Downton Abbey Silver Holiday Decorating Tabletop

Simple decorating ideas are my kind

of decorating. I have these silver plated cups

that I call my Downton Abbey Cups..

They are just vintage silver cups

but I am sure they have lots of stories to tell.

(They will look more like Downton Abbey

on white linen!)

Place each cup in a circle like a wreath

and fill each with boxwood cuttings.

If you are a gardener that is the same

as saying each are filled with cheer.

If only boxwood rooted quickly

like say, mint!  

Old silver has such character!

The combination of brown, silver and gray

with some shimmer and some dull areas

has such appeal to me.

These almost blend into the tabletop.

Beautifully burnished is the best description for the cups.

Happiness is a table full of family and friends

good food helps too,

so I guess I should be looking for new dishes to make

the usual dishes are comforting but it's always good to

have a few surprises each year.

I stumbled upon a cookbook by 
Sam Choy

at a Goodwill store and it was $1.30 

Now I have the recipe for Payapa Dressing!

The list of secret ingredients is in my kitchen.

All photographs are my own from Instagram.

Connecting up with:
   Between Naps on the Porch
Coastal Charm
Common Ground

Grainy Sugar Snow

We got it last night. Snow sifted on us and then little balls of ice. They call it wintery mix. We call it Maryland snow. It gives such a fresh, bright look to the usual winter browns of trees. Then there is the boxwood with the leaves a deep green with the white icing. Nice contrast. I do love English boxwood. It always looks beautiful January through January! June through June. This garden is off of our porch or veranda.

The snow ought to make it easier for the birds to see the berries...

This thuga shrub turns the color of a brown paper bag. The snow covers enough branches so that the ones we see look lacy.

All of the little animal tracks decorate the fields and... roads. Last night I was out driving and there were kids doing donuts at intersections. They were hitting the brakes and doing all of the things you are taught not to if you want to stay on the road. I wonder what their cars look like this morning? Keep on the road and keep warm.

What you could do with 19 million...

I just saw that this historic property with lovely gardens is for sale in South Carolina. It is also known as the Medway Plantation which includes 6,728 acres of wooded land, gardens, lakes, and houses, stables and other outbuildings that date back to the 1600's. Anyone have 19 million to spare? I didn't think so. There is also a greenhouse on the property. Maybe they will sell that separately? Medway Plantation property listing here for the serious gardener.

English Gardening

English gardens are the best to explore. You always want to know what hides around the corner. I have ladies mantle (the yellow flowering plants), I have sieboldiana hostas, I have the red maple tree, and yellow roses and it looks nothing like the photo above. The brick walls, the crunchy gravel, the urns and concrete ball make this so english and delightful.

Wouldn't it be great to build a maze that had little pockets of gardens in each dead end of the maze? Use some of the fast growing evergreens around the edges to conceal the suprises. I can dream.

Seed Sowing -- Giant Blue Bird Delphiniums

To think that life waits patiently in these seeds and we are the caretakers of them gives us all hope. Hope for a huge stand of healthy and stately delphiniums...reaching for the sky and their rich blue blending as one with it.


The seed sowing bug is at our house. Some I must wait a bit to sow directly outside. Some go in hidden compartments of the refrigerator and hide with the cream cheese boxes. They aren't really hiding they just need to chill a bit. The delphiniums I start now so they bloom this summer.

They are sown on top of moist sterile soil then covered with a layer of plastic wrap directly on the soil. I put them in a place which stays about 40-50 degrees and wait for 28 days. Do not cover as they need light to germinate but not direct sunlight.

I have this dream of having the perfect English Garden with all the pretties bobbing above the roses and boxwood and topiaries. I grow delphiniums but not as gorgeous and also self-seeding like the English do. If I keep composting and give them half shade and the richest soil possible maybe this year they will be as good as the English? If not the sweet peas and poppies nearby and the roses in front of them, and boxwood holding all together will still say sweet English garden! I've already impressed the rabbits for years. Our sheep are impressed and think it's their gourmet garden bar when they get out. Now to impress the English.