Doing Something Right?

It's so exciting to see the development of our yard. When we moved in, it was just a barren weeded lot with a tree out front. One by one, we've brought in young trees and moved fences, and pulled out vines along our property line, and planted plants.

As the property has morphed, we've started to see an increase in wildlife.

River Otter

Red Tailed Hawk

Spider (sunbathing in the pool)

Turtle

Recently, we've seen an increase in wildlife - I only wish I had a camera ready to go more often! Sam saw turkeys one afternoon. A few nights ago, we had three deer running across the yard. And since spring is in full bloom, we have seen an emergence of all kinds of birds including: cardinals, wrens, mockingbirds, mourning doves, ground doves, woodpeckers, crows, ravens, guinea hens, and more.

It's nice to know that we are creating a landscape that is nice to look at, but also welcoming so much of nature.

Raised Vegetable Garden

Finally... I know...

It's been a while since my last update.

Sam and I created our raised bed vegetable garden using old 4X4s instead of tossing them to the curb! Think it turned out pretty nice - what do you think?!

Christmas 2012

Phase 1:

Start with the icicles on the roof.

 

Phase 2:

Columns, Front Porch, Candy Cane Walkway, Reindeer, Santa Train, and Penguin sled.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phase 3:

Add Greenery

Large Wreath

OK - VERY large wreath. Just over 4 feet!

 

 

A Fresh garland bough over the front door.

 

Sprigs for the front.

One for each of the front shutters.

 

 

 

 

 

Phase 4:

MORE lights!

Spotlight for the penguin sled.

 

Lights along the fences to the left and right.

 

 

 

Even pretty during the daytime!

 Phase 5: Final phase

Sam's gift

 



Fort Christmas Dragonfly

Last weekend Sam and I went to Fort Christmas with our neighbor. They had their annual craft fair on Saturday and Sunday.

The best part of these fairs is all of the wonderful local crafts. We didn't spend a lot of money, but we did bring home one thing - a plaster cast welcome sign. It was plain plaster with a clear sealant on it.

I spent the last few days detailing it out and made it pop out of the plaster and come to life! The dragonfly has an amazing iridescent shimmer that makes the dragonfly look alive!

Hope you enjoy! And it will soon be placed by the front door for everyone to enjoy when they arrive at the front door.

 

Merry Christmas

After a brief hiatus, I am coming back to my blog :-)

More to come again soon - promise. In the mean time, the holiday spirit is starting to kick in! Merry Christmas!!!

The Elusive Cactus and Succulent Table

So with the last post, I have had several questions come up about the cactus and succulent table. It seems to be of such high interest that I knew last week the next post would be reserved for just the Cactus and succulent table. I apologize for taking so long, but I have been feeling a little under the weather since Saturday and come Tuesday, poor enough to finally head to the doctor and found that I had Strep Throat... It sucks! Finally today my fever has broken, and I have felt chipper enough to actually venture outside and check the status of all the plants in the gardens. Luckily for me it has rained almost daily since last week!

Let me start by saying that the cactus and succulent table never really started out for this purpose! It was simply a nursery area for all of the new arrival plants that I felt needed some extra attention before getting them into the gardens (being a bargain shopper, clearance at Lowe's has always been my friend!). This also served as an area for me to root my cutting and get them starting on their own before I sent them out. For the most past, everything has filtered out except for the cactus and succulents!

I have plans for a nice large arid garden on the North side of the house, just behind the pool pump. I think with the sandy soil here, I probably just need to till it up and clean it up and drop the plants in! (Thank you Skeeter for the giveaway! It will be much help on this project!)

I digress... Let me share... Let me share...

The tall Prickly Pears in the back have bloomed several time with nice pretty yellow flowers.

This is from a piece of Jade that Sam's mom gave us.

Getting ready to bloom!

More cuttings and they're doing good!

I have no clue what this one is, but it's definitely unique! Looks all spiny, but it's not prickly in the slightest.

cranberry lime succlent

In December I was at Lowe's hunting for just the right succulents to create a succulent garden for my Mother (Black Thumb). For Christmas, I decided it would be a great gift for her since I could create a contained succulent garden that wold only need water every week or so. In hunting for her succulents, I also decided to get enough to fill in my cactus and succulent table.

I gathered up all kinds of succulents eagerly. I searched high and low for different colors, textures, shapes, and sizes. With as many as I was taking, I lined them up in one of the trays and rushed home as quickly as I could to get the succulent garden set up. It looked beautiful! So beautiful that I had to create a table top version for myself too!

As the little plastic tray emptied out, I discovered all kinds of scculent pieces and leaves. Of course, what would I think?! "Why not just grab up all the little pieces and see if anything roots?!" And that, of course, is what I did.

A couple of them struggled through, made some progress, but then shriveled right up into nothing. However... just one powered through and has become it's own little plant! I found a bottle from Cranberry Lime Schmirnoff. I used a bottle cutter to remove the top of the bottle and made a little planter.

I thought the "flavor" of the succulent was cranberry and lime since it was red and green :-) How appropriate?!