garden inspiration and design
Did you love this post with my denim whale but haven’t had time to make one yourself? Problem Solved. I finally opened my Etsy store, along with my mom and my super talented sister. We’ve posted a couple of our whales for sale, each as beautifully unique as the up-cycled jeans they were created from.
Check out our store here
I’ve always loved classic rock and roll. There’s something about a little Marshall Tucker Band or some Steely Dan that’s just good for the soul. But lately my Pandora station is set to Toddler Dance Radio more often than The Eagles and I listen to a lot more “Head, Knees and Toes” than I do Boston hits. But yesterday my sister stopped by and reminded me of a little Earth, Wind and Fire. The lyrics to “September” are as much poetry as anything written by Longfellow, and defintely worth a little space on my wall as some seasonal decor. You can download an 8 x 10 printable page here.
I should know better, I really should. But sometimes a girl can’t help it and she needs to get out and play in the dirt. Despite the 38 degree temperatures and the promise of snow in the 4 day forecast. The sun started shining, breaking through the clouds and the gray inversion choking our little valley along the Wasatch mountain range and I couldn’t help but grab my pruners and head outside.
It was a little optimistic, I know, to be outside in January. So I told myself I was just doing a garden inventory and beginning some spring cleanup a little early. Honestly, the little bit of sun felt like heaven and walking around my yard touching brittle winter branches and considering this year’s planting plans was more than a breath of fresh air. I began clipping back some spent salvia stems when I came across this…….
That’s new growth! Tender little leaves peaking out from the frozen ground, beginning their stretch towards sunlight. In that moment I felt completely justified in my optimism and I began cutting back with more vigor, searching for more signs of spring.
My shasta daisies had begin peeking through the soil as well.
I also found a little patch of larkspur that had taken upon themselves to begin sprouting. I’m so proud of those little guys.
Mid-January yardwork continued until the sun was too low {only 5:30} and the shadows made it impossible to remain outside. I returned back inside with a new hope that snow and icy winds couldn’t continue forever, and that soon I’d be outside again, pulling weeds and deadheading in the sunshine.
There are soooooo many reasons why it’s a great idea to leave your perennial pruning until spring. In the past I’d been a fan of the fall cleanup, cutting back all my perennials while I removed leaves and tore out my tomatoes. It just seemed like the tidy thing to do. But this fall changed all that. Some severe morning sickness with my second pregnancy ensured that fall yard work would be kept to a minimum. Over the past few months though I’ve been surprised to find how much I enjoyed having a little winter structure in my yard. Seriously, I never knew what I was missing by cutting my perennial stems in the fall.
The seed heads of my rudbeckias and coneflowers added unique architecture to my yard in the snowy months that followed. My Russian sage’s pale stems turned a silvery white and appeared majestic as they supported snow. but I think my favorite winter surprise was my maiden grass. The arching blades and seed heads added beautiful texture, working with the backdrop of my red brick and dark evergreen photinias to create awesome winter interest for what could have been a boring front yard.
In addition to visual interest, leaving perennial stems until spring pruning has environmental pluses too. Seed heads remain available for birds to eat all winter, and stems provide a haven for insects during cold winter months. Plus it gives us gardeners some early spring work to look forward too. And lets not forget that leaving seedheads untouched allows the seeds to mature and disperse upping your chances for volunteers seedlings popping up.
Leave you’re perennials around until spring and you’ll have a reason to put on a jacket, grab a pair of pruners, and trim back your stems to find the very first signs of spring. There isn’t a better way to start off the new year
It’s January! Christmas season is officially over, and although I there’s a part of me that feels some sadness at taking down the tree and un-hanging the stockings a bigger part of me gets crazy happy and excited. The new year brings promise of a fresh beginning and with it longer days and {ever-so-slowly} increasing temperatures. Along with a list of new year’s resolutions I begin my new year’s garden list. Although I’d love to hurry spring along, I’ve lived in icy, unpredictable Utah long enough that January and February require a gardener’s patience.
I’ll spend the next two months doing my yard inventory, and try to whittle down my garden to do list to a few of my most important projects. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I’ll start sewing some of my seeds indoors and I’ll wait, looking out the window for the first rays of spring sunshine. In the mean time, it’s just me, my lists, and an open tab on Pinterest looking for more and more garden inspiration.
One of the projects I’m anticipating most is starting some perennial seeds. Although I love the vibrant color and aggressive blooming of annuals for things like window boxes and patio pots, I’ll always skip those in my flower beds. I prefer to fill my borders with resilient little bloomers that will reseed, spread, and return year after year. Gardening on 1/3 an acre with a shoestring budget requires even more patience than waiting out a slow January and February. Instead of filling my basket with perennials this spring, I’m going to save my nursery dollars for larger trees, shrubs, and {crossing my fingers} an arbor. So I’m planning out a seed starting schedule. I’ve got some potting soil, heating mats, and a sunny south facing window all ready to go. My first round of seed starting will include a set of herbs, not for my vegetable garden, but for my flower beds. These herbs are fighters, they’ll withstand the hot sun, a little bit of drought, and they’ll add an awesome variance of texture to my flower beds. Here’s the top four herbs on my list…..
Tri Color Sage
Amazing texture right? This version of the usually dusty-green foliage plant is has leaves rimmed in white, and new growth emerges pinkish purple. Since it only gets about 12-16″ tall, it’ts perfect for the front of plant borders.
Lemon Thyme
I’m planting this beauty along the edges of my walkways and in between my stepping stones. It’s low growing, spreading habit makes it a perfect ground cover, with the added bonus of when it’s bumped or stepped on it releases a delicious lemony fragrance.
Chives
I’m still trying to decide the exact direction I’m taking my garden. With so many ideas running around my designer’s head it’s hard to narrow my theme down. I’m all for eclectic, but I think a formal french, English cottage, Moorish, drought resistant yard might be a little too diverse. So while I’m still in the decision making process, I’m at least trying to stick with a color scheme. I’ve got lots of purple and blue hues, so I’ll add variance with a little texture this year. The grassy leaves and round firework like blossoms of chives will give perfect contrast peeking out from between my salvias and jupiter’s beards.
Feverfew
I’ve been in love with feverfew ever since it began spreading in my mom’s garden a few years ago. The tiny, daisy flowers add whimsy to a landscape, which I believe is a necessary component. One of the best attributes of this dainty herb is the second round of blooms you can get if you chop them back about 8″ after their first blossoming. Did I mention they can spread like crazy? A bonus for any gardener looking to fill up space on a budget.
I am so excited to share this tutorial today! Christmas is right around the corner and I’ve been working on a few homemade presents for my little 19 moth old girl. We spend a lot of time in the kitchen together and she can play for the entire duration of our dinner prep with my measuring cups and mixing spoons. When I stumbled upon a wooden mini kitchen at a second hand store last month I knew it would be the perfect project to refinish and give her for Christmas.
A play kitchen can’t be complete without mini pots, pans, utensils, and of course play food! I started searching around on the internet earlier this month and completely fell in love with all of the Melissa & Doug brand wooden fruits and veggies, I think they look classy and I’d thought they’d make a good fit with the rustic/vintage look of her kitchen. However, I wasn’t ready to spend $25 for just a few pieces. I looked up “diy play food” on Pinterest and found a ton of tutorials for felt food, which inspired this fabric food project. So here we go…..
For this project you’ll need:
Image Transfer Process
Repeat this transfer method for each of the pieces. If your’e doing a double sided veggies you’ll need two of each. And if you’re going to do all of them at once you’ll definitely need a helper. The rubbing part of the transfer cramps up your wrist.
Next, trim around the edge of each set, making sure that there’s an inch or so between the edge of the veggie and the edge of the fabric. Next, place the inked sides together, matching up the edges of the fruit as close as possible. Sew around the fabric, about 1/4″ from the colored veggie edge, leaving a 1″ opening. Pull the fabric right side out through the 1″ opening and fill with fluffy cotton to your desired plush-ness. And finally, tuck the edges of the opening into the center and sew along the opening. 
TA-DA!!! All finished. Now all that’s left is to wrap them and stick them under the tree. I’m thinking I’ll add some fabric bread, muffins, and eggs to her fabric food set. Hope you enjoy the tutorial.
*************Make sure to run these through a gentle cycle in the washing machine before giving to your little ones!***************
Having a fresh, off the vine veggies just out the back door is a dream come true. But it can be overwhelming. Even a small garden plot can produce faster than we can gobble it all down. Instead of tossing rotting tomatoes, or throwing out shriveling peppers, find a way to share!
It’s been wonderful to have a garden this year! We had such high hopes for our garden of 2014, all of which came to a halt when our baby came three weeks early, literally the day after I brought my veggie starts home. They baked and dried up out there on my back patio while I was in labor and delivery. By the time we started to settle in a little as a new family the garden had been long forgotten, and it was too late to start tomatoes anyway.
2015 has been a completely different story. Over the past few weeks I’ve sampled raspberries from by newly planted bushes, plucked Anaheim peppers, and drooled over my very first vine ripened tomato of the season. But most of all there has been the zucchini. At first it was amazing, I’d check my plants every day and pick the squash at its perfection. We grilled, diced, marinaded, baked, sauteed, and cooked in every delicious way imaginable. And then came the end of July. Suddenly our 5 plants started doubling production. Last week we had a few very exciting, garden neglecting days while my husband was interviewing for an amazing new job. After all the excitement was over, and the new job finalized {wahoo!} I finally wandered out to the garden where I was accosted by nearly a dozen club-sized zucchini. That’s both an overwhelming quantity and size. Thankfully I knew how to handle the situation.
At the park across from the street we’ve got a “Share the Harvest Cart” where anyone can drop of extra produce and you’re welcome to take as you please. It was here that we deposited all of our very large zucchini. I wasn’t quite sure if anyone wanted them since they were so big. I definitely prefer mine smaller than a rolling pin, but I was hoping there would be some avid zucchini bread makers out there who would enjoy. We weren’t disappointed, when taking the baby for a pre-bedtime stroll later that same evening we walked past the cart and to our delight all the zucchini were gone.
Have any other ideas for how to share your bountiful harvest? Comment below!
Last post date is Feb. 23rd. Wow that’s a long time. It doesn’t say much for my 2015 new years resolution to be a better blogger, but I’ll try to catch up. Between finishing up another school year, taking care of the baby, and building my landscape design clientele, I’ve been MIA on allmyfriendsareflowers.com. Just to prove I have been a little busy, here’s one of the projects I’ve been working on this spring.
When I first met with the client she expressed her desire to have a French country landscape design to match the style of her newly constructed home. My mind flew to summer 2012 where I spent a month wandering through Europe with my husband. I felt like it couldn’t be three years since the trip because the formal garden of Versailles came so vividly to mind. With inspiration from the most renowned formal French garden in the world I began creating this design. This home is in the foothills at the mouth of a beautiful, but very windy canyon. The varied slopes and grade changes were a challenge that was made a little easier by their builder constructing some retaining walls around the home.
Steep grades and natural stone boulders aren’t considered classically French, so formality was emphasized through dwarf boxwood hedges both in the front and backyard. Emerald arborvitae around the perimeter works to unify the design with an evergreen hedge and doubles as a wind block. Perennials in shades of purple, white, and yellow planted in between the boxwood hedges bring color and movement.
