faulker042

There's much to enjoy (and learn) from reviewing garden photos. Here are a few of my favorites from 2011 that I love for the colors. Some photos were taken near while others far away. Click the photos to view in a slideshow lightbox. Hemaris thysbe (hummingbird moth) visits the liatris ligulistylus in my meadow garden. Zinnias in my cottage garden. Fiery colors at Dole® Plantation in Hawaii. Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, France. Leopard's Bane in a garden in Paris, France. Pink prevails in my deer resistant meadow garden in June. Rich red monarda 'Jacob Cline' in my east garden. Blue nigella and pink autumn sage in my cottage garden. Battery Park in New York City. In a North Carolina public garden. Bright colors in my meadow garden. Stipa (grass) and spirea (shrubs) in my front deer resistant  garden. Ring around my sundial in my cottage garden. Agastache, flax and salvaia in my deer resistant meadow garden. Larkspur and rose campion in my cottage garden. Words and photo...

Cooking is right up there with gardening and travel. The experience alone is rewarding and the result is usually satisfying. There are times when I love to spend hours in the kitchen purely for the creative outlet and enjoyment. I'd love to cook from scratch more often, but with only two in our empty nester household and a desire to remain healthy, I seldom make "big meals" anymore. My pent up need to cook was released the other day when I decided to make a frittata for dinner, using an early birthday gift from my husband. I tend to use recipes as a loose guide to cooking unless baking a cake where ingredients and measurements must be precise. For most main courses, I add, subtract and substitute ingredients according to whim. With that flexibility in mind, I embarked on making a frittata with the gift, a Calphalon Unison Slide Nonstick Fritta Pan Set from Williams-Sonoma® . In the past, I've used the stovetop to start a frittata and the oven to finish it. Nothing wro...

Drifts of snow white blanket the cottage garden in December. On a sunny winter day, the few remaining pollinators buzz among the blossoms. So far undaunted by frost, Sweet Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' still flourishes.The honey fragrance of the blooms makes it nearly impossible to resist picking a stem to deeply inhale the scent. Braving the cold morning, I snapped a few photos of the alyssum, just before the sun warmed up the garden. Sweet Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' (8:00 am, December 3, 2011) Alyssum with burgundy leaves of loropetalum. (December 3, 2011) I sow seeds the tiny seeds of Sweet Alyssum (lobularia maritima) from October through March. Known as a cool climate annual, the small investment in seeds was worth the effort here in zone 7b of North Carolina.My cottage garden is a micro-climate more like zone 8a. The alyssum patches spread remarkably wider in 2011 compared to 2010 and I believe this is due to some self-sowing.  The height is relatively low, less than...