What My Hands Can do - Garden Pictures of Other Times

Pictures I've taken while I've been here.


This little house is truly a little cottage. It is the first house built in this city. It was a vacation house. My roommate bought it as a fixer upper and I came in a year after. It was so bad, I refused to live in it even for free until circumstances changed my mind.


This...
                                                                
is how it looked when I moved in, and the inside was no better. There was no kitchen in yet, and my room had missing floors etc. I will not dare to show those pictures, I will spare you. This one here is the only one I will show....and all those trees in the back were cut down by the owner on their side of the fence, and then there was no green but the half dead grass. I quickly planted ficus which did grow in record time and filled up the area. We also fenced in the entire back with wood fencing to cut off the offending yards that are neglected. That sad banana tree is now an area that is a pond about 8' by 10', with water lilies, lotus, frogs, dragonflies, little silver fish, goldfish, koi, a bird bath, wild animal fountain, and very funny singing toads. This house is a Broward Certified Yard and soon I will go for the Wildlife Sanctuary recognition.
 
I went to work hard and fast during the hot Florida summer to fix it up just so I could sleep in it including priming and painting the outside of the house in the hot Florida summer. Did I mention it was a hot Florida summer?
My personal plans did not work out and 9 years later this little house is the Little Cottage That Could. People literally knock on the door asking if they could buy it. I've been told several times, it is the cutest house in the neighborhood. Only now, in the past few weeks have I decided to make it my home and do some things as I would if it were mine with the roommate's approval and permission. Yes, it's been very cozy, but there is more I wish to do. Nothing major of course, its still not mine, and I have a reno budget of about $20.00 per month, that is twenty dollar per month which means I have to get super uber inventive.
But this is about the Garden and all its transformations along the years.

A summer of flowers and hanging pots.

My first garden patch. There are 6 more in various places. I grow as much as I can. This was a very good time for herbs, there were so many....rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, sage, oregano, holy basil, red lettuces, chives, tarragon, parsley and some butterfly weeds. On the fence I rigged bamboo which serves as a trellis for the wild Muscadine Grapes which literally cover the fence here and grow profusely the most gorgeous color in pearly grapes I've ever seen. You can see some of the vine here too.





Wall of grape leaves and grapes.

Closeup of the gorgeous pearly texture and color of grapes. Their beauty is amazing to me!
 What I made with them and what I do with the leaves, the vine and the grapes is another post. :D

The pond and the water lilies.

Tara surrounded by color.

This veggie patch of cabbages and arugula is now filled with clump moss, and is my little Forest Floor.

 A part of one of the 7 herb beds with bok choy, arugula and dandelion.

The entrance from the back. This arbor is now white.

Closeup of giant Australian Fern. I think these fiddle heads are magical beings! Look at how they face each other in such sweetness!

The following pictures needs no explanation :D

John shows the size of this giant caterpillar which turns into a monarch butterfly.

The herb garden under a make shift shade.

My favorite plant, Maidenhair Fern.

An entire generation of Zebra Butterfly asleep in their favorite hanging place, the Spanish Moss on the Old Oak. I literally watched them cocoon, hatch and feed from a passion vine. Then others would come in as they would hatch. It amazed me to see the other butterflies come when another was being born. Then they'd fly together. At night they all slept on the hanging moss. Mother Nature blows my mind.






In this Picture you can see several butterflies surrounding the chrysalis.....they looks like miniature bats hanging upside down.....there are two of them. and another to the extreme left who is by itself because it is empty. I wondered what made the butterflies come to them?

In this picture you can see around 4 butterflies around each chrysalis

This is a closeup of one, and when it was 'ready' to emerge, a butterfly came to it.

The Front Yard and the community bird bath.....I love watching the birds bathe in here usually at 4pm.







 The front veggie patch growing cucumbers and tomatoes and other things.

My Fairy Cabbage Patch. I loved these, they looked like giant green roses.






Another life my front veggie bed had with kale, chard and other greens.







 A view of part of the yard in full summer.










My Lotus, Mrs. Perry D. Slocum......

 The first day of the lotus blooming it is vivid in color. It blooms for 3 days.

 Day 2 the colors begin to fade as it opens. A silent life happens with these supernal flowers....they're magical.

Day 3, they loose most of the vivid color, and show the delicate nature of its truest essence, ethereal and soft. Also on this day the inner seed pod has grown entirely overnight. It continues to grow, until eventually it has grown the seeds, matured and must drop them. Then it turns it head down, so the seeds may fall to fertile waters.

Then it begins again. As is the beauty and eternal nature of the Great Mother. I love and adore Her!

And the Garden always grows, changes, and transforms.


I am linking up with A Delightsome Life: Home and Garden Thursday





And with.....

The House In The Roses

Pictures for Pammie !

 This Post is for a beloved friend in Australia. We love to chat and speak of what is happening in our lives. She is adorable in that she is interested in the little details of my life, and so I took these pictures for her. I wish my photography was better, maybe one day I'll get a good camera. Right now, I'm happy to have one at all. :D

I am linking up here with A House In The Roses for her ''SHOW OFF YOUR COTTAGE MONDAY''. 





Pammi, Here are the pictures as I promised :

These little fairy lights I had taken down when the crystal chandelier went up, but I missed them and the Fairy so much, especially the glowing amber grapes leaves I've been collecting from the garden....so she and the leaves went back. Even John said he preferred her there ! She is magical and will stay.

A part of the window in the computer/guest room. The seashell chimes are showing here with the agate slices as the musical generators. It is a beautiful sound! They tinkle ! Also you can see the roots to a huge vanda orchid but the flower is up higher, not visible. Every single day I just love how the morning sun filters through these lace curtains, onto the vignet I have on top of the now covered printer LOL with the pink and white feathers I collected myself, and sea shells, the glass sparkles, and the purple vine plant gets the light it loves, and the green moss stays so greeeennn!!

The vignet more lit up with more sun here:

 My chemise made from flax linen in the Ukraine I ordered for my 50th birthday with a Medieval dress,  hanging in the sun to dry. Behind it is the pond which you can barely see but is there. Tropical yes? :D

The vignet just below the previous window. I lit a golden candle one night, and just took a picture without flash. It was so enchanting. The pine cones there are ones I collected from a rare pine tree here when I go for my walks. They opened up while on my desk and I could hear the sounds it made! I gilded them and gave them some sparkles. There is also a small floating candle in a small mercury glass vase and an antique candle snuffer I got for a present about 20 years ago LOL.  I love how these little spots in the house make me feel so cozy! The beauty stops me in my tracks and I am captured in a place I love.  The picture frame is a beautiful pewter frame I have for many years now, but never a picture for it. A few years ago I got a Christmas gift wrapped with the most beautiful paper with angels on it.....this is one of the angels....lol....I cut it out of the wrapping paper and framed it. I love angels. Picture is blurry but the essence is there.

Another day with fresh candle. The floating one is lit here.

My linen chemise dried and hanging with a beautiful ruffly hand painted silk wrap made by my friend Tabitha.

A crochet tablecloth I recently bought from ebay and which was hanging on a line outside. I just took it out of the gentle sun shower we got this morning and put it up on the screen. I love lace so much and don't want them folded away and hidden. There is always something that can use some lace !!

I love my bedroom window now that I added some dreamy whites. I had a sheer crushed tolle fabric on it that was pure ethereal! Then I added the white fringed burn out shawl I bought in New Mexico years ago. Today I added two long fringed runners on each end of the shawl. There is hanging from the swirly hook a prism that is filled with water that generates rainbow colors in the afternoon sun. The quartz crystals I've collected line the window sill....it looks magical as it is all clear and shades of transparent to white and frosts! And I love the lavender bottle. In the center is a tiny 6" tall terrarium with clump moss in it. Quan Yin stands guard. I love how it looks. In the middle hanging is a tiny shabby chic candle chandelier lit up and glowing. You can see the sun outside. By 3 or 4 in the afternoon the sun will shine through the lattice and make magic.

Places in the Gardens:


A wire basket of air plants or Tillandsia's hanging on the fence outside that I added some beads to.....everything gets bejeweled in my house! LOL

Another basket of Tillandsia's with sea shells and spanish moss.

The pond today with one of two goldfish left. I must get some more! I want to see this pond sparkly with golden movement again! I just hope the rascal racoons don't come back for them again!!

The Woods Garden.....I bought a box of clump moss, my new love! and had it all over the house for Christmas and I loved it! However, I love the moss so much and I wanted it to live a long time so I had to find a place for it. I just happened to have a planting bed with nothing in it that is shaded all day. I put this little Forest Floor together in half an hour! I collected the wood we had lying around and a few shade plants, some ferns of course and all the clump moss and put it in. It looks beautiful and is alot more green than the picture! Finally this vacant bed looks magical and the moss is doing great and I have my little piece of the Forest ~!

Detail of the ''furry'' moss...with oak leaves fallen from the tree...and pine cones....and fern.......I just love this stuff.

This is a bronze leaf shooting star. It takes over everything too. but the flowers are pretty striking!

Coleus. Looks alot better in person lol

A planter with red leaf lettuce....doing well.

My fish tank ? lol....you can barely see the tiny neon fish at the bottom, but in person it looks cool.

View from the back door. The sun hitting the vines growing on the building,  water fountain sits on the dryer, and the arbor, then the netted gazebo towards the back on the right side. John sits there all the time watching the pond.

A view of the red begonias in planter boxes on the front porch. They're doing really well.

Another view of the same with the angel guarding them, and a pony tail plant with a Japanese landscape on the table.

Same begonias view from the inside. The strange texture is the screen in the window which you don't see when you look through it.........but its pretty.

 


A Bird's Nets fern also doing well, with the creeping fig I planted innocently by the chimney years ago, which is now creeping everywhere including the front porch walls!

A beautiful pink pointsettia with a foxglove in front of living room window and another Birds Nest in a white urn. You can barely see the seashells that line the windowsill which look so dreamy and beautiful from the inside.

Above the foxglove is hanging a lacy fern, in front of the lacy curtains LOL

The beaded chandelier in the daylight. You can barely make out the satin metallic caramel latte color, but I do plan on putting a light bulb in this fixture to make it a working beaded chandelier.

 

Well here is the improved lighting. I removed the ''twinkling'' led lights, and replaced it with a bulb socket and an amber colored light. It matches better the other Christmas lights I already have up. The twiliight sky is amazing back there ! that azure blue !

So, there you have it, my beloved Pammie! I hope this was nice for you. I had a little more fun putting this together than I thought I would, especially explaining the pictures which sounds more interesting now that I've described it. I will have more soon. I love you!