Impress your Friends with a Patriotic Fruit Flag. We had friends over for brunch on Sunday, and I wanted to add a festive patriotic accent to our table since the holiday is just a week away. I wanted something that we would eat (I hate wasting food on craft projects unless I plan to serve …
Gardening in the summer months can be a challenge. These 5 tips for a flourishing summer garden will help to get the best out of your plants, both outdoors and inside. If you’re late to the game on spring gardening, no fear. There’s still time to create a beautiful, vivacious garden at home. Given the …
Brighten up your Garden with One of these Sun Faces One of my neighbors has a great collection of sun faces on the wall of their sun room. You can see it featured in the main photo of this collage. The sun is often portrayed with a face. The roundness and brightness of it just …
My Favorite sun rooms I have always wanted a sun room. To me, there is nothing like relaxing the morning with the sun peeking into a beautifully decorated room that allows you to enjoy nature. It is as close to being outside as one can get. Here are a few of my favorite sun room …
My local garden center does not often have plants that are too much out of the ordinary, so I was delighted to find this Mexican Hat coneflower right here for sale in Raleigh. This interesting variety of coneflower is also called the “Red Prairie Coneflower.” The perennial served as a dye source for Native Americans …
My family comes from a long line of vegetable gardeners. I can still remember when my great grandmother had her vegetable garden, I used to wander through it when I was about 6. My grandfather on my mother’s side also had a huge veggie garden. (we used to snitch peas from it, hoping we would …
I have several butterfly bushes, also knows as buddleia, in my garden beds. I love them because they attract butterflies and bees like no other plant in my garden. My main butterfly bush was put in a large island bed early this spring, when it was about 12″ tall. It is now at least 5 …
My husband used to buy me lilies all the time because he loved the look of them so much. I love them too, but not as cut flowers indoors (they have a stinky smell inside that I don’t like.) I never had the inclination to tell him that they were not my favorite cut flower …
Red Vols Daylily is a spectacular daylily that was a Better Homes and Gardens winner of the year in 2000 and it’s easy to see why. Anyone who gets interested in growing perennials while find themselves also interested in daylilies. These showing perennial bulbs are dramatic, come back year after year and are easy to …
It’s been a long spring with a ton of work put into my gardens. So many of them were overgrown, and neglected last year when I spent most of my energy on my vegetable garden. Months of tilling, planting and transplanting have gone into my garden beds this year. I enlarged my test garden by …
These are some more of my favorite Fourth of July recipes. They are sure to add a patriotic flair to any gathering with friends. July is a month for foodies. Lots of national days are devoted to celebrating the 4th of July with food. From delicious cakes to decadent cocktails, these recipes all use the …
One of my favorite things to do on Sunday morning is to meet friends for breakfast or brunch and catch up on the week. Normally, we go out to a variety of restaurants and alternate each week between them. This week, I wanted to have our friends over to our house for breakfast. I’ve been …
Growing perennials means lots of color when you plant gladioli. There is something about a bare piece of ground that suddenly breaks with foliage at an amazing rate and then bursts in a splendid show of flowers a few weeks later. Gladiolus are not actually bulbs but are considered perennial corms. Gladiolus is often called …
Add One of these Outdoor Games to your next Party. The weather is warming up here in NC and it makes me think of things to do outside. Gardening is my first choice, of course, but I also love having outdoor gatherings and activities for them. I grew up in a family of six children …
Have you ever priced single Calla lilies at a florist? If you have, you will have discovered that they sell for $5-$9 a STEM. Why pay those kind of prices, when you can become your own florist – well sort of, anyway. Calla Lilies make wonderful indoor plants and comes in many colors, as well. …
Dinner plate Dahlias are not plants that one would call shrinking violets. These majestic plants command attention in a garden bed and also need plenty of room to grow and flower. A Master of a Plant – Dinner Plate Dahlias I love dahlias and zinnias…and cone flowers….and on and on. Basically anything that looks even …
My daughter Jess’ favorite flower is the sunflower. I plant them in my garden each year and love to find new varieties that I have not had before. Growing sunflowers is pretty easy if you keep just a few things in mind. Plant a Sunflower to Brighten your Day I’ve written about sunflowers many times …
These DIY Squirrel Repellents were easy to make and did a pretty good job of keeping them out of my vegetable patch. The squirrels have made a mess of both my crop of tulips, and my vegetable gardening attempts, this year, in a big way. I decided to see what I could come up with …
The Raleigh Rose Garden is a place that you should visit if you are ever in Raleigh, North Carolina. Raleigh’s little Theater has a wonderful rose garden behind it. I discovered it year’s ago when my daughter performed in a play there as a middle schooler. It has a splendid array of roses of all …
Earlier this year, I wrote about a test garden that I will be having in my back yard. I am using the garden bed to grow all sorts of things as test plants for the blog posts that I write. Some grow well there and some don’t like it at all, but everything gives me …
These campfire starters use common household items to get the fire going quickly. There is nothing quite like sitting around a campfire, having a drink, exchanging jokes and just generally enjoying the outside. Sometimes getting that fire to start can sometimes be a bit of a task. Try these ideas to get your campfire roaring …
There is nothing quite like a re-bloom of your favorite flower later in the year. A re-blooming iris gives me a chance to enjoy the beauty twice in one season. If you love growing perennials, you will probably have an iris or two in your garden. Many iris plants bloom once for the season and …
The 4th of July is traditionally a time for family and friend get-togethers. Why not entertain in style with one of these neat Patriotic Fourth of July DIY projects? From party games to table displays, these red white and blue projects give a patriotic feel to your outdoor gathering. Most of the projects require just …
Sweet Williams have pretty fringed flowers that grow in a cluster on top of a long stalk. Dianthus Barbatus is a lovely variety of the dianthus species. Dianthus Barbatus – is a tender perennial. It is often treated as a Biennial with leaves the first year and flowers the second before dying off. My Dianthus Barbatus …