My Spring into Summer Gardening!

I started cleaning my garden beds when I got distracted with all of the invasive plants that I found, some I suppose I brought into my garden and they spread beyond belief and some maybe the birds dropped seeds.  I had to remove them to make room for my new flowers and herbs I planned to use this year.

Well, this job has turned into a much bigger project than I ever anticipated. I have pulled plants, removed leaves, re-planted a few, and planted a few new ones.

I am still working on some areas!  My findings have been incredible, I have surprised myself with the work involved.

I found a lot of very TALL plants that were choking out anything else to take root so I  started pulling.

Piles of pulled flowers and leaves for mulch!  I asked around on "Hometalk" what my findings were and I always get wonderful answers there.

One plant I pulled was called "Jewelweed" and it is still everywhere even though I have pulled tons of it. It creeps into the tiniest places and is even under the front deck area where the ferns grow. It is good to have on hand for "itch" I learned so I put some into a tire I had in the back yard to try and keep it contained.

Another is "Hawkweed" and I have not done much with it yet. Then we have the daisies, I cannot pull them as it is my favorite flower but I have small daisy like flowers on 5-6 ' stems invading the gardens so they will have to go into another place... I will assume they are just spring bloomers but I want the roots gone from my growing gardens. They are beautiful tiny white flowers and also another breed is pink/purple teeny tiny  flowers with spiky flower heads. They are alike but for color.

When I got to the driveway garden I found all of this spreading ivy that was covering all of my edging and even growing into the woods as ground cover. I had planted Ferns, Hosta, Daylilies, Bee Balm, etc there and it was choking it all out so I started pulling. Long runners came up and I filled a 30 gallon trash bag with them.  Then I had to find out what it was  so I asked on "Hometalk" and in the meantime did an internet search for "Swedish lvy" looking ground cover" and I found it really is "Swedish Ivy," It does spread along the ground but unlike ivy it does not climb high. So, I quit bagging it and put into into bins of water. I finished a small basket I had saved a tiny 6 inch pot in my attic over the winter with and made another new one but there is so much I could buy all the pots at a Big Box store and still never use it all, so I decided to share it in My Etsy Supplies shop " ByLightOfMoon".  I hope to share it with many folks who can use it for containers, baskets, ground cover if contained, etc.

I also mowed the yard and find it difficult to mow on a slope we have in front of our cabin, the lawnmower gets away from me and mowed down a beautiful blooming plant I still have yet to ID.

 I was sick so I decided to put moss there and remove all the growing grass. Now, I do this by hand with a hoe  like hand device. I hit stones form our driveway gravel and the area got larger and larger. I also wanted to get the grass away from a small garden I planted at the bridge entrance to make it easier to mow with the grass not in the rock surround. 

My Roses are doing very well and I am taking cutting for my potpourri makings! 

I am also drying

the larger daisies!

Here is the garden enlargement I have been working on in the process:

When I first started digging I found these stones, I was facinated by the beautiful red colors! But, I dudg them out...

We still have the fountain to put together , it had been on porch last year but  it is going to the yard this year.

This photo is looking down from our porch over the garden, the red rail was there to keep the dirt from draining into the gully ( we have no gutters) when I first moved here and the garden only went that far., This is the hill the grass was hard to mow and the mower would get away from me.
 I filled the space in with moss collected from the forest!

Existing garden below, succulents overflowing!

More to pull below 

 Garden almost done, planted with small cuttings, it will grow!The rocks/stones are what I dug out of the hole.

This is also funny, I was taking a before photo of my fairy garden that I was re-doing with some new items I got in Alabama at Jo Ann's.  I had just sat them there till I also unpacked some other items I have for it. 

I reached down to move this dish and like to scared myself to death, this frog was in the bowl and had been on  my porch last year I believe!

I am trying to seed some sunflowers and I believe where I had them sitting in the yard, the bunny or my cat has been nibbling! 

To get away from my garden, I have to show you a place I visited. I had seen the Gardens of Rhododendrons were in bloom in Hiawassee, GA. I got there a little late and most of the blooming was over but I got a nice walk and a few nice pictures. 

The Indian Tree there, we also have one I have a photo of in my shop too.

As i was leaving  I could not believe my eyes, so cute, A Snow White and her Dwarfs! 

So, please visit my Etsy Shop " ByLightOfMoon" and get you some nice Swedish Ivy to plant yourself in your baskets, containers, or for on your garden ( but, keep it contained. )

I also have many photographs of the surrounding countryside and a beautiful  flowers, plus nature's findings and curiosities! 

Smiles, Cyndi 

Reading Books and Magazines

I was reading a blog spot from Sandra at Thistle Cove Farm  and it got me thinking about my books and reading, plus all the projects I think I should be doing!

I read in the Chattanooga Sunday newspaper where books will be obsolete in the future and children in schools will be using I Pads for their textbooks.   As it is they cannot afford to buy new books and ask for donations for them. I love books and I cannot imagine a home with bookcases. I love shopping the Thrift Shops for books as I never know what will be found and I look and read at books and magazines I would not have sought out on the internet! I love finding books about traveling and biography's, peoples experiences, crafting, vintage patterns are as good as new except new tools are always coming out to make it easier to make things!

I love to look through magazines while sitting on my front porch and being outside. We have had so much rain lately it has been just a let the gardening go week.  I got a surprise yesterday when I went to get a tool from my gardening box of popsicle sticks, markers, etc. I saw this color in my box and I wonder what that might be? On a closer look it was this:

Our porch frog that I see a lot, he has a couple of  toad houses and I see him frequently but he stayed there all day and was gone this morning when I checked. Thanks goodness, I didn't want him living there as I move the box around.

Sandra spoke of some books and magazines and I replied this:

.  I got several library How - To Books I have been looking at;  folk art projects, Pioneer Women and how they got by, Felting, Beading, and Papermaking!

.

Now, to put them to good use. I got an issue of Our State magazine which is about North Carolina, a wonderful looking article on Screen Doors, Tobacco Barns, Cheerwine Drinks, and Grits but I don't like Grits and never have,

Our State Magazine:

I did make a fairy necklace that I don;t now like how it turned out so I will change it up some. I went to a local beading shop and got some jewelry findings, silver rings is what I ended and I ended up with some seed beads, needles and she was able to help me to get the correct sizes for what I was purchasing.

 So, I got a book on seed beading and we sill see where it takes me. I don't like to follow a pattern but it gives me ideas.
I got these beads at "The Beaded Bunny Hill" and Vivian, the owner was very helpful to me. She also teaches classes a"t William Holland School of the Lapidary Arts " which is located in Young Harris, GA. Anyone can come here to take classes and stay on campus. They usually last a week.

I like to make things and make it up as I got not knowing how the finished product will look , maybe just an idea to start with.

My fairy Forest Necklace I am working on:

 Add Finally I want to show you the Moonflower that bloomed on my Birthday Wednesday!

It was as big as a Plate! 

So, go read a book or Magazine and Get Inspired! 

Smiles, Cyndi

Moss, Terrariums and Children!

I was lucky enough last week to have been selected by an Etsy buyer to send Moss and a few variety forest items to Arizona where many of the  fifty children had not ever even seen moss! These will be used in a Church Camp for the children to make terrariums. I had so much fun collecting these special items for this project! I went way overboard collection as I usually do, but I wanted to get the perfect specimens for them to use. Of course, I walk the deer trails for what has been kicked up by the deer and use very few items I have to actually dig. Most of it is very dry when I find it but it rained the day I went collecting so it was easy to find, especially the lichen on the rocks was standing out like a neon sign.  I sent all I could get into the box and donated much of my time to this effort as I had fun knowing the end means and also spent two days cleaning it and getting out the pine straw.  There were some ting acorns, ( little yellow ones, only 1/8 inch in size if that big. That is the male cone that reproduces in the forest.

See the photo, I pulled them out of the moss for the photo.

As I over collected I used some of the left over moss to make a few terrariums of my own and listed some very small ones on etsy; well I am in the process of listing them. for those that do not want to do it themselves and I don't have room to keep them. They make a fabulous desk accessory to see some Zen , Fung Shui, and tranquility in the simple things as everyday life can get chaotic. 

It was in the low 70's here yesterday and spring is on the horizon. Last night as we came home from dinner out we heard what seemed like zillion's of frogs chirping near the creek. The minute we opened the car door to get out,  our Golden Retriever rescue dogs ran us down and zoomed away. Well, when they cam home they were black from mud and I suppose they went to find the frogs. Shame on them! Needless to say they got an outside night bath before they could come back inside.  No wonder we have dirt and dust we constantly battle!

Another neat thing that happened was went I went to the library for a special book I wanted to get. I went to a Demo day last weekend at the Valley Arts Guild in Murphy, NC and learned something about the "Underground Railroad". This is always fascinated me as the slaves made their way from the south to the North to freedom and how they did it."Harriet Tubbs" was called "Moses" to many as she led the way for numerous trips to help free over 800 slaves. I previously owned two photographs of the "Underground Railroad" and I painted the frames Black and sold them at the flea market we attended last year. 

As I walked back to my car window shopping and saw these prom dresses,  I suppose are in style now at Sassy's Shop!. I went in to browse another  nice shop in Murphy called , "Rumours" and saw a pair of winter boots on sale for 1/2 price so Yes, I got them. They are a size too big for me but with my insoles in I think they will be OK, also fat socks which I intend to add lace too.   I loved the various yarns and colors! 

Sassy's Store Window 

 Side walk display

famous Espispicol  Church of the Messiah" in Murphy, I have seen pictures of it on Pinterest so wanted to add my own version too! The priest at this church came to do the river ceremony I have spoke of  many times for my dog, "Megan and her daughter "Ally" my Grand-dog,  we came here to pet sit for for many years.  a the Hiawassee River. We later had "Jordan's ceremony at the river  too. Oh, how I miss them all!

The previous week at the Library I had got some books of Mosses and Gardening as spring is in the air. One book on Moss Gardening was very interesting and I wanted to have my own copy so I checked with Amazon for it and was waiting to have the $ to order it.  What did my eyes behold at the Friends Library Bookstore where you can buy books, There was the very same book for $2.00. Wow! I grabbed it saying I cannot believe my eyes! 

I was just outside having my coffee and reading a pamphlet I picked up with an article on Black Bears. They come out of hibernation in late March (close enough) and look for food, including being attracted to lip balm at campsites. So, I guess I better remove that from my porch as I do NOT want another encounter like I had last year when I found one on our back porch in the trash canister. No camera available at the time either. 

I have not feared wandering in the woods too much lately as I know the snakes and bear were in hibernation, also many bugs and spiders but I will have to be more careful from now on. I did look up in the trees when gathering the moss just to be careful earlier this week. I have learned to do that as I am normally looking at the ground.

Also lats week while talking to my Mother on the telephone, I saw a deer walk right out of the woods and down the street in front of our house. And, last night we saw a bunny hop into the woods as we came home. Lots of wild life, I also saw a blue bird this week.

Another thing I found recently was a Primitive Pussy Willow tree at the grocery store and then I found a grove of the so I did get my clippers and get a few branches, I sprayed them with preservative and hope the hold up . They will be great for crafting with mixed media! The wild ones and the grocery store kind are different. 

Isn't the above shelf just crying out to be a Curiosity box with my found nature items? 

I have several I need to get busy making.I have boxes of collected items as I collect everything! I even found these wire rusty crusty rings that could be fabulous Junk Queen Crowns.

 Or bases for lamp light base or pottery terrariums

Well, I have chatted your time away, so thanks for dropping by! 

Smiles, Cyndi