Tomato Overload

I lied.  Though, not intentionally.  A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that most of our vegetable harvesting for the year had ended.  I truly believed it, then my husband brought all these tomatoes home.  Some were hidden in the vegetable garden by our house, while the rest came from vegetable garden B (down the street...yes, we do have a second one that I often forget).  I don't eat tomatoes so they are just staring me down everyday, but my mom has enjoyed the resurgence.  She is a tomato nut.

{Please note: this is a child-sized wheel barrow...in case you were wondering about the monster-sized tomatoes!}

Beautiful Imperfection

On Labor Day weekend we had our kids' annual birthday party bash, with friends and family included.  Each year it takes place outside in our garden and every year everyone is amazed at the good weather that falls upon us.

Well....not this year.  It poured heavy rain all day.  Interestingly, it was the best get-together we've ever had.  We were all still outside, but crammed on the front porch (luckily it's pretty big).  I guess the closeness forced more discussion and laughter.  The imperfect weather made it such a beautiful day.

Image via We Heart It

The Last Two Cucumbers

It is so sad.  I am down to the last two cucumbers from our garden.  My summer of fancy olive oil and vinegar mixed with freshly sliced cucumbers will slowly come to a disappointing halt.  Oh hum. 

Image courtesy of Song Sparrow Studios

Another Beautiful Espalier

I wish I would have found this beautiful watercolor a couple of days ago when writing about espalier.  It has a lovely example way at the bottom (of course, there is a lot of lovely other garden towards the top too!).

This painting was created by Holly at golly bard.  All of her images are just amazing.

Fall Ombre Flowers

I came upon these lovely photos while visiting the site, Ruffled. It's a beautiful collection of flowers created by Sarah Winward of Honey of a Thousand Flowers.  Her inspiration: fall ombre colors...that dreamy gradient of soft colors. 


Oh, and I can't forget, these amazing photos were taken by Erin Kate Photography.

The flowers used in these arrangements include:

Red arrangement: Viburnum berry, scabiosa, wild grasses, ranunculus
Peach arrangement: rose, berries and leaves
White arrangement: snowberry eucalyptus, spray rose, elephant ear plant


Please visit the Ruffled website to view entire article.

Garden Terms: Espalier

As I was rummaging through my photos from a trip to England several years ago I came across these images of a pear tree espalier.


Espalier :: A woody plant that is trained to grow in a flat plane against a wall, often forming a geometrical pattern.


This practice became popular during the Middle Ages when gardening space was limited within a castle courtyard. Espalier allowed fruit production, but also beautified barren walls.

These espalier were found at The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, England.

Twisted Garden Love?

My husband brought the last few carrots in yesterday and I finally cleaned them today. Not sure how he forgot to mention this slight little oddity, but two of them had twisted together.  So strange and seductive all at once.

Vegetables No More...

...at least from the vegetable garden.

It is so sad seeing the last plants get pulled one by one from the vegetable garden. We are eating the final few cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons and onions.  Oh hum.  At least we have a lot of potatoes to last a few more months (I hope).

Garden Terms: Allée

I have always been intrigued with words that evolved from gardening.  As I find fabulous images that depict these terms, I'll throw them your way.

Today I found a beautiful photograph from Briole Photography that shows a stunning example of an allée formed by oak trees.

Definition :: An allée is a walkway or road lined with trees or tall shrubs.

A Sweet Little Allium

Sometimes it's a struggle finding a plant that always looks good, plus has the bonus of blooming at an odd time...like fall.  Allium senescens ssp. glaucum falls into that special category.

I found this plant while looking for another allium and it's been such a fabulous addition. I've been quite happy with its beautiful blue-gray twisted foliage, plus its sweet little purplish-pink flower.

I have it right in the front of my border, because the foliage stays small and tight (only about 6" tall).  The flowers start to pop out in August and stay as tight buds until September when they finally burst open.  It's now the start of October and they are still blooming (we've even had a couple of frosts already).  The flower heads are only about 1.5" wide and about 12" tall. Oh, and I live in central Iowa (zone 5a/4b) so you can compare to your own area.

The added bonus...they are easy to divide.  Eventually they can be spread along the front of a border to give a polka-dot like feel in the fall.

To find out more about this cute little plant visit Missouri Botanical Garden's Kemper Center For Home Gardening plant database.