Birdhouses

I have always loved birdhouses, nests and anything to do with birds.  My favorite season is spring and I get so excited when I have nests and baby birds in my yard.    Over the years I've collected several houses inside and outside my home.  The one above is my favorite and I keep it under the cover of my front porch to preserve it.

My wonderful neighbor gave me this one with the star opening.  She moved recently and didn't have a space for it at her new home.  It has a permanent home on my porch and reminds me of her sweet friendship when I see it.

                                          

I found the whimsical double house with the rusty roof at a "junk shop" about a month ago for $5.

I love the watering can perch on this one.  I think it came from a home party purchase many years ago.

A family of wrens are nesting in this house.  The wren is my favorite bird.  I love their sassy little attitude and their flipped up tail.  I have seen them several times in the last few days pulling Spanish moss out of some of my flower pots.  There is enough corgi hair in my backyard to make several nests but they don't seem to be interested.  Whenever I brush the corgi girls, I leave the hair in the flower borders just in case.  Maybe she doesn't want her home to smell like a corgi.  I'll bet she loves the fragrance coming from the flocks growing under her nest.

One Last Look at My Summer Flowers

It's pretty hard to take a picture at my house without a corgi in it!

 

Temperatures will be dropping at night this weekend so I wanted to share these last pictures of my summer flowers with you before they are gone.

 



Every year I buy a $12 fern at Home Depot and just drop it down in this planter.  I haven't fertilized it at all and it is huge.  Sure wish I had someplace to keep it over the winter.

 

The fairy garden has grown a lot this summer.  Of course, there's a corgi in it too!

 

 

In the past, I haven't had good luck with New Guinea impatiens but these have thrived.  They get morning sun which must be perfect for them.

 

My Christmas cactus is full of blooms and I'll be bringing it inside in the next few days.

 

 

I'll headed to my sister's for the weekend.  We'll be looking for treasures that I can fix up and put in my shop space.  Hope you have a great weekend!



Miss Lily Has a New Outfit!

 

I was in a Salvation Army store yesterday and clothing was on sale for one half off.    It's been a while since my garden lady had a new outfit so I found some things for her.   The paisley blouse is  Jones of New York and it was sixty-five cents.  The overalls were $4.99!

I don't have much blooming right now but these New Guinea Impatiens have thrived in spite of the heat.    You'll notice one corgi girl on the porch and one looking out the door.  I always have more than enough help with any project.

My daughter gave me this adorable black cat holder for a hanging basket several years ago.  These begonias don't seem to mind the heat and have done very well.

My best friend from high school is coming to visit tomorrow.  I am so excited!  We're going to do some antiquing and then have lunch at a new cafe in my area.

Daylillies

This has the best year in a long time for my lillies.  Of course, they are dried up now after these days of three digit temperatures.  In early fall, I'll cut back what's left of the foliage, fertilize them and look forward to next season. 

Hydrangeas

The hydrangeas seem to be blooming early this year because of the mild winter.   I wanted to share with you the different colors in my yard.

This picture is my daughter's "Lacecap" hydrangea.  It is so beautiful!  My mother had those when I was growing up.  Did you know that you can bend a branch of the hydrangea bush (still attached) to the ground, put a brick on it and in six or eight months it will root and you can transplant it? The pink bush in the picture above was rooted from my sister's bush.

This lichen is growing in my yard also.  Isn't it pretty?  It looks like a big flower.

A Beautiful Day!

Even though I had a hard time getting up this morning, I'm excited about this beautiful day and getting outside to work in my yard.  It's time to prune my crepe myrtle and get some leaves out of my flower beds.

The corgi girls will  get in the way help me.  Arabelle will  stand beside me with her frisbee in her mouth and sad eyes until I throw it.  Heidi gets excited when she sees Arabelle with the frisbee and starts pulling up grass or flowers around her.  Hanna will be walking around like a princess because she doesn't like to get dirty.  Once in a while she might assist in digging a hole if there's a mole or vole around.  It's not a Tasha Tudor kind of scene, for sure.  Her corgis always looked like garden statues.

Fresh air and sunshine always make you rest better.  I hope your day is beautiful too!

Corgi Topiary, Teacups, and Misc.

I thought you might like to see how my corgi topiary is growing this summer.  Angela at West Virginia Treasures sent me a box of hens and chickens to use for the collar and they have done so well.

Also, last week when I posted about my teacup birdfeeders, Angela suggested that I include a teapot in the trio.  Well, what do you think?  I love it!

Saturday is flea market day at my house.  Today I found two treasures for a $1 each.

First, I found this Ball jar full of beautiful old buttons.  You know how I love buttons!  I washed the jar, dusted off the buttons and put it on my sewing table just to look at.

Second, I bought this Nordic Ware cake pan.  I haven't seen this tulip design before.  I love to bake my pound cakes in these pans.  I've learned over the years that the key to getting your cake out of the pan smoothly is Baker's Joy Spray with Flour.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Teacup Birdfeeders

I found a great tutorial on the  Stone Gable blog for these teacup birdfeeders.  I bought everything I needed to make them at Home Depot except the teacups which I bought at  yard sales.  I'll put water for the birds in the cups instead of birdseed since I have so many squirrels in my yard.

There are several tutorials on the Stone Gable blog as well as  fantastic recipes.

Hydrangeas

Two of my hydrangeas are beautiful this year and are full of blooms.  The other two, in a different part of my yard, only have two or three blooms.  It must have something to do with their sun exposure.

Hydrangeas blooming are one of my favorite things about summer!  

                                   

Clematis

I took these pictures this morning of the clematis vine on my mailbox.  This one is named Jackmani and is several years old.  Jackmani blooms on new growth so I prune it back to about 12" in March, put a cup of lime around it and fertilize it.

The clematis was just a few years old in this picture.

This girl was only 11 weeks old.  Can't imagine trying to get her in the mailbox now!