Monday, August 17, 2015

Plants, Projects and the Puppy

With summer waning...it's a good time to get photos of my massive planters. They are 36" tall and at least 84-inches wide. I've been trying out perennials. The big test is next spring to see what managed to winter over. 

This first planter is pretty much completely in the shade. As you can see...I got very lucky with this one! I've got three Astilbes which have pretty much finished blooming and then the two large-leafed plants are Ligularia. It is supposed to produce large golden spikes...I think they are just starting to bud! I also threw in two decorative ivy plants...can't remember the name right now...but those two plants definitely like this location.

The next two planters get a good amount of sun. I tried these chartreuse Bleeding Hearts, which are meant to be in full sunlight, in the planters last year and they wintered over! YES!!! This one has just one Bleeding Heart but I added two Columbines that are providing pretty green leaves but no blooms so far. I also put in two Day Lilies...which bloomed nicely. The little trailing orange plants were just some filler annuals.


This planter has two Bleeding Heart plants that pretty much overwhelmed everything else I put in the planter. I love this green color against my house color.


Still working on organizing my sewing room. I did fire up the fancy iron I bought at the Paducah quilt show that steams all fabrics...even synthetics. Worked great on the felt pieces for the Bucilla stocking kits I am obsessed with. For the first time I had a major piece of felt that was impossible to use...and of course it was the background piece of the stocking front. There was a huge stain on the bottom and the toe was cut off.


I called the toll-free number available in the kit and luckily they are sending me a new piece of felt. I  was not sure they would be able to help me since this is a kit that was released in 2009. (In the Workshop.) I had heard from others that Bucilla was good about responding to kit problems.

In the meantime...I started a wall hanging kit, Nordic Christmas Tree. This is the base of  the tree. 


My cross stitch projects were being ignored. This is a Swiss Santa ornament after three nights.


But mainly I have been playing with my new puppy.


Turns out she is also a bit of gardener...a digger!


We might have some future disagreements.

6 comments:

NancyA said...

Your bleeding hearts are gorgeous! Do you remember the variety? Love your puppy--what a cutie, he is going to be a beautiful dog. Looks like he is trying to dig his way to freedom. Ha!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

love all your plants I hope you have luck with some of them wintering over. such a cute dog! glad the sock company worked with you!

CecileD said...

Lovely plants !!!
And..... Lovely puppy even if she makes some silly things !! Ah ! Ah !
She very young......

Calicojoan said...

Wow it's great to hear that Bucilla had what you needed. Have to laugh at the new pup. I had a digger years ago, that would dig to China to escape the fenced in yard, only to sit on the other side. He got picked up by the dog catcher one day, while I was at work. Long story short, once she realized that he wasn't running anywhere and was really in his yard, she let it go. They became great friends and she would pick him up to ride with her daily. It kept them both entertained. LOL!

Donna quilts said...

Your planters are looking great! Those sun loving bleeding hearts are a really striking color! Glad to hear that your gardening assistant is a good digger - it could come in handy when you're planting bulbs!

Dawn said...

Beautiful plants maybe McKinley can help did holes for any outdoor plants that you have?? Nice to see your Bucilla project - wonder what it will be, they are always a delight to see.