Farmer's Market Flowers for Easter Celebrations

Farmer's Market flowers made all the more special when gifted by the hands of a child.  Even if she's grown ♥ maybe especially when she's grown. 

Wordless Wednesday :: Sweet Almond Verbena :: Bring It In

or not.

Seasonal Shift

S U M M E R

F A L L

Saved From Frost and Livin' Easy

The Livin' Easy is just that ... livin' easy.  A bud rescued from frost to quietly grace the window ledge  has opened up into full blossom.   Amazing how a single rose can light up the whole room ... just like a smile.

It's Friday! What Are Your Weekend Gardening Plans? Inspire Me!

I want to hear what you're doing this weekend in the garden!  Inspire me, friends.  

What a Trip to the Nursery Can Do...

A beautiful, ordinary day + a trip to the nursery =

a JOYful, beautiful, ordinary day!

A Suggestion for Summer Sunshine

Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair...

Great Writing: A Few Blogs For You to Check Out

 

 {afternoon reflection of a single zinnia bloom in the kitchen window}

Lee of A Guide To Northeastern Gardening has graciously awarded me the One Lovely Blog award.  Thank you, Lee for the honor of such sweet recognition.  Gardening in Long Island, New York, Lee shares her knowledge and love of design and horticulture with her readers.

The rules for the One Lovely Blog Award are:

Thank the person who nominated you for the award and link back to their blog.
List seven things about yourself.
Nominate up to ten blogs for the award.

• fritos and bean dip are not safe in my presence
• i can type nearly 100 words per minute
• reading the dictionary fascinates me
• it's all about the hunt:  flea markets, estate sales, and consignment shops rock 
• i marvel daily at God's unwavering grace
• my best friend tells me my nose crinkles when I laugh
• there can never be too much football...high school, college, pro - it's all good

Honestly, all who take the time and make the effort to create quality posts are worthy of recognition for this award.  I'm constantly in awe of the quality information and images I find in the blogosphere.

Lately I've been really inspired by a few bloggers whose writing has captured my imagination and I'd like to nominate them for this award.  I hope you'll visit their blogs.

Austin Agrodolce
Deb is a fellow Austinite whose writing is quirky, authentic and intelligent.  She weaves stories that transport and entertain.

Foxglove Lane
Catherine writes from Ireland and has a keen sense of observation.  She captures life's moments both with her eloquent words and her beautiful photography.

Mulish & Co.
Roberta also hails from right here in Central Texas.  She says "This blog is not my first rodeo, as they are wont to say in Texas. It may be, however, my first true blog, the first blog I've kept that resonates with me. I keep it to track my path to a writing life. A life in which, creativity, and writing in particular, come first."

Two Sharp Pencils and a Broken Crayon
My friend Julie writes on creativity with razor sharp wit and deep insight.  She will have you thinking about creativity in a whole new way and will inspire you to pursue your creative dreams.

Happy reading,
Cat

A Bit of Fragrance

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you flowers...

A small gesture presented in the tiniest of packages.   A cherished bouquet gifted to me by my girl.  Whether two or twenty years old, it doesn't matter.  What mother can resist the delight of a child as she proudly surrenders her carefully selected posies chosen just for you?   Sweet moments. Simple joys.

Begonia Blossoms and Why I Blog

Why I Blog? 

You might not think this such a difficult question to answer.  I didn't.  But given that I've been thinking on it for a week now and have tossed away more ideas to answer the question than not, my opinion of the question has wavered. 

In an effort to not bore you, it seems the answer should be brief and to the point.  But considering that we are emotional beings, nothing is ever simple is it?

This stem of angel wing begonia blossoms was found on the ground this morning.  It seemed a shame to toss it.  It's delicate, feminine countenance called to be photographed. 

I suppose that is one of the most significant reasons I blog.  To share with you small moments of wonder that draw me in, moving me to the point of expression through words and photographs.

There are countless photographs of this angel wing begonia in bloom on my hard drive.  It's planted in a colorful ceramic pot with complementary plantings but none of those pictures has ever moved me to post about it.  It's the small, beautiful and simplest of moments that I find myself wanting to tell you about. 

Maybe it has something to do with gardening in such a pernicious climate...where what might appear to be a simple happening is really a triumph in survival.  The mercury was climbing toward 90 degrees when I came across this bloom still looking as fresh as those thriving on the plant.

What is it about a stem of two blossoms in a vintage Listerine bottle that inspires someone to write about why they blog?  Who knows!  We humans are complicated.  All I know is I followed my heart's desire.

It's my hope that this blog will inspire you to create and grow a garden, literally or as a metaphor for life, that is a reflection of your heart's desire.

Plant Me! Plant Me!

Perched upon the swing with eyes closed, the evening breeze carries the delicious scent of roses

 and transports me back to childhood...

Sweet memories of walking to school along rose-lined sidewalks, enveloped in the heady aroma of dozens of blossoms and sometimes dangerously daring to pluck one from the bush to carry the scent home...

Antique rose 'Marie Daly':  fragrant, disease tolerant, repeat bloomer, few thorns, sun/part shade, 3'x3'.  'Marie Pavie' is the white version.  A great, reliable selection for Central Texas. 

More Mallow Love

These globe mallow just won't quit and I've taken to bringing them inside to enjoy.  This sake bottle was saved on a whim and it's the perfect vessel for these sweet little flowers.  Savoring every moment of spring and the blessings it brings...

It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, 

you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just 

fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! 

                                                                              ~Mark Twain

                                                                                                      
                                  

In Matters of the Heart and Garden

Happy Valentine's Day persistent gardeners!

GBBD ~ My Winter Garden

Welcome Winter 2012!  

This has been a beautiful winter so far...a few light freezes but nothing severe and the garden is in a state of quiet.  The stress of the hot, dry summer is behind us and I don't dare let myself dwell too much on what next summer will bring.

The globe mallow is the standout on this garden blogger's bloom day.  It's been going strong since early fall and its tissue paper flowers and fuzzy gray foliage are a welcome sight.  This is one of the few plants that thrived in the heat and drought this summer.  I'll be adding more of this for sure.

The glimpses of orange globe mallow through the kitchen window are so welcome that I couldn't resist bringing a pop of orange inside.  These gorgeous roses have graced the windowsill all week.  They are getting a bit tired but even their slight droop is lovely.

Be sure to stop by May Dreams Gardens to see what others have in bloom this month. 

Silent Night, Holy Night!

Merry Christmas!

Waiting, Wonder, Woes and Waiting

Gardeners know waiting...we wait for cooler weather, we wait for rain, we wait for sun, we wait for plantings to mature, we wait.  And wait.  Gardening is a study in patience.  

Gomphrena had been on my wish list for sometime.  After planting a couple last fall, I eagerly anticipated the plump, colorful blooms dancing on wispy stalks I'd seen on other blogs.  This summer I feared they wouldn't make it through the drought but they persevered and began to bloom a couple of weeks ago.  The tiniest of blooms that required a close look to notice.  I kept waiting for them to get larger like the ones I'd seen.  And I waited. 

Then I had a "head slap" moment when I was reading about gomphrena 'grapes' the other day.  Seems I will be waiting a long time for these to get bigger.  Like forever.  This is what they do...that's it, teeny, tiny, little flowers.  They're sweet and I like dainty but jeez these are diminutive!

Whilst watering the sweet potato vine an enchanting wonder was discovered.  Blooms!  In all the years I've grown sweet potato vine, I've never had blooms.  Or at least, I've never seen them.  Is this a wonder to you too?  Or did you know?

So of course, I had to take photos.  Sounds relatively easy, right?  And how pretty to put them together with that sweet little gomphrena, right?  Enter woe...

Are there any flowers you just can't seem to get a sharp photo of no matter what you try?  There are a few that really prove challenging for me.  White tropical sage, pineapple sage and gardenia come to mind.  Usually it's the white and red flowers that keep me humble. 

The sweet potato vine flower is hands down the hardest flower I've ever tried to get a macro shot of.  After many failed attempts while the flower was still on the vine outside, I brought it indoors thinking the breeze wasn't helping. 

Well, it wasn't the breeze.  The arrangement was photographed in different light at different times of day, in different locations and all with the same results...blurry blooms.   Not only is gardening a study in patience; so is photography.

So grateful to have a patient friend willing to wait with me.  Yesterday at the Austin Garden Bloggers "Go-Go" I was gifted with some gomphrena seeds.  Robin assures me they are the big flowers! 

I'll be waiting...

Celebrating Fall's Fabulousness with Cake!

It's time to start celebrating this fabulous season!  This cake is perfect for a quick autumn dessert.  My favorite variation of the recipe this time of year is the pumpkin spice cake.   Krusteaz makes a pumpkin spice mix you can find at Costco.  Mix the ingredients in one bowl, pour into a prepared Bundt pan and your whole house will be filled with the yummy scent of pumpkin spice in no time.  Nothing says fall like the aroma of pumpkin spice!

 Happy Fall, Y'all!

If you haven't already, submit a comment for the Austin Independent Nurseries Giveaway.  There is still time to enter the drawings for some incredible prizes!

Looking Back

Do you ever go through the "stats" on your blog to see where some of your readers are coming from?  It can be really interesting to see how someone has come across your blog and what they are reading.

A lot of hits to my blog come from people looking at images.  Today I clicked through to the posts where the images were found and had a good laugh.  One was called GBBD ~ Ever Hopeful.

To recap, I had transplanted a hydrangea that had somehow managed to survive the previous spring/summer/fall and winter but hadn't thrived.   Imagine that!  A hydrangea that hadn't thrived in Central Texas - go figure!   The hydrangea was handling the move pretty well; I mean, at least it wasn't dead.  Why, I ask myself, do I always insist on pushing limits?  I've always been somewhat of a rebel!

Later while grocery shopping, I had come across some hydrangea blooms and in lofty anticipation of the gorgeous flowers that were surely to come in my garden, I bought them.  Now these were worth buying.  They were so lovely that I'll post them again...

This white pitcher makes any flower/branch arrangement look good.  Or should I say, any flower/branch arrangement makes this white pitcher look good?  Anyway...

This is one of those humbling moments in gardening:

because this is what the hydrangea looks like now...deader than dead can be.

It doesn't thwart my optimism though.  Not in the least.  Because the gardenia that I posted about for which I had no hope of surviving has not only survived but thrived!  The shrub has more than doubled in size this summer. 

And I'm looking forward with crazy, unbridled optimism to more of these fragrant, luscious blooms next spring!

As for the hydrangea?  Fortunately, there are tons of them to be found at the flower market!
 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Timeless

Wordless Wednesday ~ Oh Susan, Susan, Lovely Dear