April Musings

Here we are beginning the second quarter of the year with April showers and a high of 65 and that’s this morning.  Last week was busy with the little man on spring break.  There were Mario Kart races, pancakes in the morning, and the Imagination Station. 

I made this image dark on purpose using a texture by Distressed Jewells. I guess I was in a somber mood while processing.

 It was cold, windy, and overcast a good share of the week. We didn’t get kite flying in, but anytime a breeze blows kites soar, but flying still happened. 

I’ve been negligent with the 365 project and so far behind that I’m dropping the 365 and just calling it All These Things.  I’d love those three words as a title for a photoblog, but it’s all ready been snapped up and yes, I’m rambling.

Do you have spring dreams?  One of mine is to create a focus with my camera and writing. 

Two weeks ago, B & J and I went on a Sunday photo expedition.  We stopped by the home of a gardener I’ve known for many years.  To call Joyce a passionate grower is an understatement.  She lives and breathes growing.  She is a consummate grower…she grows indoors and out. I’m guessing that it’s more about the plants then the overall garden design, but I’m going to pose that question to her.  The only thing blooming in her garden were crocus, but the buds on her daffodils were fattening in preparation for the golden explosion of color.

Joyce’s garden is going to be my photo project for the rest of the growing season.  My focus will be on photographing, at least every two weeks, what’s blooming in her garden. As soon as the rain stops this week, I’m heading to Joyce’s garden and I doubt I’ll be disappointed in what I find. 

I'm ending with a processed photo of a poignant statue I found in a cemetery on the edge of Bryan, Ohio.  Yeats' poem, The Stolen Child, just seems to fit the photo.  The scrolling texture came from Shadowhouse Creations.

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

~ W. B. Yeats

Hello September

Hello September! School is back in session, the light appears later in the morning and fades earlier in the evening, while an earthy aroma whispers change. I welcome autumn harvests, red apples, blooming chrysanthemums, orange pumpkins, whimsical gourds, and corn shocks all shining under a harvest moon.

The bounty of the garden spills into my kitchen with delectable results...

Summer squash au gratin

Canned whole ‘Roma’ tomatoes 

Fresh salsa

Stuffed peppers

Tomato Bingo Anyone?

The glory days of sunflowers towering over the garden are passing as bulbous heads bowed low salute nature’s change of seasons. The final sunflower has opened her face to the sun and I stand beneath heaving an audible sigh of appreciation.

I am not the only creature that benefitted from all that sunflowers offer; bees, covered in yellow pollen, danced around the spheres sipping and collecting. Butterflies lit on this year’s favorite flower and a goldfinch hung precariously, nearly upside, snatching a not-ready-for-prime-eating seed or two.

I think I will miss the sunflowers most of all. As Vincent Van Gogh remarked, “The sunflower is mine, in a way.” Well it’s mine in a way, too and I have taken over a hundred photos hoping that just one will capture the essence of a sunflower.

Cutting a sunflower head in its crowning golden glory of petals was one of the hardest things I did in my garden this year. I treasured each one and while I love cut flowers, scanning often requires removal of stems. So I float the head in water enjoying it for as long as possible knowing that long after the stems have been cut down I’ll have colored memories.

Come in September.  I'm so glad you're here!

Garden in July

Whooohoooo! The first vegetable of the season in my container garden is a Hungarian wax pepper. The yellow-green finger sticks straight up among leaves and more blossoms ready to develop and end up in my kitchen. I had my first Hungarian wax pepper a few years ago when my brother Paul brought the peppers stuffed with cheese to dinner one evening. The peppers were a hit and I can't wait to try my hand at stuffing a few.


I’m so excited about my container garden that I’ve been dreaming up ways to grow even more in containers. I’m thinking next year…galvanized tubs bought for cheap at auctions and yard sales would make great containers for lettuce, peas, green beans, radishes, and green onions.


Bill & Judy’s July Garden

Bill and Judy have been broccoli busy. The huge heads just keep coming and then heading into the kitchen to be eaten or frozen for later. The tomatoes look lush, healthy, and loaded with blossoms. Bill was cutting lettuce and Swiss chard when I arrived. Later, a family favorite dressing would cover the crisp salad.
I was surprised at the height of the sweet corn. My father-in-law insisted that corn grew best on hot nights when you could hear the crackle and pop of stalks growing. This summer has been cool and wonderful for everyone, except plants that prefer heat and lots of sun, but that hasn't stunted the growth of Bill & Judy's sweet corn.
Judy planted sunflowers along the side of the deck fence. The gigantic buds smile from tall stems with irresistable charm.

Beneath a tree, a cluster of wildflowers surrounded by rocks greets visitors to Bill & Judy’s home, along with two big, boisterous, but lovable dogs. Otis takes a breather from romping along side the bed of wildflowers.

The garden’s lookin’ good, you two!

Now get out there and nibble on a crunchy green bean while harvesting.

Share Your Photos

Ready or not, here comes July! Let’s celebrate the month by sharing photos of your decked out deck, pretty-in-petunias porches, lush landscaping, grand gardens, or fabulous flowerbeds. It doesn’t matter if you have one pot of flowers on a balcony in the city or a myriad of gardens and flowerbeds; I want to add your photos to an ongoing slideshow. Share the slideshow with family and friends, while gleaning new ideas and inspiration from the photos of passionate gardeners, like you.

Gotta Have Info

Who? YOU, a fantastic gardener!

What? Share summer 2009 photos that will be included in a slide show on The Cottage on the Corner blog.

When? Now!

Where? The Cottage on the Corner

Why? Because sharing your beautiful, humorous, romantic, useful, fabulous, slice of garden heaven with others reaps inspiration and smiles.

How? Send five photos to the_cottageonthecorner@yahoo.com (that’s: the“underscore” cottageonthecorner@yahoo.com) of your favorite spot in your garden, yard, deck, or porch. Include how you want your name to be shown and your location, state only.


Example: Teresa O Ohio

I can’t wait to get the slide show up and running so start sending photos today.

Now get out there and photograph the part of your yard that you love

Click to check out the full screen slide show

In the Garden June 1st

It’s June 1 all ready! Pots are planted with a variety of herbs, vegetables, and a basket filled with flowers on the front step. I’m doing a bit of a trial to see if the basket on the front step does as well as the pots in the backyard with shards of terra cotta in the bottom. I’ll be looking into the shards versus no shards a bit more this week.

Living Bouquets
I call containers filled with a variety of flowers, living bouquets. I started by lining the basket with a gray plastic bag and poked holes in it. Next, I filled the container with soil and planted the packs of flowers. The little front porch is in the shade for the bigger part of a day, so I used plants that prefer shade. Double impatiens, lobelia, and dusty miller fill the twig basket, left over from my shop, Windy Corner herbs & flowers.

Two medium sized pots of Johnny jump-ups, still blooming, sitting nearby the basket create a garden vignette. As summer wears on, heating up, the Johnny jump-ups will fade and cast seed to the winds. Hopefully some will fall into the front flowerbed.

*Planting Tip
As much as you may hate it, when bringing home packs of flower seedlings, remove all blosssoms and buds. A healthy plant that puts its energy into growth first will display a plethora of beautiful blooms later.

Columbine (Aquilegia)
The columbine that I first saw growing in front of the step has reseeded in the flowerbed with many new plants growing this year. Considered a perennial, columbine bloom in a glorious spectrum of colors in late spring from a deep purple to a pale pink. Festive bi-colored columbines add surprising splashes of colors to flowerbeds and gardens. Hardy plants from zones 3 to 9, the little lovelies do not make good choices for container gardens due to a long taproot. Plan on watering columbines during the warm, dry months to keep them happily thriving.

Deadheading or removing spent flowers extends the season a bit, but leave a few flowers to form seed heads. The plant will reward you by dropping seed and starting up new plants next year. If you don’t want more columbine gracing your flowerbed, simply remove all spent flowers.

Dainty columbine flowers look especially attractive in flowerbeds, but plant in a large cluster for a show of color and textures. A rock garden is another good location for columbine. Hummingbirds visit columbine in search of nectar as do butterflies, so placing it in a garden for wildlife or a butterfly garden invites winged creatures in spring.

Columbine Legend & Lore
Why columbine has been called granny’s bonnet in earlier times is unclear, but perhaps it’s because the flower, always peering at the ground like an old woman beneath her bonnet, trembles at the slightest whisper of a breeze. In the language of flowers, the 1833 meaning was desertion and a few years later, inconstancy, but yet another meaning, cuckoldry, brings mystery to the plant. When and why columbine came to be known as a naughty rendezvous is uncertain.

According to an article published June 20, 1903 in the New York Times’ archive, once upon a time columbine was called cocksfoot or culverwort. A quote by Erasmus Darwin from the article said, “In the columbine, the necktary is imagined to be like the neck and body of a bird, and the two petals standing upon each side to represent wings; whence its name of columbine, as it resembles a nest of young pigeons fluttering while their parents feed them.” I’ll have to take a closer look of the columbine blooming to discover if I see what Mr. Darwin saw.

The botanical name, aquilegia, means eagle probably referring to the spurs, but the common name, columbine comes for the Latin word, columba or dove. The state of Colorado claims the Rocky Mountain columbine as its state flower.

The beauty of columbine and the history of the plant make it a worthy plant to include in your garden. The ease of growing and self-sowing add two more excellent reasons for starting columbine in your garden.

Now get out there and grow!