Near the Mossy Bench............

...............One of my favorite places in the backyard is the area where my old mossy bench sits.  I liked it even better before two trees, that were located just behind the bench, died. One was a tall slender tree and the other one was short and bushy.  Together they made the bench area private, not showing at all from the side street.

 

I love this old moss covered bench! It is too weak to trust sitting on and the wood cannot last very much longer. I will miss the old wood when it must be replaced.

 

Early morning is my favorite time to set up the little table for a simple but special breakfast under the trees. I know some of these pictures are on the dark side but, they portray the look I see here.

 

 

The area is found just a few steps down this path and within sight of my back porch door. To the back of the table you will notice a very large camphor tree trunk with sprouts growing out of it.

 

 

Another view from the street side.

 

 

 

So, I have already gathered up most of what is needed (except for the food) and brought it out in one of my favorite baskets.

 

 

 

 

The basket is metal with an attached wooden rim and handle.

 

 

The rooster plate and mug are very suitable for early morning, just as the sun is rising.  Notice the moss on the bench in the background as it is being lit by the sun. I see three pine cones which have landed on it to give it more woodsy character.

 

 

You can see that I brought an extra set of silverware out and will grab the other things needed if you can hurry on over to join me!

 

 

I cut some fresh flowers for a quick arrangement to pretty up our table.

 

 

My agapanthus, one of my favorite flowers,  is finally blooming. It's common name is Lily of the Nile.  Mine is always a few weeks later than what I see blooming around town. 

 

I might have chosen some roses but, am saving all of those for a special arrangement I am making to 

   go in the local library tomorrow.  It might be the subject of my next post.   

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Linked to A Favorite thing - Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Garden Journal...........

.........I thought of something that some of you might be interested in seeing. I am still feeling pretty lousy (shingles), and this post will take less time for me to get ready than others do. It contains a good bit of reading which is already written and on pictures. Are you a gardener? Do you keep a garden journal? I have several and just love having them and enjoy the process, too.

 

This is my latest one which is done in scrapbook style, in a dark green, loose-leaf binder. Before I show you some of the pages I would like for you to read a short article I wrote a couple of years ago for my rose society's newsletter. I really hope you can see the words easily. I have a large screen monitor and can read it without trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

After reading this again, I can see a few places where some editing would improve it but, there is no way to edit words on a picture.

 

 

Verdure means: green, growing things. I glued (rubber cement) a sheet of decorative paper over the binder front. Then printed out these words, cut them in the shape of the green label and glued it to the front of my binder.

 

 

This is the first page. More decorative paper glued to a page of cardstock. Most all the pages in this journal is cardstock with whatever I chose to glue on it. I punched the three holes after front and back were finished. The white square is also cardstock that I printed the words on and then glued to the "frame" which was already on the paper. You notice that I cut out around some of the flowers and leaves and slipped the square underneath.

 

 

I had saved many gardening themed calendars over the years and boy, did they come in handy for this project! I also made use of my sticker collection, tags saved from plants, little tags I made, like this one sticking out of the pocket made from a little seed package.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the quote written around the bird picture. The quote just above, "as is the gardener, such is the garden" is a similar thought to one in my journal article - you will probably journal in the same manner as you garden.

 

 

The wildflower didn't make it!

 

The picture above is a card and you will see that I attached a little loop of ribbon with a staple.

 

This is what you see when you lift the front of the card.

 

 

 

Depicting one of my favorite experiences in the garden.

 

 

This is a page-size envelope with the back side up.  I just punched the three holes and put it in the binder. Of course I couldn't waste all that white space so glued a picture of one of the desired plants from the list. I never did get this plant. The envelope is handy to insert loose notes, seed packs, plant tags or whatever.

 

 

Something else I made use of a lot is lined note pad pages. You might recognize the little wheelbarrow tag from Michael's $1 bins. Oh, yeah, they are now $1.50. I have Tons of this kind of thing and it pays to gather up as many possible supplies as you can before you start to do this type of journaling.

 

 

This page has a little bit of rubber stamping on it - the birdcage and bird eggs at the top and the green dragonfly, just above.

 

 

Well, this is more than enough to give you the idea of the way I like to journal. I have gotten bogged down and haven't been journaling lately but, maybe doing this will inspire me to get back to it! I would love to hear that you have been inspired to start journaling! Let me know.

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Linking to Common Ground Be Inspired

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Linking to Sunny Simple Life - From the Farm

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Linking to Mockingbird Hill Cottage - A Favorite Thing

 

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I was getting so much spam in my comments that I changed the settings. I hope you can still make it work. It really means a lot to bloggers to hear from their readers!!  I can now review all comments before publishing. The spam was from people who were leaving stupid remarks which wouldn't apply to this blog, and would then direct us to their blogs, several of which had porn names.

 

  Due to having shingles, it will be a while before I am able to do a new post. 

 

Wordless Wednesday.....

.......Wordless Wednesday in my garden...........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lil' Garden......

.......I have been working hard in the garden and have many, many pictures to show.  But, as with the last post, I have only small things on my mind today......

 

 

 

 

 

 Since miniature gardens became popular, I have wanted one. As if I don't have enough work to do with my big garden!! So, this week I got busy and using several things I already had and a few new ones, I started my miniature garden.

 

 

Isn't it cute!!!  What I didn't have was something to build my little garden in. While in Home Goods, last week-end, I was so tempted by a nice big wooden, rectangular shaped salad bowl. But, it was more than I felt good about spending and was not quite big enough. Later, in Publix, my grocery, I saw this litter pan for $5 and it seemed like a good size and shape. Later, at home, I started looking for something to place the litter pan in. I tried this basket and it was perfect. You would think they were made to go together. The lip of the pan fits perfectly on the basket.

 

So the wheels in my head started turning and I gathered up (from around my house)  everything that I thought might work for accessories. They are probably not necessary but, I put drain holes in the pan. Then filled it with potting soil and made a trip to a couple of stores to see what I might find. At a local nursery, I saw a few things I loved but they were too expensive (boy, those tiny things are priced high!) but I did get the metal fence.

 

 

 

On to Michaels where I found perfect stones to make a path with.  They are real stones and are the only ones, among many they had, that I liked and guess what? Those and one other kind were reduced in priced! So, here you see a garden angel and a duck with an egg - things I had. The "grass" came from the Dollar Tree, the first reindeer moss I have ever seen there. It works perfect to cover up some of the potting soil. It will probably turn brown over time but, I have another $1 bag that has not been opened. I have looked for, but not found yet, the plant called baby's tears to plant for grass.

 

 

The goose with its big egg came out of my printers tray collection, along with most of the other tiny things I used.  They won't be missed there as the printers tray is so fully packed.

 

 

 

I already owned the little chair, chickens and small pebbles.

 

 

The cat came from Mexico, purchased on one of my trips there years ago.  And, look, I had the perfect size mug with my name on it! I did buy the three "trees" that are planted across the back at $1 each and I pinched off little starts from other plants I have growing and planted them in tiny pots and some others directly in the soil. Some of them will also be fairly temporary, I would imagine, but there are plenty more where they came from.

 

I have always wanted some chickens in my garden! And, I won't have to worry about the hawks getting these as this garden will stay on my screen porch. If I were to put it outside, one hard rain would destroy the whole thing. Oh, I forgot to say, I made a trip to Home Depot this morning to buy sand so I could lay a nice walk with the stones. I was going there to get sand anyhow for my real, outside, stepping stone walk to replace what washed away with all the rain.

 

I did splurge last week and paid the price for this martin house which is what spurred me on to get started on the miniature garden. I wonder if any martins will show up to live here.

 

 

The plants in the left corner are creeping thyme, swedish ivy and and can't think of the lighter one.  The walk looks too wide in this picture but it doesn't when you see it for real. The whole thing looks smaller here than it is. It measures 18 x 13 1/2. I am thinking of getting another piece of fence to bring it up both sides. This will probably be an on-going project, just like big gardens are.

Of course nothing is to scale, but it is reasonable enough to look o.k. What do you think?  My lil' garden needs a name. Have any suggestions?

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Linking to A Favorite thing @http://mockingbirdhillcottage.com/