Friday, January 29, 2010

More January blooms


I decided to go out once more with my camera
to see what could be found,
here are the results.

Do click on the pictures for a larger view.

The first two pictures are of Smith's Parish.
It is an exotic Bermuda mystery rose.
The blooms are small.







This is Phyllis Bide, a Polyantha rose.
She is growing up and over an arbor over a seating area.
She's a climber and her blooms are on the small side also.






This is a Mutabilis bud, which will be open tomorrow.



This is La Marne, a shrub rose.
She is great for our hot and humid climate.



The next three pictures are of Azalea blooms.
I don't know what the name of this Azalea is.
I liked the Copperleaf shrubs leaf as a backdrop,
it looks leathery and the flower soft.









Last, but certainly not least in my humble cottage gardens, is Vanda.
She is about 10-12 ft. into the air.



Consider the lilies how they grow:
they toil not, they spin not;
and yet I say unto you,
that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Luke 12:27






Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Alamo Vine - Convolvuoaceae Ipomoea sinuata



Good afternoon Friends ~ Here it is the end of another week. Time sure is zipping on by. It is a nice 76 degrees right now. It's partly cloudy and breezy, coming from the east. I worked outside some yesterday and again this morning.

Below is a wonderful, perennial morning glory vine, a native of TX. It is called Alamo vine, and it is pictured with a flower of the blue pea vine. Both are very easy to grow.



The next two pictures are the leaves and seedpods of the Alamo vine.




Happy Gardening




Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL


Sunday, January 24, 2010

The rest of the kitchen

Ok folks, here's the whole kitchen, before and after.

We took out the wall and door that is behind the hutch in the first picture. The door led into the utility room which we weren't using. It had another door to get inside, from the outside, so we just kept this door closed. This was so cramped, two of us could barely get around each other in here. It was a dream for years and years to open this space up and now it is a reality. I love it. The area that the hutch and chopping block table next to it, is about 3' deep.


This next picture is looking into the kitchen from the doorway to the screened porch. This is our main entry. We're weird I know. But we rarely have company, and the front door is actually in my library/craft space but we decided to not use that door at all since we need the space for living.

The top cabinets are original to the house, 1950. There had been a bottom cabinet with sink, all in one piece, but it was horrible, so we took it out. Recently we picked up two filing cabinets that the neighbors across the street put out for the trash men to take, and we said hey wait a minute, we can use these under the kitchen counter for storage. We had already had this idea, so got our tape measure to see if the two would work and they did. You can see the one, and we put oak looking contact paper on the front of drawers to make them look better. The smaller filing cabinet is behind the curtain next to the stove.

I have other pictures of these further on down the post.

The little bottles on the left side of picture are essential oils, which I use for health remedies and well-being.


This is looking back into the scullery area, which by the way is according to definitions, the area off the kitchen, where storage and clean up are done. DH had worked in the scullery when he was first in the Navy many, many years ago, and I started calling this space 'the scullery' while we were building it. I love the quaint name. Dishes are drying on the counter.

The refrigerator is in a nitch, with a roll-out shelf above it. The nitch is into the pump-house area behind the house. The little long cabinet on the refrigerator wall was found across the street, when renters moved out. This was while we were working on this space. Then there is a wire shelf unit next to that for storage, then a side light. The little cabinet under the counter was found further on down our street another time when we were on our way somewhere, so we grabbed it. It is so much fun saving things from the landfill. The sink we bought from a salvage place. DH built a shelf up around the top to put 'stuff', ya know, my kitch.


Now, this is looking at the other side from the hallway.

The metal cabinet next to the counter back in the scullery, with a porcelain top was found many, many years ago. Next to that is a drawer the neighbors across the street threw out when they were remodeling, we just heat stripped it partially to go with the hutch, which is also another found piece, from a neighborhood that was old, and being torn down for the airport. We happened to have another porcelain top that we used on top of the drawer, which is where my bread machine sits.

The bookshelp next to the hutch was another found item. We put the top portion of the chopping block table next to it, on top, to hold more 'books'. You can see that I have a lot of them, over 300 cookbooks alone, then there is gardening, herbs and natural healing, and crafts.


Here is the bread machine shelf. DH made the spice cabinet for me in the Navy's hobby shop when we were living in Rota, Spain while was stationed there. The wood is African mahogony.




This is looking toward the door.
Another bookshelf crammed to the hilt. ;-)




Now, here is the top part of the hutch, since I couldn't get it all in one picture, the bottom half is the next picture. The top two knobs are resined black eye peas in one, and corn in the other, the bottom doors are sunflower seeds and some sort of leaves, like parsley, in the other. The alabaster grape cluster on top is from Italy. We got these while living in Spain. They are attached to a real grape vine. They have been stained and glazed though, as alabaster is white. We were going to heat strip this cabinet all the way to wood, but we saw all these colors on it and decided to partially stip it leaving the colors to show through. I love it.



Inside we have some ruby ware that was my great grandmother's, and other pieces we collected for next to nothing from the flea market and yard sales through the years. The bride and groom is the wedding cake topper from DH's parent's wedding.



This next picture is under the scullery sink. The two shelf deal on wheels is made from two 10" x 40" porcelained drop leaves from an old table we used to have. We can roll this out for taking care of plumbing if we have to. There is a shelf attached to the back wall that meets up with the top shelf of this piece.


This is a lazy suzan that DH made to fit the corner space.
A great thing to have.



This is the pull out shelf over the refrigerator. Another great thing.
Except I have to watch it if I leave it hanging out there that I don't smack my head, like I've done a couple of times. Ouch.



Here is the smaller filing cabinet.
The bottom holds supplies, and the top drawer has casserole dishes in it.



Here's the larger filing cabinet. The top drawer holds lids. DH took a dishwashing rack, cut it in half and put them in the two sections of the drawer to hold them all. It works great!




I will end this kitchen/scullery tale with the following two pictures. Pizza dough is making in the bread machine, and I've got to get up and cook some Italian sausage and make the sauce.











Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL


Solanum seaforthiana - St. Vincent Lilac



This is a vine I grew from seed, from another lady FL gardener, who I met a couple of years ago. My vine is about 2 ft. tall and I was thrilled to have flowers now in January, since it is supposed to bloom during the warm months.

It is in the nightshade family, as the potato and eggplant are. The flowers are sweetly scented, but not overpowering.

For info on this tender tropical vine go here.







Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Today's pics


Good morning everyone. Hope you have a great weekend. It's gray, humid, looks like rain. Yesterday it reached 85. I'm about to head off for work so no gardening or needlework for me today.

Here are pictures taken this morning.


Blue Sage



A bromeliad bloom.




Golden Dewdrop




Hibiscus




Jasmine




Louis Philippe




Maggie




Mist flower




Mother of millions




Philippine Violet




Spiderwort




St. Vincent Lilac ~ Oh my gosh, the scent of this is heavenly.
I grew this from seed.




Workspace.




Work in progress.







Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL