My Creative Space

Brenda at The Brenda Blog has posed the question

"Where Do you Blog?" Visit her blog and see all types of creative spaces.

This room many years ago was our oldest son's bedroom. It was cool. He had bedroom furniture plus a sofa for lounging. After he left home, we converted this room into a game room or TV room for our other 2 children. After they left home..and our youngest son took the sofa with him, we decided to again re-do this room and make it a combination home office and TV room---so guess you would call it a den.
I bought a nice big desk... plenty of room for a computer, printer and pictures. That white box you see is filled with wildflower seeds waiting to be planted. I have a dictionary and a few garden books in front of the laptop.

My husband picked out the sofa as this is his room for TV viewing.

But I got to pick out the TV cabinet!

This is just an old bookshelf that I think was originally in both boys rooms at one time. It is now home to vacation books and pictures and little souvenir's from our travels.

This room is not fancy, but it is very comfortable. The desk looks very clean and straight right now because I haven't used it all week. We have been helping Allie and her daddy move into their cute little rent house. They are moved, dh is playing golf, and I am off to do lots of catching up!

He's home!

Wow, three weeks have gone by fast! My son returned from Australia tonight. He was tired from the long journey home, but elated from the memories and experience of the trip down under.

Allie is glad her daddy is back.

Container Gardening

The other day my Mother told me to remind her "not to plant anything in pots next year!!" I knew why before I asked ...they are too much trouble for her. She said in this heat she is watering twice a day and they still look wilted. Grrr!


I started thinking about the container gardening I do and realized..I do alot! Other than the front porch, all my containers are in the back. I tuck them in here and there all over the yard. I may plant something in a container because it is so small I feel like I have to protect it until it grows up. With my drainage problem, it may be because the place I want a certain plant to be is too wet. It's alot easier to deal with dry places than boggy areas for me. But the most likely reason I do so much container gardening is because I like the containers I use.
This is a salvia greggi I bought at a neighborhhood plant sale . It was tiny, so I planted it in this red sap bucket.


Containers may be ceramic like these...

Or really rustic like these...

Or, they may just be regular clay pots like

these...

This is a sweet potato vine still in the original plastic hanging basket. It's so much easier to control like this. And you can see the purple fountain grass in the iron planter are happy in clay pot homes. (this is where Fred hangs out!)

This is one of my favorite places..the "nursery."

It's where I keep all my cuttings trying to help them survive. Right now I only have coleus and one little salvia. It's shady here and protected for these little ones.

And of course, there's the wheelbarrow. It has changed quite a bit over the summer. I had to move it out of the direct sun because the coleus was so droopy. As a matter of fact, the coleus has taken over! Note for next year: don't overdo on coleus!

I like my plants in containers. I believe I will keep them. They are a little more trouble, but when you need something to add to an empty corner, I think they are perfect!

And again....

We woke up this morning to thunder, lightening and MORE RAIN!! Yea!! I haven't gotten out to do any gardening in the past few days..our lawn needs to be mowed, it's hard to take Allie out in pouring rain, but you will not hear me complaining! I am loving this rain and cooler temperatures.


The flagstone pathway running through the back of our yard becomes a small stream when it rains. I didn't catch this during that part of the storm, but it left little ripples over the stones. You can barely see them.






And, it will take a while for things to drain here, but again...I'm ok with this.

Yes, things will be muddy for a while, but I can deal with mud.

"If you pray for rain, be prepared to deal with some mud" according my little Words to live by for Gardeners by Mary Engelbreit.

Rainy days quiet our world and gives us time to slow down and time to reflect. Thank you Lord for this wonderful rainy day!

Look what's blooming!

We had coffee on the patio this Sunday before church..and guess what I saw? Blooms on the cypress vine! You can barely see them (they are very small) winding around the chair. They are such a pretty red--and I LOVE red! I think they only bloom one day, but I see some buds so I should have blooms every day.

Sharing Nature's Garden mentioned in one of her posts that these plants are very invasive. I am hoping since mine is planted in a pot, I will not have that problem, but seeds do scatter so I guess it could happen. I am not worrying about that today. I will enjoy the cute little blooms.

Here is a better picture of how it winds around the chair..

...and how it winds around the post.

Now, come on morning glories, it's your turn to bloom!

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

Carol at May Dreams Garden invites garden bloggers to participate in Garden Blogger's Bloom Day (GBBD) the 15th of every month. Since I am pretty new to blogging--this will be my first time to share what's blooming in my yard for GBBD.

This is butterfly weed. No caterpillars yet!





The crepe myrtles are still looking pretty.












This is a pink Mexican Petunia. The blooms only last one day. They are such a pretty shade of pink.


Cream Brulee Coreopsis that I have grown to love! It has done fantastic in this heat.



My favorites--Black-eyed Susans. They are in almost every flower bed I have and in vases inside the house.

First year for profusion zinnias. I will definitely plant them next year!

Pass-along Phlox from my Mother is still looking pretty and smelling good!


Blackfoot Daisy. Some lived, others did not. Why,why, why???



The great purple coneflowers They stand proud and tall against the Texas heat.


And, the best picture from the garden----the rain gauge. It rained 2 1/2 inches this morning!!
Whoo-hoo!!

What a perfect way to celebrate Bloom Day!

The Front Porch

I have a calendar called "On The Front Porch." It's pictures of different porches each month. The pictures never really show the seasons except in fall--the trees have golden leaves. It's just a wonderful collection of porches. I have always yearned for a big front porch, but as you can see, I don't have one. My house is a one story ranch with a small porch. I can't put very much on it, but always manage to have a few things. The big pots with geraniums on always on either side of the door. They don't look very good right now, but were beautiful when it was not so hot.
I have 2 coleus on either side of the steps.


My
"Welcome" sign is on an iron hanger and sits in the flower bed right in front of one of the coleus. These coleus got so big they were top heavy, so I trimmed them down quite a bit.
They were pleased with the cut and are now growing back very thick and happy!







I always like to have something that smells good on the porch, so on one side I have a pot of peppermint and rosemary.











Then on the other side is cinnamon basil and lemon basil. They all smell so good when someone brushes up against them.










I would love to have a big front porch, but I don't so I make due with what I have. I can still dream though...of a big porch with rocking chairs, maybe a swing, maybe a table with some chairs. I'll have a cup of coffee or glass of lemonade on my dream porch and listen to the birds or watch the fireflies.

So.....what's on your front porch???

"Garden Junk"

This time of year there's not many new things blooming in the garden. We are all waiting on fall for mums and asters I guess. So I am joining my fellow garden bloggers and looking at "other things in the garden." Some call it "whimsy", I think of it as my "garden junk" since most things I find at flea markets or antique stores.
This little table is something my best friend gave me years ago. It was old when she bought it and as you can see, it is still aging. I put it on the flagstone patio joined by old tins, a birdhouse, candles and plants.



Most of my "junk" is along the garage side of the backyard. When they built the fence, I moved all my "stuff" in this empty bed, and it looked so cute, I decided to leave most of it there.













This is a little red wagon I found in McKinney. I had been looking forever for a small wagon, so was really excited to find one this size.
















This Garden Angel watches over the corner wildflower bed. I am just starting out with wildflowers, so she has been very busy this year!

These are just a few of my birdhouses. I keep these in an iron planter on the patio right outside the kitchen.

And my very favorite is this garden stone. My husband surprised me with it several years ago on our 25th wedding anniversary. The stone sits tucked in the ivy right by the pond. I look at it everytime I sit in the swing, and I am reminded of how truly blessed I am!

Isn't this pretty....but WHAT is it??

In June, my neighbor that lives in the house behind me brought over a small little plant and said "this is for you..don't have a clue what it is, just some kind of a vine with little pink flowers." Well, not being one to pass up any kind of flower I gladly accepted it and planted it right away in a small pot. I thought if it was truly a vine, it might be happy climbing up the post of our new pergola. And it does seem pretty content to climb, and climb, and wind...but no blooms!



Isn't it pretty though. Lots of feathery foliage. I have it climbing with some morning glories that I planted in a pot after we returned from Colorado. They make very good companions!

The morning glories are not blooming yet of course--it's too soon, but hopefully I'll have some blooms in fall.

All the gardening around this new pergola/patio area is trial and error. I knew that going in...some things will live, some will not. But isn't that part of the fun of gardening? I hate, hate, HATE to lose plants, but oh the joy I have when something really works! I knew I would get sun, but I didn't know exactly when and for how long. I had to guess on most of the things I planted, and I am finding out some things, like the hostas, just will not work!

This cute little feathery delight is certainly one thing that is really working. Being in a pot, I do have to keep it watered quite a bit. I don't see any signs of little pink flowers, but maybe I need to feed it. Blooms would be nice, but with pretty foliage like this, I'm not overly concerned about flowers.


I know I am going to feel really dumb when I find out..but can somebody please tell me what I am enjoying so much!

What is this??

An award....for me?

After a very hot and tiring weekend, I check comments and find one from my friend The Perennial Gardener Lover. She has nominated me for this Brilliant Blog award! Wow! I am so excited and honored. I am suppose to add this award to my sidebar, then, I can nominate other bloggers for this award. I think every blog I read is wonderful, but these are the bloggers I would like to nominate:


jenningsjunk

misterreeders mystery discussion

barbee's blog

from my corner of katy

I will let all of these bloggers know...they all have wonderful blogs for you to visit.

Thank you soooooo much Perennial Gardener! You have made me a very, very happy blogger!

Meet Allie!

We went to Lubbock on Friday and packed up my youngest son to move him back to Dallas. He has graduated from law school, taken the BAR, and is now taking a much deserved three week vacation to Australia! So....for the next three weeks we will have a house guest.

Meet Allie...our grand dog. She is a one year old Golden Retriever. She is pretty excited to be here.


She likes our backyard even if it is small, but much prefers the front yard with more room to run.












She promises to be a good girl while we are at work and take a nap on the cool kitchen floor.

I'm sure she would love to help me water the plants, feed the fish and deadhead flowers! As long as she has time to chase birds and squirrels.

She brought lots of toys to play with so we are going to have a good time these next three weeks with Allie Girl!