The Allure of Gardening

One week ago it was blazing hot here...heat index 100 degrees.  When the temperature is that intense I typically want to stay within air conditioned confines, but for some reason I was compelled to be outside.

For three days I weeded, watered, and planted in that blazing heat.  Oddly, my 9-year-old daughter wanted to be with me (she created a cute little fairy garden...maybe I'll share images of that soon). Don't worry, we drank lots of water and stayed in the shade as much as possible (my daughter even begged me to purchase a small kiddie pool to stand in).

We accomplished a lot, felt good about it, plus had really nice showers at the end of the day.  I can't believe the allure of gardening.

Image courtesy of Jonas Peterson

My First Spring Arrangement

I can finally bring cut flowers in from the garden again.  Our Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are popping with color and just begging me to grace our dining room table with their fabulous blooms.



I found my favorite mini-bottles and tucked three stems into each one.  These little glass cuties were purchased at a university surplus store.  They were probably once part of a science experiment, but now fill a special place in my diverse vase collection.

Cocktails in the Garden

I was attending a conference at the Desert Botanical Garden last week (which was lovely, by the way) and ran into my good friend and fabulous designer Tres Fromme. I love showing his garden ink drawings. He whipped this up for me while there (I'm sure it wasn't mad doodling during an intense presentation...cough).

For some reason we had a lot of discussion about enjoying cocktails in a beautiful garden setting (not such a bad thing). You can find Tres at studioOutside.