Gone but Hopefully Not Forgotten!

This has been one freaking crazy year for me. I lost my job, my mom is suffering with cancer, and it's just chaallenging to see the joy in life!

But every once in awhile you just got to get up and try to fall back on the things you enjoyed and loved so much regardless of what the challenges are.

So I turn, superficially for some, but for me a great love, home decor.

Here are a few inspirational finds I found today!

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Life can be cruel sometimes, and the jolts are rude awakenings that life can be fragile. It's easy to just want to sleep the hurt away, to wish it all to end. I've been there. So scared, so petrified of the unknown, that I couldn't even contemplate any reason to go on. What's the use if life was going to be this difficult.

But my friends, my family, and the folks on social media gave me reason to hope. And when I started to have the faith, as they did in me, I turned things around. My mom won't recover but that's the cycle of life and I treasure every moment we spend together now.

I have a full time job now, were doing better, and maybe it's not perfect, or even great, it's what it is. And sometimes, in face of a challenge you just got to meet it head on and say I'm strong, and I'll beat this!!

Carry on and keep on truckin.!

Azaleas!

I have a particular fondness for Azaleas. I love their dainty leaves, and the flowers can be most spectacular! 

Here is a picture of my favorite Spring flower Azalea "Cannon's Double"

The buds are a very deep peachy pink but open with these lovely blossoms of yellow touched with peach colored flowers. So beautiful! And the SCENT, just heavenly!!! I love this flower so much! It's just a joy to be around. Whenever I'm gardening around I have to stop...and just breath in it's most extradorinary fragrance.

This Azalea is grown in full sun, but can withstand partial shade. Loves Acidic soil, and blooms should be cut immediatly after flowering to ensure good blooms for next year. We don't want all the plants energy going into making seed!!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Although I do not have a very good Camera, ...actually no camera as I use my Asus tablet, it does the job fine...for now!!

Happy gardenoing folks!

Solomon Seal!

Who doesn't have at least one bunch of Solomon Seal growing in their garden! It's an understated plant, but it adds incrediable interest when you bring it into the house as a display.

Here's what it looks like!

Sweeping green of leaves with a touch of white!

Perfect!

Happy Gardening!

Tuesday's Collection!

I'm visually Inspired by Beautiful Pictures of Home decor and gardens!

I love beautiful breezy interiors, and well structured but visually inspired gardens.

Here are a few you might enjoy as well!!!

Enjoy your day!!!

Update On The Garden!

Well, so sorry for being so absent! Springtime has always been a busy time for me. I'm in the garden as much as  I can be. I'm busy with all my spring plantings!

I've been making some drastic changes to my garden this year! The thing about gardening is there are no mistakes, just experiments and sometimes things don't work out like you planned!
Here is what the garden looked like last year!

The Maple tree in the picture was going to be way too large for this small garden and I was afraid it would provide more shade to an already shaded garden. I also moved a Mulberry tree from another spot to the top of the stairs for added interest!

Added Rocks to keep the dogs from peeing on the plants directly! I love thos dogs but they can be a pain in my ass when it comes to gardening!!

Well I've come a long way since then! I've added new rocks to provide some consitency and to try to keep their balls and toys from falling into the gardens!!

Here is the result!

So I removed the maple tree from the centre garden. The hostas, Azalea, Japenses Grass, have been there since I started the garden maybe 3 years ago. So I expanded both center beds, double dug the beds to remove as many rocks as I could. I added rocks for interest, and then added, Astilbes, Adtrantia Majors, Salvias, Peonies, Yellow lilies, Woodland Phlox, Lady's Mantle, and 1 foxglove, and one Bears Breeches (rescued from another area where it wasn't doing so well!!). 

Astrantia Major!!

Then in front I expanded a bed, again, to make it more uniform with the other bed! In it I added a Japenese Grass, Blue Geranium (perennial),, Globe Thistle, 2 Salvias, 2 Lavenders, 1 Moonbeam Coreopsis, a Silver Mound, 3 dwarf delphiniums, a lily, 2 Campanulas Poscharakyana (very excited about those) to go with the Astilbe and hostas that were already there. Including the Creeping Phlox!!

Can't wait to see what it will look like!!

Campanual Poscharskyana

Dwarf Delphinium or Larkspur!
Very excited about this plant as well!!

I hope you like gradening as much as I do and enjoy when I share my garden experiences with you!!

We can all learn from one another! If you have any experiences with gardening you would like to share please do!!

Happy Gardening!!

Post Easter Redecorating!

it's a bleary rainy day in Nova Scotia today. Thought I'd changed things up a bit to make it cheerful on the inside!!

Missing a candle on the other side...but Oh well...was too lazy to go out in the rain to get one!!

Hope you like!

Gardening on a Budget!

Gardening these days is expensive. So finding inexpensive ways to garden and have the look you want in your garden, sometimes you have to get creative. You can divide plants you already have, you can plan a plant exchange with friends and family, or you can invest in seeds or packages of flowers. The problem I have with seeds is sometimes you never get the flower you want nor the prefered color especially in perennials. 

So recently, with my new gift card from Home Depot, I went shopping and decide to invest my money in a few packages of flowers, mostly peonies and the Daylily 'Stella de Oro', both plants which I love and you can't have enough of them in your garden! They are showy, and provide excellent cut flowers as well! Who doesn't love peonies! For $10. you can get a package of 3 or 4 plants. Just make sure they have some life to them and look healthy. 

When removing them from the packages be careful not to damage them. You can soak them or as I did I temporarily put them into pots, covered with good soil, and prayed! I leave them out for the day, in order to start climatizing them, and bring them in at nights to avoid the freezing temperatures common in April. So if all goes well I will have 7 Daylily 'Stella de Oro', and 7 peonies for $40.compared to if I bought them in pots at the garden centre I could be spending anywhere from $10-$30 per plant! The downside is the peonies may not bloom the first year. But that's Ok with me! I know that I will have them and will plan accordingly! Just remember "There are no gardening mistakes, just experiments" . Happy Gardening!

Happy Gardening Folks!

A Celebration of Spring!

I have no children! Well...I do but he's 35 and hasn't provided me any grandcildren yet, so I find Easter isn't celebrated with easter hunts and chocolate bunnies.

It's celebrated more as the beginning of Spring!

Here are some very pretty and  inspiring photos that just say Spring so well!

Have a very enjoyable Easter Weekend!