Kaseys Korner

sit a spell

Sharing my latest summer reading.  I bought this book based solely on the cover and the title, figuring anything garden related "had" to be good!  It's an interesting story with an even more interesting premise ~ that using herbs & flowers in foods will draw out certain characteristics in people.  I know it's fictional but I'm wondering if Jane Marie (because of her extensive herb collection) has any knowledge about whether herbs & flowers have the power do that kind of thing?  Obviously they are medicinal but it's thought provoking to consider the possibility they could be so much more.  That part is probably pure fiction but it still intrigues me.  "Garden Spells" is a faster read than my last book so I finished it in one day, which is perfect.  Happy Friday all!

immersed in pages

Last night I started reading 'Fox's Earth' and could hardly go to bed.  I got up this dreary, rainy morning and immediately picked it back up.  I've stopped to get my daughter breakfast and straighten up the house but otherwise, it's a lost day for me.  I only want to be reading.  You know what that means.  No big post today because my summer reading calls!  The only thing better would be a hammock under a tree with some lemonade and a warm day.  Maybe it doesn't matter.  When you're pulled into a good story, enveloped by it really, nothing matters.  Except finishing the book...   

sizzle, pop, burst

From an emerging diminutive mound to flat out spectacular is what seemed to occur with my clematis integrefolia this weekend when our temperatures took a dramatic turn upward.  Where did that come from??!  I'm used to a much slower evolution but I guess plants and humans alike were just waiting for a little heat.  I've learned to insert an obelisk over the emerging foliage early in spring to help keep the lovely rounded shape I prefer.  Otherwise, it sprawls all over and falls apart in the middle (kinda like its owner, but that's a whole 'nuther, much less fascinating story).  I have a long and interesting history with this perennial.  I first saw a photograph of it in Lauren Springer's book titled "The Undaunted Garden."  That was approximately 18 years ago, give or take a few??  On sight, I fell in love with its unique bloom and started obsessing about acquiring one for my own garden.  Not knowing where to search, I wrote to Lauren herself, inquiring where I could get one (pre-Internet days).  Unbelievably she promptly jotted me off a handwritten note with a source!!  Glory days!  The rest is history.  I bought myself one that week and the original plant has been with me thru four moves and three gardens, that's how much I love it.  It is amazingly tough as it survived (not sayin' thrived) in a container for two years (during a brief apartment stay).  I  wouldn't think of being without it.  Those pretty, nodding heads always make me smile.  Welcome back old friend! 

Container Bonanza

Barnes & Noble tickled me pink, red, green, purple and every other color in the rainbow last Saturday when I found this issue sitting on their shelves.  My 2006 Container Gardening issue received so much love that it's practically coming apart at the seams.  I'm sure its relieved there's a new edition.  I don't think Fine Gardening publishes one every year??  At least I didn't see a new issue last year or I positively would have bought it.  $7.99 but worth every penny if you are into container gardening even the teeniest bit.  The new issue has a lot more tips on successful planting, aftercare, etc., than the 2006 issue did but there's still enough eye candy to keep me wholly satisfied and completely inspired.  These issues have raised my consciousness about the art of planting a container.  It's so much more than sticking a few petunias and a spike into a pot.   Last summer, I really contemplated the plant combinations I was grouping together on a level I'd never done before.  Fine Gardening also has a container contest called "Thrillers, Fillers & Spillers" which even if you don't care to enter, provokes consideration about whether those three elements are present in your pots or not.  If you care to check it out, the new issue must be in every bookstore now and there's also a link here for online ordering.  I'm expecting great things from my containers after all this extra time I've had to plan (due to inclement weather) so stay tuned!  ha!  the pressure is on....

miniature treasures

There's a lot of prancing, stomping, snorting and feverish chomping going on around here.  You'd think a race horse lived on the premises.  Unfortunately, all that unladylike behavior stems from the author of this blog.  I have a garage full of hothouse beauties, bags of potting soil lined in rows, containers cleaned and ready, everything saying "go" except the weather!  Can you believe our local station is calling for "snow" on Tuesday???  unfreakingbelieveable.  Because of that one little four letter word, we are not viewing beautifully planted pots this AM but rather an old paper project!

Unlike this spring, fortune smiled on me in 2003 and I was one of the lucky designers who contributed to a special issue publication called "Big Ideas for Little Accents."  The book was produced by Paper Crafts magazine in conjunction with EK Success, one of the largest craft companies on the planet.  All the tiny 3-D embellishments on these pages are from their (then newly released line) of Jolee's By You. 

Receiving that box of Jolee's products was like Christmas morning come early.  Of course all the gardening embellishments were magnetic for me.  The first thing I created was this sweet little book which I intended to give away but never did (per usual for me).   Don't you just love all these tiny gardening replicas? 

Looking at them again almost makes up for not being able to plant!  *Ahem*  Okay, not really but what other choice do I have?!!  I'll keep tabs on the forecast and maybe later in the week we can look at containers.  How does that sound?