halloween because I know, every year, just around the winter solstice, I turn into the Tazmanian Devil.  

Roadkill

Being a good Texas girl, roadkill never frightens me. I've dutifully taught my kids the Roadkill Car Game (I one it, I two it, I three it, I four it, . . . I "eight" it.)

At a party recently, my friend - the host - asked, "what tree is this?" In the wee hours of the morning and after more than one glass of wine, that's not an easy question. I thought I knew, but in the dark, I couldn't see the bark or the form of the tree either. I surely didn't want to be wrong so I put off answering until the next day.  So I plucked a leaf to take home for researching in the morning.

My favorite horticulture professor warned her students of client roadkill questions and trained us by giving her infamous "roadkill quizzes." She would line up 10 small branches, sometimes with leaves, sometimes not, for us to identify. Her hardest was the cone roadkill quiz - yes, 10 cones from different conifers that we then had to identify the tree or shrub that produced the cone.

But she was right. I get these questions frequently, from friends, neighbors and clients.

The answer here:  Carya glabra, Pignut Hickory.

Selecting Containers for the Garden

A new client is searching for the perfect containers for her front porch and back patio. The color of the container, as well as height and construction, must be consistent with the architecture of the house and reflect the taste and style of the client. 

Resin pots - small 8" square, medium 24" tall, large 30" tall



Cast concrete pots, stained brown - 24" tall and 30" tall

Glazed terra cotta pots 29" tall



Glazed terra cotta pots 30" tall




Glazed terra cotta with texture 30" tall



Small brown cast concrete 8" and 10" tall - to sit on small table

Stay posted for the final selection and finished product next week!

A Penny for Your . . . Tulips?

While I adore the artistic nature of creating an outdoor garden with all its color and texture, I am not so adept at crafting flower arrangements.  My stand-by is to buy lots and lots of the same flower and plop them in a big vase.  Lazy?  Perhaps.  Inexperienced?  Definitely so.  Like anything else, the more you research, learn and practice, the better you become.

I attended a flowering arranging program this morning presented by Washington, DC floral designer Phillipa Tarrant.  She shared three arrangements based on themes:  a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired window; a Chevy Chase Hunt Club arrangement completed with kiwi vines and pheasant feathers, and an incredibly simple, yet elegant bowl of purple tulips mimicking the look of a Tiffany glass window.



A Frank Lloyd Wright window

  Using a very low glass vase, the Oasis (foam material used in floral arrangements) was wrapped in Aspadidrus leaves, then stems of pussy willow were wrapped around the bottom the base for the tiny dots of texture as in the window.  Long stem roses, iris and billy-balls added the spots of color.  



Frank Lloyd Wright inspired arrangment



Philippa then, using a small 6" Oasis form that can be set inside of another container, such as hunt trophy (as was the idea here), she used greens and browns with spots of red to create a dramatic look that would spill over the edges.



Philippa demonstrates creating an arrangement to reflect a Chevy Chase Hunt Club scene

And lastly, and exquisitely simple, Philippa explained that just using a small bunch of tulips, left out for a short while so that the stems are more limp and easier to manipulate, an elegant arrangement can be made by just setting the bottom of the stems at the bottom of a large fishbowl (this one is 12" in diameter), and gently coaxing them to twist around the inside of the glass.  Here, only seven tulips are used.  For a bigger statement, use a grouping of three bowls sized 12", 8" and 6" to create a large arrangement on a small budget.


Philippa explains how tulips can be manipulated inside of a glass bowl



An "airy" arrangement of tulips

Of course, tulips always seem to fall limp after a few hours in a vase.  Philippa's trick - add a couple of copper pennies to the bottom of the vase and the tulips will perk right back up!  

A Chocolate Garden?

It's Ash Wednesday and I have, as I have since 1982, given up chocolate for Lent.  Easter is late on the calendar this year, and I was just thinking about how I might be able to fulfill my cravings without actually eating chocolate. 

What would be in a chocolate lover's garden?  Chocolate colored plants?


Dahlia 'Karma Choc'

A nursery in Washington state, Chocolate Flower Farm, specializes in all things chocolate for the garden, like the Dahlia 'Karma Choc' and Delphinium 'Kissed by Chocolate.'

Delphinium 'Kissed by Chocolate'

Chocolate scented orchids? Cocoa shell mulch?  There is no dearth of ideas about how to create a chocolate garden.