Autumn's the Mellow Time

Have I told you how much I love fall?

Let Limits Expand Your Creativity

Don't let limits hinder your creativity.  Ideas grow within focused guidelines. Really, it's true.

Bird & House

I found a fabulous collection of bird houses at Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa a couple of months ago and plan to share a few here and there.

Garden Terms: Topiary

Topiary is the art of clipping plant materials into an ornamental shape.  This practice can be traced back to Roman times through their extensive writings and wall murals.  Since then it has evolved through French and Italian Renaissance gardens to those of today.  How can you miss those fun stacked green globes in many a landscape?

Image on left courtesy of Belle Botanica, while image on right courtesy of Topiary Classics

Image courtesy of Vintage Decor Prints

Image courtesy of Modern Toile

Urban Knitting

This was the ultimate surprise when I entered Reiman Gardens' butterfly wing a couple of weeks ago.  A new type of graffiti, yarn bombing, began in the Netherlands in 2004...yep, as an illegal, in the middle-of-the-night, anonymous-type of knitting craze.  Of course, the display below is legal and pretty cool.  What a wonderful way to draw attention to the beautiful detail of plants.

Zinnias

I know, I know...these are such a common plant, but I really do love them.  I adore cut flowers and these always perform rain or shine.  Every spring my husband just sprinkles a few seeds in the garden and wa-la! How can I resist all these delicate differences in shape and color?

Retro Landscape Paintings

What a pleasant surprise when I found these lovely paintings by Leah Giberson.  They showcase all the cool retro landscape elements I love...hedges, bright metal lawn chairs and those silly pruned mid-century modern topiary-like shrubs.  To top it off, Leah also loves gardening.  You gotta like that.  Please take a peak at her other paintings here.