Picture Perfect

A little while ago Cameron spoke about how she used her photos to decorate her home.  I like the idea of using my photos...I like my photos.  We don't have many walls in our house...there are lots of glass walls.  I did want to find a spot in the house to hang my work..... and our powder room needed something on the walls.  We happened upon a deal for a pair of frames with mats included.  Hooray!!!  I had already ordered my prints from Shutterfly and was very happy with how well they came out.   I had a pair of Magnolia blooms...one very fresh and one that was aged and brown.  A perfect pair for the powder room. 

Color isn't very true in this photo.  Wall color is kind of a light tan.
 A better view of the color is in the photo below. 

I had others printed as well...and placed them in our bathroom. 

Epiphyllum oxypetalum

Red buckeye, Aesculus pavia

 I have a print of a Van Gogh ...one of the Starry Night series, that needs to find a home. 
There are a few others I hung in the other bathrooms.  I know, doesn't sound glamorous -- but look at it this way--- anyone who goes in there has a nice photo to look at. 

Do you  have some photos that you would like to see as artwork in your home?  The cost is pretty minimal to have a 8 x10 print.  I used Shutterfly, like I said, but there are lots of places to get prints done.  We love our photos online, now we enjoy them at home as well.

I have been shopping -- searching the discount racks.  Yes, I brought home a few new plants.

Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'

Coreopsis 'Limerock Dream'

Don't you just love all the color variation?

Phlox paniculata 'Laura'

Also bought some pansies and a few mums.  Just seemed like a good idea.  While planting and weeding I got some more photos of some of the wildflowers growing along the edges of my property. 

 Wild flower Identification is not my strong suit, I do not know for sure what this white flower is.

Blue Lobelia

I like this time of year as I can spend a lot more time in the garden without getting overheated.  Getting reacquainted with my flowers....  :-)  I think they missed me.

©Copyright 2011 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Fairy Tales....in the garden.

Well, one fairy tale in the garden.  I planted a new variety of Portulaca this summer.   Portulaca 'Cinderella' Fairy Tale Series.  I like Portulaca as a general rule and thought about putting it in the garden -------somewhere.  When I saw this one, I HAD to have it.  What a beauty.  These photos have been taken all through the summer.  This bloom with its hot pink pom-pom center, surrounded by bright yellow outer petals was too incredible to pass by.   Portulaca are drought tolerant and great for spaces where conditions are less than perfect. 

 Each bloom is open all day long.  At night they all close up.  I am not sure if the bloom lasts only one day or is just open during the day.  It doesn't matter to me.  I am just glad I bought two small pots early this summer....and it is still going strong. 

 Hot pink and bright yellow...it just shouts HELLO!

I planted the two small plants in the front garden along the sidewalk.  It filled in the open spaces.  The only other plants in that garden spot at some variegated Acorus....echoing that yellow.  Next year?  Hope I can find some more of this baby....

There are two other Portulaca Fairy Tale Series-- 'Snow White' which is .....white. (duh!) It has the same pom-pom center and outer petals...they are all white.  'Sleeping Beauty' is yellow...all yellow.  Again, same shape bloom, all yellow.  I think I hit a homerun with 'Cinderella'.  Do you have some homerun plants from this summer?


©Copyright 2011 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Garden Assessment After Our Trip

Hard to believe we were gone for so long....until you look at the garden.  This drought is being called moderate for our area.... according to our newspaper, we are over 10 inches behind in rainfall. 

My two little dogwoods are showing signs of drought.  Poor trees.  Have set up the sprinkler to get this area hydrated.   The mature trees really suck up the moisture. 

Walking down the path towards the lake I see the Blackberry Lily, Belamcanda chinensis, in full glory.

Just beyond is some Gaillardia, busy with bees.

A nice surprise--- one of the Cyclamen has popped up! I have more to keep on the lookout for....love this little bloom.

Around the other side of the bed is my Pumpkin-on-a-stick, Solanum integrifolium .  Tina posted about this plant a little while back.  I got mine from a neighbor who had been over at Park Seed. 

Cute eh? Can't wait for it to turn orange. 

A new find in the edges of the yard....a Blue Lobelia, great native.  What fun!

Down near the water I was trying to get a photo from one side of the yard to the other....when I saw I had a little friend .....look who is looking for some nectar in the cannas.

Do you see it?  A little hummingbird.

We have so many hummingbirds in the yard, love watching them. 

And now for the long shot of the yard.....

Cannas, Muhly Grass, Penisetum 'Princess Molly', Gaura, Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Vintage Gold' and Elephant ears.  The garden is filling in pretty well.  Apparently the hummers like it too. 


©Copyright 2011 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I have been missing from the internet for a bit.  My online time was short and intermittent.  Why?  Well, we just finished a trip to visit family.  The truck clocked a little over 3,300 miles.   I don't want to get in the truck for a while. 

Our first stop was Richmond for a 90th birthday celebration....during Hurricane Irene.  Great to see members of the extended family we hadn't seen for a number of years.

Found this sign along the trip!

 The day after the birthday celebration there was a baby shower for niece and nephew's soon to be born baby girl.

Isn't this the cutest? 

All sorts of goodies for the new baby...and a few fun things for big brother. 

After the shower we headed to Seaford to check on my mom.  She lives next door to my old house....in low Seaford.  I thank Les, Racquel and David and others keeping me posted on Hampton Roads conditions.  The Weather Channel and other national news outlets seemed to ignore any land mass between the Outer Banks and New York City.  I knew before we got there that Seaford had minimal flooding, a lot less than Isabel.  Hooray!  We got up Monday morning and cleaned up Mom's yard ....making runs to the dump to join the rest of the residents of York County getting rid of the storm debris.

No power for the time we were there.  The first shower, after all the cleanup was not bad.....the shower the next morning before we headed out was a bit chilly.  Power finally came back on for Mom a few days later.

From Seaford we headed out to Kansas to visit my sister and her husband.  Two days to get out there.

Love seeing the landscape as we drove.  Lots of beautiful vistas!

One of the few sunrises I have seen since Charlie retired.  Ok, it is pretty....just a tad early.

While in Kansas my sister and I went to a place that is named 'Top of the World'.  Big views and lots of wildflowers and LOTS of wind!  This is my sister....say hi!

 We had a good time checking out the flowers in the fields around us.

Liatris sp.

Ironweed, Vernonia fasciculata

And views that go on forever---

Rustic beauty.

Great varieties of blooms.

Kansas...grasses blowing in the wind with a sunflower -- perfect!

I love this one....one of those postcard pictures!

Another little bloom.  Blue Vervain, Verbena hastata

After the Top of the World, we went to Tuttle Creek Dam Lake.  Very pretty.

Sumac

Snow on the Mountain, Euphorbia marginata

Thistle and Sunflowers

Beautiful mix of wildflowers

The night before we left we had one of those picture perfect dinners. Recipes for this meal are on my sister's blog.  Bags by KZK   Venture on over there...good eats!!

Driving through Kansas we saw lots of open fields....

We headed to OKC to visit Charlie's sister and family.  There was a baby naming ceremony for another nephew's baby boy.  Saturday was filled with football, then a ride into downtown OKC.  The OKC Federal Building Memorial Sight is quite moving.  If you have not visited it, certainly worth  a stop.

Each chair has the name of one of the victims of the bombing.

There is a beautiful reflecting pool in the middle.

The sunlight shining through the chairs is just beautiful.

Quite a somber place.

Time to head home, the dogs had been in the boarding facility long enough.

  We headed home in time to drive through Tropical Lee. 

Storm to the left of us....yikes!

Visibility was limited.

Downtown Atlanta....through the raindrops

Close to home, Ware Shoals, big dark clouds

Heading this direction doesn't look good!

A few miles before we got off the highway the rain came down so hard and fast it was like someone dumped a bucket of white paint on the windshield.   So glad to be home. This is just a brief overview of all our activities during the last week or so.   Picked up the dogs today and gave them a bath....boy did they need it. 

The gardens need tending, the voles and the heat have taken their toll on my poor plants. 

Hoping to get back into the swing of visiting everyone's blogs.    

©Copyright 2011 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.