One way to beat the long winter blahs is to have growing plants indoors.  A suggestion is make a terrarium, time required an hour or less.

What is A Terrarium? A terrarium is a miniature landscape with living plants and even sometimes small animals like lizards or turtles.

A terrarium is a miniature ecosystem which is a complex system of relationships between organisms and resources of different types.  If you have a good balance of plants, soil, nutrients, and water in your terrarium you will be able to seal it up and watch it grow and thrive for very long periods of time – sometimes even years.

It’s quick, easy and doesn’t have to be expensive. To save money, on your terrariums, look around your house for a container or shop discount stores, flea markets or consignment shops to find glass containers, jars or even goldfish bowls. The plants you’ll use are generally small houseplants, which can often be bought for a couple of bucks each, so the whole project, depending on the size of your jars, can be made for well under $20. Terrariums also make wonderful and impressive gifts, even for people who consider themselves plant-challenged.

There are lots of tutorials online to help you along the way, here is one I found that has very specific easy to follow instructions.  Kerry Michael at about.com has a great tutorial with lots of pictures..here is an example of her finished project.

When your done send me a picture and I will post a picture of mine.

On the left are my Valentine roses looking a little sorry, faded and droopy. I rarely remember to refresh the water in the vase. Robert usually gets me a bouquet of mixed colors which I love for the variety. So when they are looking so sad, I know it’s time to make a vase of rose bloom potpourri. You can too!

Step 1: Get an empty bowl, vase, or pretty container that is see through. I chose a round crystal bowl that was my mother in laws.

Step 2: With a pair of scissors, snip the buds off the rose stems. If there are any that are not dried yet, you might consider leaving them on a paper towel in the sun and letting them finish drying out. Most of mine were already dried.

Step 3: Carefully place them in your container, letting the petals face outward if possible. This will give you a nice color around the bowl.

Step 4: Place one or two roses face up on the very top so you see the petals which will give it a nice appearance.

There you go! Quite beautiful and colorful isn’t it? I put it right beside my reading chair so I could enjoy it every day.

Apple Blossom Azalea

What type of bulbs do you have in your garden?  When do you plant them?

I lived outside of Atlanta for a few years and missed Spring bulbs immensely. I found a book at the library on what types of bulbs could be grown in Georgia climate and found it was as easy as in the Midwest.  The secret, I had to refrigerate the bulbs for six weeks in the winter and then place them into the soil in early February and lo and behold I had tulips and jonquils just like I had always enjoyed in my Midwest garden.

If you live in the southern regions of the States or any other part of the world where the temperature never drop low enough to cool the soil try the refrigerator trick and you can have them Spring or Fall.

I have so many spring flowers I love I am going to share a few this week.

Creeping phlox is one of my favorite in early spring…and in the background the crimson azaleas are in the shade and you can barely see the buds ready to burst on the rhododendron.

Magnolia Blooms

Let’s keep looking at these reminders of what we can expect in just a few weeks!!!

What is your favorite season of the year?  Mine has always been Spring.  I love the smell in the air of Spring rain, the beauty of trees that bud and leaf in a matter of days, bulbs that miraculously surface and burst into welcome bloom.

Of course it is a season that has a “to do” list for most of us, so why not get ready now.  It is not too early to begin planning for Spring.  Here in the Midwest early garden planting of peas, onions, potatoes, and lettuce for example normally are planted on or near  St Patrick’s Day.  If your a vegetable gardener make sure the ground is ready, have the seeds on hand and get the hoe and gloves out  you will need them very soon now.

Take inventory of what needs to be done in your lawn and garden both.  What shrubs require Spring pruning, do you have some tree limbs you have been putting off trimming back, do you need to aerate the lawn, clean up garden pots for replanting?

The list can be endless but if you have a list and check it off with some “honey do” or child bribery for a movie night to help along the way it will all be done in time for you to sit back with a smile and watch the early Spring flowers show off.

Don’t forget our feathered friends need us to give their homes a housecleaning too.

My children as grown adults recount some of their most pleasant family memories were in the time we spent preparing garden and flower beds.

Spring IS just around the corner friends.

I am thankful that God is so good and gives us such beautiful things to love and appreciate.

I am constantly awed by His sense of creativity.

All I have to do is look around to see His incredible works of art.

Happy Sunday my dear friends!

Ok gals, I don’t know about you, but SNOW has become a really bad 4 letter word for me. I know I’m not alone. I saw the weather map this morning and we’ve all been getting dumped on it seems. This is what we woke up to this morning in our part of the midwest.

So! Let’s do something to perk our little selves up. This is always my answer. A pot of blooming bulbs, in this case hyacinths which are incredibly fragrant. They are also hearty bulbs that can be planted in the ground (as soon as it thaws) and will rebloom year after year. A nice little gift that keeps on giving and I really like that!

I’ve also bought tulips and daffodils over the years too and have done the same thing by planting them in my gardens. Of course fresh cut also works to boost the spirits. No one ever made up a rule that we can’t buy ourselves flowers ladies I get these for less than $10 at our local Price Chopper Grocer. Worth every single penny.

One of the best splurges I ever made for myself is buying a photo frame that holds lots of photos and is decent size. I keep a folder on my PC called “digital frame”. Every time I take pictures, I select a few of my favorites to put in the folder.

Then every so often I update the frame and all my pictures are already ready to go. You’ll find family photos galore; but you’ll also find lots of pictures like this:

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

Ah, such pretty things to look at over and over again as they rotate through my personal picture show. Tell us how you take time to enjoy all the photos you take…scrapbook, slide shows, photo frame, printed pictures on your walls?

Not much time left, but get your clippers out and head into the garden to snip a few beautiful pieces of foliage to make a gorgeous fall bouquet.

I clipped a bit of my glossy leaved coral berry bush, a bundle of pee-gee hydrangea blooms, rust colored nine bark stems, a few heads of zebra grass, and a bit of deep pink autumn sedum.

I selected my natural looking vase of blue. It’s very heavy and sturdy and can handle the weight and height of these stems.

Then I started by placing the leaf stems in the vase first knowing they would create a bit of structure so once I tucked in the flowers, they would stay in place.

The last step is to spray with hair spray or an art spray so it holds the blooms in place and keeps the leaves from falling so fast.

And sitting pretty on my kitchen table. What do you think? Ready to make one for yourself?

“Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.”

~Hans Christian Anderson

Sometimes we are so busy looking at the door that is closing, we fail to see the door that is opening. Not sure who coined this phrase but how true it is.

My family and friends are surprised how joyfully I am making the transition of purging and moving to a smaller location.  The reason is simple.  I remind myself every day, that alarm clocks will no longer awaken me and I can plan my day according to my desires.  Now what more selfish reasons could there be.  After raising five children and working for 51 years it is time to kick back and enjoy

Today I took time to grab the camera for one last photo session around the house and garden.  I don’t think I will miss my garden because it had become so much work for me. Then of course, Deb and Robert have promised I can contribute to theirs as much as I desire.  I plan on helping them until I am tired and then announcing I am heading home for a nap. How could I not look forward to this new stage of life.

There is my reflection taking the picture of the door that has welcomed so many family and friends over the past eleven years but is now closing for the last time.  Soon I will share the new door that is opening. I hope you will drop by to see all the fun things that are being planned.