In January I planted a new variety of sugar snap snow peas that a friend started: "Alaska Snow Peas".
3 Little Alaska Snow Peas in an urn |
Of course it is time to clean up and that is all about Beginnings again isn't it?? We begin again each new Spring to re-evaluate what is necessary and what is not, roll up our sleeves and dig in. There is a catharsis in this. It allows us to open up our homes and rooms and closets and gardens for the fresh and new and clean.
Butterfly Garden Sign |
Gregg's Blue Mist Flower just peeking through the earth |
Indigo Spires Giant Salvia |
Artemesia, Artemesia 'Powis Castle' with frothy silver gray leaves, Texas Superstar yellow gold lantana, Lantana spp is still a clump of sticks. Bronze fennel, Fennel 'Foeniculum vulgare', Mexican mint marigold,
'Tageas lucinda', Culinary Sage, 'Salvia officinalus', and many more plants make up the bulk of this little butterfly haven. There is a wildlife waterer that they can drink from and rest on the side of (I will show you how to make one in another post). The bronze fennel is a sacrifice plant so I have lots of them in there. The caterpillars from the Giant Black Swallowtail butterfly use it as a host food source. At one time I had over 50 caterpillars on it in different instar stages on one plant alone. I'm sure the Texas state bird, the Mockingbird, thought that is was a buffet line set up just for her. I digress as usual...You can get a great list of plants for a butterfly garden by going to http//agihorticulture.tamu.edu. . If you want, I will send you a list of all of the ones that have been successful here for me. Just post that in your comments.
Look around you. Really LOOK instead of rushing out of the house to work, to get kids to school, to the next baseball game. God has called the earth to renew herself. To fufill the promise of MORE. More life, more warmth, more fragrance. To get rid of the dead grass in your garden and your heart and soul. Pull it up, give yourself some room to breathe and enjoy. Broom out the cobwebs and the dust and take a deep breath of new. Sit out with a cup of tea and listen to the bird song this week. See what is trying to come up in you and give it a chance.
Blessings don't have to be huge to be had, they just need a beginning.
A FUN Project to do:
If you don't have room for a big garden, how about a small grouping of pots of kitchen herbs??
Here is a fun project that takes less than 2 hours to complete and is economical to do from scratch.
If you don't have a clean terra cotta pot sitting around, they are available for less than $1.50 each at a local craft or garden store. These used are the 4" pots that will hold one planting of each herb.
I'm enamored with all things black and cream and white and khaki but especially blackboard surfaces.
I use them all over the house and thought these would be perfect to welcome the softer colors of Spring.
So Supplies you will need:
4- 4" Terra Cotta pots
1-2 oz. bottle of black outdoor paint
1-4 oz bottle of blackboard paint (do not use spray blackboard paint-it is AWFUL)
Foam disposable painting brush
Colored chalk in "red", yellow, blue, purple and white for writing
Organic Potting Soil
Herbs (I used Sage, Dill, Lemon Thyme and Orange Mint)
1.
Make sure the pots have all labels removed and are clean and dry |
Painted pot with Black Outdoor Paint and then Blackboard Paint |
3. Repeat painting of pot with one coat of Blackboard paint. Coat completely and let dry.
Outdoors this dried in less than 10 min. but it was warm with a breeze.
4. Color the rims of the pot with a selected color of sidewalk chalk. With white chalk write the name of the herb you will plant.
5. Place organic potting soil into pot to about 2". Add herb of choice. Tamp down lightly and water.
6. Set in sunny window or on a garden table.
7. Keep soil moist but not wet.
Finished Pots Love to all, Rowena |
love this project...may i share it on the magazine? it would really fit and might send you some traffic!!!
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