the miniatures show.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

This past weekend my sister and I went to the Minnesota Dollhouse & Miniature Show.  It was held Friday evening and Saturday.  They opened at 4 p.m. on Friday and when we arrived at a little close to 5 it was packed!  One could hardly get close enough to see things.

But we persevered, and by 5:45 or so the crowd really thinned out and we were able to make our way around much more easily.  If I go again, I’d definitely just wait and arrive a bit later.

There were only about 20 vendors, so it’s not a huge show.  Of those 20 vendors, there were a few that I thought really stood out starting with Stanford Street Miniatures.

She had some really cute things, and at really reasonable prices.  I didn’t end up buying anything from her, but I really should have purchased something for my Christmas Cottage.

Next up is Blissful Minis.

She had some very lovely things, she calls her style French Cottage.

If you know me at all, you know I loved her white, distressed pieces.

But many of her things were just a tad too lacy for my personal taste, so I didn’t actually buy anything from her.

Teeny Tiny Taylor should probably get the award for best display.  She had the most fun retro 70’s vibe.  Unfortunately, I neglected to get a good overall photo of her setup so you’ll just have to trust me on that.  Her specialty is creating miniature food like these pineapple upside down cakes.

She had a fantastic room box set up for Thanksgiving dinner.

I didn’t actually purchase anything from her either, mainly because I’m not really into that level of detail in my own dollhouse.  But her pieces were truly teeny tiny works of art.

Speaking of food, this next vendor had some great things too.

And I did even buy a fabulous birdhouse from this vendor.  Unfortunately, I paid cash, didn’t get a card and didn’t get a receipt … so I don’t know their name.  Shoot!

I’ve saved my favorite vendor for last.

Mini Mercantile Co. was right up my alley.

I’d like to have purchased one of everything she had.

Or maybe 2 or 3 of everything!

She had some adorable Christmas items.

And that brings me to my haul.

I bought this round coffee table and the items on it from Mini Mercantile.

I think my favorite thing is the ironstone covered casserole.

How perfect!  And I have the perfect spot for that in my Victorian dollhouse.

I also purchased some adorable Christmas signs from Mini Mercantile.

They will definitely end up in the Christmas Cottage.

I purchased a few mini garden items at the show as well.

I already had the potting bench … um, let’s see … I don’t know that I ever shared that piece here on the blog.  That was an oversight on my part.  I painted that up last spring using milk paint and I got a fabulously chippy result.

But I did buy the two tall square clay pots, the French street sign and the basket of apples at the miniature show.

I also purchased this fantastic hedge clipper from Sir Thomas Thumb.

They even actually open and close!  I do have another piece by him that I think I purchased from Miniature Crush and that is this scoop.

He clearly does beautiful work, I probably should have purchased a couple more things from him while I had the chance.

Last, but not least, is that birdhouse that I mentioned earlier.

I have yet to work on the landscaping for my Victorian dollhouse, but this birdhouse will definitely find a home there.  I’m in search of some classes or tutorials on creating miniature plants/gardens, so if any of you have any sources be sure to let me know.

Do you have any good miniature shows where you are?  Be sure to share in the comments if you do!

chuck’s box.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

I warned you that you would be seeing a few more items painted in my custom Dixie Belle color that I’m calling Garden Green, so welcome to another toolbox post.

As a refresher (or for anyone who is new), Garden Green is a mix of two Dixie Belle colors …

Everglades and Acadia.

I don’t have a precise ratio for you, I just mix them until I like how it looks.

Technically today’s project is a tackle box rather than a toolbox, but it is painted in this gorgeous green.  But first, here is where it started out.

As you can see, this was Chuck’s box.

To prep, I first scraped off all of the various labels.  There were quite a few, including several on the inside.  I followed that up with my usual cleaning with Dawn dish soap, a scuff sanding to remove any flaking rust or paint and then a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.

Next up I painted it inside and out with my custom Garden Green.

Recently one of my readers asked me to mention the approximate amount of time that each step in this process takes, and to be honest, it’s kind of hard to judge.  When painting a toolbox there are a lot of steps with a lot of drying time in between.  For example, paint the inside, let it dry, give it a 2nd coat, let it dry, paint the bottom, let it dry, put a 2nd coat on the bottom, let it dry, flip the box over and paint the sides, let them dry, and so on and so on.

Also, painting a tackle box with a tray or a toolbox with a removable tray, takes a bit more time than a box without a tray.

Each individual painting step takes mere minutes to do, but drying time really depends on the weather.  If it’s super humid it can take much longer than if it’s dry and breezy.  I also like to let the Bonding Boss cure overnight.  It’s also a good idea to let the paint cure overnight before adding transfers as well.

So this is not a ‘done in one day’ sort of thing, but it’s also not a ‘work for hours and hours steadily’ sort of thing.

I find that it’s much more efficient to stock up on several toolboxes and then work on them all at once, sort of assembly line style.  But obviously, not everyone is painting up a bunch at once.  In that case, it’s a great project to work on while doing laundry or cleaning the house.

So, going back to Chuck’s Box.  After the paint was dry, I pulled out a couple of I.O.D. transfers that featured white flowers and starting adding them to the box.

I didn’t keep specific track of which flowers were from which set of transfers, but I used some from Sarah Featon’s Botanicals, By Any Other Name and Rose Botanical.

The label on the top of the box is from By Any Other Name.

Isn’t that gorgeous?

Once the transfers were in place I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect them.

This tackle box with its divided tray would be perfect for corralling all of your little crafting gizmos.

It would also make a great sewing box.

Now, before I put away my Garden Green paint for the day, I want to share another quick do-over project.

You probably don’t remember this one, but way back in March 2023 I shared a project using the Dixie Shine metallic foil.

You can check out that full post here.

But basically I took this …

to this …

I had these hanging in my own house for a little while, but eventually took them down and put them in my occasional sale.  They didn’t sell though.  I was literally about to put them in the ‘donate’ pile, but then thought maybe I should just try them without the gold.

So I painted over the frames with my Garden Green.  I didn’t do any special prep, just wiped them down with a damp cloth first.  I needed two coats to get good coverage, and the paint adhered to the foil just fine.

Once the paint was dry, I used one of the Dixie Belle Sanding Sponges to lightly distress it.

I really expected to see more of the gold coming through, but I mostly ended up going down to the coat of black that I had used under it the first time around.  But that ended up being just fine.

I decided to finish these off with some of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta with some of their brown wax mixed in.  It added just a little more depth to the paint color.

Improvement?  I think so.  What do you think?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Both the tacklebox and the tile artworks are for sale, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page if interested.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying their products used in these makeovers.

le jardin toolbox.

Published on by Quandie5 Comments

While I had the Dixie Belle Blue Grass paint out for the mini hall stand that I shared on Tuesday, I thought I’d use it on today’s toolbox.

But first, here is where it started out.

It wasn’t in bad shape, just a little dirty.  I still gave it my usual prep of cleaning, scuff sanding and a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.

Then I painted the inside in that pretty Blue Grass paint.

Once dry I added a transfer from the I.O.D. By Any Other Name set.

Next up I painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Oxford Fog.  The Oxford Fog and Blue Grass are perfect companions.

Once the Oxford Fog was dry, I added some florals from the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.

The typography is a mish mash from some older I.O.D. transfers.

I gave the box a final coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax both inside and outside to finish it off.  Although the Oxford Fog is from the Silk Paint line (so has a built in top coat), the transfers benefit from a little protection as does the Blue Grass paint on the inside.

This little box is the perfect size for holding art supplies or any number of other small things that need to be kept in line.

This little box is for sale locally, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying their products used in this makeover.

the hall stand.

Published on by Quandie5 Comments

I’ve got another miniature project for you guys today, this hall stand …

I purchased this a while back from Miniature Crush, but wouldn’t you know it, when I went to look for a link for you guys I couldn’t find one.  I don’t know if they are sold out, or just no longer carrying this piece.  There are quite a few identical and/or similar items available on Etsy though.

I bought this one intending to use it in the foyer of my Victorian dollhouse.

For those of you who may be new, this is a dollhouse that my dad made for me back in the early 90’s.  I had actually given it away to my in-laws (not sure what I was thinking!) about 10 years ago, but after I retired, I decided I wanted it back.  Luckily they hadn’t gotten rid of it themselves, and they also hadn’t done much with it.  Not so luckily, they had emptied out the contents and now don’t know where they put them.  So I was starting over with furnishings.

I did have a hall stand in the foyer originally …

so I decided to replace it with something similar.

The unfinished hall stand came with some very uninspired hardware.

Just a set of 5 ‘gold’ knobs to use both on the drawer and as the hooks on either side of the mirror.

So my first job was to find better options.  Luckily I already had a decent antique bronze drawer pull, but I needed to find hooks.  I ended with with a set of 4 antique bronze coat hooks from Colonial Miniatures via Etsy.

While I waited for them to arrive, I painted up the hall stand using Dixie Belle’s Blue Grass.  I sanded the finish to give it some age, and then I glued the hooks in place with super glue.

Your q tip for today; always glue things in place before adding a wax or oil topcoat.

You guys, these hooks were really bendy, and somehow I didn’t expect that.  When I started applying a finishing coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta, I noticed that I had bent them totally out of whack.  Fortunately, I was able to bend them back without breaking them.  I did have to hold my breath for a minute there though.  So if you end up purchasing these exact hooks, just use caution when manipulating them.

I’m sorry, I don’t remember precisely where the drawer pull came from.

But it paired beautifully with the coat hooks.

I styled the photos for this post using one of the watering cans that I painted up last year.

I filled the can with a single flower bud from my verbena bonariensis.

which worked perfectly as an entire miniature flower arrangement.

I’m quite happy with how my hall stand turned out.

It’s a bit tricky to get a photo of it in place.

And it’s going to be even trickier to get my hand and a paint brush inside that foyer to re-paint the trim.

That seafoam green has got to go though, so wish me luck on that!

the front window box, 2026.

Published on by Quandie8 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Lately I’ve been enjoying watching the hummingbirds in my garden.  It seemed like I had a sweet little pair of them flitting about, chasing each other playfully.  So I thought “gee, I wonder if they mate for life” and decided to do a little research.

Yeah, they don’t.

In fact, the male hummingbird is a bit of a player.  He mates with multiple females, and after mating he flees immediately.  The males don’t help build the nest, and they don’t help take care of the young.  They aren’t chasing each other playfully, they are chasing each other out of their territory.

Wow, I’m not sure I like these hummingbirds anymore!

But they are fun to watch.

I’ve always tried to plant a few things that I know attract hummingbirds.  One of my favorite is the Black & Blue Salvia.

I find that they also love my Roguchi clematis.

I know that hummingbirds like brightly colored tubular shaped flowers, so both of those are obvious candidates.  But recently I was surprised to learn that they really like the flowers on heuchera, or coral bells.

This year I planted some Northern Exposure Black heuchera in the front window box.

When Mr. Q and I are having our morning coffee on the front porch, this planter is right outside the window at eye level.  I’ve been surprised to see the hummingbirds enjoying the flowers on a regular basis.

The Northern Exposure series of heuchera were bred for cold hardiness and are rated down to zone 3.  I will pull these out of the window box in the fall and put them in the ground somewhere to overwinter.  I’ve always struggled to get other heuchera to overwinter, but these Northern Exposure varieties seem to do well in my Minnesota garden.

I also have a Dark Eyes fuchsia in the front window box.

Hummingbirds are a big fan of this one as well, unfortunately so are the Japanese beetles.  Yesterday I had to give it a bit of a cut back to remove all of the beetle damaged foliage.

If you’re wondering what else I have in my front window box, I decided to do a dark purple/silvery sort of color scheme this year.

For the silvery foliage I have Sea Salt artemisia, Angel Wings senecio and Silver Threads helichrysum.  For the deep purples I have that Northern Exposure Black heuchera, some Blackie sweet potato vine and a couple of Midnight Majesty coleus.

The contrast between the dark purples and the silvery foliage is quite striking.

I also have some Rex begonias in there that combine both colors.

When choosing plants for my front window box I have to also think about the perennials that are planted in the bed below it.

I have a large patch of astilbe with purple-ish blooms.

And I also have a Chocoholic Snakeroot.

So whatever I choose has to work well with those purples.

By the way, I highly recommend the Chocoholic.  I did not treat this plant very well initially because I couldn’t decide where to put it.  As a result, I moved it at least five times over its first couple of years.  Ironically, the internet says they are notoriously difficult to transplant due to a deep taproot, but I certainly didn’t find that to be the case.  Aside from making sure that it doesn’t dry out, this plant has been almost maintenance free for me.

As I was taking these photos I realized that I have a couple of plants in the window box that have been completely overtaken, so I’m headed out there to see if I can find new, roomier homes for them.  Wish me luck!

a gifted toolbox.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

A while back one of my readers from Iowa reached out to offer me some items that she was discarding.  And even better, her son lives nearby and was willing to deliver them.  How generous!

One of the items she sent my way was a toolbox (thanks so much Vanessa).

I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever worked on one this clean and new before.  Plus, Vanessa had already scuff sanded it a bit.  So aside from giving it a quick wash up, I was able to go straight to the Bonding Boss step.

In this case, I don’t need to block any rust or stains, but that surface was still a bit slick so the ‘bonding’ part of Bonding Boss will help my paint stick to the shiny metal.

I painted the inside of the toolbox in my new favorite custom green that I’m calling Garden Green.  It’s a mix of Dixie Belle’s Acadia and Everglades.

And, well, fair warning, I am really loving this color.  You’re going to see it a bunch more over the coming weeks so I hope you like it too.

As you can see, this toolbox came with a tray and I painted that up in the Garden Green too.

I then added a little French wording to the tray …

And actually, that scrap of typography was gifted to me by a reader as well.  When Monica was moving, she sent me a bunch of random bits of transfers and this bit worked out perfectly for the tray, so thanks again for that Monica!

As for the outside of the toolbox, I painted it in two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

One thing that I think is worth noting is that not only does the Bonding Boss block stains and odors, and improve the adhesion of your paint, it also make it easier to cover a color such as the original bright red of this toolbox.  Even the clear version, which is what I typically use.  I only needed two coats of Drop Cloth to cover up that red.

Once the drop cloth was dry I added some of those gorgeous florals from the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.

I decided to keep the look a little asymmetrical with the addition of some wording from the long retired and now very difficult to find I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

Once everything was in place, I finished off the toolbox with Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

What do you think?  Do you like the asymmetrical look, or do you prefer a more balanced look?

Leave a comment and let me know.

In the meantime, this toolbox is for sale.  Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

a trio of sofas.

Published on by Quandie7 Comments

I’m sure that many of you remember my perfect English sofa.

I initially painted that up back in January to go in the living room of dollhouse No. 42.

I liked it so much that I ordered a 2nd sofa of the same style to paint for my Victorian dollhouse.

But then, I realized that another style option was an even closer match to the inspiration photo from the Perfect English Farmhouse, the White Chesterfield from The Modern Dollhouse.

So I ordered that one too.

They’ve sat around ever since, but during our recent heatwave/hazardous air quality alert I needed some indoor activities so I pulled them out and painted them up.

I followed the exact same technique that I used on the first one, so if you want those precise details you can head over to this post …

But basically, I started with a wash of Dixie Belle’s Putty, then dry brushed their Ecru over that.  Then I taped off some grain sack style stripes and painted them with Dixie Belle’s Barn Red.

This time around the stripes got a little too solid looking, so after they were dry I sanded them slightly to give them a more worn appearance.

I finished them off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

This 2nd style of sofa is definitely closer to the inspiration piece on the cover of Perfect English Farmhouse.

I plan to use this one in the living room of my Victorian dollhouse.

But as you can see, I’m still in need of additional inspiration for this room.  So I’ll have to work on that.

In the meantime, the Chesterfield came with a pair of throw pillows that I don’t intend to use with it.  So I painted them up to go with the other two sofas.

I used the same technique, a wash of Putty followed by some dry brushed Ecru.  Then I added some knob transfers from redesign with prima.

It worked out quite well to add a transfer over painted fabric.

I also finished the pillows off with a coat of clear wax.

I guess the only question remaining is what am I going to do with these other two sofas?

For now I am listing them on my ‘miniatures for sale‘ page.  FYI, although I usually don’t offer shipping, I will ship miniatures.  So be sure to check that out if you are interested.

If they don’t sell, I think they might be perfect for the Christmas Cottage dollhouse that I plan to finish up this fall.  You’ll just have to stay tuned to see how that works out!

the grasshopper toolbox.

Published on by Quandie12 Comments

It’s time for another toolbox.

I’m sure some of you are entirely tired of seeing so many toolboxes, but I just love doing them.  Plus, they are reasonably sized items that I can work on indoors when it’s 95° outside.

Also, I just keep finding plenty of them at garage/estate sales.  OpK and I stopped at an estate sale last week and I came home with three more!  Plus I had three that I found at a garage sale that my friend Sue gave me a heads up on already waiting in the wings.

So, yeah, the toolboxes aren’t going away any time soon.

With that being said, here is today’s toolbox.

As per usual, it was a bit rusty and quite filthy.  I gave it my usual prep;  cleaning, sanding down some rust, cleaning again, and then finally applying a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.

After allowing that to dry for 24 hours, I painted the interior of the box in Dixie Belle’s Secret Path.

I know I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating, I never thought I would love this color as much as I do.  I’ve never really been a purple girl, but this shade is so nice.  It’s not an in-your-face sort of purple.  Let’s just call it a classy purple.

In fact, I just ordered another jar of it because I’d used up the last of mine on this toolbox.

Before moving on, I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to protect the interior of the toolbox.

I painted the outside of the toolbox in Dixie Belle’s Ecru.  Then I added some transfers from I.O.D.’s Primrose Isle collection.

The flowers in this one are just so pretty.

I do wish I.O.D. would provide just a bit more typography along with their florals though.

The Primrose Isle set has just a few bits and I could use more.

I do have butterflies coming out my ears though, and this one even has a grasshopper.

After I had all of the transfers in place, I finished off the outside of the toolbox with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Once again, this toolbox is for sale locally.  Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

keep calm and drink tea.

Published on by Quandie16 Comments

It has been just too hot and humid around here lately to work out in my carriage house workshop, so I had to go back to painting on my makeshift indoor workbench (a.k.a. my baby grand piano).

As you can imagine, that means I’m somewhat limited as to the size of projects I’m working on.  So I’ve gone back to finish up a couple of miniature projects.

For today’s project, I pulled out the pair of miniature dressers that I purchased from Temu way back in January.

I had a little bit of my custom mix of Garden Green paint left over, so I thought why not use it on one of them.

After first giving the dresser a quick sanding to smooth out any rough edges, I gave it two coats of my Garden Green.

Then I pulled out some petite floral transfers from the I.O.D. Saint Ouen collection.  I added one down the center of the front …

Then I wrapped one around each side.

The curved writing at the bottom is also from the Saint Ouen transfer.

It wasn’t until I was pulling the drawers back out to sand the edges that I realized I’d make a silly mistake.

I put one of the drawers back in upside down before I added the transfers.

Ugh!

If I flip the drawer over and put it back in the correct way, well …

I guess it doesn’t look totally wrong.  In fact, I’m not sure anyone else would even really notice.  But since I know about it, it really bugs me.

Unfortunately, a do-over isn’t in the cards because I used up 3 out of 4 of those tiny florals.

Well, who opens all of the drawers on these things anyway, right?

I guess I’ll just keep calm and drink tea, like the teapot says …

although in this instance it will have to be iced tea.

FYI, that sweet little teapot and tea cup came from Twelve Time More Teeny on Etsy.

I have to confess, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with this little green dresser, but I sure do love it.

As for the 2nd dresser, I do already know where it’s going to go.

But first, let’s see how it turned out.

I painted this one in Dixie Belle’s Ecru, and then added another tiny transfer from the Saint Ouen set to the front.

After sanding the edges and applying some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax, I used their Dixie Dirt in Ash to add a little dimension with some shading.

I also lined the drawers with some Tim Holtz Worn Wallpaper scraps.

As for where this one is going to go … well, it is tucked away a little bit.

It’s under the staircase at the back of my Victorian dollhouse.

By the way, can we all just take a moment to marvel at the fact that when my dad built this dollhouse, he took the time to add a small door to access storage space under the staircase.  He was nothing if not meticulous.

And sometimes the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, because now I’ve taken the time to tuck a dresser back in there too.  Because if it were me, I’d certainly want to utilize that space for a piece of hand painted furniture, wouldn’t you?

Even though it’s difficult to see back there, and even more impossible to photograph.

Also, in case you are wondering, yes, the little door does open but there isn’t anything inside.  I must confess that I was hoping to find a secret hidden message from my dad.  But sadly, no.

I’m only now realizing that clearly I need to tuck some things inside there.  Maybe Christmas decorations?  Or just some boxes of stuff?  And definitely a secret hidden message for someone to find one day.

But for now, what do you think of my two mini dressers?

Which one is your favorite?  Leave a comment and let me know.

the garden in july.

Published on by Quandie2 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

I think I’m beginning to realize that June is my favorite time in the garden.  Everything looks lush and green.  As long as we’ve avoided getting any hail damage that is.  It was touch and go this year, but so far all of the hail storms have missed my garden (knock on wood, summer isn’t over yet).

But then July arrives, and so do the garden pests.

After a big rain storm the other day, I decided to take a stroll around the garden to see how everything came through the storm.  I was relieved to see that there wasn’t any damage at all … from the storm that is.

But then I started looking closer.  I wondered, ‘why does it look like I did such an uneven job pruning my Quick Fire Fab hydrangeas?’  I didn’t remember them looking quite so chopped off after I did that back in April.

That was when I realized it wasn’t me, it’s the damn deer!  They’d been eating the buds off my Quick Fire Fab.  Argh!

Now I’ve had paniculata hydrangeas in my garden for probably around two decades.  As you know, I have several Limelights and a Strawberry Vanilla.  The deer have never once munched on those.  Why this one?  And why have they waited until I put in an entire hedge of them?  So frustrating.

Fortunately now that the flowers have opened up a bit, they seem to have lost interest.  I guess they only like the tasty new buds.

As I was walking away from the hedge, a flying insect caught my eye.  Sure enough it was a Japanese Beetle.  Yep, they’ve arrived as well.

Over the years I’ve tried to eliminate the plants that they like best.  I’ve pulled out roses, grape vine, Virginia Creeper, a weeping cherry tree and hollyhocks.  A couple of years ago I thought perhaps I was free of them.  But then I discovered them on my ferns.

What the heck?  Nothing online says that they like ferns.  In fact some sources specifically say they don’t like ferns.  I beg to differ.  Perhaps they are choosing them as a last resort since I removed everything that they like.

I have a very large bed of ferns.

Removing them would be a massive undertaking.  Plus, I really like them where they are.  So I definitely won’t be taking them out.  So I have to admit, I’ve resorted to spraying for the beetles.

In addition to the ferns, the Japanese beetles are also attacking my Princeton Gold maple.

I just planted that tree in June of last year.  When I was in the process of choosing what tree to plant, I purposely tried to avoid those that attract the beetles like Linden trees for example.  Back when I had the day job there was a row of Linden trees outside my office window that were absolutely loaded with the beetles every summer.  It was gross.

Having read that Japanese beetles don’t really go for maple trees, I thought I was safe with this one.  It’s only now that I have read that although beetles don’t bother red maples, they love this one.

I’ve also noticed that I’m starting to see some damage on my hostas now.  I used to always think it was slugs that ate my hostas, but now I believe it’s earwigs.

Apparently slugs leave a visible slimy trail (ewwwww!), and I don’t see much of that.  Plus, I’ve seen the earwigs, so I know they are present.

After a particularly bad year for hosta damage two summers ago …

I switched from using regular Sluggo to Sluggo Plus which has Spinosad added.  The Spinosad is for the earwigs.  As a result I had significantly less damage on my hostas last year.  I definitely need to keep that up this year.

Lastly, let’s talk about the worst of my garden pests, the jumping worms.

Jumping worms hatch in late spring, but they are too small to be noticeable at first.  They grow to full maturity by mid to late summer.  It has only been in the last week or two that I have started noticing them in the garden while weeding.

If you aren’t familiar with jumping worms, here is an excellent article giving detailed information about them.  But summarized, the worms are bad and you don’t want them in your garden.  And once you have them you are screwed.

OK, maybe that’s not quite exactly what the article says.  But so far the only way to minimize the impact of the worms on your garden is to handpick them, place them in a sealed container, set them in the sun to die and then dispose of them.  Gross.

However, contrary to popular belief, the worms do not eat your plants, or the roots of your plants.  They do rob your soil of nutrients though, and they also change the texture of the top 2″ or so.  This change causes your soil to dry out much more quickly.  It makes germinating plants from seed tricky.  It can also make it difficult for shallow rooted plants like Stonecrop to thrive.  I had a patch of stonecrop that went from this …

to this …

In other words, it all died.

That being said, most of the plants that I have in my shade garden are doing just fine despite the worms.  That area is filled with lots of well-established hostas that don’t seem to be suffering at all.

So this post isn’t all doom and gloom.

I’ll leave you with a couple of the things that are looking really good right now starting with this Sphaerocephalon Drumstick allium.

I planted that back in fall of 2022 as a bulb (ordered from Longfield Gardens), and this is the first year that it has actually looked good.  I will warn you that they do require some support or they just flop over.  But now that they are a little more established, I am loving them.  Also on the plus side, all alliums are fairly pest resistant.  Deer and rabbits won’t touch them, and it seems that neither will Japanese beetles or earwigs.

My Hummelo Betony is looking pretty darn good this year too.

I planted those in 2023.  Clearly it’s true what they say about most perennials, they don’t really fill out and look their best until year 3.

Also looking fantastic right now is the astilbe in my front garden.

I’ve had this particular astilbe for many years (and sorry, I did not keep track of its name), and it had been moved around quite a few times.  It wasn’t until I put it in this north facing, somewhat wet shade with a bit of evening sun that it really took off.  I’ve divided it a few times and now have a fairly good sized patch of it.

Lastly I’ll share what has become one of my favorite annuals this year.

That is called Sea Salt artemesia (Artemisia ludoviciana), and I just love it.  It supposedly thrives in hot, full sun but I have it in my front window box (just above those astilbe) which is mostly in the shade and it seems to be loving life there.

I also put it in the planters on my deck which are mixed sun and shade, and it seems to love that spot too.

I have noticed that they don’t like to be too wet, but I think pairing them with a water-hogging hosta in this pair of planters has worked out well.

With that, I need to get out in the garden and battle some more pests before it gets too hot.  We’re expecting a high of 94° today.  That’s way too hot for my northern blood, how about you?