It's White Outside

It's snowing again, a very soft powdery snow that is easy to shovel though not quite as pretty as the heavy, wet snow that creates the most magical snowscapes.
The gardens are safe under their blanket of snow but I am worried about my Oakleaf Hydrangea. You can see its flowers in the fall bouquet featured on the Jan. 13th post below. This past summer the blooms were spectacular but last winter it barely went below zero. I suspect the recent nights of 12 below zero weather have killed the flower buds, at least the majority which are above the snow line. Many summers we only get blooms along the bottom edge of this shrub. Where is global warming when you need it?
Last night was almost warm, with a low of 9 above zero.

Snowed in I like to bead. This bracelet is crocheted with thin silver wire and silver seed beads in different sizes and tones. You string all of the beads onto the wire before beginning and then pull them into the stitches as you crochet.


You can see more of my bracelets in my Etsy jewelry shop, Beaded Wire.



Find of the Day:
I am completely enthralled by Heather Knight's ceramics and had a terribly difficult job chosing which piece to feature. The forms are organic and elegant, mostly white with an occasional splash of color. There are pears and fungi, ripple bowls and petal plates. Visit her Etsy site Element Clay Studio and be astonished.

Orchids are Forever

A relatively balmy night, it only went to 9 below zero. Snow is predicted for tomorrow.
So my thoughts remain in warm places with tropical flowers.
These wonderful orchids are tropical and have a special warmth for me since they were a gift from my best friend Elaine (since high school!) who has sent me orchids for my last three birthdays.
The first photograph, "Out of the Mist" is a reflection in an old mirror, the second shows the same orchid under water.
I cannot give much advice on growing orchids, I am not very good with potted plants in general. However, they flower for months if they are not overwatered or totally abandoned.

Here is my little toy poodle Rory in a sweater Elaine knitted her for Christmas. Warm and frilly, I think she is so elegant with pearls and ruffles across her rump.

Find of the Day:
I am amazed by this woman's art, these are real orchids, immortalized in resin. She is a Brazilian designer who sells her work throughout the world including her Etsy shop Bella Brazilian Design

All of here jewelry is made from real flowers, many from orchids and roses. Astonishing and beautiful.

Exotic Plants for New England Gardeners

When I got up this morning it was -12 degrees outside, though it has gotten warmer throughout the morning and it is now close to 0.
But yesterday my Brent and Becky's Bulb Summer-Flowering Bulbs Catalogue came so my mind is full of exotic flowers.
Brent and Becky's is the most complete source I know for fabulous, unusual bulbs starting with several pages of Alocasia, the giant elephants ears in blacks and chartreuse and strips. These extraordinary plants grow leaves that can reach 2 feet across. They like wet conditions to do their best.
The bulb listings proceed through the alphabet to Zantedeschia, the elegant calla lily. I think I will purchase Cameo, which is a soft blend of pale yellow and rose or perhaps Pink Persuasion another blend, this one in shades of dark rose and burgundy. (Callas also thrive in wet ground.)
On the top of my list however is a plant I haven't dared try yet, Gloriosa superba "Rothchildiana', also know as climbing lily. This is a vining bulb with incredible recurved red petals with a tiny yellow edge.
Of course none of these exotics are hardy to 12 below so they have to be dug up and wintered over in the house or greenhouse.
Another exotic and tender favorite is the datura which I grow from seed (seed the first picture on this page.) because it is hard to find plants, especially of the more unusual varieties. Seeds are available for many wonderful forms, huge pure white trumpets and white trumpets edged in violet, big double yellows, deep purples. Once started these plants grow easily into big lush bushes with soft velvety leaves. Germination can be tricky. Freshly picked seed seems to germinate readily but otherwise I use seed treated with GLA, Gibberellic Acid-3. J.L. Hudson Seedsman has wonderful varieties of pretreated Datura seed.






















Find of the Day:
I was planning on featuring an item with daturas or callas or some other exotice flower but came across this beautiful oil painting. What could be a more wonderful comfort in your home on an icy winter day than this ode to spring? The painting is by Kristina Laurendi Havens of Georgia. It is available for purchase from her Etsy shop, Krystyna81.

Whispers

We are really in a deep freeze today. It is -2 degrees outside. But we have a deep snow cover so I am not worried about my garden. One January we had a major thaw and I found little violas that had been blooming away under the snow.
This week I hung a new show at our local cooperative gallery. The show is called Whispers and features flowers, bouquets and local landscapes all printed with just a hint of color, several with a draping of lace.
A few of the new images can be purchased from my Etsy shop, many more can be seen on my Flickr page.

Find of the Day:

I love this whisper of a flower. This pretty peony flower is a brooch, pin all hand sewn in organza by MGMart.

Go see her shop, it is amazement of feminine frills.

Baby It's Cold Outside

We are having another severe winter in New Hampshire. December's ice storm was very damaging to trees (not to mentions the 1000s of homes including mine without power) and shrubs.
There is always the temptation to try to rescue precious shrubs and small trees from the ice. But trying to free small branches will only do more harm. Branches that may survive the ice will probably snap from any attempt to loosen them.
I think Henry Mitchell's advice in the Essential Earthman is the best:
"Whenever there are ice storms, pull the window shades down."
Of course ice can be beautiful, snow magical. So perhaps just a peak outside. My old apple tree is always lovely in winter.

Find of the Day:

One way to stay sane through the long winter is to fill the house with little plants: foliage plants, flowers and herbs.

Here are some lovely planters from my friend Virginia Wyoming. They are available on her Etsy shop, VirginaWyoming. Just $24 for the set.

Cosmos

I love cosmos, I think they are beautiful massed in the garden or as cut flowers.
January is not a great gardening month in New Hampshire but it is a wonderful time to dream and fantasize over seed catalogues. I used to order hundreds of packets of seeds each winter and have 50 or 60 trays of seedlings reading for planting in the spring. Then the hard work of finding room for all of these little plants would begin.
I have slowly learned that I cannot have every plant in every seed catalogue and only allow myself a few choice selections each year.
Topping my list this year is the new Cosmos 'Double Click Rose Bonbon'. I am fond of simple single flowers but must admit to a weakness for lush, over the top double flowers. And these new cosmos are just sumptuous.

Garden Resources:

You can see (and buy if you'd like) the new Cosmos 'Double Click' at Thomas and Morgan Seeds.
Thomas and Morgan has one of the most extensive lists of flowers seeds. There are great pictures of all their listing. I use it as my flower bible.


















Find of the Day: What a beautiful little painting of a cosmos by Coleen Olson. It is gouache on watercolor paper. A 5 x 7 print of this painting is available for only $20 on her Etsy shop Parrish.

Dahlias

I think it rained every day in July and so far August has a perfect record as well. Running through the rain to my car yesterday I realized that the daylily season is coming to a close and I hardly had a chance to see the blooms. I am always saddened at the end of the daylily season, the end of high summer.
But of course there is much left to enjoy phlox and all the yellow daisies and especially one of the great beauties of the garden, the dahlia. I am not a great dahlia grower, the big ones that I love take quite a bit of fuss and bother. They have to be well staked or they make a terrible sprawling mess. They need rich soil in full sun. And they must be dug up each fall and stored for replanting in the spring. I am often tired of gardening by fall and have forgotten many an expensive tubor. The ones I do remember don't always make it through the winter, they can dry up and wither into nothing or rot if kept too moist. So far I have had the most luck putting them in damp vermiculate in an extra refrigerator. But they are so beautiful I keep struggling with them every year.
Luckily, my friend Elaine manages to grow magnificent dahlias in her husband's "vegetable" garden which is now devoted to the truly important vegetables - dahlias, tulips, annual flowers etc. She brings me wonderful bouquets. Both of these photographs are dahlias from her garden. You can even see a lovely yellow dahlia poking out from behind the white.

Flower Find These red flowers aren't dahlias but they are certainly beautiful. This is a print made by Debra Linker (http://www.debralinker.etsy.com/) from her original painting "Guardians". Like much of her work it glows, here with rich gold setting off luminous red.