More Garden Pictures

By Lynn, on March 12th, 2011%

The Reformed Little Wild Garden is coming along.  If only I didn’t have to stop to work.  And cook.  And eat.  

The carpenter had a dumptruck load of mulch delivered for me.  I love that man.  Even if I do have to threaten him with a frying pan every now and then.

Even the rabbits love the carpenter.  Because he lets them live here.  Rent free. 

And he even tolerates me saying things to him like, “Honey, I cannot believe you wanted all these rabbits.” 

“Yeah, right,” he says loudly.  At least he smiles when he says it.

Have we ever had such a springtime crop of chickweed?  I think not! Part of me wants  to let chickweed take over the yard!  The neighborhood!  The world!  I just know it would draw in more garden fairies.  Does it not look simply enchanting—the view under this bench?  But The Little Wild Garden is going for a more refined, even reformed look this year, so out the chickweed went.  Good thing the carpenter has rabbits that I can feed the chickweed to.   I think I need to make a huge infusion and freeze it into “chickweed ice cubes” for summertime use.  It’s such a cooling herb.  What do you think?

The violets are lifting their sleepy little heads after a long winter’s nap.  They look like lovely swans. 

Violets.  Be still my heart.

And more violets.

I’m off to bed.  Be thankful.  And happy. 

8 comments   Bunnies, Gardening, Herbs and Wild Edibles, Wildflowers

Pictures from our Walk

By Lynn, on January 11th, 2011%

Good morning, dear friends!  Let’s look at the pictures from yesterday’s walk.  Bundling up and going out seems sometimes like the last thing anyone would want to do.   After all, it is easy to become a chubby little mouse, snug in your mouse house with a plate of cheese and crackers and a cup of hot cocoa.  Once you get your boots and coat and hat on, though, the outdoors is an exciting place to be!

When all is gray and cold, or white and cold, as the case may be, little things like this lichen surely jump out as a touch of color.  Annie and I stopped and admired.  Well, she sniffed a wrapper that someone had carelessly thrown onto the side of the road, but I did admire the beautiful lichen.  (Mental note to self:  A good service project for Michaela would be for us to pick up the trash around our block.)

Ah, what’s the story here?  My eye immediately was caught by these bright red fruits, reminding me so much of one of the trees in my own yard.  I stopped to investigate and take a picture, wondering if it indeed could be in the Euonymus genus of plants.  Well, much to my surprise, later in the day I found out that my sweet friend, Marqueta, from a few states away had been out looking at and learning about the same plant!  I was so excited to find that she had already figured out that it was winter creeper, something I did not know.  From there, I looked up winter creeper on line and found that it is indeed in the Euonymus genus, Euonymus fortunei, native to Asia, while my Euonymus americanus is native to the U.S.  Isn’t that truly interesting?

This huge puffball mushroom “smoked” when I touched it with a stick!   

Rocks by the train tracks, moss, and pinecones made a pretty and interesting sight.

My first thought was a poor fairy house that had imploded, but no, ‘twould be a pumpkin that someone tossed into the woods and it has finally decayed to nearly an unrecognizable thing.  There were other smaller pumpkins that still had their shape.  (And you wondered how I knew.)

Did Annie not have the best time?  She enjoyed using her nose, which is what hounds and beagles are known for, after all, and she loved getting some exercise with us!

Once back home, it’s a marvel that the goldfish continue to live and swim around under the ice.  Makes me shiver to think of it. 

Well, more pins going into the shop this morning, and more pins in the making.  Doll house is taking up half the kitchen table so that I can work on it when I get a chance.  Work calls today too, but hopefully that will go by fast so that I can get back to the fun stuff!

Enjoy this day.

6 comments   Homeschooling, Nature Study, Pets, Wildflowers

A Fall Update

By Lynn, on November 23rd, 2010%

Can it be Tuesday already?? Really? Every day I think I’ll get here and post a big hello, but then every day goes crazy with errands and work, cooking and cleaning, and I go to bed thinking, maybe tomorrow.

This week started out with a trip to the orthopedic surgeon so that John could have his cast removed. Does it seem like it’s been six weeks since the break? He does have to go into a removable splint now for a couple more weeks. He’ll be working on range of motion for his wrist, which is somewhat limited after the break.


I thought you’d like this picture of John and his doctor, Dr. Lark. He’s a very nice man and, we think, an excellent doctor. John especially likes him.  He’s got a really nice way with the children, younger and older.

Remember the bladder campion I got from Yorktown?  It is still blooming and looking ever so pretty in a pot on the porch. 

Do you love it as much as I do?  I am wondering if it would totally take over if put in the ground?  Maybe?  I’ve read it can be a bit invasive.  But then again, the little wild garden has a way of letting things go wild while putting on a air of orderliness.  (I’m quite sure it’s the stone border that the carpenter man installed.)

I believe this yellow jacket is enjoying the edges of some decaying vegetation in the goldfish pond.  I’m not sure if I should go ahead and scoop everything out, or just let it float around until it decays away to nothing.  The first answer seems to make more sense, but then again, it is the little wild garden.  When you let things go, you something see things you wouldn’t see otherwise. 

I love the horsetail.

Isn’t it lovely?

We’ve had violets in bloom again, scattered here and there about the yard.  Not many.  Just a few.  I love violets.  They are good in salads and to snack on.

The bird feeder has just been a blur of activity as black-capped chickadees, house finches, cardinals, tufted titmice and other songbirds land continuously throughout the day.  It sure makes work easier to be able to look out and see songbirds playing and feeding!

I must run.  We have school to do, I must work, we are preparing for Thanksgiving, and I also want to work in the garden!   I have some bok choy I want to plant!

Enjoy this day!

3 comments   Gardening, Goldfish Pond, Insect ID, Relationships, Wildflowers

The Farmer’s Curse

By Lynn, on August 14th, 2010%

I was looking at my morning-glory-covered arbor that marks the entry to the vegetable garden.  Call me crazy.  My husband, the carpenter, who grew up on a large working farm says they pulled morning glories out left and right where people grew real crops.  It’s true I’m not growing any “crops,” but I probably should be more aggressive with all the wild things around here.   And the lamb’s quarters is now so thick in the garden that we have a wild baby bunny living in the garden.  I don’t think she’s even found the real vegetables yet.

Ahh, the joys of gardening.  Or should I say, the joys of an abandoned garden.  I mean, it’s not like I have much time to garden to start with, but the heat lately has kept anyone in North Carolina from actually enjoying gardening.

Recently I was talking to a dear, sweet friend.  She’s a sweet~pea for sure, and quite witty.  I was talking to her about the state of my garden.  I said that I really needed to weed and that I had probably let things get pretty out of hand, but that I sort of liked things that are a little bit wild anyway.

“That explains a lot,” she said.

I looked at her with a smile.  “What do you mean?”

“Well I always wondered what attracted you to Thomas, but you just said you like things that are a little bit wild” 

We all got a good laugh.  Trust me, the carpenter man can only be so wild with the family he’s grown for himself over the last 22 years.

On another gardening front, I want to talk to you about the fact that I have multiple Charlottes.  Remember when I went out and found the first one?  Well, we have now found four of them, all in that same little area.  That means there are probably more and we are only seeing four of them.  Here are three of them, so you can compare.  (The carpenter man found the fourth one after I had taken the camera inside.)

Similar but different.

As you know, today is a work day for me.  I’m just taking a little break to update you.  I sold a doll this morning, to a wonderful kindred-spirit sort of lady I met a couple of weeks ago.  She bought one of the dolls that I was not so sure about at first, but then have fallen in love with as he has sat on my desk watching me work.

I better get busy.  I’ve been so happy this past week about the planning I’ve gotten done for school.  We will open the school year with Betsy Ross next week and a delightfully-planned-out year of co-ops with our Beyond Five In A Row co-op group.  I have also decided to take on the heading up of producing a yearbook for our Five In A Row support group.  I hope it will be a wonderful school year.

Enjoy this day.

4 comments   Gardening, Wildflowers, Working and Homeschooling

Summering-Up

By admin, on June 10th, 2010%

There’s nothing that gets me in the mood to make my house and myself look pretty (well, a girl can try) like a Victoria magazine.  I’ve been flipping through some June Victoria magazines this morning and now I am totally in the mood to clean the house from top to bottom, getting every little thing just right, and then I’ll sit down with some herbal tea and just enjoy.  (Like I said before, a girl can dream!) 

This morning I stepped outside to see if I could catch a bladder campion bloom that was open, and I did!  The books say that they only bloom in the evening or overcast weather.  I’ll be watching to see if that’s true of my little flowers.   The sun is bright at this point and while the bloom is still there, it’s withered on the ends. 

Yesterday I was looking for new hairstyles and found a bunch of videos on YouTube that I totally enjoyed!  They are by a very lively lady named Torrin.  If you want to visit her hair videos, you can go here:  Torrin’s Page.  Enjoy.

I think the infinity bun turned out great.  Since I love using only hairsticks to keep my hair up, this is a perfect and easy style for summer.  Keeps you cool, easy to do, looks romantic with wonderful white summer dresses.

Here’s sort of a different view for you.  Sorry it’s so dark.  My hair is rather dark, so it’s sometimes hard to get a picture that shows detail. 

As far as summering up the wardrobe, I tried to talk myself into staying away from “GW Boutique” for awhile, but it was calling loudly to me and I found a ton of lovely summer things this week, including a new white summer dress for about $4.00.   (“New” is a matter of opinion.)  ;)

Here’s a little closer-up view, so that maybe you can see some detail of the dress.  It’s a twirly fun dress that zips of the back, so it fits nicely and looks sweet, if I do say so myself. 

I must get busy doing my Victorian-esque cleaning and dressing-up fun today.

Enjoy this day.

8 comments   Fashion, Long Hair, Wildflowers

A Little Bit of Yorktown

By admin, on June 9th, 2010%

I was reminiscing this morning about Yorktown.  It’s an easy thing to do, if you’ve ever been there.  You may remember that nearly exactly a year ago, last June, Michaela and I were in Yorktown visiting my sister and my niece.

It was a blissful few days.  There were no men involved.  Not that men make things un-blissful, mind you, but we ladies could do what we wanted to, when we wanted to.  We dragged the girls from museum to museum.  We played and let the girls run and swim.  We ate ice cream.  We ate out.  We ate out again.  We ate out all we wanted to.  We went to thrift stores.  (See, I just don’t think men get stars in their eyes over thrift stores like women do.)

If you’ll remember, I was taken with the wildflowers around the battlefield at Yorktown.  That’s bladder campion pictured above, and I thought it was beautiful.  A princess.  So I found a flower that had bloomed and was drying up and I brought it home.  I placed it in an envelope in my seed box and I waited. 

And waited.

I’ve been waiting for a year.

Then, a few weeks ago I sprinkled some seed into a huge pot on my front steps.  Little green shoots appeared.

And now, overlooking the little wild garden, I have bladder campion.  I could stand and look at it all day you know.  I look at it and remember the girls running across the battlefield.  I remember my beautiful sister and me walking slowly and talking about everything from how we grew up to where we are now.

It blooms in the evenings or in overcast weather, but I’ll be watching and share a picture when it does. 

While I’m at it, I’ll show you a little place in the garden where I put “starts.”  If I’m working with a plant and a piece breaks off, if it’s something that will root easily I just stick it in this rich soil and keep it watered.  In with the bladder campion is a stem of Lady Banks rose that has taken root.  You may also notice thyme in the other pot, along with part of a spider plant and a sprig from a mum.  (The basil was started from a seed.)

Bladder Campion
Silene cucubalus

Several stems rise from the same root to a height of two or three feet.  The rather thick leaves are paired, lance-shaped to ovate.  The whole plant is very smooth, with a slight bloom.  The flowers are in a forking inflorescence.  The five sepals join to form the papery “bladder,” which becomes larger in fruit.  The five white petals stand on narrow stalks, their spreading blades two-lobed.  Each flowers last two or three days but is open only from evening until morning (in dull weather it may remain open through the morning).  The stamens mature first, then the stigmas; pollination is by moths.

Bladder campion, a native of Europe, now adorns roadsides, fields, and waste places throughout the United States (except in the south and southwest) and adjacent Canada.  It comes into flower in April and continues through summer and into autumn. 

Among other English names for the plant are Billy-busters, cow-rattles, fat-bellies, kiss-me-quick, rattle-bags, spattling-poppy, thunderbolt, white riding-hood.  The herbalist Gerard says it is good against venomous bites–even if you just hold it.  The young shoots, boiled, are said to be delicious.  ~The Odyssey Book of American Wildflowers 1964

Enjoy this day.

6 comments   Relationships, Wildflowers

The Little Wild Garden

By admin, on June 7th, 2010%

Thomas told me yesterday that I may not realize it (because I look at it every day), but my yard is now jungle-ized.  Hmmm.  I like it.

Yesterday, Michaela said, “Mama, you need to cut this back.  No one can get through.”

I raised my eyebrows.  “I can get through.  You just have to duck a little.”

I love the wildlife that comes with a jungle-ized yard: everything from birds’ nests to black snakes to garden spiders. 

I potted up some things to sell this morning.  I wandered around, enjoying the birdsong and just being happy in the sunshine.  I enjoyed my little jungle-ized garden.

Today is a work day, so I must scoot to the work desk soon, but for now there’s still a few more minutes for meeting new flowers and photographing creatures.  And reading.  In the garden.  By the goldfish pond.

And speaking of new flowers.  Here’s another little wildflower that I’ve become acquainted with recently.  Her name is Venus’s looking glass.  And to think, some call her a bothersome weed.   In The Little Wild Garden, she’s a princess.

4 comments   Gardening, Wildflowers

Asiatic Dayflower

By admin, on June 6th, 2010%

One of the benefits of letting your garden go wild is that you get to meet, well, wildflowers.

One of the most recent new introductions that has occurred in the Little Wild Garden has been when I said “how do you do?” to the dayflower, a member of the Spiderwort family. 

It’s a sprawling plant, a ground cover.  It blooms typically from June to October (but can be seen from May until frost) and each bloom only lasts for one day or less.  It grows anywhere from 1 foot to 3 feet tall.  The leaves are lance-shaped and alternate up the stem. 

The genus name is Commelina and at least one common species is communis.   It came over from Asia and is considered now by some to be a troublesome weed.  There are about 100 species in the genus Commelina.  I like thinking about where it got its name. 

Linnaeus named the genus after three Dutchmen named Commelijn, two of whom were well-known botanists of the 17th century, while the third (the small petal) died young without accomplishing anything.  The Odyssey Book of American Wildflowers.  1964

The flower does indeed have three petals: two larger blue ones and one small whitish one.

2 comments   Wildflowers