Category: Country Touches
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More Flower Fun
A Cup of Gold A week ago, just before the hard frost, I rushed out, despite having arrived home after dark, and grabbed armloads of marigolds. I put them in five gallon buckets filled one-third with water and brought them inside. That set the stage for more flower arranging fun. I completed a fall bouquet…
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Marigolds in a Real McCoy!
A vase from Grandma In one of my visits to my sister, the topic of conversation turned to our grandmother’s flower vase and pot collection. We reminisced that grandma had some pots and vases by the classic pottery maker named McCoy. I guess that’s where the old idiom came from, “It’s the real McCoy.” Long…
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Bear Exterminator
This bear was helpful! Early this summer, I was weeding along the fence line and I was unpleasantly surprised by a yellow jacket sting. Fortunately, I am not allergic. I thought that there was a ground nest so I just stayed clear. Later, while admiring daylilies, I was shocked to discover a football sized nest…
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It’s Daylily Season
Open garden scheduled Kelvin’s daylily garden is about at its peak with around fifty different varieties in bloom. A couple early ones have already completed their season and some late ones are yet to start. The Joneses are inviting friends who would like to drop by to an open garden time on Friday, July 12…
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Nostalgia filled puzzle
A picture that evokes memories Puzzle season is in full swing at our house. I just finished this gem. It is a favorite these days because it reminds me of so many things from my childhood. Take, for example, the big stove. While the style of this stove is from an earlier generation, we had…
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Spider Daylilies Capture My Fancy
New spider daylilies bloom Daylilies, daylilies, daylilies. What a great season. It is almost over now. Watering was certainly necessary this year to keep the blooms coming. But with a little care, I enjoyed some delightful surprises in my daylily collection. We even held a daylily garden open house one hot July Sunday afternoon. A…
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Uncovering History in my Garden
Hitching Posts At our home in the historic section of West Granby, CT, the old granite hitching posts standing in the rail fence line are immediately obvious. The remaining granite sentinels with their broken rusty metal loop tie hooks remind me of the mid nineteenth century mill origins of this part of West Granby. I…
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Rose Arbor Delights
Climbing roses reward hard work Rose arbors have a history in our family. My maternal grandmother had a rose arbor. Here’s a picture of my Grandfather and Grandmother, Samuel and Jessie Isaman in front of their home rose arbor. The arbor was still there when I was a child but the roses were no longer…
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Daylily season underway
I’m a daylily fan Daylilies are still blooming even though things are a little soggy. The blossoms look great with a few drops of water on them, but eventually most of them are damaged by continued downpours. Every garden has some old favorites like my Ruby Spiders in the featured picture. But there are also…
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Unexpected November flower bouquets
I can’t believe my marigolds have not really been killed by frost yet. They were burned this past weekend but I went out ahead of that anticipated cold and rescued flowers for another round of late fall flower arranging. Funny how I let them grow all summer, but when frost threatens, I start cutting and…