seeding and beading

Look at my pots wanting to be filled with soil and planted with the most gorgeous thought out container candidates. I am wanting to have some container gardening on my patio this summer including gourds, herbs and tomatoes perhaps.
I would love to get my hands dirty planting seeds, weeding, cultivating and dividing. I can see that it is not going to happen. I am too absorbed in my art and getting set for shows. I had a little mini moment last evening while I was finding lodging for some upcoming shows. The Pittsburgh one is for 6 days and the hotels are not necessarily expensive(with the show rate) but, are for 6 DAYS.

Where is Spring? Today it is a chilly 45 F with the possibility of snow this evening and tomorrow. I needed to see some catchfly and lavender about to burst into bloom to get me motivated.  

These lovely rambling roses reside on my back fence. They were originally my G. Grandmother's and are called Seven Sister's Roses. They make a spectacular mid-summer display with different shades of pink dripping all over the fence, yard and alley. I have to keep it in check all summer for, it loves to attack passersby. 

Medieval Themed Year

Classes were a nice feature of my shows. This is a pic of a Pittsburgh Herb Guild enjoying Professor Ziegler's talk on Medieval gardens.

Chaotic Waters and Edible Flowers

Julie of Chaotic Waters is a very talented jewelry designer and botanical product supplier. Her cremes, shampoos, potpourris, oils and bath salts are just wonderful. next......
Lois owned a local B&B and had a beautiful display and talk on edible flowers.
Here is one of my favorite lavender cookie recipes:

Lavender Cookies

2 eggs
1/2 cups butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. lavender leaves
1-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
confectioner's sugar
rosewater
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put eggs, butter, sugar and lavender (in that order) into blender, and run on low until well mixed. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Add other ingredients and stir until well blended. Drop dough, a teaspoonful at a time, onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake until lightly browned.
Place cookies on racks to cool.
Blend enough rosewater into the confectioner's sugar to make a smooth frosting. Ice the cookies and let them set until the frosting is firm.

I made these for a pre-school class one time and this one little boy ate about 10. Little ones are so receptive at trying new things. They loved the thoughts of eating flowers. It is a very tasty cookie.

I was comtemplating the lazy gardner role that I have been playing for the past 6 years and the why. I need to be under a time constraint in order to produce and this is where my creative flow actually flourishes. This was very true with my gardens and keeping them well maintained. I do not have the deadlines that I did with my yearly June Herb and Art Festival or the need to keep things harvested for product production. Well.... I dug up some old photos from these times with the hope of getting my brain in the gardening mode. This is a bit about one of my shows from '97.  

Praise God that Spring is here and we are on our 7 days without rain! In celebration of this wonderous occassion, my 2 elder daughters and I are going to clean and rearrange the back screen porch. It is a simple outdoor room, slightly rough around the edges, but, it is our gathering/entertaining space all season. I love to work on my art and watch the life rattle about. My girls bring all their friends in for many a gathering. Here you see our Border Collie, Sevin and the cat Marta taking up space together.  

This is the outside of her sunny studio and the herb and perennial gardens are behind. I will have to get her to send on some garden pics. 

Front of Louiseee's home and the Bradford Pear trees just about in full bloom. Spring has sprung in Kentucky! 

This is her bead cupboard in the studio, which is off the well kept herb gardens. Too fun, she has a clippy lamp on her creating space too.  

WOW!!!! Can you see the fireplace hiding among all the Santas, baskets and beautiful furnishings? 

stairs and primitives....she loves the Victorian style also 

We are so very much alike with all the herb/spices hiding in the cabinets awaiting to become something. 

You can see all her wonderful fresh eucalyptus hanging about from South Carolina along with a fantastically gorgeous bench. A flower press is peaking on the left that I gave her one year for Christmas that my Father made. 

Louise in My Life

My afternoons spent with Louise, more than not, turned into 11-12 hours filled with creating, interesting lunch combinations and pot after pot of fennel tea. On mornings she got there abit early I would be awoke by her under my bedroom window calling up to get my body up, ;)
Herbal mustards were prepared using my herb/spice infused vinegars for added punch, brown sugar, dried herbs, wheat flour and mustard flour in the recipes. We spent many a day experimenting or just sitting on my screen porch going through my latest book finds or magazines. On days we felt like traveling we went to all the local Goodwills, afar antique shoppes and town wide yardsales. I miss our jaunts...
Fennel tea:
thyme for courage, chamomile to calm, sage for wisdom, spearmint to refresh, rosemary for remembrance and fennel seed for strength.
This tea is still one of my favorites and when brewed takes me back to my friend and our adventures in my gardens and kitchen or her antique shop and kitchen. She is now in Kentucky with her husband and 3 poodles having a longer growing season and has recently started up another antique shoppe.
I will hunt up some pictures of her homes, filled with antiques and treasures, tomorrow.