A Sweet Little Garden Project

This past weekend, on a quick visit through Instagram, I came upon a gardening project that I wanted to try... courtesy of Verde Farm (the farm that Ginger and MaryAnn were born on).

I needed a little something floral to perk up the front porch of Maven Haven.  Last year I planted crocks of flowers and had placed an old rocking chair on the porch.

This year I turned that old rocker into a planter.  

The caned seat had become to brittle to sit upon, so I removed the caning.  In the hole that was left, I fashioned a bowl made out of chicken wire.  I stapled the ends of the wire to the seat and then covered the wire with a coconut liner.  

Then, I filled the seat with a variety of yellow and purple blossoms (having learned in my painting classes that yellow and purple are complementary colors).

I think it's the perfect cheerful addition to the porch!

Happily, the fairies have returned to the farm.  They have been flitting to and fro, encouraging seedlings and unfurling peony blossoms.  They are always quite industrious.  To make them feel welcome, I started rejuvenating a couple of my fairy gardens.


These are two of my smaller container gardens that sit outside the door to the vegetable garden.


I still have a large fairy garden to finish.  At least we are well enough along that the fairies understand my intentions.

This weekend, old Moonie gave us a bit of a scare.  Ever since he lost his left eye to cancer this past December, I have been vigilant about putting his UV protectant visor-mask on him.  It's to the point that he comes to the stall door each and every morning so that I can "get him dressed" for the day.  He dips his head down as I raise the mask to accommodate me placing it over his ears.  He is nothing if not always helpful!

Anywho.... every day I check his remaining eye to make sure all is well.  Saturday evening, Hubbs noticed something out of the ordinary on his eye.  It looked as though he had a growth beginning on his iris in the lateral corner.  I immediately cried and crossed all of the possible bridges we might have to cross.  Hubbs texted Dr. Becky.


Sunday morning, Dr. Becky came to check his eye... only to find that what we had seen was no longer there.  Weird!  Weird.... but lucky.  I was overjoyed to see that his eye looked as it always did....


Who knows what we had seen the prior evening, but we are counting our lucky stars that all is well with our precious Moonie.  Keeping fingers crossed that all remains the same!

As for the rest of the herd.... fly masks are the dress of the day as it is once again fly season... and those nasty-wasties always go for the eyes!


You may have noticed a photo of these two on yesterday's blog.  It always makes me chuckle how both the dogs and the cats like to drink from the horse trough.  They both have their own water buckets.  I guess the horse water just tastes better!  Another amazing thing is the fact that now these two can share a bucket.... where, just a year ago, the dogs could not get anywhere near Griz without him attacking them.  Time has a way.......

A couple weeks ago, I noticed that the field across the street from the eastern corner of the farm was growing some beautiful red flowers.... red clover.  It's a cover crop that serves no purpose other than to keep the soil from eroding over the winter and spring.  On Friday, the farmer arrived with his tractor pulling a sprayer.  I immediately knew what that meant.  The entire field was about to be sprayed with Round-up to kill any and all vegetation growing there.

I quickly ran across the street and asked if I could cut a bouquet before they were sprayed and killed.  He kindly allowed me to do so.  One man's cover crop is another's beautiful bouquet!

The purple and white spotted petunia in the front of the bouquet is one that Sammie laid upon and broke off the plant.  We then had a discussion about not laying in Mom's gardens!

Lastly, if by chance you have trouble finding magic in this world, just take a look at this foxglove blossom.  It's nothing short of magical!  I am sure that this is the work of some very happy garden fairies!

Comments

colleen said…
Your chair project came out perfect!! I must say the purple and yellow do look good together. I will keep this in mind for my paper crafting. Your fairy gardens always amaze me. I keep going back to them to make sure I didn't miss any little detail. The clover bouquet is beautiful and the foxglove is breathtaking. I literally had tears of joy over the good news about Moonie's eye. I'm sending you xoxoxox Moonie.
Anonymous said…
The chair turned out great!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
add a vibrant red geranium to the chair that will really make it pop. those three colors together are my favorite combo. i sure hope moonie will be okay! the foxglove bloom looks like a fairie slide.
Unknown said…
We are in middle Tennessee and have fields of red clover also, it is like a beautiful red velvet carpet. Never seen anyone spray it, it usually just fades out as the tiny white daisies take over. We see a lot of kids do their senior graduation pictures is the fields of red. Just love seeing all the different stages of spring in your garden, thanks for sharing the flowers! Lisa G in TN
Diane said…
Love your post. Hate Round Up.
littlemancat said…
The chair looks wonderful in its little corner on the porch. Well done!
The red clover is beautiful - I admit that I had to Google it as it looks so different from what I think of as red clover (which actually looks purple/lavender colored) and found it as Crimson Clover. "Crimson and clover,over and over"- remember that song? Haha! The Round-up, oh dear...
Happy about Moonie <3!
Mary
Bee Haven Bev said…
Timmy James and the Shondells!!! Yes!
The fairies love foxgloves. They can nap inside of them.
Marcia LaRue said…
Such a beautiful stroll around BHA once again! What a clever redo of the porch rocking chair!
Also relieved to know Moonie's eye appears to be A-OK ... let's hope that's not a fluke!
Wish those folks still relying on Round-Up would wise up and find a suitable alternative to that disastrous poison! I just hope you don't get the over-spray from him spraying that beautiful clover field!!
MR. ED..THE TALKING HORSE !!! said…
LADY...YOU ARE SO AWESOMELY AMAZING...THANK YOU FOR SUCH JOY AND ORIGIANLITY...WONDERFUL !!!!!!!!!


EDGAR C. BEARD
This N That said…
The chair is adorable..I always wanted to try one of those but never could find the right chair..Glad you did..
Nice that the faeries have returned...After all what's a faery garden without faeries??
My heart dropped to my stomach when I read of Moonie non event..SO happy that it was nothing..A tear shed in vain..thankfully..
Round up...yuk..They use it here too..
Coming from Europe, where it's banned already for 20 years, the use of Roundup just amazes me. Apparently it's a more diluted form than what it used to be, so now it's safe? Talking about fairies, do you know
'Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book'? It's a delight!
deodar said…
Seems a shame they couldn't just till the clover in as 'green manure' rather than using a carcinogen.
The red clover is gorgeous in your bouquet. So sad that the farmer sprayed that field.
Lynne said…
Quick thinking on that clover bouquet! Attractive!
Hope it continues to be a false alarm for Moonie . . .
Sweet garden plant seat . . .
Fox glove flowers are such an unique artistic discovery.
I am always amazed at peonies and dahlias . . .
Amazing symmetry . . .