Westie Aceo Illustrations

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It's Fall but we are thinking about Spring already. Thinking about seeds and bulbs and all things green and beautiful. Leaves float and twirl some days and other days the wind whips them by. Mother Nature is playful one day and strict the next hurrying them on their way. I want to get as many oak leaves as I can in the compost pile.

This year I am noticing how beautiful the Korean Dogwoods trees are coloring up now. Some trees here are almost fully decloaked but not the Dogwoods. It's November and they are center stage! They bloom later than the other dogwoods in the Spring and I cannot think of anything negative about them.

We have wood for the fire. Let the wind howl and bring on the seed catalogs!

(Still trying for one aceo painting a day.)      

Nearly Black Daylilies

July is the month that the heat loving
plants come into play.
The darkest daylilies I have are nearly black.

Yesterday it was above 100 degrees

outside and these flowers stood tall, strong
and never thought about wilting.

(It's been around 100 for a few days now.)

By itself the color might seem too bold,

but put them next to green boxwood,

lemon-lime-colored angelina sedum

and a little variegated silver queen

and they look rather subdued!

This weekend I was reading

that daylilies are edible.

English Garden Mauve Flowers

All of the summer dainties are coming on now. When I walk outside I can't help but snip a few to enjoy inside. I picked a few perennials that were mauve. Mauve is the color the English love to use in their gardens and it seemed fitting today since it is the Queen of England's birthday. (The Queen also loves beautiful gardens I've read. Me too.)  I was tempted to add some contrasting leaves with them, but the flowers were so tiny, except the clematis which looks like a trumphet compared to the small delicate blossoms of verbena, veronica, catmint, agastache, and spiderwart. They are more like tiny bells. Burlap might be considered a bit unrefined but not so when you sprinkle a bouquet  on it.

I  had a jolt when I was pulling out some grass against the rock wall.  I undercovered a garden snake! Eecckkk! Luckily I didn't pick it up with the handful of weeds...and that pretty much ended my weeding for the time being. Snakes are good for organic gardens but we should be working on different schedules I think. This is one time I was glad that I wasn't down on my hands and knees...it's much harder to get up fast. Connecting up with Blooming Tuesdays , Oregon Cottage, Flowers from Today and The House Among Roses

What grows in your garden? Mauves, pinks and whites? Maybe whites, yellows and blue?

Chippy White in the Greenhouse

A very beautiful chippy white chair.
In the perfect place.
A greenhouse.
Aqua blue hose: Accessory.

Connecting with:

White Wednesday
Common Ground
French Country Cottage

Ivy and Elephants

Pink Cottage Flowers and Pink Paint!

I want to paint something pink. This small bouquet is a nice mix of pink, mauve and carmine flowers. (The perfect color for an English Garden.) It all started when I decided I want to paint something (a piece of furniture) pink. I brought home four paint chips from Lowe's and they all look super against white. Hard choices. Not really but they are all pretty and wouldn't it look sweet with 4 chairs all different tints of pink? Or mix them all together and make a new paint color? More hard choices.

Can you believe it's in the 60's again during the day but down to 23 last night? We're all down on our hands and knees looking for the little signs of awakening shoots and swelling buds outside. Inside for now it's summer with fresh cottage flowers. The nurseries are starting to swell with a few varieties of shrubs and berries.Some nurseries even opened a week earlier because of the weather. That is the nurseries who close after Christmas and then reopen March first.

Back to the bouquet a moment; did you see they only added one rose to it? A very sweet pink one!! We are having a little pink storm inside.

Linking to:

House in Roses

Ivy and Elephants

Roses for Lunch? - Beautiful edibles

Most of us know that rose hips are added to teas, but how many know that rose petals are edible as well? That is if you've grown them yourself and they are organic. This notion intrigued me. I brought in a gorgeous, climbing dynamite red rose for a taste. The colors were so striking against the white plate. I got my camera to join me on this unusual dining excursion.

I pulled off the petals in bunches and dropped them onto my plate, in a let's get this over attitude. What lay before me seemed too lovely to partake of. Food for the heart, yes, but food for the stomach? They represent so much more. It's true. I've eaten bright orange and yellow nastursiums in salads and not felt a bit bad about it. Roses just seem holier.

Instead of eating them I left a message that everyone understands. I love roses! These petals are now in a teacup on my counter. Maybe tomorrow I'll get up the nerve and make rose petal ice cream!

Christmas Westie Dog in Cool Holiday Colors

Christmas colors in cool tones. While I was weeding amongst august moon (lime green) hostas and african hibiscus (red/plum) the other day I marveled at the colors. It was Christmas colors in warm tones and 98 degree weather. I came in and used those colors in this painting but in totally cool tones. You don't see any yellows in westie, just cool shadows. Red colors can either be warm reds or cool reds. We gardeners work with colors all of the time. Sometimes to amazing achievements and other times a few disappointments, but we learn from each combination we try. Too much fertilizer can almost change a flower color from warm to cool or vice versa. Amazing. (Really gardening is the hardest art of all.)

Westie's other eye is hid from view because of the lush hair and head turned just so. Plus all westies love to roll around and fluff up their facial hair to the max!

We love to dress westies in red for the holidays. The great part about red is it's for both boys and girl westies dogs. And it stands for L_O_V_E.

For sale on ebay titled, HAPPY IN RED.

Shabby Pink Cottage July Flowers

It can still look like England outside even in this heat wave of 100+ degrees. These soft pink/plum flowers are blooming now. Love the colors of this one over many other ones!

Doesn't this mallow, or hibiscus, remind you of raspberry ice cream?





It's paired up with Monet Moments, a bright pink lobelia. This one is to be much hardier for us than most. I love it up against the weathered gray fence.

White Wednesday - My First

White flowers have a cooling effect on us in the hot weather. It's 90 out so I'm looking directly at these now. The white snapdragons will bloom all summer into the fall. Yay! I love beautiful, sturdy flowers that don't fail. Plus they are an upright torch-goblet shape which looks good with blouse-y flowers that flop all around it...or just place them next to a boxwood hedge...boxwood is such a classic!

Eating after dark by candlelight these will be like twinkling wands under the moonlight.

I don't know why they don't sell more white snapdragons at nurseries. They mostly sell the mixed-color market packs. Up close it has a hint of blush on it. It's own, not mine!



I picked a few greys from near the porch and they look luminous against my white linen. So dreamy and the lemon thyme makes me want ice tea. I love this grey-green and white combination of colors. Looks so clean, crisp and fresh.





Look how dainty these seed heads on the dandelion are up close. They are ready to take flight like a flock of migrating birds. Good thing the sheep eat them and think they are cotton candy!

I am linking to Faded Charm, who sponsors white wednesday, for my very first time. A fun group of folks who love sharing pictures of white colored treasures inside and outside their home. Join in the fun!

Sedums For Everyone

Sedums are grown for their foliage and are getting more popular grown in pots. They look like succulents, but are very winter hardy, first to come up in spring and die down last in the fall. No green thumb needed.

Gather up a few different varieties and plant them together in a large pot or for the center of your outdoor table that gets full sun. They are super in sunny windowboxes. This year I am going to put a few cannas in the very center, for height, with the sedums. You could use ornamental grasses with them with wonderful results as well. Or a small topiary shrub. One thing about gardening everyone creates their gardens a bit differently and that is exciting.

My cannas I started earlier are starting to finally get going and stretch upwards. We've had so many cool rainy days the last two weeks that has almost put them back to sleep. Yesterday afternoon it got up to 80 and today is to be hot so they will shake a leg and get moving now. I think they give the garden a tropical exotic touch.

German Iris Flowers Perennials

Usually on Mother's Day's all of my irises are blooming and full of ruffles. (I hope all of you mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day.) Yesterday I had to take pictures of some of them since they are magnificent. Their blue-green sword foliage is some of the first up in spring and the last to die down in the fall. So all around they are a great addition to the gardens. Some bloom in spring and fall now and are called reblooming irises. I do have a few more different varities and I'll try to get their pictures up soon. What is blooming madly in your garden?

Happy Gardening!

Flower Frida Kahlo Candylei Art Painting

Blooming Frida painting

Frida starting to arise out of the bud.

How do flowers unfurl so perfectly from a small bud? Talk about vaccum sealed. They are packaged by nature in a way I wish I could pack my suitcase...and to take things out wrinkle-free like the flower petals. Tell me how to do it; please? The answer I believe is life..it is the flow and energy that enables flowers to overcome obstacles and be spectacular in their place. Life causes each petal to work together.

Is there life in my paintings?... the ebb and flow of a story to be told...an understanding feeling or emotion...a wish or a dream...We all keep dreams alive.

For sale here.

I need blinders - Garden distractions

I need blinders just like these horses have so that I can make a straight shot when I go outside. I start out for something and then get distracted by all the plants unfurling around me. Soon I am down on my hands and knees looking at nature's intricate beauties.



Look at the dewdrops on our ladies mantle leaves. It's a wonder any of these are clear because once I get down on my knees the cat starts biting my toe (for fun, mind you) or licking my fingers.



These dew diamonds are little miracles. All these hidden jewels to be discovered today. Did you know that dew will not form if it's windy? The moisture in the air will be fog instead. Nature is amazing.

The silver mound is so ferny you just have to run your hand over it and tussel it a bit.

The peonies are loaded with buds and the ants are rushing around snacking on the sap.

Look at the texture of the leaves and stems of the rhododendren.

I round the bend and the flowering quince wakes you up with it's splash of red and a jolt of sunshine. This ornamental shrub is about the size of an outdoor building. The bright light reminds me why I went outside again. I went out to check on the lambs and to take a short break from painting. It also reminds me to adding weeding to my list of things to do.

I'm loving the paintings I'm working on! Check back.

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.

A Walk in the Garden Foliage & Cuttings

This cool 49 degree chill makes for brisk walking unless you are looking at perennials and shrubs. Then I dawdle a bit. I picked a few leaves and cuttings to bring inside. Rather holiday colors---the burgundy foliage and evergreens that I love. Burgundy and lime green are very catchy colors.

From bottom left moving clockwise in the ABOVE photo is euphorbia, hydrangea leaf, ruby fringeflower cutting, yew cutting, purple sage, bugbane, cedar cutting, coral bells leaf, cypress cutting.

I didn't bring in all the burgundies. That way I can flutter around, from plant to shrub, and gather another little "foliage bouquet" on my next walk. Why don't we wear foliage boutonieres? Or carry foliage nosegays?

After I took the picture I put them on the tablecloth and the red made the green color pop out. This is what every gardener does...walks around with leaves to match or contrast foliage. Some designers do it in their head, but it's so much better to actually walk around outside holding up leaves and comparing in the garden while the leaves fall like confetti on you and the woodpecker keeps a steady beat. The squirrels chitter-chatter and scramble up trees that no longer hide them.

Somehow in the fall the squirrels think the gardens are theirs! That is when our westie doggy boy is inside the house. They keep a very low profile when he is running with his nose to the ground. The ground that is still waiting for more tulip and daffodil bulbs to be planted...sigh

Elegant Toad Lily Flowers

A beautiful fall lily flower blooming now. It loves moist shady areas and is a good companion for hostas and ferns. It reaches a height of 18-24-inches and arches gracefully. The leaves are a beautiful kelly green.

I felt this was good for our garden because our westie loves toads (how did it get the name toad in it?) and because our westie's mother's name was "Lily" and because the perennial flowers are welcome at this time of year. If you can read between the lines it's also because I like it! Think of reasons later to justify it.