Fairy Garden

Fairy Garden!

Fairy Garden

The first Fairy Garden attempt!

This last weekend we decided to make a little fairy garden centerpiece for the patio table. We selected a theme of a sleeping fairy with a color scheme similar to what we have with the patio decor in aqua blues and greens.

We purchased all the fairy accessories from a local nursery, but I have included some links to a few online fairy garden accessory resources. I have not purchased anything from any of them, but thought you may find them helpful if you don’t have a garden center or any other sources near by. There are also plenty of ways to make fairy homes and such from items you can find out in nature as well. (read more)

Tiny She Shed

She Shed Decor Inspiration

With the upcoming shed renovation I have been doing a lot of online research for ideas of how to personalize the Shedquarters for Bohemian Cottage. I thought I would share with you here some of my favorites. You can see them all on my Pinterest board for Artist Studio, which is half of the intended purpose of the shed, along with running a business and relaxing too of course.

Tiny She Shed

Love the window boxes and color of this tiny shed. Source House Beautiful.

Some of the ideas that I am considering for decorating are to paint the sky mural on the pitched ceiling like I had at my old house and to finally add the 2 crystal chandeliers! So far I have one of the chandeliers and it gives off wonderful light with LED bulbs. I think I will keep the walls fairly subdued in color, like an off white or a tea stained parchment sort of color to give it a vintage look. I was considering doing a floral mural too. (read more)

White Shasta Daisy

Our Garden 2015

Pink Astilbe Shade Garden

I have started a shade garden this year in the back.

Hey guys! I wanted to post the latest on our garden from this year. Some of the new plants include this pink astilbe, and a white one. For some reason I didn’t get a picture of the white one. I started a shade garden in the back by the fence, which is the only shady area in our garden. I also added Creeping Jenny and Anemone Sylvestris. It didn’t bloom this year, hopefully next year!

Red Dinner Plate Dahlia Perennial.

Red Dinner Plate Dahlia.

I also planted Dahlias! This red one and a yellow one that has been growing in a pot. I am thinking of transplanting it into the ground as soon as I do some gardening chores and clear a nice spot for it where it is hopelessly overgrown. They seem to be happy, and they really make me happy with their nice big blooms. (read more)

Monarch Butterfly on a Daylily

Naming Our Bohemian Garden

Monarch Butterfly on a Daylily

This butterfly on our daylilies was the first thing I saw upon coming home one evening

Something I have recently came upon as a concept for us gardeners to consider is naming your garden or home. Historically the large estates and manors of the wealthy have always had names such as Midford Castle (actor Nicolas Cage’s house), Buckingham Palace or Gipsy House the name of writer Roald Dahl’s home. I thought it would be fun to name our garden. We initially named our cottage Fox Cottage when we moved in.We pulled up into the driveway one evening and a fox was waiting in our yard. He looked at us for a long pause before he ran off. The image of that stuck as the name of our new home. In some Native American beliefs, the foliage provides Fox with the camouflage for protection. I like to think of our garden as protector. Some of the reasons that you might want to name your garden or home or both is that it brings more awareness to your space. It infuses the space with personality and character. Naming the garden space is also a good idea to help when designing the garden, to help invoke an image and create meaning, and helps to establish your theme to build upon as you design. There are even websites dedicated to assisting with the house naming process. Do you think it is to hoity toity to name your garden? As you may have guessed, I think it is fun and for all the reasons stated above, a good idea. (read more)

Ladybug Crackers

Little Sprouts Community Garden

Community Garden

We enjoyed a lady bug release party at the Little Sprouts Community Garden

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I participated in a ladybug release party at the Little Sprouts Community Garden. We released hundreds of ladybugs, learned about bugs both beneficial and pests, did some crafts, had fun with a butterfly net and bug habitat and ate some tasty snacks!

Community Garden Crafting

We made Butterfly crafts

We made the cutest tie dyed butterfly craft while there. They are a simple craft for all ages. I will put up the instructions in a different post so you can make one too!

Butterfly Craft at the community garden

Makayla making her butterfly craft

We released hundreds of ladybugs to help the garden defend against pests. We even got a bug habitat to take some home to release in our own garden. (read more)

Coreopsis. Bohemian Cottage

Plant Exchange Potluck

Hen

This year at the Rocky Mountain Gardening Forum Plant Exchange we met this hen.

The Rocky Mountain Gardening Forum annual Spring plant exchange this year was in Arvada. There was a potluck and hundreds of plants being exchanged by gardeners of all levels, from the beginner to the master gardener. The hosts had a chicken coop where this little hen lived with about 5 others. The gardening forum holds the plant exchange a couple times of year, in the spring and again in the fall. everyone starts plants from seed or divides them from established plants in their gardens to bring to share with one another. It is a wonderful way to expand the plants in the garden without having to spend any money at the garden center. This year I shared lemon balm, golden zucchini, chives, coreopsis and strawberries. It is nice to see the plants that are reproducing and spreading in the garden enjoy a good home. (read more)