Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for garden

Pansies

April 25, 2018 at 9:56 am by Claudia

Hostas are emerging from the ground along with ground covers, day lilies, phlox, sedum, grasses, poppies and more. Once the warmer weather and sun kick in, it’s always fun to see how quickly plants start to grow.

I stopped by our local nursery yesterday. There’s not a huge amount of inventory available, but that will change now that spring is here. I picked up some bags of top soil and a flat of gorgeous pansies, since I knew I could plant them in my urns. They’re hardy – just in case we get a freakish cold weather day.

It’s immensely cheering to see some colorful flowers on and near the porch. Pansies make me happy.

I’ve been watching a British gardening show on Netflix called Big Dreams, Small Spaces. The host is Monty Don, who is a sort of gardening hero in Britain. I knew about him via Instagram (I follow him) so when I came upon this show, I was thrilled. He works with people who want to turn front or backyards into a beautiful garden and it’s a lot of fun. Plus, I learn a lot.

Heaven knows, we can’t expect any gardening shows from HGTV. Those days are apparently gone as they’ve locked into an endless stream of House Hunters and “Flip” shows, all of which bore me to tears. I realize they are a cash cow for the network but for me they’re a big, fat yawn. I really only watch Home Town – and that’s over for the season. Remember the days of gardening programming? And a host of other wonderfully unique shows?

Thank goodness the Brits are true garden lovers. I imagine there will always be garden programs across the pond. And thank goodness for Netflix!

Today it’s a ‘rain all day’ kind of day so I’m going to run some necessary errands.

Happy Wednesday.

Tagged With: HGTVFiled Under: flowers, garden 51 Comments

I Love Spring

April 23, 2018 at 8:50 am by Claudia

My one lone grape hyacinth surprises me each spring. It pops up between these rocks which line the garden bed by the porch. It’s tiny, so I often miss its entrance into the world until I happen to walk by and – there it is! Whether it self-seeded or was planted by a past owner of the cottage, I’m not sure. But I love it.

Don is home. His bus was about an hour late last night. Apparently, people were leaving the city in droves, so getting to the Lincoln Tunnel took forever. We’re having a slow morning. Looking out the kitchen door, we’re seen blue jays, robins, sparrows, a chipmunk, squirrels, and a bunny rabbit. Our morning Disney movie.

I broke my promise to myself yesterday and cleared out two more garden beds. So I was tuckered out at the end of the day. I’ll take a day off from all of that today because Don is home. My back will be thanking me!

The daffodils in full flower. Because these sit on the the edge of the woods, the flowers are always on one side only, facing the sun. Aren’t they pretty?

Hearing the birds singing joyfully as I write this makes me smile.

Happy Birthday to William Shakespeare. He’s brought a lot of work my way.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: Don, flowers, garden 28 Comments

Scrubbing, Cleaning: Time for Spring

April 21, 2018 at 8:53 am by Claudia

Well, that was a resounding success, don’t you think? The conversation is still going on as I write this new post and I couldn’t be happier! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about where you are from, about your individual journeys. And I have loved seeing the dialogue that has taken over the comment page. I figured I would just sit back and enjoy.

Connection. We all need to connect.

Thank you, Judy, for the idea, and thank you all for taking part. Much love to all of you.

And now to the mundane.

I worked like the dickens yesterday, if I do say so myself!

I cleaned the porch railing and the individual spindles and everything. Since our outside hose connection is not working at the moment, this involved hauling buckets of water from the kitchen to the porch. Over and over. But it looks so much better!

This is a chore that is not on my favorites list, which is why I ignored it for a few years.

Then I started to clean up the porch – still in progress as I write this – sorting through the accumulation of crap that built up over the autumn and winter. I drove the now 17 year old CR-V to the storage facility, retrieved the adirondack chairs and a few other things. Then I cleaned the glider and the chairs. I stopped for the day around 4 pm, so I haven’t added the cushions to the furniture. That will happen today.

It just felt good to start making the porch into our extra room for the spring and summer and fall. No potted plants yet – too early – but that will come. Today it will be sunny and reach 60 degrees, so I’ll be out there again working on the porch and the garden beds.

It’s slowly getting there. Slowly.

Don informed me that he wants to come home for his day off. He’s homesick. So I won’t go in, obviously. I’m just as happy to have him here. And it will be sunny – no rain! I’ll go in next week as we have tickets to listen to one the guys in the cast perform at a club on Sunday evening. By the way, Don signed up for access to a community garden around the block from the apartment. It looks lovely. There are benches to sit on, flowers blooming, birds singing, plants thriving. I’ll be sure to take photos when I see it next weekend.

Happy Saturday.

 

Filed Under: Don, garden, porch 40 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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