As a gardener, it's wonderful to have weeks of warm weather in winter to get ahead of spring and ready to plant. When spring comes, it's fast and you have to be ready to go! It's also nice to have things bloom with fragrance in the air giving a lift from cold and dreary days. No need to force branches inside when they are in bloom outside. The bees come from out of nowhere and get right to work.
With days of rain in between, it makes it easy to dig up plants to transplant elsewhere. Some baby azaleas from my vintage bushes.Camellias and mahonias, all to be planted down at the farmhouse. I haven't gotten to digging up the hundreds of seedlings of Rose of Sharon. I will pot them all and give away as gifts. The large ones in the foreground will be planted up at the main house as the farmhouse has so many older bushes.All these seedlings!! Going to need bags of potting soil. I've been clearing out more down the path to the parking area and burning in the fireplace as I go. This is the area where the azaleas, camellias and mahonias will go come spring. I had planted a few in the fall, but it will take a few years before they come into bloom.Walking down the path to the right are the bushes that are in bloom, I'm clearing out underbrush and finding a lot of birds' nests.These bushes are so old they look like driftwood. I also found a rock wall that I will eventually unearth. Love rock walls.The hellebores (lenten rose) is also starting to bloom.There are thousands of hellebore seedlings that I will also have to pot, but I will take as many as I can get. They grow fast and bloom the next year and will cover a large area down at the farmhouse. A full grown hellebore costs $20, so I'm happy to do the work.
The nandinas at the farmhouse are loaded with red berries and look so festive at the holidays. Driving around town I started to notice all the Yuletide Camelias in bloom. I had forgotten how much I liked these. I needed one at the farmhouse! They bloom right in time for Christmas. Don't know if I like them shaped, but they still had lots of blooms. So I headed to the local nursery to buy one for next year! If the weather holds out this week, I will get it in the ground. While at the nursery I took lots of photos of all the beautiful Christmas greenery to be posted on Instagram, TinyFoothillsFarmhouse. Merry Christmas!
Tablescape complete! Handmade doilies used as a table runner resembling snowflakes. The snowman is from Rucus Studio, one that I've had for years.
The holly figurine is another Rucus Studio. The snow bunny is Bethany Lowe.
Hoping I can fit plates for my brunch around the decorations!
I started off decorating the porch with a group of cedar trees cut from the property, all lit with tiny white lights, then the winds from the gap came in one night and took them all down. Thought it easier to just light the boxwoods and add to the porch as I go along. Inside I worked on the free bottle brush tree, just white lights and vintage red ball ornaments and a vintage tree topper. Pieces of tinsel were still on the tree when I brought it home, so I left them. White, bright and cheerful! This week I will be working on decorating and cleaning up the farmhouse for a holiday brunch I will be hosting for some friends. I've decided to post on www.campbluewall.blogspot.com. It's been a year since my mother's passing, and I feel I'm ready to do a Christmas post because I always liked to refer back to what I did with the tree and wrappings and gifts I sent to family and friends.
This white bottle brush Christmas tree was free at a Habitat for Humanity store. I asked why, only because the top knot was missing. In my mind, that was perfect, so much easier to place a tree topper! Pure white, still wearing some tinsel, looks as if it has been packed away for quite some time. Going to take some work fluffing these branches, straightening them, but when done, will look very pretty at the farmhouse. I have never seen one that was made like this. Each branch looks like a giant candy cane and you slip the hook into a hole on the main pole. Very heavy and well built. The branches just hang and sway. I think it will be easy to put lights on this one. I wasn't planning on having a decorated tree inside, I was planning on cutting a lot of trees that are growing where they shouldn't be and decorating the porch so that it's all lit up, but now I guess we'll have one inside, too! Next weekend the decorating will begin!
