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August 31, 2018

August Garden Party

Hello everyone!  
Looking forward to seeing more of your garden posts!


It’s been a good summer up here and I’m still enjoying my gardens.
I've been very pleased with this dahlia's performance.  The superbena in the lower half has also been a good performer.  

Time for a bouquet don't you agree!

When I  planted the flowering cabbage and kale plants in the flower pots they were so cute and small.... well they sure didn't stay that way!

This is a newer flower pot I grabbed to go along with the other planters I picked up earlier this year.  I love the colorful designs on them!  The garden center I was at had a fresh group of Cocks Comb (celosia- in Greek it means "to burn") that I "had" to have.   

I'm really happy with the Silver Falls Dichondra that I planted along with the Waterfall Begonias. The dichondra creates the effect of a waterfall.  The cute little duck family is a recent purchase.  I found out that a very old store from San Francisco called Gumps (founded in 1861- 157 years old) is going out of business.  I've purchased a few items from them over the years and decided to find something to remember them by.  It's so sad that another large retailer is going out of business.

A few years ago I planted a foxglove in my pink garden.  I guess some seed survived and suddenly this beauty popped up.  It's not where I would have planted it but I'm not complaining!

It's such a treat to watch the bees go up inside them!  

The Limelight hydrangeas have been flowering and I always enjoying watching them develop.  Truly a trustworthy hydrangea! 

 The giant elephant ears plant has been doing very well too.  I'm not sure I'll grow this variety again- it took a lot of abuse from wind and the leaves became torn up a bit.  Definitely impressive though!

The Annabelle Hydrangeas have shifted from white to green and are starting to get that papery feeling.  They never disappoint with huge flowers!

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago.  

Some browning has started and they are ready to be cut and dried.


Late in the growing season things start to look shaggy.  

For Norma
Last year Dan's mother passed on August 22nd.  I planted zinnias in her honor.  When I first met Dan in 1973 I was so impressed by his mother's ambitiousness on their dairy farm (I grew up in a suburban environment- hadn't experienced such things).  She had a large vegetable garden and canned corn, beans, peas, pickles and tomatoes.  She always had zinnias planted too and I loved them.

These got so tall I was shocked.  I really didn't know they could get so tall.  I just did some reading up on them and found out there are a lot of varieties that I was unaware of.  
This variety is called Cut and Come Again.  

We've had a lot of rain lately and everything has been soaked plus it's been gray for days.  I'm ready to see some sunshine again!

This is the last Garden Party for the season and we all want to thank you for joining us and sharing your gardens!  

Please click the link below and share another garden post.

August 29, 2018

Do't Forget To Join Friday's Garden Party!



This will be the last summer linkup Garden Party so be sure join! 



August 26, 2018

Grandin Road Inspired Wreath


I received a catalog from Grandin Road and was smitten with this wreath.  The price however of $139 wasn't what I had in mind.  It looks especially attractive on this blue door.

I was bummed about the price but also inspired so I went to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, JoAnn's and Pier 1 to look at wreaths.   I was able to find some silk flowers at Michael's that resembled the look created here on this wreath, but when I added it all up I was getting way up there in costs and I figured if I'm spending that much I may as well buy the one by GR.  I went on line to look at the wreath and found out it's already sold out/no longer available.

I realized it was cheaper to buy a ready made wreath (in most cases) vs. making my own especially with silk flowers.  Most of the fall wreaths currently available have lots of sunflowers and/or a lot of fall colored leaves, pine cones and pumpkins.  This one caught my attention at Pier 1 (called the Faux Rudbekia wreath) because it didn't have a super heavy fall look to it and certain things about it seemed similar to the other one at Grandin Road so I grabbed it.  Even though this is very nice as it is I decided that blue hydrangeas were needed to really achieve the look I wanted.


I didn't find antiqued blue hydrangeas like they used in the Grandin Road one, but this is what I came up with.  Since I had to cut the hydrangeas off of very long stems I had a bunch of leaves leftover so I used some of them to fill it in a bit.  The Grandin Road wreath had magnolia leaves but to save money I felt these would work well enough.

I think this is a great transitional look between late summer and fall especially since the Rudbekia (cone flowers) are still blooming here.  If I find some antiqued blue hydrangeas I may swap them out but I'm happy at this point!

This did have some blue flowers (I think they look like Bachelor's Buttons) but it wasn't enough of an impact.  Pier 1 also had a wreath with some very faded looking blue hydrangeas but in person I thought it was very dull.

There are no pumpkins on this wreath but I felt the deep reddish/orange rudbekia's filled in for them.  I know it's not quite as beautiful as theirs but overall I think this was a good compromise.  I did get the wreath on sale so that was very helpful ($29.99 down from $39.99).  The hydrangeas came from Hobby Lobby (1/2 off).  

I hope you liked my Grandin Road Inspired Wreath!

I do have another wreath that I created last year with an adorable fox made with curled wood pieces that I'll switch to for October/November as seen "here".

I am joining:




August 23, 2018

Under The Sea Dining Adventure (T)

Please join me for a special dining experience!

Let's move in closer.

We have the fresh catch of the day!


A floating center piece of fish netting filled with seashells, starfish and...

sea creatures!

Even a whale has decided to float by and check us out!  🐳

A lovely mermaid is sharing her beautiful pearls.  She invites us to dress up with them!



The coral starfish was from Kohl's.  They have a lot of sets on-line that you don't find in the store.

These came from Cracker Barrel 

  Napkins and seahorse napkins rings from Pier 1 as well as the aqua placemat.

Layering colors and textures...

I love how these aqua seahorses show off beautifully on the light coral napkin!

More beautiful blue and green ocean colors.  
Bormioli Rocco Bahia stemware.

I created a little background accent too!

I also used many of these accents in a tablescape last year you can visit "here".  It's a good one 😉


A little addition of reindeer moss fills in for aquatic plant life.  🐙



Late summer dining...ahh

Thank you for joining me.  I hope you enjoyed this Under The Sea Dining Adventure!  

Joining:
Between Naps On The porch
for

ABOUT ME



Welcome to Home and Gardening With Liz. I have combined my previous blogs “Infuse With Liz” and “Sit With Me In My Garden” into this new blog. I love interior decorating and gardening. I enjoy redefining interior spaces by moving things around and reusing decorative items already found in the home. I also enjoy creating tablescapes and an occasional crafting project. I'm so pleased you've stopped by. I invite you to follow me and I do hope you will keep coming back! Liz
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