Peony Season

You thought lilacs smelled divine?  There are certain varieties of peonies in bloom here now that seem to perfume the whole farm!  Another brief, glorious, seasonal event as my collection of peony bushes bursts into bloom--a bit later than usual due to the cold spring, but welcomed in the landscape and wonderful to cut for bold, fragrant bouquets to bring indoors.

I love this form--and also have it in deep ruby and bi-color pink, but white has little fragrance.

This variety seems to have the most fragrance (and the most ants!)

 

I remember when we first moved to this farm when I was quite young, and as was typical of many farm houses, a large bed here, devoted to peonies, was memorable.  At some point, it disappeared from the landscape.  When I moved back to take care of my dad in 2003, I brought numerous plants from Iowa, including a few that are heirloom varieties.  If the big storms currently moving through our area this evening haven't destroyed the look of some of the bigger, brighter bushes, I hope I can photograph and post a few more views soon.

Anyone else enjoying peonies this month?  Thanks for dropping by!

Camping in the Rain

 Actually, I mean campground in the rain!  It's so hard to complain when we're just coming off of full summer of pretty bad drought, but come on, we don't even get a break for a HOLIDAY WEEKEND?  Nope, but we had some pretty awesome campers show up despite the cold, wet weather, and it was really busy around here.  Not very much swimming, but I guess the fishing was pretty good the past few days!

So to add some cheer and color, I decided to set up a new potting bench behind the office.  I'm slowly making planters and pots of annuals to sort of spruce up the place!

Potting Bench and the flowers I have left to plant.

These pots and planters seem kind of sketchy looking when first planted--they are just babies popped from cell packs, after all.  I seem to have a pretty pink theme going this year.  I love the contrast of the pink against all this green everywhere.  And I'm thinking of this post as a place to look back when things are all lush and overgrown, overflowing with trailing flowers.   It's been a couple of years since I planted flowers in the Spring--another chorus on the "Yes I Can" theme I started writing about last week, I think.

I'm hoping a few hanging pots of "Wave" Petunias will really take off; I can't plant enough geraniums; and I chose a mix of Nicotiana in hopes of getting a few hummingbirds to stick around.  Otherwise, the concept is:  mix it up.

But the real mystery (as in "will this work?") is all the seeds I'm busy putting in.  For a few years now, I've had a vision of tall, colorful sunflowers all along this old wooden fence that secures our firewood for sale.  I've transplanted a number of catnip plants here, saved from certain death as they were growing in our bonfire circle.  I'm adding seeds for dill plants.  And to really make it colorful, a collection of zinnias will be in front of the planting.  So far, only the catnip is visible....but in a couple of weeks, I think it will all be clear whether or not this is going to work or not.  And since it's predicted to rain for at least another week or so here, maybe this will actually all come out.  I'll keep this new garden project documented here!

Now about the 6 tractor tire planters along the road into the campground.....to be continued!  Thanks for stopping by and hope your holiday was a good one---and enjoy the short week!

New Thoughts and New Pieces

Keishi Pearl Bouquet and Vine Hoops

Despite the crazy distractions of life the past few months, I've been finding studio hours when and where ever possible, but it's only when I finally make some time for photography, together with the detachment that offers, that I can see some patterns and directions in the work.

I'm seeing some ideas evolve and tonight I made some little groupings/collages to see how a few specific forms have changed with time.  I rarely stick with a singular idea and just run through permutations.  Instead, I normally juggle a collection of ideas, and one sort of feeds another.  Very handy if I hit a block in one structure, because then I've got something else ready to work on until I can come back with new solutions.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this very well, but at any rate, the structure above, evolved from the beauty of the center drilled keishi pearl used as a kind of flower,  and these pieces span at least 3 or 4 months of evolution.  I love the tiny, organic details and it's been fun to experiment with different combinations of materials and colors. 

These are surprisingly easy to wear, although they are somewhat heavier than a plain hoop. I've been wrapping and carefully binding stones and beads to hoops for a long time now, and I wonder if this more free spirited, organic approach is a reaction to that tight precision?  What I do know is these literally grow right out of my gardener background and study of plants and vines.

I've got a few posts worth of other new structures and ideas that I've be concurrently exploring with some depth, so will be putting these up over the next week or so!!  I've got a really broad collection of earrings in my studio on Etsy these days, so if you're thinking new earrings might be just the thing for Spring?  Do take a look!

Thanks for stopping by!

To Bee or Not To Bee

I was totally thrilled to spy honey bees just a couple of days ago! It seems we had the hive collapse syndrome or other problems with our local honey bees for a few years as there were none to be seen. Now I'm in the garden a lot, and I am always looking at the general and particular state of any number of insects around here. Luckily, there are other pollinators in our area, including the big woolly bumblebees, but I wondered if I'd ever see the good old workhorse, honey bee again.

I'm not an expert and have no idea where their hives are, etc. But here I was photographing the blooms of our local milkweed plants (because I'm totally fascinated by how in the heck these pretty flowers turn into those big pointy seed pods! I keep reminding myself to try to watch the process...then I forget to pay attention!) There were several bees hovering and nectaring on these lovely flowers. They were moving pretty rapidly, so their images are a bit blurred, but I am so happy to discover they are back in the neighborhood!


And Purrmeister says "Relax, Have a Happy Sunday on Me!"

His human says..."What am I growing here, a giant? How much bigger is this cat that rules the camper going to get??"

More Blossoms from WillOaks

Garden Views - ♥pink♥ (Brenda's Photo Challenge)

Collection: Shades of Pink in early May. Audience? Hummingbirds!! Hooray, they are back at WillOaks Farm. They love pink and they love tubular blossoms. I love to watch them and I keep a feeder up for them, too.

I've updated this post for the 5-22 Brenda Photo Challenge featuring FLOWERS! The title of my post now links to the list of participants and wow, there are some beautiful flower photos to see!! Enjoy!! And have a lovely weekend!

Three Quick Things

Yesterday I mentioned how Purrmeister was worming his way into every nook and cranny of my camper and look, how cute, he's in a cupboard....

...UNTIL you see that it is right above the kitchen sink.....bad kitty!! Well, he knows where the pet food is stored. I just have to learn to close doors quickly. I have to wonder what I will do when he doubles in size yet again? Although he's now over 8 lbs, he still isn't close to growing into his big, really big, feet!

Yesterday was a glorious overcast day except that it was quite windy, which is always a challenge when doing photos in the garden. Lots is finally in bloom so I chose this one to begin my garden "show and tell" because....


...the colors coordinate perfectly with the beautiful treasury that included my work, posted yesterday. Sunny Monday--I really like the title AND the yellow and purple theme!

It was curated by Sirpa of SirpaKJewelry. Her Etsy shop is full of really pretty pieces including lots of wire winding with lovely oxidation framing pretty jewels. Please visit and see what you think!! And click on the treasury image here to go to the actual page...we need comments!! I think this collection should make it to the Etsy front page but we need your views to help make that happen!

By the way, in case you're wondering what looks different? This is the new format that Etsy treasuries are presented in now...a bit wider and over all, a bit larger. It's a nice improvement!!

White Flowers - In & Out

The "In & Out" could also refer to my time and attention span the past few days. There's a lot happening all at once here, indoors and outdoors, as we prepare to open the campground, take care of outdoor tasks, take care of studio orders, and try to find a few moments to enjoy the beautiful views and flowers. It continues to amaze me how many very different things are blooming all at once here...just beautiful. And I'm running behind on catching what's new outside as the sun has been pretty strong and not great for photos.

It's time to pick asparagus!! I ate the first few right out of the patch....by tomorrow, I should be able to collect more for actual use: asparagus soup is one of my favorites...mmmmm!

Beautiful Spring Day at WillOaks Farm, Part 2

The crazy weather isn't making this easy this year, but I tried to capture the gardens in their full Spring glory here....This collection is mostly daffodils of all different kinds, including white ones, named "Thalia" which are among my favorites.

It still amazes me to realize that about 6 years ago, what are now clumps were single bulbs. I really enjoy these flowers but I realize it would be very smart to dig and divide them for replanting as they really are becoming a tad crowded in some spots....ugh, that is just a huge job so no doubt, I'll figure out how to postpone it, just for now...

Have a wonderful weekend, either in or out of the gardens!!

Beautiful Spring Day at WillOaks Farm

I was hoping for an overcast day but it stayed bright and sunny. But late afternoon as dusk began, I decided to see what I could do with that wonderful pink dusk light. It was a huge challenge to shoot because it was very windy and out of a hundred photos...a small collection today and another for tomorrow are what I could salvage.

A lot is blooming now, especially as it was over 80 F today. But it's going to cool down over the weekend, which will slow down this amazing show. Crazy to wait all year for Spring gardens, then have it shoot past in a couple of weeks with all this early hot weather.

Happy Friday everyone!

Behind My Back...& a Treasury

Many of the gardens here are just a riot of daffodils right now. So these are the photos I was taking when I got distracted by that "sky scene" yesterday!

I planted many of these just 6 autumns ago and I'm a little stunned by how quickly they have multiplied into clumps where just one bulb was originally planted.

Some drifts are eclectic "odd lots" and others have more consistency--I cannot remember the method to my madness then. I do wonder if I should plan to dig up some of the areas this fall in order to spread the bulbs out before they get much too crowded?

I just love these with the apricot or peach colored centers-
-and the frillier the better!

And these are of the division "Poeticus" a label I always found alluring just because the name is so suggestive.

Daffodils seem to do very well here. Ironically, I planted nearly as many tulips at the same time. And while many of these will be showing up later in the season...most of them were munched by the deer. Apparently, deer won't eat daffodils so I'm sticking with them!

Meanwhile, over on Etsy:

LINGER IN LAVENDER....
Ahhhhh......

What a great theme AND color!! I just adore lavender (the plant and the color) and the scent is one of my very favorites. When I lived out west it was quite easy to grow it as bushes; here in the Midwest, it's mostly heartbreaking as the plants often just don't make it through winter. At any rate, this treasury captures much of the best using the word lavender as a jumping off point. They are subtle, by my lavender glass and pearl earrings are in the lower center--earrings that have been one of my best sellers for well over a year now, I'm happy to say! Please stop by this treasury and take a closer look....and leave a comment if possible!! Many thanks!

This treasury was curated by Samantha of SamsPaintbrush, who, as her shop name suggests, is a painter! Many of her works are small in scale but very large in vision and vista--do take a look!! She's also a blogger - The Journey of SamsPaintbrush

And finally, I've begun posting a whole new collection of "Made with Silk" pieces that have been more or less in progress for a couple of weeks now (in between filling orders, yay!) In many of them, I'm including more than just pearls. There are quite a few new pieces and they will be listed a few at a time all through the weekend. By the way....it snowed here again Thursday-just a dusting-and the night will be below freezing so I wonder what the gardens will look like Friday?? Have a great Friday!!

Wordless Wednesday (almost wordless...)

The magnolia tree is probably at it's peak for 2010.

No doubt there are buds that will continue to open,
but this could be the fullest it will look this season.

Between extreme winds and heavy rain squalls, the petals really take a beating. Notice the "petal litter?" Some days, the grass is very covered with fallen white bits.

Evidence of last night's storm--was it a touch of hail or just really large raindrops that caused all that racket? We lost power so I didn't go exploring until I checked damages in the morning light.

And a new treasury!
Creamy
and delicious
Ginny, from the Etsy shop NJEMA, Beadwoven Jewelry and More, curated this dreamy, creamy collection which includes my peach pearls and moonstones. Do stop by and leave a comment!

And be sure to visit Ginny's shop. Her woven bead pieces are stunning plus, everything sold here is to help raise money for a water project in Sudan that she and her husband will be working on for 6 months.

I think this is the wordiest my Wordless Wednesday pieces have EVER been...I'll try to do better next time!