Celosia Sunday

Celosia is a flower that dries well. Where I live it is an annual so I pick a different variety to grow every year. This year is this lovely pink color. I wish I had bought more of them to grow and dry as I really like the variety I picked out this year!

I've had this little boot container since I was a little girl.

Mom probably knows where it came from.

The silver mint julep cup came from The Waldorf-Astoria, NYC, May 2007.

I'll let the celosia dry naturally in these containers

and it will be an

instant and long-lasting arrangement .

Do a Topiary

I am making some topiaries out of Lemon Verbena and thought I would share. It's really easy and takes about 5 minutes. The other herbs that do well as topiaries are thyme, bay laurel, rosemary, and lavender. These particular herbs have woody stems that support the shape.

Here is a Lemon Verbena topiary that I started a few years ago. I trimmed it and am using some of the trimmings to start new plants. I left 2 'antenna' to show how much I trimmed it back. Then.........................

I took a cutting and removed most of the lower leaves. The cutting above has not had the leaves removed yet. Make sure to save the leaves and make a cup of tea!

Next, dip the root end in water and then dip it in a rooting hormone. I always use a rooting hormone to start cuttings. I have a good success rate using it. Then......................

Stick it in a pot of soil and water it. How easy is that!!!!

Now be very, very, patient and let it grow.

When the plant is as tall as you want it to be then pinch off the top.

This will then grow into two branches. Then when those two branches grow long enough, pinch back and it will grow into four and on and on with the pinching and growing. It can take up to a year or so depending on the plant size.Here is another one I just started.

I need to stake the stems and I will use wooden skewers and raffia. Just stick in the skewer close to the stem and tie around it several places with raffia. Don't tie it super tight as the stem will still be growing.

The Garden Grows....................

The garden is growing like crazy due to all the rain this year. I need a rain gauge so I don't know exactly how much we've had here.

Here is my lemon verbena topiary. I love training herbs and flowers into topiaries. It's really easy to do so I will have to show you sometime. Here is some borage, hyssop, and golden oregano growing in a section of the herb garden.

The roses along the alley fence are so pretty when in bloom. Wish they only bloomed longer......................

Here is a different variety of 'Queen Anne's Lace'.

The blooms are deep burgundy in color.

Pretty!

England's Rose

I have always been a lover of all things Princess Diana. She was so beautiful...inside and out. Today would have been her 47th birthday so I must share with you a secret. She was my sister...soul sister that is. You see I had an older sister that passed away a day after her birth. My sister was born the same day as Diana. Being the girly girl I am, and having two brothers meant I always yearned for a sister. Diana became that sister as soon as I 'met' her as she was being courted by a prince. I was never a fan of that particular prince (sorry Charles) but had always been fascinated by anyone royal. I honestly believe that if the paparazzi was not chasing her car that dreadful night, the driver would not have been speeding.

So Princess Diana has a place in my heart........................................................

I've saved magazines featuring her.............................

Both before and after the tragedy.

My bookshelves hold books about her

Here is a commemorative glass candle holder engraved in her honor. It holds some dried lavender and rose petals from my garden.

IN MY GARDEN........

Clematis “TEXENSIS PRINCESS DIANA”

Hosta “Diana Remembered”

Rose Princess of Wales

Thanks Princess Diana.

Thanks

Sunday Bouquet and Room Redo

This bouquet consists of pink yarrow, 2 varieties of feverfew, and a few sprigs of honeysuckle for fragrance as the other flowers here are non-fragrant. The fragrance is one of the joys of having fresh cut garden flowers in the house, I think.

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I went right to work this morning knowing in just a few hours I would have the room redo finished. The upstairs of this old house (circa 1900) has only two rooms with no hall. The first room is now my B'Hive craft room and now the second room is a guest room. Now I have to break Hubby of his bad habit of tossing things in this room knowing he can shut the door to hide the mess as seen in this before photo..................................

I am pretty pleased with the outcome as most things I kept to use are vintage. See?

It is truly the same room! The walls are still the exact pink paint as when this was my Mother's room as a little girl. One of these days I will have the energy to paint it but not yet as it has been at least 6 months in the clean-up, moving stuff around stage. This will do for the time being. Around the edges of this old rug you can see the old linoleum floor. It is just in the center of the room and the wood floor had been painted just where the linoleum did not cover. The rug makes the room a little warmer so the floor will have a layered look.

One thing I really like are the lace curtains I have been holding onto for this room since purchasing on E-bay a year to two ago. As I was looking around the house for something to use as tie-backs I saw these snowflake ornaments and thought they would be perfect. As tie-backs they look decorative and vintage and nothing like a snowflake.

Saturday Stuff

Since it was thunderstorming this morning I decided to tackle more of the upstairs cleaning/rearranging project. Got alot accomplished and hopefully will get it totally done tomorrow. It's amazing how much room there is after getting rid of all the stuff I was saving for last weekends yard sale. The sale went very well and I had just 2 small boxes left over to donate to Goodwill plus a nice deposit for my 'Destination Paris' fund.

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So now that the yard sale is over and done with what did I do this week?...............................stopped by a few yard sales!

I got some sea glass (faux I'm sure) and put it in the bird baths on my front porch. The bird baths were given to me by my aunt who got them when her MIL cleaned out her garage. Don't they look cute stacked? I also got (at a yard sale this week) the terra cota hanging candle lantern that you see in the background.

Also on the porch is this old wooden stool that I painted a few summers ago. It's finally getting that cute, weathered, shabby look.The rain finally stopped and the sun came out and dried the rain off the herbs so I harvested some Spearmint and Greek Oregano. I LOVE mint cookies, mint tea--anything with mint.

With the Greek Oregano, I make my own Italian herb blend by mixing it with Italian flat leaf Parsley. Yummy in tomato sauces and sprinkled on pizza.

Sunday Bouquet & Lavender Recipes

This week's Sunday bouquet is a mini windowsill bouquet in my favorite little bottle found at a garage sale a block from my house. Don't you just love the crown on it?!?!?!? The bottle says 'Frank Miller's Crown Dressing, New York, U.S.A. Love it!.........And also the lavender cut from my garden.

Here are some yummy recipes using Lavender from the garden. Sweet Katy Lin asked for some lavender recipes so here are just a few to get you started.

ENJOY!!!

Chocolate-Lavender Ice Cream

Yields: about 1 quart
1 1/2 cups milk
8 heads fresh lavender blossoms
1 cup heavy cream
5 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1. In a saucepan set over moderate heat, combine the milk with the lavender blossoms and bring just to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let cool.
2. Strain the milk through a fine sieve into another saucepan, pressing hard on the lavender to extract all flavor, and stir in the cream. Bring to a simmer and remove from the heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the yolks and sugar until combined well. Add one third of the hot cream mixture to the yolks, whisking, then whisk the egg mixture into the remaining hot cream. Stir the chocolate and cocoa into the hot cream mixture until chocolate melts and cocoa dissolves. Stir in the vanilla extract.
4. Transfer mixture to a bowl and let cool. Cover with plastic and chill until cold.

5. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

I have a counter-top ice cream maker that I love to use for homemade ice cream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lavender Cookies
2 sticks unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature
1 cup superfine sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lavender buds
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add in the flour and mix on low speed just until the dough is coming together. Sprinkle in the lavender buds and fold in gently. (don't over mix).
Divide the dough into two mounds and wrap up well in plastic. Chill in the refrigerator for one hour at least.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Flour your work surface and unwrap the dough. Take half of it out and wrap up the other half to keep chilled in the fridge while you work. Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin, taking care not to overwork or overstretch the tender dough.
Cut out shapes of hearts, full moons, stars and crescents or simply cut into squares.

Carefully move the cookie shapes to nonstick cookie sheets, placing them 1/2 inch apart, fitting as many as possible on each sheet.
Bake, two sheets at a time, until the cookies are golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. Use a thin spatula to move the hot cookies to a rack to cool. Store in an airtight container when cool.
Makes about 3 dozen.

Serving idea: Serve in the afternoon with cold, fresh lemonade or iced tea with mint springs.

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Lavender Walnut Scones
2 cups flour
1 TB Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup sugar
2 TB. Culinary Lavender
2 TB. margarine
1 cup Nonfat buttermilk or soy milk
1 TB. vanilla
Vegetable cooking spray
3 TB. chopped walnuts
2 TB. sugar

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl: cut in margarine with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk or soy milk and vanilla, stirring with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened.Drop dough by 2 heaping tablespoons, 2 inches apart onto baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with walnuts and remaining sugar. Bake 400 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes or until golden.Yield 1 Dozen

Yummy with a cup of mint tea

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Lavender cooking tips:
Lavender blends well with lemon, almond, blueberries, apple, peaches, nectarine, and chocolate.
Experiment and use a light touch so it doesn’t taste like potpourri or soap.

Recipes/Gifts made with Lavender

Lavender Powdered Sugar - Simply put 1/4 cup of organic lavender in a pint 'Gladware'(or similar container) and fill with Confectioners sugar. Shake. Tie a small strainer with ribbon around the box. Tell them to sift the powdered sugar over pancakes etc. or use in recipes calling for powdered sugar like glaze or cookies. A subtle lavender taste.

Variation: Snip half a vanilla bean and add to the powdered sugar and lavender.

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Lavender Butter- Add a TB. lavender buds to a stick of softened margarine or butter. Let sit in the frig. Serve with crackers. Or on a small round of toast topped with smoked turkey.

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Vanilla or Chocolate cream pie with lavender: Infuse 1/4 cup of lavender in 2 cups of milk overnight in frig. Use to make choc. or vanilla instant or cooked pudding following pie instructions. Combine pudding with Dreamwhip and make a delicious pie. Use ready made crumb crust.

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Lavender Blueberry Syrup: Infuse 1 TB. lavender in 1 -2 cups blueberry syrup in microwave. Strain and use on pancakes, French toast or waffles.

Lamb's Ears

Busy Bee is me...........so I am late with the Sunday bouquet this week (plus when I tried to post earlier this week Blogger was not cooperating with the photos.)

Lamb's Ears fills the silver pitcher on the kitchen table. They are the softest plant you've ever touched. They were used as bandages during the Civil War and are also very popular in children's gardens. Lamb's Ears are scattered around my gardens and I love the silvery color they add amongst the greener plants.

Just a quickie tonight as I am getting ready for the BIG yard sale tomorrow.