a windfall of boxes.

Published on by Quandie5 Comments

I once wrote a blog post explaining that the collective noun for grouping of chairs should be ‘jumble’.

A jumble of chairs.

You know, sort of like a murder of crows, a school of fish, or a flamboyance of flamingos (yep, that’s a real one).

And FYI, re-doing all of those chairs was a lot of work, you can read about that here.

Well, today I have a new collective noun for you.  A ‘windfall of boxes’.

Yep, that’s a large grouping of metal boxes.

All of them were gifted to me by my friend Kathy.  She is also a reader of my blog, and she had been stockpiling metal boxes for a few years now thinking that one day she’d paint them up like I do.  But ultimately, as she explained, ‘just buying a metal box doesn’t make you quandie’.

Well, I don’t know about that.  I think she could have created some masterpieces herself.  But she needed the storage space in the garage and decided she’d just accept that she was probably never going to get around to painting these.

So the other day when we met for lunch she said she had a surprise for me.  Her car was completely loaded up with these boxes.

She didn’t want any money for them, but there was a small price I had to pay.  She asked me to makeover a particular box for her.

She chose a small, and very simple, little lockbox for herself.  I think she may simply have chosen it because it still had its key, I’m not sure.  Hmmm, I wonder what she’s planning to lock up in there!

She certainly had some other really cool options to choose from, like these two fab boxes.

These are the two largest boxes and I rather love the original patina on both of them.  Especially the one on the left.  I may not paint either one of these, but instead just clean them up and give them a protective coat of sealer to help make them functional for storage.

There were several metal recipe boxes in the stash.

I’ll tuck those away to paint later, except for the shredded wheat box.

I won’t paint over that.  Instead I just used a magic eraser to clean it up.

A few of the boxes fall under the heading of ‘office supplies’.

Two are typical lockboxes (that have lost their keys), and the one with the green interior is a file box.

I fell in love with that pop of green as soon as I opened that one up.  I definitely won’t be painting over that green.

I also thought this bookshelf style box was pretty cool.

That’s going to be a fun makeover.

There is one box in the mix that isn’t metal.

I wasn’t initially sure I wanted to tackle this one, but then I remembered the record box that I painted up a couple of years ago and thought I could do something similar with this one.  I love that Bakelite handle.

Finally, out of this entire pile, there are only two actual toolboxes.  Well, wait, I take that back.  One is an actual toolbox, the other is really a tacklebox.

And can I just say, I wish people wouldn’t write on these things with permanent marker.

If it weren’t for that, I’d be tempted to just clean this one up and add some transfers because I kind of love that shade of avocado green.  But ‘camping’ has to go, so I’ll have to figure something out for that.

But speaking of avocado green, that brings me back to Kathy’s lockbox.  It had a rather slick, shiny finish so after cleaning it, I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss to improve the adhesion of my paint.

Kathy gave me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted with it, so I started with Dixie Belle’s Guacamole on the inside.

I added the tea rose transfer from I.O.D.’s Lover of Flowers.

After giving the outside two coats of DB’s Drop Cloth, and then sanding the edges to distress it a bit, I dressed it up with more of the Lover of Flowers transfers.

I also added a little bee that came from the re.design with prima knob transfers to the handle.

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

I’m pretty sure that Kathy is a lover of flowers, so I hope she’ll love how this box turned out.  How about you?  And which of the boxes from my windfall would be your favorite?  Leave a comment and let me know.

a late spring garden tour.

Published on by Quandie11 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

I’ve had a few requests for a full garden tour, so this morning I thought I would attempt it.

My gardens are broken down into … hmmm … let’s see … 8 areas.  There is the front garden, the fern garden, the shade garden, the carriage house garden, the potting shed garden, the cutting garden, the fairy garden and the sunny perennial border.  Phew!  You may want to grab your favorite beverage because this may be a long one.

The front garden.

Let’s start out in the front garden.  This is just the bit of garden that runs along the front of our house, and it’s where the long window box is.

The box doesn’t look too impressive at this time of the year, but it should fill in quickly.

This area faces north and is very much shaded by the house for most of the day.  This is always where the very last bit of snow melts in the spring, and where plants take the longest to emerge from their winter slumber.

But things are starting to fill in nicely now.  This space is filled with a variegated sedum, a purple astilbe that loves this location, some dark purple heuchera and plenty of hostas.

The heuchera looks the best it ever has for this early in spring, I suspect due to our very mild winter.  Last spring I had decided to give up on heuchera because it did so poorly over winter, but it’s back in my good graces now.

This garden also contains our fountain, and my rusty chair.  My neighbor/handyman Ken gave me a set of this grape cluster iron furniture back in 2022.  It was painted a crisp white when I got it, but I like something a little more subtle.  So I gave the pieces a makeover with Dixie Belle’s patina paint.  This chair and the bench both have broken legs, so no one can actually sit on them.  I also did not seal the rusty finish, so rust would rub off onto your clothing if you did sit on them.  So I tuck them into the garden where no one will make the mistake of trying to actually use them.

There were a few tulips and daffodils in this space that looked good earlier this spring, but right now I’m mostly still waiting for things to fully emerge.  The big star of the show in this garden is the astilbe.  I divided it last year and found that there weren’t as many blooms, but I’m hoping it rebounds this year.  When it blooms in mid-summer, it should look like this …

The fern garden.

Our driveway runs alongside the house all the way back to the carriage house.  The fern garden is on the east side of the driveway.

The ferns look gorgeous right now, especially with my newly blackened fence behind them, but if we have a dry summer they will start to fade by mid-August and then they don’t look so good.

But I’ll enjoy them while they last along with some vinca vine and lily of the valley, both of which are currently flowering.

The shade garden.

On the opposite side of the driveway is my shade garden.

I have to admit that this is my favorite, and thus it gets the most attention from me.  It’s filled with all kinds of shade loving perennials including bleeding heart, brunnera, maiden’s hair fern, japanese painted fern, lungwort, and more.

It’s also home to quite a few hostas including a few of my favorites like Lakeside Dragonfly …

Sun Power (on left) and June (on right).

Autumn Frost is one of my newest hostas, and it’s looking really good so far.

My garage sale find statue, Cossetta, also lives in this garden.

Right now the foam flower, or Sugar & Spice Tiarella, is in bloom.

I have these sprinkled throughout the front of the shade garden and I like the way they repeat here and there.

There are some foundation gardens alongside the house that I consider part of the shade garden as well.

You may remember that I used the Bronze patina paint with the green spray on the buddha and the Japanese lantern in the background.

The carriage house garden.

I call the garden that runs along the side of the carriage house the carriage house garden (creative, right?).  I struggle a bit with this one because it is shady all morning, then gets hit with the blazing sun in the hottest part of the day.  Most plants prefer the exact opposite of that, morning sun and afternoon shade.

It also is backed by that red wall of the carriage house, shades of pink looks positively awful next to it and it has taken me about 35 years to accept that.

But this is the first year that it’s starting to come together.  It looked awesome a couple of weeks ago with grape hyacinths, bright yellow daffodils, and that new white azalea.

Right now the only things blooming are a handful of alliums, but the yellow iris are going to open up any day now.

Wait, I take that back.  There is also a fabulous cranesbill, or perennial geranium, blooming at the far end.

This plant was a garage sale purchase back in May 2022, this is its third year so it’s time to leap (first year sleeps, second year creeps, third year leaps).

Here’s how big it was when I brought it home.

So while I still want to caution you to be careful about those jumping worms, you gotta love a garage sale plant.  You can always count on them to be hardy in your area, and prolific (which is why the seller has extra to part with).

The potting shed garden.

Again, another creative name, the potting shed garden comprises the beds around the potting shed.

This garden is mostly shaded on the east side, but gets afternoon and evening sun on the west side.  I popped a few allium in on both sides last fall to see if they would grow, and they seem to have done quite well.  I think I may move these elsewhere and replace them with white allium for next year.  Wouldn’t white allium just pop against my dark green paint color?

The bugleweed, or ajuga, is in full bloom on the east side right now.

And over on the west side the geranium macrorrhizum, or Bigroot geranium is full of flowers now too.

If you need a plant that will grow in sun or shade, will fill in any available space, requires absolutely no maintenance, then this is the plant for you.  It does wilt a bit in hot afternoon sun, but it recovers quite quickly.  It’s very easy to pull out if it spreads more than you want it to.  I have a lot of it, as you’ll see when we get to the perennial border.

As for growing just about anywhere, along the west side of our house we have only about 8′ or so of fully shaded space between our house and the property line.  The previous owners of our house put down plastic and then rock, and planted a row of arborvitae that has gotten massive.  After all of this time enough dirt has accumulated amongst the rocks that I have to weed that area.  So a couple of years ago I decided to see if this geranium would grow in the rocks.

The answer is a resounding yes!  it will.  Quite happily in fact.  And it looks so much better than weeds.

So if you have a problem area in your garden, keep this plant in mind.  Also, if you’re local, keep me in mind.  I have plenty to share if you want to try it.

The fairy garden.

My fairy garden is planted in an old rusted out wheelbarrow that is nestled in a bed of variegated vinca.  Last year it was ended up totally overgrown, so I decided to be a little more minimal with the plants this year.

Usually I plant a wire vine on that arch, but it totally takes over and requires a lot of maintenance to keep it from completely covering it and the path beneath it.

So this year I’m going to leave that out.  Instead I added a couple more miniature hostas compliments of my neighbor nnK (sorry, don’t know the names of them), and I also added a tiny Japanese maple tree to the left of the fairy house.

nnK’s mom, Judy, planted one of these in her fairy garden last year and it did not survive the winter, so I’m taking a bit of a gamble with that one.  Especially since I paid $25 for it a Abrahamson Nursery.  I may pull it out of there in the fall, put it in a pot, and try to overwinter it somewhere more protected.  Japanese maples do require a period of cold dormancy, so I can’t bring it in as a houseplant.

The sunny perennial border.

This garden is directly behind the house and it used to be my sunniest space.  Over time the trees in handyman Ken’s yard next door (yes, that is his house in the background) have grown so big that they shade this bed most of the time except around high noon.  As a result, I’ve been struggling with this one over the past several years.

Can I just point out that the grass in our area is looking particularly fabulous at the moment.  We’ve had plenty of rain mixed in with lots of sunshine and the grass is flourishing for now.  I’d love to keep it looking this good all summer, but if we get dry weather again this year all bets are off.

I have a border of small green hostas along the front edge of this garden that do really well here.  I also have a big mass of that Bigroot geranium in the middle section.

Right now the alliums are definitely the stars of the show, I just wish they would last longer.

There are three clematis in this bed, two on the trellis …

and one on the obelisk.

They are all loaded with buds, but only one of them has started to open so far.

I do have a couple of pink peonies in this garden.

Fortunately they will be done flowering before the self-seeding red bee balm takes over in mid-summer …

The cutting garden.

The cutting garden is hidden away behind the carriage house.  There used to be nothing but weeds back there, but then one day I realized that it was the sunniest spot that I had left for a garden.  Why not use it to grow peonies?

So now I have about 6 peonies back there, plus some siberian iris and a big Annabelle hydrangea.

None of them are blooming quite yet, but the peonies should be opening soon.  Here’s a picture from June 11 of last year that shows them all in bloom.

Since the cutting garden isn’t visible from the house, or really anywhere in our yard, I don’t feel bad at all about cutting all of the blooms and putting them in vases where I can appreciate them.

That about wraps it up for this morning’s garden tour.  I hope you enjoyed it!  And now I’m off to do some work out there.  It seems as though there are always tasks waiting to be done in a garden!

the hardware bin.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

A few weeks back my friend opK and I headed over to the other side of the Twin Cities for the South Lake Minnetonka community wide garage sales.

I didn’t bring home a ton of things, but I found a few fun items.

I’ve given the barnwood box a little bit of a facelift by adding a stencil.

I also added a transfer to the minnow bucket, it would be perfect filled with some annuals.  It even has built in drainage holes.

But for now I just tucked a glass vase inside to hold water and added some white lilacs and purple allium.

I’ll be giving those two finial type things a rusty makeover with Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint, after which I think they would make great garden ornaments.

The antique bird print has already found a new home in my potting shed, and the silver tabletop Christmas tree is going to look amazing filled with my vintage Christmas ornaments.

The ironstone pitcher also makes the perfect vase for some lilacs.

And that leaves us with the hardware bin.

It came filled with hardware.

Most of it was random nuts and bolts, but there were a few things I opted to hang onto like these screw in hooks and one lonely glass knob.

Everything was filthy dirty, so the first step was to give it a good cleaning.  Next I painted the shell in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

After distressing it, I added some bits from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

That wording seemed totally appropriate for this piece.

Although you could fill it back up with various bits of hardware, I think it would also be perfect for housing crafting supplies.

Another option would be to use it as a jewelry box, especially if you happen to have a lot of jewelry!

I debated the idea of gluing these Tim Holtz metal oval numbers to the fronts of each ‘drawer’.

I definitely have enough of them.  However, they are just random numbers that wouldn’t be in order, so that might seem odd.  What do you think?

Either way, this piece will be added to the growing pile of items for my upcoming occasional sale.

Have you found anything fun at a garage sale lately?  Leave a comment and let me know.

spring painting projects.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

It would probably be fair if you were starting to wonder whether or not I still do much painting, and the answer is yes!

But much of what I’ve been painting recently hasn’t been terribly blog-worthy.

However, it has kept me rather busy for the last couple of weeks.

First I painted the potting shed.  It was starting to look a bit rough around the edges, especially the south facing side.  Fortunately it didn’t require too much scraping and I was able to get it done in a day.

I also took some time to spring clean the interior.  Stuff tends to accumulate in there over the winter.  So I pulled everything out, washed down the walls and the floor, and then only put stuff back in that belongs there.

The potting shed wasn’t my only big paint job this spring, I also stained our fence with the help of my neighbor nnK.

You may remember that we added a new section to our fence last year.

You’re supposed to let that new wood dry out for 4 to 6 weeks before staining.  Well, in our case, we waited until spring.  But we finally got ‘er done!

Here’s an action shot.

We used a sprayer, and I used my trusty painting chair to do the bottom half.  When my trigger finger wore out, nnK took over and did the top.

At this point you might be thinking ‘whoa, black?!’

Yep, we went with black stain … or to be more precise, it’s Behr solid color stain in Slate.  I’d recently seen one of the gardening YouTubers that I follow (Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat) give a similarly decrepit fence a facelift using this color.

As we all know, dark colors make things recede.  In addition, most of this fence is in deep shade most of the day, so it sort of just disappears into the shadows now.

And that was my goal.

It also creates a good backdrop for garden photos.

The garden really pops now.

Once the fence was stained, I planted three Arctic Fire Yellow dogwoods in front of it, behind the ferns.

As you can probably tell, this time of year you can’t really even see them through the ferns.  But I’m growing the dogwoods for winter interest.  They have a lovely yellow stem that will be visible in winter when the ferns have died back, and the dogwoods have dropped their leaves.  It should look amazing against that black fence, although I’m not sure they will get enough sun in this location to keep them happy.

I do also have a pagoda dogwood tree in this area and it seems to be thriving …

although growing very slowly.  At this rate I will be 80 years old before it starts to look like an actual tree.  But it gives me hope for the Arctic Fire dogwoods.

It sure feels good to have these two projects checked off on the to-do list.  I’m planning to get to some other more fun painting projects this week, so be sure to stay tuned!

thinking outside the box.

Published on by Quandie3 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I have a large window box that goes across almost the entire width of our front three-season porch.  Our house faces north-west-ish, so it’s basically full shade in that spot although it does get some evening sun.

I’ve tried lot of different looks over the years, but so far there is really no contest for the most successful plant for this shady window box, it’s definitely coleus.

It absolutely thrives, and it creates quite a dramatic show along with some sweet potato vine and lemon coral sedum.

In fact, it’s almost too successful as it grows high enough to block any breezes that might want to try to get through those windows.

Quite honestly, it almost feels like cheating to just fill up the window box with coleus and sweet potato vine and call it good.  It’s a little too easy, and it also seems a bit … well … uninspired.

So sometimes I try to change it up, think outside the box a little (pardon the pun).

Unfortunately that can lead to what I consider to be window box fails.  Last year is a good example of that.  I tried experimenting with some new things, and the combination really didn’t work.

The silver of the Dusty Miller and the Dichondra Silver Falls just wasn’t me.  I put in some lovely coral pink begonias that ended up being totally swallowed up by other more vigorous plants, as did the Streptocarpus Ladyslippers™ Deep Blue Vein.  Although those did become some really pretty houseplants.

The very worst year for the window box had to be 2015 though.

Oh my gosh, does that look like a hot mess or what?  That was the year I tried angelonia.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  They clearly require full sun, and I definitely don’t have full sun here.  Plus, I combined the angelonia with a purple annual salvia and some Diamond Frost euphorbia, all of which have a delicate, airy look about them.  I definitely needed to add something more substantial to the mix.

I did have some success in 2017 when I decided to go with a deep coral pink sort of color scheme.

The New Guinea impatiens did well, and paired nicely with some fuchsia.

But when the cooler purple astilbe that is in the ground right below the window box was in bloom, it didn’t really pair well with those colors.

I did enjoy the monochromatic white color scheme that I tried back in 2014.

That year I used white impatiens, euphorbia, jester’s crown ferns, a swedish ivy and a gorgeous white and green caladium.

And when fall came around I pulled out the impatiens and replaced them with white mums.  Then I popped in a couple of white pumpkins, and added some cut Annabelle hydrangea blooms for a less traditional autumnal look.

As much as I love that look, I will admit that it doesn’t have the same impact from the street as the brighter coleus combinations.

Once again this year, I was in the mood to do a bit more experimenting instead of falling back on the tried and true coleus/potato vine combo.  After checking out what was available at a few of my favorite nurseries, I ended up with a ‘black and white’ theme.

First of all, you have to know that gardeners call colors by the wrong names.  Anything called ‘blue’ is typically really purple, while ‘purple’ is often a hot pink or magenta color.  And ‘black’ is really a very deep purple.

I based my ‘black’ on this coleus that I found at the Amish farm that my neighbor nnK and I visit every spring to buy plants.

It didn’t have a label, but I think it may be a variety called Black Coral.

I know it doesn’t look too exciting at first, it’s not bright, it’s not wildly variegated.  But I next found this rex begonia to add to the mix, and it is pretty exciting.  Paired together, I think this is going to make a fantastic combination.

Once again, no label, but I think the begonia may be Curly Mint.

I also added this rex begonia to the mix …

Both of the begonias have that rich plum color that ties in with the ‘black’ coleus.  I’m just hoping that they won’t be overpowered by the more vigorous growth of the coleus.

For the ‘white’ component in my window box I went back to that white caladium that I loved so much.

I also added a bunch of white New Guinea impatiens, and some Diamond Snow euphorbia.

The Diamond Snow euphorbia is supposed to be a more dense and compact, less ‘airy’, version of the Diamond Frost that I usually use.  And again, I’m hoping this one won’t overpower the other plants.

Finally, I also threw in a Firehouse White trailing verbena.

I may have trouble getting the verbena to bloom in this shady location, but I thought I’d give it a try.  For now all of those blooms are compliments of the greenhouse that grew it (Country Sun in Stillwater, FYI).  Also, you do need to deadhead trailing verbena to encourage more flowers, so we’ll just have to wait and see if I keep up on that.

I added some more ‘black’ to the mix with this Charmed Wine Oxalis from Proven Winners.

It will have white flowers when it blooms as well, so it’s perfect for my black and white theme.  However, I grow it mainly for it’s foliage, it won’t bloom profusely.  Much like the Streptocarpus I mentioned from last year, Oxalis can be taken inside and wintered over as a houseplant.  I may give that a try in the fall.

Finally I put in a couple of Blackie sweet potato vines.  I guess I couldn’t fully escape the coleus or the sweet potato vines.

Now, I just have to be patient and wait for all of these to fill in.  I’m guessing that’s going to take at least a month or so.  Gardening is not a hobby for the impatient.

I’ll try to remember to give you all an update on how my black and white window box turned out at the end of summer.

How about you?  Have you ever tried a black and white theme?  Or do you have another combination that you love for containers?  Leave a comment and let me know.

the garden herbs tote.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

I’ve posted before about the Trash to Treasure day hosted by a neighboring town, White Bear Lake.  Basically the home owners in WBL can put things that they want to discard at the curb, and the rest of us can drive around and take anything that catches our fancy.

I’ve found a few fun things there over the years including my concrete Japanese lantern.

I gave it a bronze metal makeover last year, and it still looks great in my garden.

I often even find a couple of decent pieces of furniture.  I brought this washstand home for a makeover back in 2021.

I did check out this year’s Trash to Treasure day back in April, and I brought home a small pile of goodies.  However, I didn’t get a photo of my haul because it was raining for most of the day.  So I tucked it all away in the carriage house thinking I’d pull it out later and get a photo.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

But as time goes by, and I give the items some much needed makeovers, I’ll be sure to share them here on the blog starting with today’s project.

This large wooden tote was sitting at the curb filled with plastic pots and other junk.  It was half full of rain and quite bedraggled.  But I sensed some potential.

After bringing it home, I gave it a good scrubbing with some hot soapy water and then hosed it down.  I left it out in the sunshine to dry out.  Once dry, I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Caviar.  Once the paint was dry, I sanded the entire piece to distress it.

Next up I pulled out my Garden Herbs stencil.  I first stenciled ‘Garden Herbs’ and the herb names in DB’s Dried Sage.  Then I shifted my stencil up and over just a tiny bit and stenciled ‘Garden Herbs’ again in DB’s Drop Cloth, thus creating a bit of a shadow behind those words.

I finished it all off with a topcoat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta which really brings out the deep rich color of the Caviar.

The tote is quite large at 24″ by 18″, and it’s also a bit heavy.  So it wouldn’t be practical to use for actually toting things around the garden.

But wouldn’t it be fab for your potting shed?  You could fill it with gardening books, or magazines, or just empty clay pots and vintage garden tools.

Of course, you could also fill it with potted herbs and put it outside, but since it’s made of plywood, it wouldn’t hold up forever.  But then again, who needs it to last forever?  Isn’t it kind of fun to have pieces like this that last for two or three years and then you move on to something else?  Or is that just me?  I would recommend drilling some drainage holes in the bottom if you were going to go that route.

This tote is headed to the pile of merch that I’m accumulating for my upcoming sale.  Locals, don’t forget, save the date for June 21 and 22!

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co. for supplying the paint and topcoat for this makeover.

from plastic to fantastic.

Published on by Quandie17 Comments

Last summer while out garage saling I saw a house with fabulous lights in big flower pots on either side of their driveway.

I have to laugh, because initially I was completely flummoxed as to how they accomplished that.  I thought they’d had to run electrical wiring to the pots somehow.  But duh, of course, they were solar lights.

Seriously, how did I not just realize that immediately?

Well … anyway … I thought they were fabulous, so I decided to copy the idea myself this year.

But I didn’t want to spend the $70 for the really pretty copper lights that I found online, so I decided to see what I could do to dress up a pair of plastic lights that I found at Fleet Farm for less than half that price.

I’m not sure that photo shows it, but these are made out of black plastic and that’s exactly what they look like up close.  In other words, not terribly nice.

So I pulled out Dixie Belle’s patina paint and went to work on them.

Rather than doing my usual rusty finish using the Iron paint and Green spray, I brought out the Copper paint and Blue spray.

Full disclosure, I probably should have used the Bonding Boss primer in this situation since I was painting over slick plastic.  But I was being impatient and I skipped it.  I may pay for that later, especially since these lights will be out in the elements.  I’m willing to risk it though.

So although I skipped that important step and went right to stippling on two coats of the Copper paint, you should do what I say and not what I do and use the Bonding Boss over slick surfaces.

While the 2nd coat of Copper was still wet, I sprayed on the Blue spray.  It was looking really blue though, and I wanted more of that green verdigris sort of color, so then I quickly added some Green spray as well.

Perfect!

I think the lights look totally legit with this paint treatment.

If you want to see the full instructions on how to use the Dixie Belle patina paint, check out my how-to post by clicking here.

My only complaint about the lights is that big honkin’ solar power collector thingie.  No one would mistake these for proper electric lights!

Although the panel is not very well disguised right now, as my plants get a little taller it will be a bit more hidden … but I can’t let it get too hidden or it won’t work properly.

But aside from that, I love how these turned out.

I’ve had them outside for a couple of weeks now, and so far the paint is holding up just fine as well.  I’ll be sure to give you an update at the end of the season to let you know how they did.

By the way, speaking of plastic to fantastic, those planters are also plastic.

I gave them the rusty treatment (Iron paint with green spray) last year … or wait … maybe two years ago?  I’m not sure.

Either way, they definitely don’t look plastic anymore, right?!

Leave a comment and let me know if you’ve tried any of the patina paint, or if you have something that you think would benefit from the rusty treatment, or the verdigris copper treatment.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the patina paint used for these projects.

practicing jumping worm safety.

Published on by Quandie6 Comments

Good morning from the garden, and Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there (wait a minute, that sounded a little wrong)!

Earlier this week I mentioned having purchased some plants while out garage saling last weekend.  I have always been a big fan of what I call garage sale gardening.  So many of the plants in my garden came from garage sales, such as the Bigroot Geranium (or Geranium macrorrizum) that grows like mad in just about any conditions.

So when I saw some of the plants on my ‘wish list’ being sold for $5 each at a sale in Tangletown last week, I couldn’t resist.

For one thing, I found a Sweet Autumn clematis.  You may remember seeing this growing on the side of our carriage house (the vine with the little white flowers on the left below).

It was spectacular in the fall, but last spring it didn’t come back.  I find that this happens sometimes with clematis, possibly due to clematis wilt, I’m not really sure.

Anyway, I picked up a new one for $5 and we’ll try again.

But, that brings me to today’s q tip!Have you heard about jumping worms?  They are a non-native earthworm that strips the nutrients from top soil.  And according to Ramsey County they are an emerging problem in our area.  They can be introduced to your garden in mulch, compost and potted plants.

For that reason, I am now hesitating to continue recommending buying plants at garage sales because it puts you at risk of bringing home jumping worms.

However, garage sale perennials can still be a good bargain, so if you have jumping worms in your area (check with your local University Extension program if you don’t know) you should practice some jumping worm safety if you purchase plants at a garage sale, or even at a garden club plant sale for that matter.

Here are some recommendations from the U of M Extension:

  • Accept only plants from gardeners that have looked for jumping worms and use these practices to prevent their spread:
    • Plants and materials do not come from an area known to have jumping worms.
    • There is no reason, like soil that looks like coffee grounds, to suspect there are jumping worms at the site that produced these plants or materials.
  • Remove soil from all plants before transporting them to limit the spread of weeds and worms. This helps to remove earthworm cocoons (egg cases) or weed seeds.
  • Completely submerge plant roots in water and wash away remaining soil. Actively look for worms. Protect clean roots for transportation and sale.
    • Water is sufficient to remove soil and other materials from the roots.

I questioned the person I purchased plants from and she said they were not grown in soil from her garden, but in a potting medium (sorry, my eyes glazed over at the exact details).  So they should be jumping worm free.

OK, let’s move on from the worms.

The garden has just exploded over the last week, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite spots with you this morning.

Remember the tulips that the deer like to eat?

I saved a couple of patches of them by enclosing them with chicken wire and they look amazing right now.  Unfortunately, only a handful of the patch of 100 that I planted in fall of 2022 came back this year.  I had chosen Darwin Hybrid Pink Impression tulips specifically because that variety is one that will naturalize.  But apparently not for me.  However, I’d also planted 100 new ones this past fall and those look fantastic.

In the end, I have come to realize that I need to treat tulips as an annual in my garden, and an annual that has to be protected from deer at that.  I tell myself that they just aren’t worth it, but right now they look so good that I know I’ll be tempted to plant them again this fall!

The Double Sherborne Narcissus that I planted last fall are also looking good.  They add a bright pop of yellow next to the red carriage house.

I’ve mixed in some muscari (grape hyacinth) and I love the combination.

In the background of that photo you can see the azalea that I added a few weeks ago.

I can’t take any credit for all of those flowers since this shrub was already covered in buds when I purchased it at Home Depot.  This particular azalea is supposed to be hardy in zones 5 thru 9, and my area was bumped from 4b to 5a last year.  Will it survive our winter?  That remains to be seen.  I plan to protect it over winter for a few years until it gets established.

The Sugar and Spice tiarella (foam flower) that I put in last year is just starting to bloom.

As is the Raspberry Splash lungwort.

Aren’t those color gorgeous?

The star of the garden this week has to be the Phlox divaricata, or wild blue phlox.

It has created a lovely patch of bright blue.  I have it planted ‘under’ a Sun Power hosta.  You can just barely see the Sun Power in the early stages of emerging behind the phlox.

I love this combination because although the phlox looks gorgeous right now, after it blooms it looks fairly weedy.  But that’s when the hosta takes over and fills in the space and I just cut back the phlox.

Last, but certainly not least, the lilacs are just starting to pop.  We’ve had some cool nights recently (in the 40’s Fahrenheit), and I think that is slowing them down a little.

Also, I’m finding that they last a lot longer in a vase if I cut them before the flowers are completely opened up.

So tell me, do you have jumping worms where you are?  Have you gotten many plants at garage sales?  And what’s blooming in your garden this week?  Leave a comment and let me know.

 

no more government gray.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

Bryn Mawr calls their neighborhood sale the Festival of Garage Sales, and with good reason.  There is definitely a festive atmosphere.  They have food trucks and porta-potties, which both say ‘festival’ to me.  They also have LOTS of people.  Even in the rain.

Parking can be a challenge, so our strategy is to bring some foldable carts with us, find a spot for the car, and then walk the alleys.  My sister employed her step counter and we logged just under 10,000 steps.

We managed to fill up our carts more than once, and here’s most of what I brought home with me.

My ‘find of the day’ is missing from that photo, but I’ll share that in a minute.

But otherwise, as you can probably see, I ended up with some more potential art for my gallery wall.

I really love this next watercolor, but I may have to hunt down a frame for it.

I also found a set of four mid-century prints by Jan Korthals.

Korthals was a Dutch artist, but these 4 prints feature London landmarks including St. Paul’s and Big Ben.

I also brought home a lovely set of poetry books.

The covers on these are just gorgeous, as are the colors.

I also nabbed a nice tacklebox.

I love the muted aqua colors on the little circular label on the front.

It’s even already a pretty blue color on the inside.

So now I’m torn.  Do I paint this one?  Or would someone buy it ‘as is’?  That is a pretty dull gray on the outside.  What do you think?

Speaking of ‘should I paint it?’, after the last sifter that I painted turned out so pretty, I decided to grab another sifter to paint.

After giving it a good cleaning, I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Mint Julep, followed by a topcoat of their Big Mama’s Butta.

How perfect is it as a succulent planter now?

While I was at it, I also painted the postal scale that I picked up.  It was a very dull grey color originally, let’s call it ‘government gray’ since it’s a postal scale.  After giving it a good cleaning, I gave it two coats of the Mint Julep as well.

No more government gray!

For those of you who don’t know, I retired from my government job 2 1/2 years ago, so there’s definitely no more government gray for me.

I’ve already added some apothecary labels to the pair of amber bottles that I picked up.

I liked the simple lines of the silver pitcher that I purchased.  It will make a beautiful vase for peonies when they start blooming, but for now I filled it with some faux hydrangea that I also bought at Bryn Mawr.

I typically no longer pick up Ball jars unless they are either priced really low (I did get a pair of them with original zinc lids for 25 cents each in North St Paul), or they are unique in some way.

This one says “the Mason” on it, and it has some nice bubbles in the glass.  I’ll be adding it to my own non-collection of mason jars.

I’ve saved my ‘find of the day’ for last, and coincidentally it’s also the last thing that I purchased.  We were literally back in the car heading out of Bryn Mawr when I spotted a concrete dog garden ornament out of the corner of my eye.

Isn’t he handsome?  And he is also solid, ie. heavy, concrete.  I had to get my sister to help load him.  I was surprised that no one had snatched him up earlier in the day, and I can only conclude that he was just too heavy for anyone to tote around.

It feels great to be back out garage saling again!  I’ll be out again this Saturday at another of my favorite Minneapolis neighborhoods, Linden Hills.  So far the forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 71°, wish me luck!

tulips in tangletown.

Published on by Quandie14 Comments

My friend opK and I held a garage sale marathon this past weekend.  We hit the sales on Thursday and Friday, and then on Saturday my sister joined us as well for the Bryn Mawr neighborhood sales.

Thursday dawned cold and rainy.  opK and I gathered up our rain gear and a list of addresses and headed to North St Paul.  I’d say out of our list of 25 or so sales, only about 10 of them had braved the weather and opened up.  We then headed to our hometown of Oakdale, and it was more of the same.  In desperation, we headed to Cottage Grove next.

All three of these towns were allegedly having their city-wide sales, but we found few sales.  Since the forecast for Friday was sunny and a high of 70, we figured most people had decided to hold off on opening up on Thursday.  I can’t say that I blame them, it was fairly miserable outside.

Here is the meagre pile of goodies that I brought home on Thursday.

That is nearly my entire haul.  I also purchased some peony cages for the garden, a set of old casters and a tall lantern that isn’t pictured, but that’s it.

The ‘find of the day’ from Thursday would have to be the little cast iron stove (it didn’t have much competition).

Isn’t that fun?  I thought it was possibly vintage until I looked it up online and discovered you can buy it at Walmart.  LOL, well, I only paid $1.50 for it, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

I woke up on Friday to glorious blue skies.  The Tangletown neighborhood in Minneapolis is one of my favorites, and that’s where we were headed.

I had to stop and get a picture of this gorgeous terraced hillside garden full of tulips that we spotted while twisting around on the Tangletown streets.  My photo doesn’t do it justice, it was gorgeous.

We also had much better luck with the finds in Tangletown.

The chair on the right was from a ‘free’ pile.  The cane seat is ruined, but that’s OK because I’m planning to turn it into a planter chair.  I’ve done a few of these in the past (check them out here).  My only regret is that I didn’t take more of the free chairs that were in that pile, there were several to choose from.  What was I thinking?  I could have made multiple planter chairs!

I also brought home a vintage Joy of Cooking, a nice globe, and an ironstone chamber pot.

Obviously no one needs a chamber pot for its original use these days, but they are lovely filled with flowers.

I also picked up this pretty amethyst colored glass bottle on Friday.

I thought the color was pretty, and I was drawn to the ‘antique’ look of it.   But don’t be fooled, much like the cast iron stove, this one isn’t authentic either.  I found info online that says it’s a 1970’s reproduction and only worth between $3 and $5.  Lucky I only paid $1.

I picked up this small enamelware tray and have already added a simple re.design with prima transfer to it.

I also found a couple of possible additions for the art wall in my q branch (a.k.a. my home office) starting with this pretty little mountain scene.

I’ve already found the perfect spot for it on my wall.

I’ve decided the 2nd oil painting I brought home is just a bit too bright for me.

This one came with a story.  The woman selling it said she bought it at a charity auction when she lived in Washington D.C., and supposedly it originally belonged to one of the Kennedy’s.  I can’t quite read the signature at the bottom, so I haven’t been able to find any pertinent information about it online.  Was someone just spinning a yarn to earn more funds for the charity?  I guess we’ll never know.

There were three good candidates for ‘find of the day’ from Tangletown.  First up there was the St. Francis statue.

You gotta love a good garden statue, right?  I plan to give him the rusty treatment using Dixie Belle’s patina paint.

There was also the Japanese maple tree.

I’ve been passing these by at the nurseries for years because of their high price tag.  I rarely see one for less than $100.  And they are an iffy proposition in my formerly zone 4b, now zone 5a garden.  So I’ve never wanted to spend a lot of money on a plant that may or may not survive the winter here.  But this one was $20, so I snatched it up.

Sure, it’s small.  But I’m going to try growing it in a pot on the deck.  That way I can move it to a more protected area for the winter.  We’ll see what happens.  If it dies, I’m only out $20.

I did also pick up a few other plants in Tangletown, but I’m going to share more about that in my ‘sunday mornings in the garden’ post this week, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

In the end, I have to give ‘find of the day’ status for Tangletown to this little cupboard.

That’s a beveled mirror in the oval, FYI.  This is going to be a fun one to paint up!

As for day 3 of our garage sale marathon, we were back to cooler temps and rain as we headed out to another of my favorite Minneapolis neighborhoods, Bryn Mawr.  But I’m going to share more about that one in my next post, so be sure to stay tuned!

But first, let me know, what would you have picked as ‘find of the day’?