A wine Connoisseur I am Not

About two months ago, the Big Kahuna (my boss) took a trip to California. While there he toured a few wineries and ordered a few cases of the wines he liked.

The Big K is somewhat of a wine connoisseur. He has been trying to educate me (with little success) for the past five years or so. He is appalled that I still enjoy the cheap boxed white wines.

He ordered a case of this inexpensive (to him--I have no idea what it costs) red wine. He likes reds, but I am not all that fond of reds. He gave me a bottle of this one to try. When I saw the bottle I thought it would be perfect for a Halloween tablescape!
Every week he asks me, "Did you try the wine yet?" Every week I have to say no.

So tonight, after half a glass, my box of cheap Chardonnay ran out, and I decided to try it; because I did not want to dirty another glass, I am using a white wine glass for a red. (just want everyone to know that I do recognize the difference! LOL)

After my first sip, I thought, "Whoa . . .tongue jolt! It's very, very dry. But I kind of like it.

I googled the wine and found this review:
The Twisted Wines 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon has a bright nose that features a ton of red raspberry and lighter hints of vanilla. When you take the first sip you'll find a medium-bodied wine that alternates between dark and bright berry fruit characteristics. Touches of candied black cherry emerge, and lead to the finish which continues the berry theme, along with spice notes in the form of white pepper and nutmeg

Yeh...that is exactly what I was trying to say! I did notice that there was a little tang on the tongue a few seconds after swallowing the wine...that must be the pepper and nutmeg spice notes...

I think I still need more teaching before I qualify as a wine sommelier.

With my glass of red wine in hand, I went out to water the containers. This corner of the deck is beginning to look interesting, even though there is just one tiny flower in bloom.

To my eyes, the big canna and Elephant Ear leaves are just as lovely as flowers. Like wine, cannas may be an acquired taste. I used to hate them. Now they are, without a doubt, my favorite flower for the deck containers.

Just look at those stripes:


A few days ago, I changed the wagon wheel garden. I brought a big pot from the deck and went in the woods and found a stump that I've used in previous years. It already had a Black-eyed Susan growing inside, so I wheelbarrowed it (it's heavy)to this area.
I am not really loving this vignette. I will probably make some changes this weekend.


I know a little more about cooking than I do about wine. I made a pretty tasty macaroni and cheese for last night's dinner. No little blue boxes and powdered cheese for this girl! I will probably have leftovers tonight.

I hope you are all having a good week. I can't believe tommorow is Friday already!

Blooming Tuesday

'Kentucky' Tango lily burst into full bloom this weekend. I showed you the first bloom, but I think 'Kentucky' deserves its full-bloom glamour shot, just like the other 4 Tango lilies had.

I want to order more of these. Three is just not enough. Here is the view across the grass path to the other arbor garden:

A little further back my purple phlox has begun. I have a few different shades of purple/pink phlox. Some of them are twenty years old and I have long forgotten their names.

Phlox is such a staple of my late July/early August garden.

This red striped/blotched Rembrandt dahlia just opened yesterday.

I'd be totally ga-ga over it, if it had a few more petals with the bold red stripes. Maybe some of the other buds will have more red. You never know what you will get with the Rembrandts. That's part of the fun about growing them. It's exciting to run out each day to see what the new flower looks like.

Update: 4:30 p.m. July 20, 2010 I just went out to see how the dahlia looked today. The next layer of petals opened and I see a lot more red stripes! I am almost

ga-ga! If I had this dahlia at Christmas time, it would be the centerpiece of my holiday dinner table--it reminds me so much of candy canes!

This Rembrandt is not lacking in red color!

I love the purple center petals. I have had this one for a few years and it never ceases to fill me with pure Rembrandt love!

Here is another of my original Rembrandt dahlias. They are purple and my least favorite.
So wouldn't you know that the purple are what I have the most of! I ordered another Rembrandt collection last fall. So far none of them have bloomed. I am hoping that I do NOT have more purple in my new collection!

I just went out and cut down the orange and red spent lily stems around the globe thistle.

Now all of those lovely orbs show up nicely. It won't be long before they turn blue. I am hoping that you won't be seeing that pile of top soil much longer. I have been asking DH to knock in down for the past two years. I have been waiting at least 104 weekends....maybe next weekend will be the one! It's getting small enough that I can probably do it myself. It ruins all of my pics!

I got down close to the ground for this shot. I wanted to get the red-striped Tropicanna leaves in. This canna is planted right in the ground and is not growing as fast as the cannas I have in containers.
Last year the one I planted in this same spot did not bloom. I am hoping for a better outcome this year.

Right now I have a lot of red daylilies blooming -- many of them are called 'Red Fan Fare'. They are a fairly short daylily - -about 12 inches tall--I like the yellow centers -- they look like they are on fire!

So that's what's new in my garden. Now head over to Jean's Blooming

Tuesday to see what everyone else has. Jean has a lot of different coneflowers--all colors. I am going to see the others right now.

Driftwood Redo

I find this time of the year so sad. Most of my flowers have bloomed and when they die off, I have little to look forward to for the next few months.

In anticipation of this, I moved a few of my deck canna containers to the main gardens. I nestled them among the foliage and it has now grown tall enough to hide all of the containers.

This driftwood garden is one example.

See the big canna leaves behind the driftwood? No? Here is a close up:
The green striped leaves are Tropicanna Gold; the dark-striped leaves in the back on each side are the original Tropicanna. These are my original cannas and I still think they have the most interesting foliage coloration. If all goes as planned they will all shoot up big orange flowers in slightly different shades.

I moved one of my begonia/creeping Jenny conainers in a crevice of this driftwood. It sits perfectly in a V-joint of the driftwood. I get more pleasure from this container here than when it was inside the milk can further down the path.
Here is the backside where you can see the container.
I will show you pics later when (and if) they blooom.

The Yellow Calla Finally Bloomed

Remember the area next to the main arbor where I was hoping the yellow callas would bloom with the white trumpet (Easter) lilies?

Well, one bloomed yesterday. See that bright spot of yellow up there on the top?


The only problem is that the Easter lily now looks like this:
LOL. Just my luck. It would have been great if they bloomed at the same time, but they did not. Now I am waiting to see what happens with all of the other plants in that container....remember....I am thinking this container is full of pink starburst dahlias.... one of my favorite dahlias. Since I don't see any buds, my guess is they will not bloom with the lilies on the right side. Darn! I was a good plan. Unfortunately it's not panning out.


I have been on vacation since Tuesday. On Tuesday I worked my butt off in the garden. I have had no energy since! For the past two days, I've played around with flower arrangements and tablescapes, did a small bit of interior cleaning, but I have not gotten any major work done other than meet with contractors.

We have had three contractors here in the past two days. Each meeting is 1 to 2 hours. I am so sick of going over the same details with each on!

Remember that dining room wall paper I removed? That is what started it all.

It seems the contractor who did the dining room, took a few shortcuts. He put the wall paper right over fresh drywall without priming/painting it first. There is no way I can get that glue off. In order to paint that room, I need a couple of skim coats of drywall over the entire room.

I also need a wall of cedar board removed in the living room, then drywalled, some hardwood floors installed in the hallway, new windows throughout the house, six new inside 9-panel doors, new concrete steps/railings on the outside, a new sidewalk, and once that is all finished, new carpet throughout.......

A couple of days ago, I walked out into my garage and found a box from
CC. Whoo Hoo...my ants arrived after all!

Yesterday morning I went out and picked some ditch lilies for a centerpiece for the steak dinner we were having. I used some of the ants on the table:
Later in the afternoon DH came home from work, walked into my computer room, where I was making this post, and said, "I need to go to Home Depot and buy more of that ant spray."

I gave an incredulous look and said, "You mean the ants are back?" Just a few weeks ago we had sprayed and gotten rid of a ton of small ants inside the house. The thought of doing it all over again was not appealing!

Then he said, "Yes, there are ants all over the dining room table!"

LOL. What a fun table!

With daylilies the centerpiece only looks good for one day. Here it is this morning:
What a mess!

Tonight I am going to a Bellamy Brothers concert. They sang, "If I said you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" I love that song!

Shasta Daisies Make Great Centerpieces

There is no shortage of Shasta daisies in my yard. Shastas are pretty low maintenance...that is until they die and you have to cut them all down. To my eyes few flowers drag down the looks of garden more than a big clump of dead Shastas. But for the next week or so, they will look all fresh, white and pretty.

I will enjoy them in a few bouquets like this one I made a couple of days ago:
I used one of these flower tower vases:

The vases makes it very easy to arrange the flowers. All you have to do is cut the stems the same length and stick them in.

I also used one of my denim handbags as a vase! It was the inspiration for a full table setting. I did a post about it over at Tablescaping.

In addition to all the Shasta dasies, I also have a lot of yellow daylilies blooming right now. This end of the main arbor garden is almost all yellow.

Last Tango in Zoey's Garden

This one is called 'Kentucky'--a soft pumpkin color with cinnamon speckles.

I spent over 5 hours in the garden yesterday. I was out there shortly after 6:00 a.m. when I waved to my neighbor as she left for work. About noon she came back, stopped at the road, rolled down her window, and said, "Are you still at it?" I could not believe it was already noon.

I got involved in a lot of plant moving. Remember I wanted to move that big yellow daylily under the spikes of ligularia, the 'Rocket'? Here is where is was:
I moved it over a few feet and now it's right under the Ligularia.
I like it so much better in this spot. Of course it's never as simple as just moving one plant....no, no, no....I had to fill the hole from the daylily.......but with what? I decided that I needed another lavender plant. I have two in this area--one at the head of the garden and one on the side.
Can you see them? The hole is directly across from the side lavender plant.
Another lavender would form a perfect triangle. So I wandered around the Ponderosa until I found a lavender plant in one of the deck gardens. Within minutes it took a shovel ride to its new home on the opposite side of the yard.
It's pretty scrawny now. Hopefully it will survive and get big like it's new friends.

While glancing around I decided those Shasta daisies in the center had to go. I used to have a big patch of them, but removed it a couple of years ago. These are the ones that escaped.


Voila! Gone!

Now I had another big hole to fill. I decided to leave that area until I find some new plants to add to the garden. In the meantime, I brought a big container from the deck and tucked it in. I am loving that color combo of the canna 'Wyoming' leaves and the 'Capuchino' lily. There were a few other plants I moved--some iris and allium azure that were uprooted when I planted the big yellow lily and some other Shastas.

All in all I had a very exhausting, but wonderful day in my garden.

Blooming Tuesday -A Trip Around the Ponderosa

It's time again for Jean's 'Blooming Tuesday' I had such fun participating last week and I met some new gardeners. You may have noticed the new links I added.

This week I am going to take you around my yard to almost all of the garden areas I have. DH dubbed it the 'Ponderosa' because he says that even Ben Cartwright doesn't have a spread that big! LOL. Can you tell he thinks I have too many flower gardens?

This is at the edge of the woods in my backyard. If you walk through this arbor, you would be walking right into the wooded lot that we bought to keep anyone from building right next us.
I toss all kinds of stuff that I dig out of the main gardens in this area. It has gotten pretty full in just a few years. I never weed or do anything to this area.

I often think that this wild area looks better than the cultivated real garden areas!

Shot #2 is showing both sides of what I call my 'Arbor' or 'Main' gardens. These are also on the lot next to the house. I figured that as long as we paid for the space, I might as well use it for something! Most of the photos you have seen recently are up toward the main arbor where I have installed walking paths.

This is the back end where I have not yet put in walking paths. I wanted to add another path this year, but could not find any round stone pavers to match what I already have on this side. The yellow daylilies are just beginning to bloom on this side. There are also a lot of red daylilies that will be blooming within the week.

The next view is from behind the smaller arbor in the main gardens. I really need to get rid of that tree next to the arbor! I usually refer to this little garden as the 'wagon wheel garden'. There are three other small garden areas in front of the wagon wheel garden that you cannot see. This is the same area that had a blue chair in front of the wheel.

I have since moved that chair to the deck.

If you walk around to the back side of the deck, you get a full view of the rockwall garden. This area is in a makeover stage. I have been removing most of the plants. I now want only shrubs and trees in this area--looking for less maintenance.

This is an area that you hardly ever see. It's way at the end of my property line facing the woods. DH just cut the grass and you can see his lawn mover and wheelbarrow in front of the garden shed.

If you turn right at this tree, you will be on the side of the deck that faces my neighbor. Way at the end you can see the garden shed.
Right now the Shasta daisies, lychnis and more ditch lilies are blooming. The silver in the foreground is 'Silver King' artemesia. I like to use it for filler in flower bouquets. It spreads by underground runners and can be quite invasive. I like it enough to put up with the effort it takes to keep it in check.

Did you notice that star on the wall of deck?
I bought it from Coldwater Creek a few years ago to put in my dining room. I got bored with it there, so I brought it out to the deck last year.

This side is the main entrance to the deck. A couple of years ago I put hostas and liatris in the big planters that lead to the deck. I did this because it was the easy way out! They come up every year with almost no effort (and zero cost)from me. I was getting tired of planting them every year with annuals. It is a little too sunny for the hostas here. I may have to remove them as the edges are getting burn spots. First I am going to try giving them tons of water.
The bottom planter has a few pieces of Sedum Autumn Joy behind the hostas. I should either plant some SAJ in all four planters, or remove it from this side. It's off balance having it in just one area.
Maybe I will do that this week.
I climbed up in the back of DH's pickup truck to get this long shot of the same area.
I have a lot of Sedum Autumn Joy in the front yard. I moved it all there in the last year or so. I find the light green color attractive all year long and I wanted something that looked good and was maintenance free.

There is a ton more of it across the front of the house.

It's also way back in that bench garden--nothing grows well there. Even hostas won't grow well there. I've been moving all the hostas to other gardens.


So, except for 6 little garden areas, you've made the trip around the Ponderosa. Aren't you glad you don't have to weed all those gardens?

Now go over to Jean's and have fun visiting all the other gardens participating this week.

'Dot Com' Tango Lily Opened While I was Gone

We were gone all weekend on a little get-a-way with my parents. I am so fortunate in that my dear husband loves to be with my parents.

My DH is a tad older than me and only 13 years younger than my parents. He loves to be with my mom and dad. How lucky can a girl get?

We have a lot fun traveling around the state of Michigan with my non-fuddey-duddey parents.

When I was a kid, my Dad had one of the only dune buggies in town.

When I was a teenager,they both had their own motorcycles and snow machines. Every weekend they were on some cycle/sled adventure.

At 16 yrs. old, I had a summer job at the canteen of the largest factory in town and I rode to work with my helmeted waist-length hair flying in the wind as I drove in on my Mom's motorcycle!

My parents are very young-at-heart and we enjoy them so much!

While I was gone, I set up automatic posts. I thank all of you who stopped by and left a comment. If you did not post as "anonymous" I hope I replied to your comment. If you were "anonymous", then I may have answered in the comment section. I do try to respond to all commenters, because I appreciate everyone who takes the time to say something about a post.

While we were gone, another Tango lily bloomed.
This pink lily with the burgundy dotted center is called ‘Dot Com’-- another beauty! I just love these Tango lilies! It is so nice to be totally satisfied with a purchase.
Don’t you just love the name ‘Dot Com’? What blogger would not be intrigued by that name?

Dotty is growing behind these lilies--left side by the arbor.

Even though she is just a few feet away, it's a lot more shaded in that spot and the three plants are much smaller than the others.

Gotta run...can't be late for work! I have tons more pics I took yesterday, so I may be back tonight.