Wordless Wednesday: Endless Summer

The Flowers of March

My beautiful daughter made a "wedding cake" out of flowers and foliage picked from our garden.  I am proud to showcase her masterpiece, she has a wonderful eye for detail and a creative touch.  It is a joy to watch my love of nature and gardening sprouting inside the hearts of my children.  Springtime has truly arrived and it's like magic in the air.  The hope and possibility is tantalizing, and the chance to begin anew, mesmerizing.

Mother's Day on the Farm

It was a blissful weekend with wonderful weather, sweet surprises (my son lost another baby tooth!), and lazy hours spent chilling out on the farm.  The kids found caterpillars and dug out earthworms, my husband mapped out our future Kitchen Garden, and I continued to add perennials to the garden borders.  It was the perfect Mother's Day for me, my family is so precious and I treasure them so dearly.

The Simple Life

As a child, I traveled cross-country with my parents and siblings most summers to visit extended family in Arkansas.  My grandma lived on an 80 acre farm, down a long winding road, in a house built by my grandfather and his father.  The home had only rudimentary indoor plumbing, and no air conditioning to cool us down during the sticky hotness of a Southern Summer, however there were fruit trees out back and chickens and beautiful warm moments spent on the front porch with cousins and uncles and grandma.  Though at the time I had little appreciation for it, I now fondly recall those magical summers.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and as one grows older, the past exerts a stronger pull.  I often think of that farm, and dream of a simpler life where one wakes to the sound of crowing roosters and never has to hear the noise of traffic.  I am descended from a long line of farmers, stretching back generations until the beginning of time, and the need to be close to the land and connected to my ancestral roots culminated in me seeking out a Farmette of my own.

Blessed to reside in the great state of Virginia, with its gorgeous countryside of green rolling hills and fertile soil, my husband & I closed on a secluded peaceful 5 acre property 18 months ago.  Currently we use the farm as a weekend retreat/getaway only, but the eventual plan is to transition to full-time country living.  Last summer we commissioned a Landscape Design Master Plan, to begin the immediate implementation of a pleasure garden, and I see so much potential everywhere I look.  It's exciting to embark on this new adventure, and we're calling our newly found paradise...Sunnytime Farm.

Brilliant Blooms of May

Definition of SUPERB : marked to the highest degree by grandeur, excellence, brilliance, or competence

My garden hit peak bloom about a week ago, the perennials and shrubs metamorphosing into a blooming machine, and I am savoring every moment that I am present to behold the magnificent glory of Spring. This year marks the fourth season in which I have gardened on this property, and I am truly reaping the rewards of all the metaphorical seeds that I have sown. The borders are lush and full and diverse, and my plantings are now well-established and thriving.

I had the great fortune of inheriting a very lovely collection of Trees & Shrubs when we bought our home, and the Kousa Dogwood looks especially spectacular this time of year. It is covered with blooms of the purest white.

While the Dianthus 'Bath's Pink' have now faded, this side of the border will ratchet up soon with the blooms of Lavender and the trio of David Austin 'Harlow Carr' roses that I planted behind the Pinks.

My son enjoys romping about in the garden, and he's growing into a wonderful little helper. He has quite the imagination too, and I love to watch him get lost in play.

The Butterfly Garden is especially favored by my son, and by me too. I started this bed from a barren patch of grass just one year ago, and as I watch it flourishing with every passing month, I feel a flush of joy that I now have this happy stretch of Sun Perennials to greet me each day, upon my arrival to my home.

Mosaic Stepping Stones

My crafty side has reared its head, and I'm on a mission to create a collection of mosaic stepping stones for my garden. I started about a week ago, and with my sweet little boy helping out, we crafted our very first creation.


The project was supremely easy, and for someone like me who generally lacks patience, super quick as well. I designed the pattern in my head as the cement was being poured into the mold.


After 2 days of drying, I was so very pleased with the finished product. It's totally perfect, and I can't wait to do it again.

Wordless Wednesday: Giant Elephant Ears

-- Colocasia esculenta

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

The Washington D.C. metro area has many beautiful public display gardens, and I am making it my goal this year to visit as many of them as I can. Over the Mother's Day weekend, I had the pleasure of touring Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in the Northern Virginia suburbs. Oddly enough, I found myself caught in the lull between Spring show stoppers such as Flowering Dogwoods, Tulips and Daffodils, and the start of late-Spring/Summer blooming Peonies, Daylilies and Roses. And so I lucked out this time and missed the flowers, but the landscaped grounds were entirely beautiful nonetheless and the shade gardens infinitely inspiring. To see the true greatness of a garden, it is essential to visit multiple times during different months and seasons, and I am really looking forward to my next visit at Meadowlark.

Perennial Sun Borders







Shade Gardens







Children's Garden

My Favorite Flower

A new gardener just bloomed on March 23th, 2011.

Welcome Baby Girl Alice Claire,

my most precious and beautiful flower.

Accessories for the Garden

Like a beautifully dressed woman, a great garden should be well-accessorized. I have decked out my garden with a variety of items, and just like a sprinkling of jewelry that lends a special flair to an outfit, these garden accents really light up my landscape making it all the more unique and magical.

Bird Houses
Made by my very talented wonderful husband, based off designs he found in the book Designer Birdhouses: 20 Upscale Homes for Sophisticated Birds", I am so enchanted by these gorgeous nesting boxes. Both are in my backyard, and the orange-yellow one already has its first set of tenants!

Aluminum Birds

I picked these up at the Philadelphia Flower Show that I attended in March. Cute and adorable, my little boy just can't keep his hands off them. The 2 are sited in the Woodland Side Border, which should be bird-paradise come late-Summer when the Cleathra Summersweets bloom and the Viburnums produce their berries.

Frog and Turtle

I really like the mosaic inlay and glassy gemstone eyes. The frog resides in the Woodland Side Border, and the turtle is out front in my perennial/shrub border next to the Pennisetum Little Bunny.

Bird Bath

This was the very first garden accent I purchased, a lovely item that I found at Kmart of all places. The birds are really using it, and this year I will see to it that the water is changed every other day, to avoid having it become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Wind Chimes

What would a backyard sanctuary be without the gentle chiming of wind chimes? I have the metal froggy-chime hanging in the Honeysuckle Shrub, and the mellow woodsy-chime now dangles from the Witchhazel.

Nature Baby

Gardening for children is high on my priority list when I am deciding how to implement my landscape design. Children seem to have a deep intrinsic desire to be outside in nature, and my son is never happier than when he is in The Great Outdoors, running around digging and playing. He loves to touch flowers and move rocks, he points at birds and squirrels and is delighted when I lift him up to grab the budding stems of the Bradford Pear. There is something so precious about watching children lost in free play, and it saddens me to read how so many children have lost this joy of childhood, as nature time has been replaced with screen time. Sitting in front of the T.V. or computer just doesn't cut it when you could be playing under the open sky. My entire parenting philosophy, which included exclusively breastfeeding and cloth-diapering my son, is oriented around Natural Family Living. I want my garden to be my children's playroom, and to teach them that you can have so much fun without fancy gadgets and plastic toys, you can have fun with...a stick.