Category: garden.

to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

the repurposed guest bed.

Published on by Quandie56 Comments

As I’ve mentioned, since furniture sales have slowed way down for me, I’m taking this time to focus on projects for myself that I’ve been putting off for a while (OK, maybe years in some cases).  Today I have a really fun one to share with you guys.  There is a bit of a long story behind this one, so you may want to refill your coffee before diving in.

Several years ago, Mr. Q and I swapped our guest room for his home office.  Prior to that, the guest room was the larger room, and his office was the smaller one.  We finally came to the realization that he uses his office every day, and we rarely have house guests.  It didn’t make sense to have the larger room going mostly unused, especially in a smaller home like ours where space is at a premium.

But switching to the smaller guest room meant getting rid of the full sized bed we were using and replacing it with a twin.  We actually traded the full sized mattress and box spring with my neighbor, nnK.  She took the full size, and gave us her twin sized versions.

That left us with a spare full size headboard and foot board (and side rails).  We stuck them up in our carriage house and there they’ve sat since 2017.

Now, you might be wondering why I didn’t sell the bed, so let’s go back a bit.  Here is the bed when it was part of the guest room.

Sorry, that’s the best photo I could find of the bed in its ‘before’ condition and it doesn’t even show the foot board, which is one of those ones that curve around the mattress.

There’s a little history behind this bed.  Mr. Q and I purchased our home around the same time that his great uncle’s estate was being divvied up.  We ended up with this bed, a matching dresser and a dining room set from Uncle Roy’s house.  This was back in 1988.  When we got the bedroom set, it was already painted.  I wanted to return it to the natural wood (that was the trend in the late 80’s), so I sent them off to be ‘dipped’.  Does anyone else remember that?  Maybe it’s even still a thing, I don’t know.  But basically your furniture is dipped in a large vat of stripper to remove the paint.

When we picked the pieces back up from the dipper, he explained that the manufacturer intended for these pieces to be painted.  This was obvious after they were stripped because they were each made out of more than one kind of wood, plus the ‘carved’ details were molded plaster, not carved wood.  So after all of that dipping, I had to repaint the pieces rather than staining and varnishing them.

Keep in mind, this was the late 80’s, I was still in my 20’s (ha, ie. a long time ago), I knew nothing about painting furniture!  So I went to the paint store and asked for help.  They explained that I should absolutely use oil based paint for durability (eeekkk! I can’t stand using oil based paint!), so that’s what I did.  I painted them in an oil based warm white.

Flash forward another decade or two.  I decided to redecorate and paint the pieces black.  I painted over the oil based paint with latex paint.  As you may be guessing, that did not hold up well over time.  That’s the reason I’m telling this rather long winded story.  It’s a cautionary tale of what not to do when painting furniture.  Do not paint over oil based paint with latex paint.  Over time it starts to peel right off, and that’s why I couldn’t sell this bed frame.  The black paint was peeling.  The only way to make this bed suitable for sale would have been to completely strip all of the paint layers and start over, and there is no way that would have been worth the effort.

So I stored it for a few years.  Last winter I thought I’d make the headboard into one of my Christmas signs (like this one).  I had Mr. Q bring it down from upstairs in the carriage house, and that’s when I drove over it.

LOL, didn’t see that coming did you?  But yep, it was leaning up against the wall in the carriage house and it fell over.  That’s where I park my car in the winter, and because the headboard is black and it was dark in there, I didn’t notice it on the floor and I drove over it.

That did a bit of damage.  So I put off working on this project once more.

And that brings me to today.  I finally had the time to work on this one, and I had a really cool plan for it.

I started with removing the plaster wreath from the headboard, and filling the giant crack I made driving over it with some of Dixie Belle’s Mud.

Next up I tried to remove as much of the peeling latex paint as I could, and then sanded the entire piece to prep it for new paint.

In an effort to improve adhesion, disguise an uneven surface, and create additional age with more layers of color, I next pulled out some Dixie Belle Sea Spray and The Gulf paint.

I mixed the two to create a brownie batter-like consistency and painted a coat of that on the headboard.

This was just an underlayer of color though, I painted over it with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  I purposely allowed both the black and the aqua to peak through in some spots.

Then I added the Gregory’s Catalogue paint inlay from I.O.D. (for a full tutorial on using the paint inlays, check out this post).

When using a large design that comes on multiple sheets like this one, I start in the middle and work my way out adding wet paint to each section as I’m ready to place that piece.

Be sure to follow all directions with these paint inlays, especially keeping in mind that it’s best to seal them with a spray sealer first rather than a brushed on finish (the paint of the inlay is easily reactivated with a water based finish and will smear).  So once I had the paper backing off and everything was dry, I sprayed my headboard with Rustoleum flat clear sealer.  Once that was dry I also added a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s flat clear sealer over it.  Since I’ll be hanging this outside, I wanted to protect it fairly well.

Now, let’s look at what we did with the footboard.

Once again, I need to add a disclaimer here.  Since this project was a keeper for me, I didn’t go as all out as I would have if I intended to sell it.  Were I selling it, I would have asked Ken to build a proper box on the back of the foot board.  Instead I just had him add a shelf with a couple of legs at the back to support it.  My plan was to use this as a ‘planter’ by placing it up against the carriage house and putting plastic planter boxes on that shelf.

I painted the whole thing using the same process as the headboard, The Gulf with Sea Spray followed by two coats of Drop Cloth.

I then sealed the inside of the ‘planter’ with Dixie Belle’s Gator Hide.  Gator Hide is their most durable, water repellant finish.  Since I will be placing potted plants on that shelf, I know it will be getting wet so I’m giving it the best chance of holding up.

If you’ve never used Gator Hide, I will tell you that it has a bit more sheen than my usual flat finish.  Personally I’m not a fan of shine, so for that reason I only used it on the inside of this piece where it won’t show.  I used the flat Dixie Belle clear coat on the front.

If you’ve stuck with me so far, here’s where we are with this project.

I’ve hung the headboard sign on the carriage house between the doors, and placed the foot board planter beneath it.  All that’s left is to fill it up with plants.

I learned another valuable lesson here, or at least one that is worth sharing with my local readers.  Don’t go to Gertens first for your plants.  I purchased two small ferns for $14.99 ea, two white caladium for $18.99 ea, and two dark red coleus for $4.99 ea from Gertens.  Then several days later I went to Home Depot and found caladiums that were twice the size for $9.98 and a fern that was 4 times the size for $14.98.  I really wish I had checked Home Depot first!

Well, live and learn, and either way, I am loving this combination of shade plants for my foot board planter.

I’m relying on foliage for the interest and color in this north facing spot.

So, several weeks and … uh … quite a few dollars later, I have created a focal point with lots of impact at the end of my driveway.

I learned a few lessons along the way with this one; (1) don’t assume all painted furniture can be stripped and stained, (2) don’t drive over your headboard, (3) don’t paint over oil based paint with latex paint, and finally (4) check Home Depot for inexpensive plants before resorting to Gertens.

I won’t say this was an inexpensive project.  By the time you add in the cost of the board Ken added to create a shelf, the paint inlay and especially the plants, pots & potting soil, this one added up.  If I’d also had to buy the bed itself, plus all of the Dixie Belle products I used (two colors of paint, Sea Spray, flat clear coat, Gator Hide) … well, yikes!

But I sure am happy with the results.  It’s definitely a keeper.

What do you think?

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing all of their products used on today’s project.

sunday mornings in the garden.

Published on by Quandie39 Comments

Welcome to my new series to be posted here on Sunday mornings; a short (or maybe not so short) post about what’s happening in my garden each week.  This likely won’t continue year round, for obvious reasons.  I live in Minnesota and although snow can be pretty too, there isn’t a lot going on in the garden in January.  So we’ll just see how that goes.  Many of you seemed to enjoy my garden tour post last week, so why not make it a regular thing?

And on the plus side, for those of you with absolutely no interest in gardening, you’ll know to just skip the Sunday posts 😉

I do wish I’d thought of this in the spring instead of halfway through the growing season … but, here we are.  Better late than never.

The bee balm was blooming profusely in my garden last week.

This plant goes by a lot of names, the most popular being bee balm or bergamot, but its official name is Monarda.

I always think the flower looks like exploding fireworks.

Bee balm is in the mint family (the flowers and leaves are edible), and if you’ve ever grown it, you’d know that by the scent of its leaves.  And also by the way it spreads in the garden, much like mint, it can take over.

I have pretty much let mine run rampant in my back garden.  I have to confess that this is the garden in my yard that gets the least amount of love.  I think because it’s also the one that gets the most sun.  In my garden tour post last week I mentioned that I really don’t like gardening in the sun and it shows in this particular bed.  But at this point in summer, the bee balm is practically the only thing blooming in this spot so I’m OK with having lots of it.

I also have a rogue trumpet vine in this garden that so far I have been unable to eradicate.  It came with the house, so I’ve been battling it for over 30 years.  Oh, and P.S., this garden is on the border of our property, the white and black pots and the red gazing ball you see in the background are in my neighbor’s garden.  Obviously if those were my pots, I’d have turned them all rusty by now using Dixie Belle’s patina paint.

Bee balm comes in a variety of shades of red, pink, and purple-ish.  It also comes in a variety of heights.  My neighbor has one that is only about a foot tall, but the variety I have is 3′ tall.

Monarda is definitely a pollinator.  It attracts bees (hence the common name of bee balm), butterflies and other beneficial insects, and it also attracts hummingbirds.  I can attest to that because we often get hummingbirds visiting ours.  I’d love to be able to add a fabulous photo of a hummingbird in my garden here, but I’m never quick enough to get one.

Another pollinator plant that looked fantastic this week was my Astilbe.

I have three different colors of Astilbe in my garden; white, purple and one that started out as a peach color when I purchased it but has since reverted to a sort of sickly lavender.  The white has already gone over, and the lavender is just getting started, but the purple was at the peak of perfection this week.

I originally planted this Astilbe in a much shadier spot in my garden and it performed very poorly there.  The plant tag said it was a good choice for shade gardens, but I can tell you from experience that it does need some sun if you want it to get full and bloom profusely.

I moved it to our front northwest facing garden quite a few years ago and it does so much better now that it gets a lot of evening sunshine.  I’ve since divided it a couple of times, and I think I need to divide it again.  I was watching Gardener’s World recently and they said that Astilbe needs to be divided regularly to keep blooming.

Hmmmm.  Mine seems to still be blooming pretty good.

I have some ideas brewing in my head for expanding my gardens next year, so I may hold off and start dividing things next year to supply a new garden.

I mentioned that Astilbe is a good pollinator plant, and although I do see butterflies and bees on mine, the blooms are always loaded with tons of these little flies.

See them there?  I can see five of them in that photo.  I’m not super fond of those flies, whenever I water that spot they all fly up and swarm around which is kind of gross.  But they aren’t hurting anything so I try to leave them alone.

The Astilbe is planted right under my front window box, and I’ve discovered that the blooms combine beautifully with the purple and pink fuchsia and the dark purple sweet potato vine in the box.

One last note about the Astilbe, I often leave the flower heads on the plants to dry out.  Then I use them in my planters for winter.

So this plant does double duty for me.

Do you grow bee balm or Astilbe in your garden?  Or do you have another favorite flower that blooms in mid-July?  Leave a comment and let me know.  Also, be sure to let me know how you like the idea of my new gardening series!

the autumn catalogue cabinet.

Published on by Quandie13 Comments

I picked up this little cabinet at a garage sale that Mr. Q and I spotted on the way home from a walk.

It’s obviously not vintage.  In fact, the seller told me that her brother-in-law (or some such relative) made it.  Kind of sad that she’s selling it at her garage sale for $10, but well … no one is really into that yellow looking pine these days, are they?

I gave it a new look though.  First I painted the inside in Dixie Belle’s Silk paint in Cactus.

 Then I once again attempted some blending on the outside using DB’s Sawmill Gravy and French Linen.

Next up I added the small version of the Seeds transfer to the front.

That isn’t quite the entire transfer, a bit at the bottom didn’t fit in the inset space so I will save that piece for another project.

I must add a thank you here to Constance Colvin who sent me the transfer.  Thank you so much for that Connie, I hope you like what I’ve done with it!

Finally, you may have already noticed the unique handle that I added to the cupboard.  The cupboard came with a carved wooden knob that wasn’t really my style, instead I thought it would be fun to swap that out for this old rusty garden trowel that my friend Sue found for me.

Ken drilled a hole in the trowel, and then I attached it using the same sort of bolt and nut that you would use with a glass knob.  However, as you can see below, that bolt was pretty shiny compared to the old rusty trowel.

So, easy enough, I rusty-ed it up with a little of Dixie Belle’s patina paint, and now you don’t even see it.

You may have noticed in the photo showing the interior color that the door opens down on this piece.  I’m not sure what the reasoning is behind that, but it is easy to open and close.  It might make this piece better suited to hanging on a wall rather than sitting on a table top though.

This was just a quick and easy update for a slightly outdated little cupboard.

What do you think?

This little cupboard is for sale locally, so be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying the paint for this project, and once again, thank you Connie for sending me the transfer!

the fresh cut flowers cart.

Published on by Quandie9 Comments

I spent some time last week working on smaller projects, so I have five of them to share this week!  In other words, I’ll be posting one per day through Friday.

I also spent time last week cleaning out my workshop in the carriage house.  There is a lean-to on the back side of the building and it tends to be one of those areas where we shove things to get them out of the way and before you know it, we are three or four layers deep in stuff and can’t even remember what is back there.

Just for reference, here’s a photo of the lean-to …

And I’m really just sharing that as a opportunity to show Annie where her Royal Standard hostas ended up because I missed it in my garden tour post from last week.  They are happy as clams in their new home.

OK, so this is one of those items that ended up buried in the lean-to for years.

It’s some sort of old cart that my bff’s sister gave to me years ago.  I don’t even remember the story behind it now.

It’s not your typical antique factory cart like the one we once had as a coffee table in our living room …

It’s a bit lower (and smaller overall) than that at only 10.5″ tall when laid flat, so it’s not suitable as a coffee table.

It has those handles, for wheeling it upright and that short curved end piece so Mr. Q thinks it must be some sort of hand truck or dolly.

It definitely has some heavy duty, and now quite rusty, iron wheels (they do still work though).

Regardless of its original purpose, I decided that it should have a new life as garden décor.

So I cleaned it up, sanded the flat wood area a bit and then painted it with one coat of Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.  Then I stenciled over that with my Fresh Cut Flowers stencil from The Stencil Market.

Once it was dry, I gave it a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to protect it a bit from the elements.

Now it’s perfect for placing somewhere in the garden.  You can keep it upright, like I’ve shown it above, or lay it down flat …

and then put a pot of flowers, or maybe an old galvanized watering can on top.

This piece is for sale locally, but if it doesn’t sell I’m sure I could find a spot in my own garden for it.

Be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

silver linings.

Published on by Quandie30 Comments

How about a mid-summer garden tour?  Everything is looking very green and lush right now, so it seems like a great time for an update.

You may remember that we had a horrendous hail storm back in May.

I was a tad upset by the damage done to my gardens, especially the hostas.

But let’s talk about silver linings!  As a result of the hail damage, Mr. Q and I are getting a new roof on both the house and the carriage house compliments of our insurance company.  What a blessing in disguise!

In addition, although the hostas were looking pretty rough after the storm, it was early enough in the season that most of them bounced back.

I trimmed away a lot of the really damaged leaves, and most of the hostas filled out with new ones.

There are a few that still look fairly sad, but for the most part we’re good.

Let me give you the technical details of my garden.  I garden in a suburb of the Twin Cities which is zone 4b.  I have a lot of shade, and in fact I don’t think any of my gardens qualify as ‘full sun’ since that means six to eight hours of sun per day.  There is a small portion of my yard that gets hot, full sun around noon, but really only for a few hours.  As a result, my flowering annuals do OK in that area, but they are never loaded with flowers like they would be with more sun.  So I mostly rely on foliage to provide interest in my gardens.

But playing around with different textures and colors of foliage has come a long way in the last 34 years (that’s how long we’ve been in this house, and that explains how well established my gardens are).  I can remember early days in my garden when all we had was one kind of variegated hosta, an Annabelle hydrangea, a couple of peonies that never bloomed, and lots of rocks!  Yep, originally the foundation gardens (garden beds installed along the house foundations) were all landscaping rock with a hosta popped in here and there.  We hauled all of those rocks out over time … well, OK, Mr. Q hauled all of those rocks out.

I’m really happy with how the front garden looks this year.  All of the hostas have filled in, the astilbe are looking fab and the dark purple huechera I added for contrast looks good too.  You may remember the rusty iron garden chair that I added earlier, it’s being swallowed up by plants now.

I forgot to give my sedum the chelsea chop this year and I’m kind of regretting that now.  If you aren’t familiar with the chelsea chop, you can read more about it in last year’s mid-season garden update.

We moved our fountain to this location in the front garden a few years back after trying it in a couple of other spots over the years.  So far, this spot is my favorite.  We can hear the water from our bedroom window which is lovely at night.

For the most part, I repeated last year’s plant selections in the front window box because they worked out so well  I’ve got several types of coleus, some lemon coral sedum, some dark purple oxalis, and a dark sweet potato vine.

And the fuchsia is doing especially well in there this year.

My favorite garden (although I suppose one shouldn’t play favorites) is the one that runs down the side between the house and the driveway.  This one is in full shade with the exception of some evening sun.  It’s filled with hostas, ferns, evening primrose, fairy candles, foam flower, heuchera, brunnera, lungwort and Cossetta, my statue.

I think it might be my favorite because it’s such a cool, shady spot to work in most of the time, so it tends to get the most attention from me.

You can just catch a glimpse of my Annabelle hydrandea in the background of that photo above.  This is the one that came with the house when we bought it, but it wasn’t in that spot.  It was originally in what is now my fern garden, we dug it up, divided it and planted half near the deck and half out behind the carriage house in the cutting garden.

Although it does look really lovely right now, I wouldn’t plant an Annabelle (Hydrangea arborescens) these days.  They tend to get floppy, so I much prefer the Hydrangea paniculata family of hydrangeas these days, although they aren’t blooming yet.  That’s the shrub that you can see behind my patio table and chairs in the photo above.

I’ve got 8 clematis, but not all of them bloom at the same time.  Currently the one on my arbor is in bloom …

and this one on an obelisk.

I planted an old galvanized sink with an herb garden and it sits up on the deck so we can easily grab some herbs when cooking.

I have to confess that I keep forgetting about the chives, even though I love fresh chives on a baked potato.  I’ve been adding the mint sprigs to my lemonade which is pretty refreshing.  I added the word ‘herbs.’ to the planter after cutting them out of adhesive vinyl on my Cricut machine.

I still have my chicken feeder turned planter hanging above the herb garden.

I have to be honest, it doesn’t hold much dirt so it’s a bit of a challenge to keep plants happy in it.  They dry out really quickly on hot summer days.  But I still enjoy having it out there.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of my garden.  Gardens are always a work in progress, and mine is no exception.  I have a couple of projects still in the works for this year, and I’m already planning ahead on what I may do next year.  How about you?  Do you have a green thumb, or do you prefer to let others do the gardening?  Leave a comment and let me know.

the pie safe.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

I found this vintage metal pie safe at a garage sale earlier this summer.

I liked the chippy original paint job, but it needed to be cleaned up, and the inside was in pretty rough shape.  It was also missing the shelves.

I wanted this piece to be functional for storage, so I asked Ken to cut a piece of wood to use as a shelf.  Then I cleaned the interior and followed that up with a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Kudzu.

I love that pop of vibrant green, don’t you?

As for the outside, I decided to retain that original chippy finish.  I gave it a good clean, then I sanded it lightly to remove any flaking paint and then I sprayed it with some Rustoleum matte clear spray sealer to reduce further chipping.

Finally, I added some bits from I.O.D.’s Label Ephemera transfer to the door, and then gave that another coat of the spray sealer.

I’m happy that I was able to keep the authentic look of this piece, while also giving it a little more pizzazz (and functionality) with some paint and transfers.

I suppose if you bake a lot of pies, you could actually use this as a pie safe, but I think it would be perfect in a potting shed.

It would also be awesome hung on the wall in a bathroom and used to store toiletries and such.  If only we didn’t have the world’s smallest bathroom at our house!

It has some holes at the back of the top that would make it easy to hang.

No matter where you use it, I think it would make a fabulously unique storage solution.

This piece is for sale, so if you’re local be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

if it’s broken.

Published on by Quandie10 Comments

If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.  But if it is broken, well … sometimes you still can’t quite fix it.

A few weeks back my handyman/neighbor Ken and his wife asked me whether or not I would like to have their cast iron garden furniture.  It’s your typical set that includes a bench (not pictured below), two chairs and a little round table, all in the classic grapevine pattern.

By the way, the giant pot is not from the neighbors, I only put it in the ‘before’ photo because I was working on it at the same time.  Kinda wish I hadn’t done that, but that’s water under the bridge now.

Ken and Arlene have had this set for decades.  I’m sure at least 40 years or more.  Every year they would haul it into their shed for the winter to save it from the elements.  But over the years, Ken has found that task more and more difficult because these pieces are pretty heavy.  For the last few years my other neighbor (the athletic trainer at a nearby high school) has gotten some football players to help with that task.  Still, Ken wanted to be rid of the furniture.  He’s tired of storing it in the shed every year (and I also suspect he’s tired of re-painting it bright white every few years), but his wife won’t have it any other way.

When they offered the set to me, I had to point out that I would leave it out in the winter.  Not only would I leave it out in the winter, but I would purposely make it rusty.  So if they couldn’t handle seeing that, they shouldn’t give it to me.

But they were still willing, so I took it!

There were a couple of issues though.  Both the bench and one of the chairs have broken legs that Ken wasn’t able to repair.  If you’ve followed me for long, you know that Ken is my fixer.  So if Ken can’t fix it, well, I’m not even going to try.  Apparently he even went so far as to have a welder attempt to weld the legs in place, and that didn’t work.

So basically, neither of those two pieces are suitable for actual sitting.

Well, that’s OK with me.  I planned to use the Dixie Belle Patina Paint to make them rusty, and unless you seal them, that makes them unsuitable for sitting on anyway.  Plus, let’s face it, it’s not like this furniture is comfortable, right?  Does anyone ever actually sit on it?  This is definitely one of those form over function sort of situations.

So I made them rusty.  The bright white just wasn’t ‘me’.  As per usual, I started off in the wrong direction.  I decided to give them a dark base color so there wouldn’t be any patches of white poking through the rust.  I also decided to use spray paint for this, simply because it would be way easier than painting them with a brush.  I had a couple of cans of gloss black on hand, so I thought it would be OK to use that.  So I sprayed them up … and boy was that gloss spray paint SHINY.  Like so. very. shiny.

I didn’t want to see super shiny black spots behind my rust, so I switched directions and gave the pieces a base coat of flat red spray primer.  Much better.

One caveat re: the primer, if I was concerned about these pieces rusting for real I could have used the Dixie Belle Prime Start.  It contains an acid blocker that prevents the activator (green spray) that you apply later from eating through the paint and degrading your metal item.  But I’m OK with these pieces rusting away for the next decade or two.

Next I followed the normal process with the Dixie Belle Patina Paint in Iron, followed by the green spray (you can get detailed info on that process by clicking on the image below).

For reference, it took most of the 8 oz. container of the Iron paint to do the two chairs and the round table (I haven’t gotten to the bench yet).  So if you’re planning a rusty project, maybe this gives you an idea of how far the paint goes.

I really loved the rusty look I achieved on these pieces.

Yep, rusty is much more to my taste than the bright white … or the glossy black for that matter.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, the rusty patina can take a while to fully develop.  I’ve also noticed that a little rain falling on the items will speed up that process.

Dixie Belle does make a sealer specifically for use over their patina paint called Patina Guard.

You may want to consider using this sealer to protect a rusty finish, or more importantly to protect yourself from sitting on a rusty finish.  But personally I don’t like the sheen it imparts, so I prefer to leave my rusty pieces unsealed.  You can read more about that in this post.

I’ll be splitting up all of these pieces rather than keeping them together as a set.

One of the chairs has found a home in my front garden next to the fountain.

I also have a spot picked out for the bench (once it’s done).

I did have a plan for the other chair and table, but ended up not liking them in the spot I picked out.  So now I’m going to attempt to sell those two unbroken pieces.  So if any of you locals are in need of a rusty table and chair for your garden, be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

As for that pot, I made that rusty too, and here is how it turned out …

The pot also has a grape vine motif that looks great rusty.

It’s also available for local sale.

While I’m at it, I also have this pair of tall rusty planters and obelisks available.

These are quite tall and would look amazing flanking a door, or maybe a path in your garden.

Be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for the details on all of these rusty items.

Have I gone overboard with the rusty look?  I don’t think so.  In fact I have another pair of planters that are going to go rusty next, and I still have to get to that bench!

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle for providing me with their Patina Paint products.

everything’s coming up daisies.

Published on by Quandie13 Comments

The day before I left for my mom’s house, Mr. Q and I drove out to my in-law’s place to see their daisies in bloom.

I just had to share their field of daisies with you guys, so even though I forgot my camera that day I snapped a few photos with my phone.

Mr. Q’s mom and step-dad, Naomi and Tom, purchased this old farmstead in Wisconsin a few years back.  One spring their lawn mower was on the fritz and they weren’t able to get it fixed right away, so the front lawn didn’t get cut.  That was when they discovered that it wasn’t just a weedy lawn, it was actually a field of daisies.

Since then they have left it to bloom every spring.

Once the daisies are done blooming, they mow it all down to normal lawn height.  But before then, they get to enjoy this beautiful field of daisies for several weeks.

There are a few other wildflowers mixed in with the daisies, but the daisies are definitely the star of the show.

This is such a great life lesson.  You never know when a broken lawnmower might lead to the discovery of a field of daisies!

While I was out there, I thought I’d also get a few pics of one of Tom’s fairy houses.

This makes my fairy garden look like child’s play, does it not?  I’m going to have to consider expanding.

The creeping thyme was just starting to bloom while we were there as well, isn’t it perfect for a fairy garden?

Tom built this fairy house from scratch, carving all of the wood elements by hand, cutting stone for the roof and even making the leaded glass windows.

It’s furnished inside and even has electricity, see the lights burning in the windows?

It does not, however, have indoor plumbing.  That’s what the outhouse is for.

Usually when I share photos of this fairy house people ask if Tom sells these creations, but I have to say that if he did the price would have to be exorbitant.  He puts so many hours of labor into them.  This is one of those things that you can’t really put a price on.

I hope you enjoyed this visit to see Tom & Naomi’s field of daisies as much as I did!

the peak of peony season.

Published on by Quandie24 Comments

I’ve returned from my visit out west a little blonder (thank you Sun In), and with a bit of a tan.  I wasn’t sure I would survive the heat (well over 100 degrees most days), and the sunshine feels a bit relentless to me out there (I love a good drizzly day in the garden).  My mom is doing much better though.  My sister and I helped her out with a few things while we were there, and her broken ankle is healing nicely according to the doctor we spoke with.

When we weren’t ferrying mom to appointments, replacing her screen door, and re-planting her pots (I seem to do this every time I visit, flowering annuals don’t last long in her climate, I’m trying moss roses this time around), we just floated in the pool at her townhouse complex.  It was definitely too hot to do any hiking, or really even much sight seeing.

Although it was relaxing, I was definitely ready to come home and get back to my painting projects!  And my garden!

When I scheduled the visit to my mom’s, I wasn’t really thinking about what I would be missing in the garden.  It wasn’t until shortly before we left that I realized I would likely miss the peak of peony season (which was a little late this year).

Jeesh!  I wait all year for the brief blooming period of those babies!  And I planned a trip smack in the middle of it.  What was I thinking?!

Before I left I grabbed a quick photo of my cutting garden …

My cutting garden, by the way, is out back behind the carriage house.  It’s a nice sunny south facing spot, and you can’t actually see any of it from the rest of our yard.  That makes it perfect for a cutting garden because you never feel guilty about cutting all of the flowers to bring inside.

Before I left for mom’s, the peony buds were just beginning to show some color.

And the siberian iris were just starting to open.

But I knew that some hot weather was headed for Minnesota while I was gone, and hot weather is the kiss of death for peony blooms.  Also apparently for the iris, because they were pretty much done when I returned.

So I decided to try a couple of peony saving measures.  First of all, I cut those few things that were already open.

I popped them into a jar of water, and put that in the fridge next to my peach sangria.

That actually worked quite well, when I got home the flowers still looked just as good as when they went in.

I also decided to save some peony buds in the fridge.  You may remember that I experimented with this process last year (for the full details, you can read that post here and the results of the experiment six weeks later are here).

So once again I cut stems with buds that were at the ‘soft bud’ stage, in other words they feel like a large marshmallow when you squish them a bit.

After removing all of the leaves, I simply popped them into a large Ziploc bag and then put them at the back of the fridge.  I’ll pull them out sometime in July and be able to enjoy peonies again then.

The first thing I did when I got up in the morning after returning home was check on the peonies.

Sure enough, quite a few of them were already spent.

But luckily I have a lot of peony plants, and quite a few of them still looked pretty good too.

Since the forecast for yesterday was hot and humid with a high of 96, and by today we’re supposed to have a high of 99 (ugh, did I bring it home from Nevada with me?), I decided to cut all of the open flowers and bring them in the house ahead of the heat wave.

I ended up with three very lovely arrangements.

The vibrant dark pink peonies went into an aqua vase, and I added in the irises that I’d saved in the fridge.

This arrangement is perfect for those who love a big pop of color.

I put the medium pink peonies into my paint inlay watering can.

Those medium pink peonies were growing in the garden here when we bought our house 34 years ago, and I suspect they’d been here for quite some time even then.  I eventually had to move them to a sunnier location, but they are still going strong.

Finally, I put mostly white peonies into one of my buckets.

I say ‘mostly white’ because in addition to the solid white peonies, I also have these gorgeous peonies that have just the tiniest hint of pink.

Personally, these are my favorite.  I love that delicate little bit of pink in the centers.  So pretty!

Unfortunately, I haven’t retained knowledge of most of the peony varieties that are in my garden with the exception of that one.  It’s called Raspberry Sundae.

My advice to you if you’re looking to add some peonies to your garden is to shop for them while they are in bloom.  Photos of the blooms seem to vary wildly, you want to be sure you know what you’re getting.

I’ve been toying with the idea of adding a yellow peony to my line up, maybe that will happen next year.

In the meantime, I’m going to bring all of these arrangements inside my air conditioned house and see if I can keep them looking good for another 4 or 5 days.

How about you?  Do you grow peonies?  Have you tried saving them in the fridge?  Have you got any other peony tips to share?  If so, be sure to leave a comment.

the flower and grain tote.

Published on by Quandie9 Comments

I purchased this large green wooden tote at the Linden Hills sales.

I love reviving these.  This one wasn’t a terrible shade of green, but it was a bit too shiny for my taste.  So I sanded it thoroughly and then gave it a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

Next I pulled out a small section from the I.O.D. Gregory’s Catalogue paint inlay that I used on the bench I shared last week.  They say you can re-use the paint inlays up to 3 times, so I thought I’d give that a try.

I’m not sure if you can tell in the photos, but the 2nd time around the color fades to more of a dark grey rather than the original black that was on the bench …

It’s just a bit more washed out.  That’s not a bad thing, but just something to be aware of.  Especially if you’re thinking about trying to use a paint inlay over again on the same piece.  Some areas would look more faded than others.  Still, not necessarily a bad thing, but something you want to be aware of.

I also found that the backing paper was a little flimsier the 2nd time around, and in fact I couldn’t keep one section from tearing into pieces, so a 3rd use is out of the question for this section of my paint inlay.  Keep in mind that I had trimmed the inlay down to fit on this tote, had I kept the entire sheet intact it would likely have held up better for a 3rd use.

I simply had to stage my photos with the last of my lilacs.

They are about done for this year.

If you’ve been following me for long you may remember the story of my lilac hedge fail (you can read all about it here).  Looking back at that post I realize that I’ve been working on my lilac hedge for 11 years now.  Man, talk about determination!  Or maybe I’m just unwilling to admit defeat.  Either way, this year we ripped out one more of the non-performing lilacs and then added three new ones at the end of the row.

But the lilacs in the middle of the hedge are looking great.

They are about 10′ tall, and a couple of them have filled in nicely.  Now I just have to get the rest of them to look as good.  Maybe in 11 more years it will be as I envisioned it.  A tall, dense hedge that completely blocks the view into our neighbor’s back yards.  Fingers crossed on that one.

Well, even if my hedge isn’t providing the privacy we want quite yet, it is providing some pretty lilacs for staging photos.

This tote is for sale locally, so be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the paint and sealer used on this project.