Kaseys Korner

clematis texensis

Remember this post when I wrote about it being "my year in the garden" (because the foxtail lilies & oakleaf hydrangea had bloomed spectacularly for the first time?)  Well, it's not over yet!  I am now being treated to a display by the coveted clematis texensis.  I planted it three years ago and after waiting anxiously for this moment, (I've felt like an expectant parent) it's finally decided to bloom!  A week or so ago I spotted the first buds (above photo). Three days ago the buds had developed to this stage:

and finally this morning the buds are opening (very exquisitely I might add):

Woo hoo!!!  I feel as exuberant about "this baby" as the late Steve Irwin felt about his crocodiles.  But now I need to go back and refresh my memory on pruning, care, etc., as I don't want to lose it after arriving at the destination (especially since it's everything I expected/remembered it would be).  It's planted at the base of an antique gate (I love the fleur de lis pattern on the top of the gate):

and here's a full view:

Texensis gets morning sun, afternoon shade and is protected from the wind (that elusive perfect combo, at least in my garden).  I'll be keeping a close eye on it in the days to come ~ if it should become smothered in blossoms, (let's cross our fingers for that) I'll rephotograph and share the results with you!  :-)

"chicken" you out

I have a little thing going for chickens.  Especially exotic looking chickens like these.  I'm not so much your ordinary-looking-chicken-kind-of-girl.  I've been obsessed (off and on) with having my own fancy brood since reading Martha Stewart's "Gardening Month by Month" book years ago (after which, I wanted my own Turkey Hill too).  Neither have I ever gotten.  But I've never lived anywhere that allowed me to have them (darn covenants) and funny thing, I only like the real thing.  I not a collector of anything chicken/rooster related for my house/kitchen, etc.  There's just something enticing (and healthy and country feeling) about fresh eggs.  Anyone reading this who knew me fifteen years ago or so would never believe I'm writing such a thing.  but it's true.  I swear.  Who da thunk it?  Check out the mop on this guys head, isn't it the best:

and I think this last one is my absolute fave:  (he was chick'en me out)  ;-)

Maybe if I ever had them, I be cured?  It could just be the idea?  (I'm big on ideas)  My Mom just told me the other night that one of my brothers and I both got the "farm gene" (eluding to the fact that I come from a farming family ~ past tense)  I, of course, immediately and categorically denied it, thinking that was a bit over the top.   But after mulling it over, maybe it's true.  I mean, gardens, chickens, growing stuff ~ I think she's on to something....

streetside

As I was getting ready to drive off this AM, I happened to glance over toward my yard and had to stop the car for a picture.  Get out!  It's my own yard for pete's sake.  But check it out ~ I don't know why I've never photographed my yard from this angle before??  Looking toward my side gate from out on the street (versus being up on the flagstone walkway) is a whole new, much more interesting, perspective.  I like the little "peek" (thru all the vegetation) of my gate.  Somehow this view seems so inviting/alluring.  It makes even me (who should have worn the rocks out by the number of times I've made that trek) feel like "rounding the bend" toward that gate to see what's on the other side (and I know that answer forward, backward and ten ways to Sunday).  Isn't that fascinating?  This evening (when it cools off) I'm going to see if there are any other angles I've missed.  Has anyone else had this experience??  Oh, and by the way, I am loving the lambs ear & coneflower combo, it's new for me this year and I think it's a "keeper."  :-)

gardeners greeting

As I was perusing saved magazines yesterday, I also took a look back at scans of some old cards I had created.  This one popped out at me (mostly because of the watering can embellishment ~ anything "garden" always catches my eye ~ I know you can relate).  I think I sent it to my friend Linda who was starting a container design business at the time??  She used to plant fabulous containers (long before I ever ventured into that arena) and because hers were so pretty, she was asked by several people to fix theirs.  Now that's a beautiful thing ~ doing something you love and making money at it!  Anyway, I better get scooting this morning, this last Monday morning of July (boo hoo).  Despite the sweltering heat, I'm not ready for summer to end and with August rapidly approaching it seems imminent.  :-(

wishful Sunday thinking

Anyone else tear out ideas or keep magazines for future inspiration (either in the garden or out)??  I am guilty of keeping WAY too many ~ there's always a chance that someday, I just might be able to implement one or two of those cool ideas in my own garden/house.  Today it is murderously hot outdoors so to pass the time, I've been browsing thru some of my saved special issues.  I bought this magazine last summer:

I've read it cover to cover several times thru and always find something new to ogle.  Even the ads have me dreaming.  I LOVE this (top left photo).  I can picture it in my backyard.  Wouldn't it be lovely to sit underneath the twinkling lights, in the company of good friends, until well after dark??  I need to add it to my vision board, (a whole nuther post).  I love this too (image number 5, first photo, second row).  Although it looks like it belongs on a big property the likes of which I don't own.  Someday I will have a little greenhouse that looks something like this tho:

or it can look exactly like it, I think it's just that adorable. *sigh*  Anything special on your wish list??

dressing up the dressing table

A Saturday deviation away from gardening (and back in time) to last summer and yet another painting project of mine.  A little disclaimer before we get started ~ I usually don't paint antiques.  It kills me to even think of it, having spent countless hours stripping paint off various other pieces.  Having said that, I made an exception this time because it actually went better in my daughter's room painted white.  and, if the truth be told, I wasn't feeling up to stripping the paint anyway, so it worked for me.  We found this ladies dressing table at the flea market a year ago this month and even tho this is a terrible picture, I think you can see it had nice lines and boatloads of potential.  Fast forward a week or so later, here it is freshly painted (awaiting new knobs) in her room:

A girls dream come true.  And WAY cheaper than the PB Teen version we had been looking at.  Thanks to my friend, Erin, in San Antonio, it now has beautiful pink knobs adorning the drawers.  Can you tell by this photo that we really do like pink in our house?!!!!  ;-)

taming the tamarisk

I first became familiar with tamarisk (Salt Cedar) while on a private garden tour in 1997.  This was the photo I took from that first encounter.  The foliage was fine and "ferny" topped off with fuschia pink flower fronds (at least that's what they looked like to me).  I thought it was very unusual and striking.  I meant to do more research into the species then circumstances intervened and I never pursued it.  Four years later, I moved into my new home and to my surprise, there was a well established stand flourishing along my back fence.  All three specimens were in full bloom (end of July) and reached a height of about 12 feet.  What a spectacle!   I was counting my lucky stars.  Counting them for all of three months until my dad came for a visit and burst my bubble.  He wanted to cut the entire stand down pronto.  That's when I learned tamarisk were considered an invasive species.  Long story short, I did not let him saw them off (primarily because they had formed a pretty dense thicket and were providing a lot of privacy along that fence line), but it's an issue that continues to be "on the table" (if you know what I mean) .  I've been on the fence for seven years so my plan of action has been to maintain status quo (typical!!).  They do not seem to be spreading (that I have noticed) nor do they seem to be killing off (from salt deposits) the surrounding shrubs.  Meanwhile, cutting the dead wood out has been my chore of late and thankfully, I am finished as of this morning!  Whew.  Anyone else have experience/thoughts about this species?? 

too much of a good thing

See this burgeoning beautiful container chock full of plants from the red color palette?  Feast your eyes because it no longer exists.  This is the only picture I have, snapped from my porch step one morning while drinking coffee.  I was planning to separate it (from the pack) and photograph it thoroughly in a couple weeks (when it was just a wee bit fuller).  What do they say about "the best laid plans?"  Ugh.  I've been sick, more than sick, CRAZY sick about it ever since Monday.  and mad.  at myself.  for not being more careful.  It now looks like this:

The result of careless over-fertilization by it's owner. Moi.  Oh, I have to sign off.  I feel nauseous again.  *deep breath*  It's a really hard lesson for me.  I usually fertilize on the same day each week but this year, I haven't stuck to that schedule.  Instead it's been very haphazard.  I've lost track of when, how much, etc. and in doing so ruined one of my lovely containers.  It's the first time I've killed (cringing) plants this way.  Today I'm pulling everything "fried" out and finding replacements.  I can't bear to look at it any longer.  I'm hoping the 'Rustic Orange' coleus will still pull out of it (though it's been since Monday & it looks about the same)??    Tell me I'm not alone in my mistake.  That it will be okay.  My neighbor tried to comfort me by saying "they're just plants."  I was aghast. To a gardener, they are so much more than just plants.   In the scope of the universe, it is not catastrophic, I understand.  But in my little bubble of a world, it was sickening.  made even more so because it came at my hand...

dog days

My friend in Louisiana (who gardens spectacularly ~ hi Mara!!), wrote me about the dog days of summer and made me think of this old card.  It's been feeling a bit like the "dog days" here too (who said those were relegated only to August??)  Daytime temperatures have been so hot it's not very pleasant to be outdoors except in the early mornings and evenings.  I hesitate to complain tho because I know in a very short time we'll be back to cold and I detest that more.  A perfect weather day (temperature wise) is really hard to come by, isn't it?  I made this card five years ago (I think ~ I lose track of time) for Better Homes & Gardens Scrapbooks etc., magazine.  I still like that little metal dog embellishment.  Makes me think of my precious dog who never complains about the heat and always insists on making the garden rounds with me no matter how much he pants!

What a good boy!!  (except when he pees on my perennials, we're still working on that!) 

think pink

I love pink.  I think I've always loved pink.  Except for one brief period when I strayed to lavender.  but that only lasted for about a blink of an eye.  I can still remember the time my Mom ordered me a double-ruffle cotton candy pink bedspread (from JC Penney or was it Montgomery Ward??)  She had my little twin bed all made up with it when I came home from school one day.  I'm sure I must have squealed loudly and longly (that part is fuzzy), but I do remember being thrilled out of my 8 or 9 or 10 year old mind (whichever it was).  Now my daughter loves pink.  So with all this obsessing over one color, it only seems fitting to carry it outside to the garden, right??  At the moment, I have quite a few things blooming in that most delicious color.  (Is it just me or do things bloom in waves like that???  Sometimes it seems like I have a lot of yellow, then it will be red, but at the moment, it's pink).  Above photo, snapdragons in a really luscious shade of pink.  Below, a verbena so vivid it's practically electric:

Then there are my pink peony poppies that I started from seed back in March (you may remember this post) They never got very robust but even so, the spindly plants that grew are now blooming.  I love these double poppies so much I am leaving the heads to seed.  Hopefully next year I'll have a bumper crop!

Finally I have all the regulars, like pink cosmos (which look kinda purpley here?):

pink dahlias:

pink zinnias (what's a garden without zinnias?):

and finally an old fashioned favorite, pink cleome:

If you're not a lover of this color, don't come for a tour just now.  It might be fairly nauseating.  For all the pink fans tho, it's pure bliss.  :-)