auctions are the greatest

I have only been to two auctions in my adult life and I intend to go to many, many more as often as I can. They are so much fun, and you can find the greatest treasures!

This weekend I went to an auction in this beautiful building below. It is the Highlands in Fort Washington. It is quite a spectacular place. I had previously explored the grounds and gardens, but this time I finally got to see the inside. And it just so happened to be filled to the brim with amazing treasures of paintings, sculptures, jewelry, and lots of rugs. It was as close to heaven that I can get in Fort Washington 

This is a light fixture in the building. 

The gardens are spectacular and were bursting with colors of fall. 

How to Make Terrariums

Have you ever wanted to make a terrarium?  I have, and finally made a few this week! It is much easier than you think.



Click on for the instructions to learn how to DIY.

flower csa

By now, I am sure that you have most likely heard of a CSA, which stands for community sponsored agriculture. Typically they are for farms and you can pay to get a variety of veggies over the season. But did you know they have them for flowers too? Yes, it's true. The one I signed up for is at Love 'n Fresh Flowers, which is a flower farm in Philadelphia.


I signed up for the bucket share, which you see below. You can also choose to get an arrangement already made, but by now you should know how much I love to arrange flowers.

The first arrangement I made was in this awesome pottery bowl. And, ahem, it's for sale in the brand*eye shop! As instructed by me before, you want to start with making a base for the flowers. I used the filler that was included to give a foundation for the flowers to sit in. Then I added the blue flowers and yellow flowers. I wish I knew the names of them for you, but unfortunately I do not.

And this vase set is also for sale in the brand*eye home shop!

a walk around the garden

Here are some snippets of our yard.

The chairs above are a couple years old from home goods. One was black and one was orange, and now they are a matching set, thanks to some spray paint.

I can't wait for the climbing flowers to take off.

seedlings

I started some morning glory and moon flower seeds a few weeks ago. It  helps if you first soak them overnight to jump start the growing. 

I then planted them in some potting mix.

 This was about a week later, the morning glory seeds took off quickly.

And here they are a couple of weeks later. I also bought some brussel sprout plants, which I am planning to plant in a new raised planter that Dave made me. I just have to get some dirt to fill it. I also plan to attempt to grow tomatoes, swiss chard and lots of herbs.

The next step is to harden them off by taking them outside to get acclimated. You take them outside for a few hours a day, and then build up over about a week to them being outside completely.

What are you planting this spring? 

Extending the Lives of Coleus

I always look forward to the beginning of Autumn and the crisp chill in the air. But the part of fall that I enjoy least is that most of the outdoor plants die for the season. What if I could tell you that this doesn't have to happen. (Writing that sounds like I am in an infomercial.) But it's true. There are a few plants that you can take clippings from and overwinter inside your home. This means that you will have to buy less next spring and having them inside your home will cheer you up all winter. WIN WIN!

 

planting climbers

This year I am forgetting about trying to grow vegetables and sticking to easy plants. We never get enough sun for vegetable plants and I am terrible at the upkeep. I picked up some climbers so I am envisioning this being an amazing paradise this summer. It already sort of is.

 

Lots and lots of coleus. It is my favorite plant.



 

 

I started some moonflower and morning glory from seed and am hoping that they last and thrive. We shall see.

 

 The plant to the right is a very cool looking climber called Cardinal Climber. I first saw this last summer in my neighbor hood. A house had this planted along with Hyacinth Bean and it looked stunning. I picked up some of that too.

 I love this planter. I picked it up at a craft show in NYC last year (Renegade perhaps?), but can't remember the seller. Anyone know?

What did you plant this spring?

spring

Spring decided to finally show up a few weeks ago. Every year just when you think you can't handle one more cold day, spring arrives and makes everything better.

Some plants that were planted last year are returning. I say some, because several of them didn't make it. But these certainly did. They are lungwort and have the prettiest flowers in the spring. I had no idea that they would look this amazing when they bloomed. They just look like spotted leaves most of the year.

fall

I don't know about you, but I love fall. The chill is in the air and it smells amazing. Here are some pictures from around the house

We have had this wrought iron set since we bought our first house, about 11 years ago. If you're buying outdoor furniture, you can't go wrong with wrought iron. This is one thing that is worth the extra money. And you can get steals on it with craigslist; more on that later.

 The fireplace above was on my wish list for years. And my Dad just so happened to barter one of his customers for it and then gave it to us. What a great Dad :-)

 We got some landscaping done over the summer. The hardscaping that they did was amazing. We love it.

 I'm not sure if I showed you before, but this was a crazy shed. It was very large, but didn't hold much due to the design. Plus it was falling apart, so we (aka Dave and some very nice friends) tore it down and had a new shed built. Our landscaper suggested the best location for it and it is a perfect spot. It's tucked away behind those trees.

 This is a little pathway we DIY'ed. We had some slate pieces laying around and dave placed them in the ground. Once the moss (hopefully) takes over it'll look much better.

 This back patio is a great addition, and overlooks the creek "valley."

This patio set was scored on craigslist for $100! It was a steal and exactly what I was looking for. If you get it with this type of base you don't have to have cushions. And if you live here it's a good thing, because the squirrels will tear apart your cushions, take out the stuffing and use it to build nests.

They did an amazing job laying this stone. It was not an easy thing to haul thousands and thousands of pounds of stones to the back of our yard.

 The new shed.

 Moz likes it.

 The coleus are still alive. Although time is running out, so I better propagate some.