to plant a garden.

Published on by QuandieLeave a comment

Good morning from the garden!

This morning I thought I would update you on a few of the garden projects that I’ve shared in the past.  These are mostly projects that have taken 3 or more (in one case, many more) years to come to fruition.

As Audrey Hepburn supposedly said, to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.  Gardening is rarely an instant gratification sort of endeavor, that’s for sure.

If you’ve been following me for a few years you may remember that I attempted to plant a lilac hedge back in 2011.  OMG, that means it was 13 years ago.  So yeah, this one has required A LOT of patience.

I initially planted a row of the fancy hybrid type lilacs and after 5 years it looked like this …

Wow, that’s embarassing, isn’t it?  What a straggly mess.

The flowers were gorgeous.

But the hedge wasn’t providing any sort of privacy along our back property line, and it certainly didn’t look good, even when in full flower.

Over the next several years I pulled out those fancy lilacs one or two at a time and replaced them.  At first I replaced a couple of them with common lilacs.

The common lilacs have performed beautifully and are now at least 12′ tall and doing the job they were meant to do.

We can no longer see our neighbor’s son’s fishing boat from our back dining room window.

But the flowers on the common lilac just aren’t terribly exciting.

So over the past two years I have gone back to putting in the fancy hybrids (because I never learn).  This time around I gave them a little winter protection from the rabbits though, and that seemed to help quite a bit.

And Mr. Q has been really careful not to spray them with weed killer, instead we are hand pulling the creeping charlie that keeps threatening to take over from the neighbor’s yard (I don’t blame her for not tackling them on her side, she is elderly and has a bad hip, she used to have beautiful gardens and lawn but she has had to let them go).

So far so good with the two newest lilacs, although they need to put on quite a bit more height before the hedge looks more uniform.

However, I’m once again having mixed results with the the hybrids at the other end of the hedge.  They started out looking great this year, but currently a couple of them look a bit sickly.

I’m going to try a couple of things, and then wait and see how they look next year.  However, in the end I may have to pull out a couple more and replace them with those boring common lilacs.

In the meantime, I’ve begun another experiment with this hedge.  I planted three clematis at the base of the lilacs.  They should wind their way up the branches and eventually provide some additional interest after the lilacs themselves bloom early in the season.

Once again, we’ll have to wait and see if that works out.

My goal with this hedge was to provide a natural barrier, but not add a lot of extra maintenance.  So I wasn’t going for a neatly trimmed hedge.  The proper way to prune a lilac is to remove approximately 1/3 of the stems all the way to the ground.  In other words, you’re not supposed to just shear the top off to create a uniform height throughout like you would with a more formal hedge.  If you want that sort of look, I wouldn’t choose lilacs.

My next experiment in the garden was planting a Golden Shadows Pagoda Dogwood in the fern bed in 2022.

The Pagoda Dogwood is an understory tree that will grow in partial shade.  Mine, however, is planted in nearly full shade.  For that reason I really wasn’t sure if it would thrive in this spot.

But it is looking really good this year, and I can finally see it peeking out above the ferns.

I suspect it will be another several years at least before it starts to look like I want it to, so I’ll just have to continue to be patient on that one.

Next up is another experiment, this time with planting a shrub in the shade garden.  I planted a Morden Golden Glow Elderberry in 2021.

This is another one that will grow in partial shade, but I planted it in what would probably be considered full shade.  It does get some late evening sun though.

It is growing somewhat slowly, I’m guessing that’s due to the shade.  The full height range for this plant is 4′ to 5′, but I’d rather it stay on the smaller end.

So far, so good.

Last up I thought I’d share a plant that hasn’t required much patience.  You may remember that last summer I went on the St. Anthony Park garden tour and discovered a trendy plant that everyone seemed to be growing.

This plant has a lot of names.  You can call it Aralia cordata, or ‘Sun King’ Golden Japanese Spikenard.  I just call mine Spike.

Spike is loving life in this nearly full shade spot.  In fact, he’s crowding out a couple of neighboring plants that I’m going to have to now move elsewhere.  But that’s OK, I think this plant is gorgeous and worth the space.

Now, how about you?  Do you have any long-term planting projects like my lilac hedge?  Or maybe a favorite trendy new plant that looks great in year one?  Leave a comment and let me know.

a french fairytale cabinet.

Published on by Quandie3 Comments

Recently my neighbor’s parents (a.k.a. my adopted family) were cleaning out a storage area and came across a couple of items that they thought I might like to revamp.

The first is this little cupboard.

They were guessing that it was some sort of shoe shine cabinet because it seemed to come with that brass foot plate thingie.

And it also originally had a hinged lid, which would have made it easier to access the contents of the box.

However, that being said, I couldn’t find any holes on that lid where the brass shoe plate would have been attached.  I also didn’t see any signs of shoe polish inside the cupboard.  I’ve revamped a couple of shoe shine boxes in the past, and they always have remnants of shoe polish on them (check out this one, and this one).

So I’m betting this little cabinet was used for something else.  Maybe to hold knitting supplies?  Or sewing stuff?  Any guesses?

Whatever it was, I decided to give it a new look with some paint and another of the new I.O.D. transfers called Fairytale Florals.

I started with the decision to glue the once-hinged top section on (so the top is no longer hinged).  Then I scuff sanded and gave it a good cleaning.

I then painted the interior of the cabinet in Dixie Belle’s Silk All-in-One paint in a color called Serenity.  This color has that French blue sort of vibe.

I chose to use the Silk paint because it has a built in top coat, so I would only have to slap on two coats of paint and that’s it.  It was a bit tricky getting a brush inside that cupboard.

Next I added two coats of DB’s Drop Cloth to the outside of the cabinet.  Once dry, I sanded the edges to distress the piece.

Next it was ready for transfers.

I added this pretty blue floral to the top.

Then I added a row of florals above and below the door on the front, along with that wreath-like detail on the door itself.

That wreath came with a sweet little crown that sat above it, but it didn’t fit on my door with the wreath so I cut it off.  Hopefully I’ll find something else to use it on down the road.

I finished the cabinet off with some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect the Chalk Mineral paint on the exterior, as well as the transfers.

I was curious about the word ‘lille’, so I googled it and found the mark for Lille porcelain.

According to worthpoint.com, porcelain was produced in the 1700’s in Lille which was then in Flanders, but now is part of France.  Certainly that mark was the inspiration for the transfer design.

My little French fairytale cabinet turned out pretty sweet I think.

What do you think?  And what would you keep inside this little cupboard?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Now, as for that 2nd item I received …

That one is going to take a bit more work!

In the meantime, if any of my local readers are in need of a French fairytale cupboard, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used in this makeover.

a sweet little hutch.

Published on by Quandie20 Comments

Remember the mini hutch (sideboard?  buffet?  dresser?  what would you call it?) that was very generously gifted to me at my sale?

I’ve given it a bit of a makeover.

First, the prep.  I began by filling in those circle details on the door fronts using Dixie Belle’s white Mud.  I knew I wanted to use some transfers on those doors and the circles would just be in the way.  Once the Mud was dry, I sanded everything smooth and then, after taping off the mirror, I gave it a quick spray with Rust-Oleum matte sealer.  I could have brushed on the Dixie Belle Bonding Boss, but it was easier to just give it a quick spray.

Next I painted the piece with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  After distressing the paint job a bit by sanding the edges to give it some age, it was time for the fun part.

I started by adding some roses from the I.O.D. Rose Botanical transfer.

This set of transfers has roses in different sizes and the smallest ones were perfect for this little hutch.  I added them to that backsplash bit, and also on either side of the front.

Once the roses were in place, I pulled out the Vintage Post transfer from Dixie Belle.  I selected some of the typography from it and added it to the front of the hutch.

It fit perfectly.

Then I used some pretty scrapbook paper to line the drawer.

After finishing it all off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax on the outside, I staged it up with a miniature camera and a tiny little ironstone pitcher.

I think it turned out pretty sweet.

What do you think?

This sweet little hutch is for sale.  Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used in this makeover.

this year’s pots, 2024 edition.

Published on by Quandie4 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

This morning I thought I would share a mid-summer update on my container plantings.

I can’t remember if I mentioned this in an earlier post or not, but this year I chose to focus on plants with interesting foliage, like these absolutely gorgeous rex begonias, rather than plants grown for showy flowers.

The main reason for this is that I just don’t have enough full-sun locations in my garden to get good results with most flowering annuals like petunias, geraniums, lantana, etc.

That’s why I planted up my rusty urns with some dwarf alberta spruce spirals underplanted with some simple variegated ivy.

I’m quite happy with the results so far.  The spirals are starting to get a little shaggy, so I’m going to have to bite the bullet and prune them soon (I’m a little nervous about getting the shape right).  The ivy has filled in beautifully as well.

Other than that eventual pruning, these have required little to no maintenance all summer.  We’ve gotten so much rain that I have barely even needed to water them.

I also chose to rely on colorful foliage in both of my galvanized boiler window boxes (there is one on the carriage house and one on the potting shed).

The one on the carriage house is mainly taken up by two very vigorous annuals, Lemon Coral sedum and Blackie potato vine.  I did originally have a Lime Marmalade heuchera behind that potato vine, but it was totally being smothered.  So I pulled it out and planted it in the ground.

The other boiler window box contains a Charmed Wine oxalis, a ColorBlaze Mini Me Chartreuse coleus, another Lemon Coral sedum and a burgundy colored rex begonia that I don’t know the name of …

and that colorful plant shooting out of the left side is Autumnale fuschia.

Technically this fuschia is supposed to produce blooms, but it is really grown for its foliage rather than its flowers.  I’m fairly sure that mine has not bloomed even once.  Possibly because I’m not really fertilizing these containers like I would for blooming plants.

My bed frame planter is situated in nearly full shade.  It gets a very brief hit of sun in the early morning hours and that’s about it.  I kept it simple this year with a couple of huge ferns that I purchased at Home Depot, a bunch of caladium, and another Blackie potato vine.

If you look at the potato vine, you can see that I have a lot of insect damage.  I’ve had a massive infestation of earwigs this year, I suspect because it has been so wet.  They’ve done a ton of damage, especially to my hostas, coleus, brunnera and potato vines.

Fortunately they don’t seem to enjoy caladium.

Speaking of which, it has only been recently that the caladium has really taken off.  Caladium like hot, humid weather and we’ve just not had enough heat for it to thrive up until now.

I purchased this caladium at Home Depot in mid-June.  As you’ll read in a moment, I have other caladium that I purchased earlier in the spring, and spent a bit more money on, that is not doing nearly as well as this one.

I didn’t strictly stick to non-flowering plants this year.  I have a trio of rusty urns that I filled with Rockapulco Appleblossom impatiens …

and a pretty pale pink and white upright fuschia (sorry, I didn’t make a note of the name of that one).

But they also include a fair amount of non-flowering stuff like the Creeping Jenny, a Plum Pudding heuchera and another caladium.

As you can see, the caladium is looking less than stellar in these pots.  That’s the caladium that I planted much earlier in the season.  I think our cool spring weather really knocks it back a bit.  Caladium is happier spending a little more time in a greenhouse before being planted out in Minnesota.

I’ve definitely saved the best for last today.  I am really happy with the results in my front window box this year.  You may remember that I considered last year’s front window box a bit of a fail.   So this year I went in a different direction.

When I planted this one up I called it a ‘black and white’ combination.

For the ‘white’ elements, I used white New Guinea impatiens and Proven Winner’s Superbena Whiteout.

Considering that this window box faces northwest and thus gets mostly shade with a couple of hours of evening sun, that verbena is performing quite nicely I think.

I also included the Proven Winner’s Diamond Snow euphorbia.

The Diamond Snow is supposed to be more compact than the Diamond Frost variety, and I can verify that is true (as you can see for yourself above left).

You can also see my non-flowering white element (above right), a white caladium.  The white New Guinea impatiens (above center) are not performing as well as I would like them to, but I just gave them a shot of fertilizer so hopefully they will put on some more blooms soon.

For the ‘black’ elements in my window box I used plants with a deep, dark purple color like the Blackie potato vine, and the Charmed Wine oxalis.

I also included a ‘black’ coleus, but I’m not precisely sure what variety it is.  Possibly Black Coral.

But the real stars of the show in the front window box this year are those gorgeous rex begonias.

I really wasn’t sure how well these would perform for me.  To be honest, I’ve never done well with begonias in the past.  I tend to overwater them causing the crown of the plant to rot.  In fact, I also planted some tuberous begonias this year and they did in fact rot.

But the begonias in this front window box are stunning.

Despite our super rainy weather.  I don’t think I’ve watered this box more than once or twice so far.

My plan is to try to overwinter these begonias this year, and I may try some propagation experiments with them as well.  I’d love to have even more of them next year!

Overall I’m very happy with my decision to focus more on interesting foliage rather than flowers in my containers this year.  But how about you?  Do you prefer to have an abundance of blooming annuals instead?  Leave a comment and let me know.

practice makes perfect.

Published on by Quandie26 Comments

I know I’m not alone in wishing that I.O.D. would release another typography transfer similar to their retired Label Ephemera.  But so far we are left wanting.

Rather than complain about it though, I’m on a quest to come up with other options and that brings me to the new I.O.D. stamp set called Ephemeral Type.

There is some fantastic typography included with this decor stamp.  I’m especially drawn to that Flore Française section at the bottom left.

Unfortunately, my stamping skills are somewhat lacking.  But as they say, practice makes perfect.  So maybe I just need to get practicing.

I ordered the stamps and then looked around for some guinea pigs.

I painted up these books back in February 2018 …

Good gracious, that was over six years ago.  Time flies.

I’d been using them as decor in my own house, and they were ready for a refresh.

I started by painting over them with a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Then I pulled out the Ephemeral Type stamps and some Versafine Clair ink.  One of my readers recommended this ink to me the last time I tried to work with stamps.

Now, I’ve watched quite a few YouTube videos where creators just pull the stamp off the backing sheet, add ink, and then carefully pop it onto their surface, gently press all over it and voila.  The perfect image.

Yeah, it didn’t quite work out that way for me.  Here is my first attempt.

It’s a bit of a mess.  Luckily, I can just paint back over this book cover and try again.

Maybe with enough practice over time I could get better at that technique.  But for now, I think I need to stick with using an acrylic block to apply my stamps.

You can buy these blocks in different sizes at any craft store.  The I.O.D. stamps cling to them quite nicely, and then peel right back off when you’re done using it.

Using the block makes it easier to keep the stamp from wiggling around.

Here is my 2nd attempt at stamping on a book cover, this time using the block.

So much better!  I just applied a tiny bit too much pressure on the far right.

I went back and tried the larger stamp using the block as well.

So much better.

There is a downside to using a block, you have to be stamping onto a fairly flat surface.  It’s a bit tricky to try and maneuver a block around a corner or over a curve.

I was able to make it work on the spines of the books using a smaller stamp.

I carefully rolled the stamp just a bit as I lightly pressed it onto the spine, giving me a pretty good result.

Maybe over time, with a bit more practice, I can get good at stamping without a block.  Or, maybe I’ll just stick with using one because the results are a little more predictable.

Either way, I’m hoping to get some good use out of this stamp set.

As for the books, I finished them off with some of the Rose Botanical transfers from I.O.D.

I’m definitely going to need to order some more of them, I absolutely love them.

The wording on the spines of the books is also from the Rose Botanical transfer set.

Oh, one last thing.  About that Versafine Clair ink.  I did have some issues with it smearing.  You can see that on the left side of the round medallion stamp at the bottom of the book with the pink roses.  I found that I had to let the ink dry for several hours before applying the transfers over it.  I do have some of the I.O.D. ink around here somewhere (I think).  I’m going to have to dig that out and see if it works better.

In the meantime, I’ll touch up that little smear with some paint.  Just to be on the safe side, I’m also planning to seal these with the RustOleum matte spray sealer to avoid any further smearing.

All in all, I’m fairly happy with how the books turned out.  I do need to get in some more practice with stamps though, so stay tuned to see what else I can come up with.

In the meantime, are any of you expert stampers?  Feel free to give me some tips in the comments!

these might not be for me.

Published on by Quandie18 Comments

I really, really wanted to like the new gilded transfers from I.O.D.

I ordered the one called Étiquettes, because it has all of that fabulous typography.  I mean, just look at it.  It should be right up my alley.  The designs themselves are fantastic.  And wouldn’t these be a great addition to some of my toolboxes?

The gilded transfers are a little bit different than your typical transfer.  So after watching a handful of YouTube videos on how to apply one, I pulled out a small terracotta pot and painted it black using Dixie Belle’s Anchor for a test run.

One difference with these transfers is that the entire sheet is opaque.

That makes it a little trickier to place because you can’t see what’s under it, and the usual grid lines have been eliminated.  It’s also quite a bit trickier to tell whether your transfer is fully adhered without lifting it up to check behind the backing sheet.  In addition, if you rub too hard on the non-transfer part of the sheet it can also rub off onto your project.

So I would say that the application process is a bit more difficult than with a non-metallic transfer.

In addition, the result with a gilded transfer is just not as crisp looking as your typical black (or blue, or white) transfer.  For example, the roses on the transfer I used just look like blobs to me.

I also really struggled to get the smallest details to transfer.  In this case there was some small writing above the word ‘PARIS’ that I simply couldn’t get to transfer no matter how much I rubbed.  I barely even got the ‘PARIS’ to transfer.

One tip from the videos I watched is to make sure that your paint is absolutely fully dry before applying these transfers.  I thought mine was fully dry, but it was a humid day and I only waited a couple of hours after painting before attempting the transfer.  As a result there were a couple of spots where the transfer pulled off the paint, rather than sticking to the paint.

I should have let my paint dry overnight, so that’s my fault.  If you’re going to attempt these gilded transfers, be sure to give your project plenty of dry time first.

OK, so I will be the first to admit that I’m a bit of a perfectionist.  I like a crisp result, and you get that with black transfers, even if they are really, really  small.

So the results I got with the gilded transfer just aren’t cutting it for me.

Even without my mistake of not letting the paint dry fully, I wouldn’t be happy with this result.

Back in early 2019 re.design with prima tried to create a gold leaf look with their adhesive transfers paired with their decor foils and I have to admit I didn’t like that look either.  I think I used them once and then never went back to them again.

In the end, maybe it’s just that the gold leaf look isn’t for me.  It’s simply too shiny for my taste.  If you’ve followed me for long, you know I’m just not a fan of super shiny things.  And these are very shiny, almost mirror-like.

If a super shiny look is what you’re going for, you might really love the gilded transfers.

I was hoping for a more muted look though, similar to other more matte gold transfers that I’ve used, such as the Flower Collector transfer from re.design with prima.

Or re.design’s Somewhere in France transfer.

In the end, what I’m really hoping for in a transfer is a fabulous new collection of typography in black that I can use on small projects.  Is that too much to ask for?

In the meantime, I haven’t entirely given up on the gilded transfers.  I’ll go back to the drawing board and practice with them a bit more and see if they grow on me.  As I often say, never say never.  A year from now I may decide that I love them, you never know.

Have any of you tried these new transfers?  And if so, what did you think of them.  I’d love to hear from you so be sure to leave a comment.

the international friendship garden.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Once again, this morning’s post doesn’t come from my own garden.  If you read my recent post about our road trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin, you may remember that I promised I’d share the surprise from behind the lovely hotel we stayed in, Hatchery.

When we booked our room, I had no idea that the Riverside International Friendship Gardens surrounded the side and back of our hotel.

Had I known, I would have booked even faster!

Apparently La Crosse has seven sister cities.  For those of you who might not have heard of sister cities, here is the definition from Wikipedia:  A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.

For La Crosse those seven sisters are located in China, Germany, France, Norway, Russia, Ireland and Cameroon.  There are 7 sections to the International Friendship Garden, each meant to represent one of the sister cities.

Let’s start in the Chinese Garden.

You enter this garden through a dragon gate to find a lovely koi pond.

La Crosse’s sister city in China is Luoyang and the garden brochure calls it the ‘city of peonies’, but unfortunately July isn’t peony season.

But the garden was still beautiful.

Next up was the French Garden.  The sister city of Épinal, France was the inspiration for this formal garden with its knot garden and formally trimmed shrubbery.

This was definitely my favorite section, I just love a formal garden with urns and fountains.

There was even a mini hedge maze.

La Crosse’s sister city in Norway is Førde, and it is located in the waterfall region.  The Norway section of the garden has not just one, but two waterfalls.

Here is the second …

The Norwegian garden also features seven ‘hidden’ trolls, although they weren’t terribly hidden.

La Crosse’s German sister city is Friedberg.  This section of the garden contains a lovely pergola with a climbing hydrangea, unfortunately not in bloom while we were visiting.

I loved this bench with its winged lions for support.

The Russian garden has this beautiful pavilion, or besedka.

It is a replica of one on the banks of the Volga River in Dubna, the sister city in Russia.

We just happened to catch it in the most beautiful evening light as it was nearing sunset.

Three rivers come together in La Crosse, the Mississippi, the Black and the La Crosse, so I’m not precisely sure which river is directly behind that besedka.  I just had to grab a photo showing how high the water is this year.

We’ve gotten so much rain.

The mill wheel in the Irish Garden was copied from one in Bantry, the Irish sister city.

It totally reminded me of one we saw in Prague.

Lastly, we have the Cameroon Garden.  Kumbo is the sister city in Cameroon.  This garden contains the Mami Wata, an Africian water spirit, fountain.

I was so impressed by the Riverside International Friendship Gardens.  They were beautifully designed and maintained.  Each section felt very different, and totally reminded me of the country being represented.

I mentioned that the French Garden, with its formality, was my favorite.  Which garden would you pick as a favorite?  Leave a comment and let me know.

And if you ever happen to be in La Crosse, Wisconsin be sure to check out this gem of spot.  It is located at the north end of Riverside Park.

the duchesse’s toolbox.

Published on by Quandie16 Comments

One of my lovely readers came to my occasional sale bearing gifts (actually two of my readers did this, but I’ll share the 2nd one later).

She brought me this adorable little mini cabinet …

which I’m still working on.

And she also brought me a toolbox.

I love the way this one hinges open.  It also came with a tray.

After my usual prep which includes washing with Dawn dish soap to cut any greasy residues, a light scuff sanding to smooth out the surface a bit, and a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss, I painted the outside with DB’s Drop Cloth.

Typically I paint the inside of toolboxes first, and then the outside.  But I hadn’t quite decided on the interior color yet, so I started with the outside.  It wasn’t until I was done painting that I remembered why I usually do it the other way around.

Painting a different color on the inside, with the lid open, results in a checkerboard look on the hinges when you close the lid.  If you paint the outside last, with the lid closed, the hinge ends up a solid color when closed.

And actually, the checkerboard can be a fun look.  But when you’ve already added some transfers, so it’s too late to repaint the outside … well, it was just a bit unexpected.

But in the end, I decided I rather like the look in this instance.

That brings me to the transfers.  I used sections from the new I.O.D. Rose Botanical transfer on the outside of the toolbox.

I love the colors they’ve used for these transfers, so pretty.  I also like that there are several different sizes of roses giving you lots of flexibility for using them on different size projects.

The wording is from the old (and sadly retired) I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

Will they ever release a replacement?  Something like the new Étiquettes Gilded Transfer, only in black rather than metallic gold, would be awesome.  But so far, no such luck.

The toolbox had a little metal name tag on it that was stamped with the name of the former owner.  I painted over that and added the ‘Duchesse de Berry’ portion of the Label Ephemera transfer thus making this her toolbox.

Based on this portrait of her, I’m guessing she would be happy to own a toolbox covered in roses.

Initially I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to paint the inside of the toolbox in green or pink.  I ended up opting for full-on feminine with Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door.

Then I added just a little wording from the Rose Botanical transfer to outside of the tray as well.

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

And there you have it, the duchesse de berry’s toolbox.  What do you think?

This toolbox is for sale, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used in this makeover.

a road trip test run.

Published on by Quandie3 Comments

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’m not a huge fan of the road trip.  In this case the acorn did indeed fall far from the tree.  My mom loved a good road trip, and she packed us kids into whatever vehicle we had at the time (ranging from a car, to a conversion van, to a motor home) and drove us across country nearly every summer.

I loved those trips!  Especially the ones in the van or motor home where I could sprawl out in the back with a good book while my mom did all the driving.

Here’s the time we got a flat tire on the road in 1980.

That’s my mom in the white pants, my bff in the short shorts, and my mom’s bff in pink.  LOL, just look at all of those perms!  Curly hair was all the rage in 1980.  My brother is changing the tire.

On that particular trip we went from Florida to California, stopping in New Orleans and Las Vegas along the way.

But these days I definitely don’t love being in a car that long, and I really don’t love being the driver.

However, now that Mr. Q and I are both retired, we’ve been thinking about the potential for future road trips.  After all, we can take as much time as we want to get somewhere.

We just haven’t quite managed to talk ourselves into it yet.  But, recently the parent of one of Mr. Q’s friends passed away and the memorial service was being held in La Crosse, Wisconsin which is about a 2.5 hour drive straight down the Great River Road from us.  So we decided to turn it into an overnight getaway, and sort of a road trip test run.

We got really lucky with the weather.  We had two gorgeous sunny days in the 70’s, which made it perfect for driving my VW bug convertible with the top down (and lots of sunscreen on).  The route from St. Paul to Lake City is rather bucolic, mostly farmland and a handful of small river towns like Hastings and Red Wing.  From Lake City to La Crosse the scenery is gorgeous.  The road runs right between the river on one side, and towering bluffs on the other.

We decided to splurge on a special place to stay since we’d only be there for one night.  So after a bit of googling, I found Hatchery.

This is a small boutique hotel in the historic fish hatchery building right next to the Mississippi.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic places and is located in Riverside Park.

After a two-year historic preservation project, the six room hotel was opened about 9 months ago.

As you may have guessed, having only six rooms, Hatchery does not have a front desk.  Instead it operates a bit like an Vrbo or Airbnb.  They texted us a code for the outside door, and another code for our room door.  Also, as expected in an historic building, there is no elevator and all of the rooms are on the 2nd floor.

But it was easy enough to let ourselves in and make our way upstairs, where even the hallway is pretty cool.

I love that wallpaper.

All of the rooms have a different look to them, and are themed with a historical fairytale character commissioned from a French artist.  We chose the Jean de La Fontaine room.

According to wikipedia, Jean de La Fontaine wrote fables, many of which featured a cunning fox.

Our room was gorgeous.

I loved the exposed brick walls paired with walls painted in a deep bluish green.

The king sized bed was super comfy.

Each room comes equipped with a record player and records.

Although I have to confess that we did not fire it up.

The bathroom was beautiful too.

I love that marble sink!

There was a steam option for the shower, but again, we didn’t use that.  The regular shower was quite nice though.

As I mentioned at the beginning, Hatchery is located right in Riverside Park.  All of our windows looked out onto the park.

And as the name implies, this park is situated right on the Mississippi River.

Hatchery also has a lovely cocktail lounge with beautiful views of the river.  I didn’t manage to take any photos of the lounge myself, so I’m borrowing this one from the internet.

Our room came with a couple of free cocktails, so Mr. Q and I headed down there in the evening.  He tried the Espresso Martini, and I believe the drink I order was called a White Cosmo … maybe?  Well, whatever it was called, it was delicious.

We followed that up with a sunset stroll along the river.

In the morning we headed to The Breakfast Club in downtown La Crosse (easy walking distance from the hotel) where I enjoyed some chicken and waffle kabobs.

Those waffles were amazing, but there was way too much food food for me and sadly much of it went to waste.  I didn’t think it would survive the drive home in a takeaway box.

There was also a lovely surprise around the back side of our hotel, but I’ll share more about that in this coming Sunday’s garden post.  So be sure to stay tuned!

In the meantime, if any of you local readers are looking for a romantic overnight getaway, I highly recommend a scenic drive along the Great River Road to La Crosse and then staying the night at Hatchery.

As for our road trip test run, we’re still not sure we’re ready to tackle a longer road trip.  We may have to consider purchasing a more comfortable vehicle for longer forays.  The VW bug convertible is fun, but I don’t think I’d want to do a much longer drive in it.  For now we may just have to stick to flying!

the fairy garden, 2024.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

 Good morning from the garden!

This morning I thought I would share my 2024 fairy garden.  But first, let’s take a look at its history.

My fairy garden started out in an old cracked concrete birdbath.  The crack allowed for drainage, so that made it perfect for planting in.

It was sweet, although a bit on the small side.

But back in late 2022 the crack became fatal, the bowl broke into 3 pieces.

I debated trying to somehow glue it back together, but ultimately decided that it probably wouldn’t hold up to the elements over time.

Later that year my sister gifted me with a fairy house for Christmas.

So I knew it was time to expand.

I happened to have an old rusted out wheelbarrow on hand, and that seemed like the perfect container for a fairy garden.

So after getting some help from my handyman Ken to shore it up a bit, I nestled it in a bed of variegated vinca and planted it up.

I have to admit, although it looked quite nice when first planted last year, quite a lot of the plants grew like gangbusters and everything became quite shaggy by the end of the season despite several pruning sessions.

Also, even though I protected it with a mound of leaves and a burlap covering for what was a relatively mild winter for us, the only plants that came back this spring were the Dwarf Alberta Spruce, one mini Feather Boa hosta, and the creeping thyme.

Sadly the mini barberry shrub, the mini betony and the Mighty Mouse hosta all died.  I was especially bummed about that dwarf betony, or stachys minima.  I was really hoping to see that bloom this year.

This year I decided to take a more minimalistic approach to the fairy garden.  I had traditionally planted a small wire vine on the arbor, but it always took over.  So this year I opted to not plant anything that would grow over it.  Instead I added a small evergreen to one side, and a mini caladium to the other.

Although the Golddust Mecardonia bloomed all summer last year, and the flowers were the perfect scale for a fairy garden, it was a bit too prolific for the space.  It totally took over.  So this year I opted to plant another variety of creeping thyme in those spots instead.

After pulling out the dead barberry shrub next to the fairy house, I replaced it with a miniature Japanese maple.

To be honest, I think there is little chance it will survive next winter in the wheelbarrow so I plan to pull it out in the fall, pot it up and then try to overwinter it on my unheated three-season porch.  We’ll see how that goes.

My neighbor, nnK, shared a couple of divisions from her miniature hostas with me.

I don’t know the name of that one, but it’s doing well under that pergola.  Hopefully it will survive the winter and return next year.

This year the fairies moved their meditation garden out back under the Japanese maple.

They also opted for a little gnome in the front of the garden instead of the angel statue they had last year.

My sister and I found these at a garage sale earlier this year and we each bought one.

The fairy garden is definitely requiring a little less maintenance this year, so I’m happy with the choices I’ve made.  I do wish I could find more miniature plants to include though.  I was really hoping to replace that dwarf betony, but I couldn’t find it this year.  If any of you have resources for mini plants be sure to leave a comment and let me know.