Our Garden

 

One of the things that we've been looking forward to doing with our new large yard since we moved in is to grow vegetables. We missed the start of the growing season last year so this spring, way back in March, Frank had a jump on things by building three large cedar planter boxes against the fence on the sunniest side of our house.

We filled them with good dirt and compost (you can see our compost bin in the way back of the picture up there by the bamboo, where we recycle all of our compostable kitchen scraps),

Then we chose vegetables and herbs and planted them mid-March.

Fast forward almost two months and here's what they look like today!

We've got tomatoes (called "Big Boy variety" and already totally living up to their name!), cilantro, basil, rosemary, mint, green peppers, squash, strawberries and lavender.

This tiny sprout will grow up to be a yummy green pepper,

and these are some of the "big boy" tomatoes already ripening on the vine.

In one of the bins I planted flowers, this one is edible, I forget the name but I remember having it on salads at a lovely organic restaurant in Maine ages ago, I think I'll just use it as a cut flower though, I think its so pretty.

I love Cleome, one of my summer favorites, 

In the third bin we started everything from seeds. This will be my cutting garden, hopefully full of flowers blooming in another month or so.

The kids and I had fun choosing our packages of seeds, and we're growing many flowers that I've admired in cutting gardens in the past. I can't wait to have bouquets of fresh flowers in the house, and I've always loved sunflowers so we planted a bunch of those.

 

For now I'm content with the bouquets of herbs and nasturtiums that I've been bringing in. I can't wait to update you as our garden grows!

Planting Succulents

In the springtime I always get the itch to get my hands in the dirt and plant things. We have a lot of sun on our deck here so I decided to try something that I've been longing to do for a while, create potted arrangements of succulents.

I just love all of the colors, variety and textures of succulents, combining them in a planter made me feel like I was creating little works of art with them as my palate.

Carys and I had fun picking out our plants at the garden center.

I set out to make four different low arrangements with four spots in mind around our deck and patio.

And here are two of them finished, adding interest to our seating area,

 This was the only planter that I bought, the rest we had sitting around, but I liked that this one has been planted with mosses in the terracotta. Isn't that a cool idea? So, over the course of the summer the exterior of the pot should become mossy and "worn" looking in the best way.

I did one hanging planter, which looks so pretty next to our lotus cooper rain chain .

Making them was such a satisfying project, one that we'll enjoy all summer! This week I want to share our other big garden project with you, we're growing vegetables!

Pink Blossoms

Today we celebrate the official first day of the Spring season, happy day! My body feels a little confused this first spring in Charleston as it seems like we've been welcoming spring in since February when the early tulip Magnolias started blossoming. It feels so early to me but I welcome it.

Our favorites so far have been the pink ones, in our neighborhood there are massive huge Azalea bushes, which Carys picks from to make endless bouquets.

A nice surprise was to find that we have some small Azalea bushes underneath my favorite palm tree. I didn't realize that they were Azaleas until the buds started forming, it will be fun to watch the bushes grow bigger each year.

Another nice surprise has been these pink fire bushes next to our front steps.

The kids and I did some spring planting in our small front containers with Pansies and Sage. They look so great against this wild bush, each blossom looking like a fire work.

 

See, its like a pink explosion,

Then there is my favorite, ever! I have always loved Red Bud trees, and always wanted one. So last summer when we did our garden renovation I had a small Red Bud tree planted...and then waited all winter to see these blossoms,

Our little tree did not disappoint, I think she's just lovely!

Since I really can't contain myself in my excitement for spring here are a couple of other blossoms, not pink, but so pretty,

This is one of the plants that actually never stopped blooming throughout our mild winter, I know that they are related to the hibiscus plant but I don't know much else about them beside that the kids think they look like fairy lights.

 Spring is here!

Magnolia Pods

For the past month we've been having fun watching the seed pods on our Magnolia tree change. They were the center of the flower blossom back in June, and now each pod has taken on a life of its own,

Changing from these pink pods, to something more pine-cone like, once it has fallen to the ground and released its bright red seeds,

The kids and I had fun collecting them to arrange in this example of the life cycle of the pod.

Circle of love

The other day, on a family bike ride, we happened up a sacred scene in a park by the sea. There were flowers carefully arranged in a long patterned pathway, ending in a flower circle on the spot where quite clearly there had been a marriage ceremony either that morning or the day before. The petals were fresh and beautiful in pinks, yellows and creams, they were all that remained of what must have been a stunning affair. The space still felt like it held the solemnity of the event.

We stood in a circle of four at the end of the aisle, gazing out from that spot across the ocean, and it really seemed the perfect place to be surrounded by a circle of flowers and love.

Continuing our Tradition

Last week we continued our annual tradition of taking a family photo in the amazing bluebell field at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden...

It usually coincides with Mother's Day here in the states, and it is always the most welcome Mother's Day gift for me to have these beautiful pictures of my family! 

Three more days to go for us here in Brooklyn, I packed up my studio tonight, and have officially put my shop into "vacation mode" until June 1st. It is all starting to feel very real!

We've started saying goodbye to people. As strange as it sounds, I finally feel like this move is really happening, and I am feeling the grief of it all, but the thrill of our next chapter is lingering under the surface. Living in this duality is making me feel deeply and vibrantly alive.

"The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning." ~Ivy Baker Priest

Cherry Blossoms everywhere

The part of Brooklyn where we live, so close to Prospect Park, has been full of blossoms this past week, my favorites being the Cherry Blossoms, which seemed to be everywhere I looked...

We visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's annual Cherry Blossom festival, braving the crowds so that we could be there for the 10th Anniversary of Frank and my first date. I have always loved that our first date was to the Cherry Blossom festival, and that we also later got married at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden....we love walking around and reminiscing there, but we had some cheeky babies on our hands during our recent visit...

Even so, we had a spectacular time, that felt very romantic, and made us so happy to be able to revisit the festival of our first date with our children.