A perfect moonlight garden night

Last night's full moon and warm temps made for a perfect moonlight garden night.  I wasn't able to get outside until 11pm. I wandered through my gardens in the moonlight, deadheading some flowers. I sat and listened to the multitude of crickets chirping and enjoyed the warm summer breeze brushing against me.  Unfortunately, I had to get up very early this morning otherwise I would have sat out for a much longer time.  Nights like that are what inspired me to write a children's story titled The Moonlight Garden.  Here is the very first paragraph of my story -

On warm summer nights with the moon shining bright, gardens magically come to life. There’s music and dancing, light shows and more. Come with me into the garden with its many wonders to explore.

Now if I only knew how to draw better so I could illustrate it with the images running through my brain!

A page I follow on Facebook shared this awesome Fiskars tool - I immediately added it to my Amazon wish list (Christmas is coming!)  I don't spray my lawn with any chemicals, I choose to dig up weeds by hand which is hard on my back.  This looks like a better solution. Does anyone have this tool?

Fiskars uproot lawn weeder

my eclectic decorating

I went furniture shopping with my daughter - I rarely step into a furniture store.  The salesman was all about choosing things that matched.  Well, it's my daughter's house and she can choose what she wants but when he directed those statements to me I just shook my head. Many of the items in my house are things I've picked up at antique stores and yard sales.  I buy things because I like them, not because they match something in my house.  This little cupboard looks like someone made it for their little girl.  I didn't do anything to it as I fell in love with it just the way it is.  The red linoleum used on it reminds me of my grandmother's kitchen - maybe that's why I fell in love with it.

My writing workshop group has an anthology of our writings coming out in September. One of my stories is "The Moonlight Garden."  One of our members just created a blog for our anthology - Driftwords Anthology.  I'm the first featured author - very humbling!  

Driftwords Antholgy blog

Re-entering the blog world

Greetings all! As you can see, I've been "missing in action" for the past year.  Life became so busy I decided the one thing I could give up was my blog. I've missed it :(  I am going to attempt to get back into blogging.  This time around, I've changed the name of my blog as I will hopefully post about gardening along with other things that interest me.  I may also post some of my writing.  For now, I'll leave you with one of my recent flower pictures. This is my morning glory gone wild. It's growing through my alyssum, which has also gone crazy!

Hydrangea fungus

This was my hydrangea a few years ago in the fall. It was a large, beautiful, healthy plant.  Then within a couple of days it looked like this _

Some kind of fungus?  When I dug it up this spring, the roots didn't show signs of root rot. The leaves didn't develop any black spots. It looked like someone took a blow torch to it.

2 weeks ago, I purchased a new hydrangea. This time I chose an endless summer.  Some of the leaves have begun to turn a sort of silvery color. It doesn't look like powdery mildew. I've been picking them off, keeping the area around it clean, and spraying with a fungicide. I don't like using chemicals in my garden, but sometimes I give in. So far, it hasn't died. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I probably shouldn't have planted it in the same spot as my old one, but darn it all - that's where I want it!


On a better note, the battle I've been fighting the last couple of years with the viburnum leaf beetle seems to have been won - by ME!! My snowball bush is gorgeous this year and covered with snowballs.

new plants added to my garden

I used some of my gift certificates to our local nursery and bought some new plants for my garden. Now my problem is, I want so many things but don't know where to plant them. The only full sun my yard gets is in the driveway and in front of my house, which isn't a very large space. So the neighbors get to watch me walk around my yard holding plants and staring at my gardens. They must wonder what is wrong with me! Just trying to find a spot for my babies.