Kaseys Korner

where you can find me

on a cold winters day is most likely in the "greenhouse" (aka my master bath).  Especially in the mornings ~ with a cup of coffee in hand, it's a great place to start the day.  It's warm, it's bright and it holds a lot of plants ~ see what I'm talking about?

There's always something happening there (well, if you're a gardener or into plants).  You might spot an amaryllis pushing up buds (this is 'Aphrodite'):

She held out on me for a long time and now is trying to push up three buds at once.  What gives with that?  If I had my "druthers" I'd choose for them to bloom one stalk at a time so the show is prolonged.  No complaining tho ~ a bloom is a bloom is a bloom and I'll take them any which way but dead. 

You're also likely to find a bloom (or two or three) on Hibiscus 'Powder Puff.'   She has produced buds and blooms all winter ~ an unexpected but delightful surprise.

Of course I can't leave out the latest acquisition ~ Violet Tubeflowers were placed there after their recent purchase.  They are so pretty I can't help myself for showing them off a bit more:

Isn't that a dazzling, dangling clump of purple?  Trying to make a tongue twister there and failing...

 

I know I photographed them for you when I first brought them home but I didn't feel I did the flowers justice.  These photos show better just why I was so excited.  If you look again at the first photo, you can see the (tall) plant on the very left side of the picture.

 

Whoa.  What a way to start the morning.  Now you know where I am if you should need to find me...

Flank Steak w/Arugula Salad

Sometimes I think I'm frittering (yes, that's a word Cindy!!!) away time by sitting in front of the computer hopping from one beautiful blog to the next.  Especially so because I don't limit blog reading to just gardening ~ I like to delve into the worlds of crafting, decorating and cooking (to name a few). Maybe many of you do too??  If so, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  

Yesterday I happened across a blog that was reviewing a Flank Steak Salad with Arugula recipe and I'm telling you, the photo looked so good, I literally printed out the recipe on the spot.  That's when blog reading pays off.  I can't imagine my life without this salad in it now.  It's that spectacular.  The writer had posted this was one salad to "run not walk" to the super market in search of the ingredients.  I would have to agree.  I did just that then grilled the steak and made it for dinner last night.   Here's a photo of my creation (that is now extinct because I just polished the leftovers off for lunch today):

It was everything promised and more.  Click here for the recipe if you're interested!  You won't be sorry!

And now I'm off to do something productive with my Saturday.  Cheerio!

paph 'Lasco'

I thought you all might be interested in an update on the Hawaiian orchid I received last week?  Yes??  Good!  I've been watching it closely ever since it arrived and each day the bud has been slowly unfurling in my "greenhouse."  This morning it finally opened all the way.  Yippee.  That's the way to light up a dreary winter day!  Let's do a couple "progress" shots before we get to the full voluptuous bloom ~ you know build up the tension.  Happens all the time on TV so why not in the blog land, right?!  ;-)
Here it is a couple days ago:

then yesterday:

and finally this morning ~ are you tense yet??!!   (probably not, I didn't make you wait that long!):

Wow!  Hawaii really knows how to grow an orchid, doesn't it? 

My Mom had asked me if the slipper orchid had a name and my first response was "no" because I hadn't see anything that identified it.  However, upon closer inspection, I found a small white tag pushed down along the inside of the pot that read "paph 'Lasco'" ~ so I'm now referring to it by that name.  I haven't googled it so I don't know if that's correct or not but I'm assuming so??

I personally am not concerned at all about its name ~ I'm still just so thrilled to have it and think it's a gorgeous specimen that I'm quite lucky to have gracing my home.  Go Hawaii and go Thomas!!  You all (and the slipper orchid) ROCK!

happiness is

a good mail day!  Well, during the winter anyway when there isn't much gardening to be done.  A couple days ago one of my ultra talented designer friends, Hilary Kanwischer, e-mailed me that I had won a giveaway on her blog.  The prize was a copy of the Oct/Nov 2009 issue of "simply Handmade" which includes a darling project of hers.  Yesterday, it was in my mailbox:

Between the covers are so many cute, cute, cute projects for the holidays, I almost want to go back and start them over.  I said almost.  Now that spring is around the corner, I think I'll wait for them to roll around again in due time!  When they do tho, I'll definitely be using this book as inspiration for my own holiday gift-giving.

Check out Hilarys adorable project:

 

If you want to see more of her work, click on her name and head over to her blog.  She's got some fantastic projects there to view and buy (in her Etsy shop).

Something nice about this book (especially for new crafters) are the step by step photo instructions.  They make it very easy to re-create a project without the frustration of wondering "how on earth did she/he do that?"

Of course my daughter went straight to this page:

 

She never misses a chance for cupcakes! 

By the way, a quick update ~ she went back to school on Monday (25th) for the first time since October and the H1N1 ordeal.  It was quite a milestone for us and I am praying like crazy that she will stay healthy. 

what do you see

little kitty, when you spend hours upon hours looking out the front door??

I wish you could say ~ I might be surprised.  The view has looked the same to me for several months now but you never tire of it.  You look down the sidewalk:

Maybe you're wishing the snow would melt so you could go outside (with supervision) again??  or perhaps you'd like to see butterflies flitting about the sundial (that sits frozen and lonely now, surrounded only by snow):

Or maybe you're thinking how cold and bare the vintage wheelbarrow looks sitting empty on the front patio:

Occasionally you move to one of the windows where there's more chance of bird activity.  Like this day when the Cedar Waxwing came to visit:

 

Can you see him?  It's tricky, isn't it?  Let me zoom in for you:

 

Blurry (sorry readers) but nonetheless viewable and clear enough to hold your interest. 

I wish you could tell me the sights that you see little kitty.  I bet they would surprise the heck out of me...

before's and after's

I love a good before and after photo series, don't you?  Whether it's home decorating, garden design, hair styles, weight loss, etc., I find the comparisons inspiring.  Since I have a backyard makeover on the brain, I thought I'd share a scrapbook layout showing the "before" and "after's" of my very first garden.  Maybe it will even help get me going!  ha. 

 

ugh.  The before shots of this backyard still make me cringe.  I was twenty then and energetic so there was hope.  Six years later:

 

I still marvel at how "stuffed" the yard was especially considering I didn't know a thing about gardening when I began and there was basically no budget.  Most everything was started from seed and the rock borders were hauled in from the surrounding countryside.  I wish we'd lived there long enough to see the trees and shrubs mature a bit.  They would have added so much to the landscape.  Unfortunately, the first time I went back after we'd moved, almost everything had changed.  That's when I decided, no looking back!  Except today (for design purposes!)  Now I would do some things differently but some things I still like, especially the "broken up" yard with lots less grass.  That's what I'm going for in my current yard.  I think there's a lot I took with me from that very first garden ~ how about you?  Was your first garden a big a learning curve or did you start small and work your way up?

I'm SO ready

to get out in the garden and do something.  Anything really ~ it doesn't matter what.  Then I look at the snow covering my backyard and at the thermometer and realize it has to get a little bit warmer before that's going to happen.  It's too early to start seeds indoors too (at least for me).  As long as the calendar still says January, I better hold off.  What to do, what to do ~ what's a girl to do?  Seriously.  The only thing this girl knows to do is resort to card-making.  The next best thing, right?

Plus I get to look at photographs of seedlings that way.  Any little thing helps.

One more week then we get to flip to February.  That feels a whole lot closer to spring, right? 

Terrariums

Last summer one of my gardening buddies gave me a book for my birthday:

(the author is Tovah Martin since I've so thoughtfully blocked the name)  At the time, I remember doing little more than flipping thru the pages and thinking how beautiful all the different assemblages were ~ something about putting an ordinary item under glass turns it into something extraordinary.  Know what I mean???  Anyway, after sufficiently admiring the photos the book was shelved until recently when I pulled it back out again.  This time with the intent of creating my own masterpiece under glass.  ha.  I started with one Primula acaulis:

(or grocery store variety primula), some cool spring doo-dads to dress up the outside of the apothecary jar:

and one "Grow" pick (to dress up the inside of the jar ~ like the primula wasn't enough!):

Combined them all together:

 

and plopped on the lid:

Pretty sweet, don't you think?  At least for now.  I wonder how long the Primula will stay looking good under glass??  That's the problem I have with cloches, apothecary jars, terrariums, etc., ~ finding the right plant that can take all that moisture.  Maybe I'll just keep it under there until it starts looking stressed then create a completely new assemblage.  That's the one good thing about this time of year, there's time to play with little things like this while the garden is still sleeping.

from Hawaii with love

Butterball, our Lhasa Apso, must have known something was up yesterday morning ~ I kept finding him hanging over the arm of my office chair ~ gazing intently out the window. 

If I called him, he would look at me, but wouldn't budge from his "window on the world" position:

Until the Fed-Ex lady showed up, that is.  Then he came alive and so did I!  After just writing about orchids yesterday, I'm feeling beyond spoiled by my new package:

Could it really be "a Live Orchid Plant??"  Oh my.  Yes it could.  Nestled securely inside the box, flown all the way from Hawaii, (Bob's Tropical's) was a Slipper "Paph" Orchid:

How wonderful is that?  As you can see, the bud is a solid dark, rich, burgundy color.  What you can't see is there's another bud coming up amongst the foliage as well.  WOW.  How lucky can one girl get?  The tropical card enclosed:

had this message:

I so more than like it,  I LOVE it!  You're the BEST brother ever.  Thank you ten million times over Thomas.  What an amazing & thoughtful surprise.  I will be enjoying this one for many years to come.

 

10 months, 27 days and 11 hours

(to be exact) is how long I've waited to find out what this fabulous little Paph orchid looks like!  I would say that is patience, wouldn't you??  If only I'd had a little more the other day I could have spared you two posts about one orchid!  Since I didn't, I'm hoping you'll hang with me thru the follow-up.  Are you more than ready?  Then let's do it!

Paph Orchid (name unknown) in full reveal mode:

Oooohhhhh.  Aaahhhh.  Are you saying that in unison with me??  I thought so!  It gets repeated a lot around here ~ almost every time I look at it in fact.  It's reminiscent of toddlers watching fireworks.  Same response.  But hey, as you can see, I've waited almost one whole year to see it bloom.  I bought it (foliage only) on February 25th of last year.  The fact that I could elicit a bloom from it at all astounds (& thrills) me but now that it has, I can't quit looking at it.  From every angle.  Side-to:

seems to be the best way to appreciate the "slipper" which is quite fascinating all by itself.  I want to insert my pinkie into it in the worst kind of way.  Don't ask me why?  Strange, I know.  I won't do it tho ~ I promise.

The color combination of burgundy and green is awesome too.  I would have bought it blooming if I'd seen it, but now I just feel plain lucky.  Taking a chance (no tags, etc.) pays off sometimes, doesn't it?

Plants like orchids make you marvel at nature (if you don't already do that every single day).  Each detail is inspiring, down to the shiny raised dots on the hair-lined petals:

Just incredible.  Thank you for allowing me to share my bliss.  I am officially obsessed with orchids ~ the "paphs" to be specific.  I was told it would happen ~ I should have heeded the warning and never brought the first one home...