Mandevilla

Since I have a resident chipmunk who continually chews the very bottom of my clematis clean off leaving my entire vine to die on the trellis, I decided this year to plant a tropical vine in my non-tropical location hoping that the chipmunk tastes doesn't suit my tropical Mandevilla.

My Mandevilla vine sits in part of the garden that has plenty of sun in the morning to early afternoon.  Pinching off the spent flowers encourages more blooming.  These vining plants reach heights of 15 feet or more with stems filled with glossy green leaves. Although they are a low-maintenance vine, they do thrive on a granulated time-released fertilizer every two weeks during the summer months to thrive.  

Originally from Brazil, this tropical vine suits a climate of no less than 55 degrees F (13 degrees C) so for my 5b zone, it is absolutely necessary to bring it in for the winter.  They are a bit tricky to over winter in the house but if given a cool sun-filled room they should do fine.

These beautiful vines bloom non-stop from spring until fall.  They are ideal in containers, on trellises or arbors and so far it seems that chipmunks don't like how they taste!

HARDY CACTUS - Propagating

It doesn't take very much to propagate these cactus just some patience.  Start by cutting off one of the 'pads'.  Let the cut heal by just sitting it in partial shade (not on the dirt!) for a few days.  Once the cut is healed over, plant it in the ground upright or in a pot with loose well draining soil, and wait a few weeks for it to root.

The yellow blooms come after a drought so not watering the cactus really promotes blooming

Two year old plant from one cutting.  They grow quite quickly

Hardy Cactus

I'm HUGE on different types of hostas in my garden and every spring I usually add one or two or ten different kinds. But a couple of years ago I planted some hardy cactus (Opuntia a.k.a prickly pear), a cactus that thrives on cold winters and drought conditions which has been perfect for the kind of summer I've been having. This is a perfect plant in that hot, dry spot of the your garden where absolutely nothing else will grow.

These plants don't like to be fertilized but do need well draining soil. Ideal soil will be sandy or silty with a good proportion of gravel mixed in for drainage.  My prickly pear has about five hours of sun a day but does seem to do quite well with some shade.

This is a really wonderful addition to a garden!

Sea Holly

Years ago, my mother-in-law had this really unique plant in her garden that I hadn't seen before and since she couldn't remember what it's name was, it took me ages to find.  Recently I finally came across it at a local nursery and purchased this perennial for my own garden....

SEA HOLLY (Eryngium planum).

What is really great about this perennial is that it simply thrives on less attention! Really drought tolerant, and poor soil conditions also do not upset this unusual addition to your garden.  It does not, however, like to be moved once it's planted, so make sure you give it a place where it can spread and grow.  If you want to propagate this plant, it's best to do it with seeds. 

I have planted my sea holly against a hot, dry wall of my home, only watering it when it's been days of no rain, and so far, it's doing great.

Just loving this addition to my garden!

The Deck this Summer

So far this summer

Blue Spruces actually do very well in containers.  This one will stay in this container for about a year, then move up to something a bit bigger. THEN, one of these Christmas's it's going to be the live Christmas tree for our family. 

 Who doesn't love Boston Ferns?

The SHAMROCKS to the right come in some beautiful shades.  All green leaves have beautiful white flowers; the all purple leaves have pinkish flowers and then there's the purple and green leaf one (which is a bit harder to find) that have light pink flowers.  The corms can be brought in during the winter stored in a nice dark dry part of the basement. Replanted in the spring, they'll give you TONS of flowers. 

The shamrock was traditionally used for it's medicinal properties and was a popular motif in Victorian times.  For me, I just love it on my deck. 

 Purple shamrocks

Who says you can't put your Christmas Cactus out in the summer?  Mine bloom the entire summer on my deck.

WONDERFUL GLASS FLOWER PROJECT

This is a super easy project which is lots of fun to do.  So get cracking to yard sales, garage sales, or search in your back cupboards and find some of those old glass plates you haven't used for years.  My favorite place to go is Bibles for Missions where I can find a whole slew of different glassware so reasonable!  I got all my glass for this project for under $10.00!

To start the project you need at least four to five different pieces of glassware - keep in mind some of your color combinations. Clear glass plates provide a nice balance to deeper colored glass plates.


These are the five pieces I started with.  Since the center of my plates were never going to be seen, it was important to find pieces that had interesting edges.  






Begin by nesting different sized pieces together.  No less than four glass pieces should be used.  

Starting with the largest plate, which is my clear glass smooth one, use epoxy glue to adhere the dishes together.

Each of my pieces have been epoxied together.  Give it at least 24 hours for the glue to be completely dry.  My finished nesting plates

Add your own mounting hardware or even
 use a plate stand like I have

Finished project in my garden.  To spruce it up a bit, you can add brooches, or shot glasses and vases of different sizes to add to your piece to make it more colorful

Patio Lanterns

This is such a quick craft.  You'll need scissors, rope, hammer, screw driver, mason jar(s), tea light and some stones. I'm using glow in the dark aquarium stones in white.

Using the hammer and screwdriver punch a hole into the top of the mason jar. Thread a piece of rope (about two feet long) through the hole and tie a knot. Add the stones to the bottom of the jar, set tea light on top of the stones and using the mason jar's ring, screw on top of jar.  

THERE YOU HAVE IT