Garden Walk at Dusk

Dusk: The darkest stage of twilight.

The crickets and the toads are beginning their evening songs.

In a couple of weeks, the lightning bugs will be making their appearance.

I had one lone yellow iris in the garden this year.  It was transplanted from my grandmother's garden a couple of years ago.  I'm pleased I didn't lose it in last year's drought.

And the nodding columbine sways in the corner, spreading its seeds everywhere.  It's one of the most prolific plants in my garden.

Garden Walk at Twilight

No, I'm not talking about the young adult fiction series about a peculiar love triangle.

I'm talking about that wonderful time of day between light and dark.  In a couple of weeks I wouldn't dare be outside this time of day, even coated with bug spray.  But the mosquitoes haven't been too bad yet.

Shall we take a stroll through the garden?  One variety of lavender is in full bloom.

The peonies were behind schedule this year.  They finally bloomed this week, and then torrential rain promptly knocked over the pretty blooms.

The mint broke from its pot last year and bolted.  It looks pretty now, but it will be a problem I'll have to remedy soon.

There aren't many blooms on the lilac this year, but they still smell wonderful.

My favorite annual is the geranium.  I remember a great-grandmother had potted geraniums.  They always remind me of her.  

Gardening evokes such wonderful memories of those who came before me.  Do you have a flower that reminds you of someone or someplace special?

Good Day Sunshine

In the Garden (Coping with losing a pet)

Early gardening season is usually one of my favorite times of the year.  This year, I'm tending the flowers with a heavy heart.

There haven't been any posts for several weeks for a reason.  The advancing years began taking their toll on our beloved dog this past winter when she had to have a large cyst removed from her side, and it returned a few months later.  She turned 16 in March, and then things really began taking a turn for the worse a few weeks ago.

Our home turned into a doggy hospice, and my evenings were spent taking care of her.  She had numerous, ugly cysts that would break open.  We'd patch her up with extra large gauze pads and tried to secure them with ace bandages.  She lost control of her bladder so we attempted diapers.  I bought two types of steam cleaners and cleaned the carpets every night.

Deep down, we knew what was inevitable.  We didn't want to find ourselves faced with making that hard decision, but we were concerned about suffering.  She looked terrible, but her spirits seemed good.  Then she stopped eating her dog food.  I'd whisper to her while she was sleeping that if she saw a sparkly rabbit in her dreams, and he was running over that rainbow bridge, it was OK if she wanted to chase him.

Just run and don't look back.  

Either he didn't appear in her dreams, or she didn't listen to me.  She was like that.  One day, I came home from work, and it was obvious she hadn't moved for hours.  While I cleaned her, my husband called.  He said he had a bad feeling and was coming home early.

She couldn't get up on her own anymore.  We discovered a large lump on a hind leg that was obviously causing her pain, and the next morning, the entire leg had doubled in size.  Once we lifted her, she struggled to walk.  There was a phone call to the vet.  We gave her the best final hours we could.  We carried her outside and spent the afternoon sitting in the grass with her under the maple tree until it was time...

I had a hard time working in the garden this year.  I knew there was cleaning, weeding, planting, and mulching to do.  But my garden companion was missing, trotting along the parameter and running to the back door whenever I turned on the water.  I finally made myself get outside and get to work.  It was tough at first, but it is slowly getting easier.

I keep finding her old tennis balls in the flower beds, and I'm just going to leave them there.  I can't bring myself to clean her nose prints off the front door either.  Not yet.

Edie

1997-2013

Nell Hills Knock-Off

As soon as I saw this on display at Mary Carol Garrity's open house, I knew I could replicate it.

And here's mine:

Lucky for me, I found a decent wreath at my favorite thrift store.  Otherwise I tried to use what I had on hand.  However, I wish I had some of those long pine needles.  I'm on the look out for those.

See those moss balls?  You can see how I made them here.

 

I'm happy to be able to enjoy my little statue during Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm linking up...

Between Naps on the Porch

Savvy Southern Style

At the Picket Fence

Le Chateau des Fleurs

Mary Carol Garrity Holiday Home Tour 2012

I'm going to depart from my tour of France series because Mary Carol Garrity's Holiday Home Tour was today.

For those of you not familiar with Kansas's decorating darling, Mary Carol Garrity is the founder of several home decorating stores in Atchison, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, including Nell Hills, plus the author of several books.  She lives in a historic Greek Revival home in Atchison, and she opens her home a few times a year for tours.

And after the tour, we go shopping at her two Atchison stores.  I almost bought this lantern, but I decided I have enough lanterns to decorate.

I think Mary Carol was a little under the weather, but she kept smiling and played the gracious hostess like a champ.

 

I loved this statue in the urn next to the door.  I'm planning on copying this look!

 

 

Let's go inside!

 

 

Imagine a holiday party here.  Oh, that red against the buttery yellow walls!  This statue is available in her stores.  Someday, I'll probably regret not buying her, like those orbs from the fall open house.

 

 

I asked Mary Carol about decorating trends this Christmas, and she said that anything goes, but understated elegance was popular.  I love how she layers on vertical surfaces, like this wreath over the mirror in the foyer.  Understated yet elegant indeed.

 

 

Mary Carol's style is very busy with lots of books, artwork, and knicknacks.  I like how she uses a more monochromatic color scheme for her holiday decorating.

 

 

The pretty mantel sings "holidays" without screaming "Christmas."

 

 

Let's get a closer look.

 

 

The dining room was more understated this year.  It was set up to serve a buffet rather than a formal meal, which was clever.  My side of the family sits around the table for holiday meals, but my in-laws serve them buffet-style.  Neither family is as fancy as this!

 

 

Shall we go outside to look at the garden?

 



Today's weather was clear with temperatures in the low 60s.  I doubt she keeps those ginger jars outside all winter! 

 

I always admire how she uses basic foundation pieces, like these iron posts, to decorate for each season. 

 

 

It isn't Christmas quite yet, so if you would like to see the fall home tour, click here for the home tour and here for the garden tour.  If you pin, please be sure to give Mary Carol credit for her work.



 

 

 

I'm linking up...

Between Naps on the Porch

Savvy Southern Style

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

At the Picket Fence

 



Mary Carol Garrity Fall Home Tour, Part 2

Welcome back for part two of last weekend's fall tour of Mary Carol Garrity's beautiful home in Atchison, Kansas.  You can see part 1 here, which featured the interior.

Today, we're going to visit the garden, beginning with the screened in porch.

I get so overwhelmed in some of these spaces, especially when I'm trying to take it all in while surrounded by dozens of chatty women.  I overlooked this little fellow until I was reviewing the photos after I came home.  Look at that little pumpkin he's holding.  So sweet!

The southeast exposure is probably what allows her to use such lovely pieces in an outdoor area, especially in stormy Kansas. Mary Carol mentioned that some storms rolled through during the open house on Friday afternoon, and the tornado sirens were activated. She recalled the next day, "I have all these people in my house, and I don't want them to see my basement!"

While this lantern and the urn separately are lovely pieces, putting them together makes quite a statement. 

There's one of those orbs again.  I know I'm going to regret not buying one.

Many of the items she was featuring were already sold out by the time I arrived Saturday afternoon, but I did study this take on a baker's peel as a charger at Nell Hills.  This would be an easy DIY knock-off.

Another orb (sigh).  I looked at the birds at the store.  I really liked them.  A lot.  They were about $35 each, so they didn't come home with me.

However, if she was selling this wine-toting statue, he would have come home with me, regardless of the price!

Alas, he must be from her personal collection, not for sale in her stores.  Isn't he adorable?

 

Speaking of adorable, this little fellow is also precious.  I love how he seems to be studying something in the leaves.

One thing I really like about Mary Carol's style is how effortlessly she marries together current trends with the tried and true, like this wire lantern set on a very traditional iron birdbath. 

A closer look...

One comment I overhear from other lookie-loos is that Mary Carol's style can seem cluttered.  That's OK.  It's her home, and she's obviously comfortable in it.  Regardless, I think she sets a good example of how to let your home evolve, where to invest money in timeless pieces, and how to use today's decorating fads as fun, pretty accents.

 

If you pin, please be sure to give Mary Carol credit for her work.

Repurposed Garden Orb

Hot.

Hot.

Hot.

That's all I have to say today.

Just kidding.  I've spent hours working in the garden.  Planning, planting, dreaming.  Now everything is wilting.  I did some pretty zealous weeding last weekend and discovered the next day that there is poison ivy or poison oak lurking somewhere in my backyard that I overlooked.  It made its way into my garden gloves.  Oddly, it doesn't itch too badly, but with my skin type, it's going to leave a nasty scar on the back of my hand.  There goes my dreams of being a hand model.

In my early gardening days, I loved hanging baskets.  I still do, but I don't even try them anymore.  Everything in them seem to wither in the hot Kansas winds.  Years ago, I tossed the coconut liners and abandoned the wire baskets on the top shelf of the garage.

I've seen several DIY orbs in blogland this summer, like this orb chandelier from Ballard Designs.   I love the shape, but I think these sort of lights throw off weird shadows.  Then a few weekends ago, I was doing a garage sale drive-by.  Is it worth getting out of my air-conditioned car?  I thought I saw something, a sundial or a ornamental orb for the garden?  I turned around for another look and realized it was just a stack of hanging baskets. 

But it got me thinking...I could take those old wire baskets in my garage, put two of them together with four black zip-ties, and I'd have a nice little orb.  I found an old curtain rod and finials at ReStore and made a trip to the hardware store for oversized washers to hold the whole thing together.  The washers received a quick blast of black spray paint.

Originally, I was going to use hot glue to hold the washers, but that wasn't working.  So I used black thread to keep the washers in place for the final assembly.  If I had four hands, I probably wouldn't have needed it because ultimately, the wire basket is squeezed between two washers, one on the inside and one on the outside of the sphere.  I rested one more washer at the bottom, just to add a more finished look.

I have two more hanging baskets in the garage and the other finial to make another orb, maybe when it cools down a little, like October.

I'm linking up...

Savvy Southern Style

Handy Man, Crafty Woman

Garden Statuary

Since I'm running out of room for new plants, this year I decided to focus more on decor and hardscaping.  Well, at least planning for future hardscaping.

I found this statue at a thrift store last spring.  She's about three feet tall and was covered in green and gold paint.  Yikes!

Inspired by classic bronze statues, I toned down that gold paint with oil rubbed bronze spray paint, then dry brushed her with two shades of craft paint.  Then she was sealed with multiple coats of clear sealer.

With less gold and more bronze, she's a lovely addition to the garden.  Check out that curve of her right shoulder!

I think she might have originally been a fountain.

For now, she's nestled between the feather reed grass and the salvia.