Poorman's Bouquet and Vintage Haeger Pot

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IS IT SATURDAY? ? !

Well, another week almost gone...the only way I know what day of the week is by looking in my pill box. 

I HAVE to take a thyroid pill every morning, or I am back asleep by noon, so after 40 years or so...

it's totally a habit.

YES, pill boxes. I've reached the age and quantity of pills and use three weekly pill boxes. Granted most are doctor recommended supplements, which keep everything moving (inside and out), and hopefully my few prescriptions keep me functioning for a long time in the future. 

Anyway, 

WE HAVE HAD A BREAK IN THE WEATHER!!!

Cooler finally---and open-the-windows

 kind of temperatures! 

After record breaking 90's in June and JULY...

it's a lovely balmy 80 something.

HALLELUJAH!    

ON to my FIND!

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Friday,

Bathed in sanitizer and masked, I made a quick trip to our local thrift store. 

LOOK what I snagged,

this Haeger vase in an Arts & Crafts style, 

in a perfect matte green. I could tell by the weight, it was a contemporary piece, but the shape and glaze screamed Art Pottery. Plus it's 12" tall x 9"wide.

 Deliciously big as vases go.

COLOR ME HAPPY!

A few words about Haeger and Royal Haeger originally located here in Dundee, Illinois. Haeger pottery began on the clay rich banks of the Fox River in 1871, the same year as the Great Chicago Fire. This company produced pottery through four generations and developed ceramic art wares and everyday pieces by expert craftsman through 2014.

As a potter myself, I always enjoyed visiting: the factory, their displays, and envied their glazes in the 70's to late 90's. As a buyer/floral designer for a north shore craft chain store, I was allowed to choose and buy Royal Haeger extensively through the 1990's. The figural and sculptural pieces popular then are quite collectible now. As a USA company competing with imports and the economic aftermath of 9/11, this wonderful company closed in 2014 after 143 years in operation. What a loss! 

Anyway my Haeger find is from the early 2000's in a lotus pattern reminiscent of the art pottery of the 

1920-30's in this delicious matte green.  

Perfect for a large Poorman's Bouquet! 

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The garden was so hot the last two weeks, but flowers flourished while our vegetables struggled to hang on. Our Caladiums are insanely happy in the shade with lots of watering and hot temperatures, I  don't mind clipping a few leaves here and there for arrangements.

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Not wanting to fill the entire vase with water (to avoid sweating), I inserted an upside down plastic container and a tall pickle jar to hold the flowers in the center. 

It's hard to take photos with the sunlight streaming in.

 I had to place my Poorman's Bouquet in our living room, where the green pot matches my walls!

 I've added some different flowers in this arrangement.  First, I bundled with tape some tall lemon grass

 for the center.

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From this side, with my butt on the buffet, you can see the colors and the vase clearly.

I used 3 Caladium leaves, 3 large fronds of unopened Giant Sedum which echoed the matte green of the vase,  Added some damaged lilies, bent over zinnias and I cut a branch of my first year Blackeyed-Susans which immediately wilted, and three bright magenta Phlox stems.

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I had added a spray of bleach to the water and a bit of sugar, I'm out of florist preservative. 

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The phlox are already dropping...

but I'm sure this will hold for a week with such a large container of water.  

Nothing is better than picking from your own flowers from the garden on a lovely day.

Hugs and have a great weekend! 

What's SURVIVING in your FLOWER GARDEN?

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Midwest Gardening: Decorative Plantings in Pots and Planters

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If you have been following my Midwest Gardening posts, you know that we started lots of flowers/plants from seeds and bulbs. July 2, I took lots of photos of the yard, pots, and gardens. I'll try and show what's working well in pots, and what isn't. 

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The new pots out at the street get the HOT sun and wind all day. So far, they are doing pretty well. I did purchase a grass and the papyrus looking plant (left pot) and some succulent looking fern.  I'm disappointed the dark red spikey Cordyline in the right pot hasn't done much. I expected it to get larger, but it has been very hot. We did use drought resistant potting soil mixed with our compost dirt, in these pots and in the mailbox planter.

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I stuck some Zinnia starts from seed in here, and they have been quite happy and a nice pop of color. 

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The mailbox planter, I used less plants here this year. The purchased Salvia has done nothing. The small marigolds I chose a shorter version this year, and they are also quite small, though full of blooms. The Vinca vines(transplanted from ground cover) is finally starting to droop...so those were free. The wave petunias are stilted also. We are faithfully watering, but the sun has been fierce out here this year with the reduced pollution??? I'm not sure why this planter is slow this year.

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Because I used seed start flowers, my garage walkway pots aren't in full bloom yet. They get sun for about 6 hours a day, so I always put Sweet potato vines in here. Bachelor Buttons are the grey spikey plants. I think those are bush sunflowers coming from seed starts. LOL, I can't remember.

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There are three pots along the garage walkway. I alternate sweet potato vines (lime or purple) in these pots. The tall plants are tall marigolds from my plant starts.

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The West shady side has two pots. Still waiting for their seed starts to begin blossoming. The rose on the trellis has been slow this year after being froze.

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This pot is spilling over from the sweet potato vine. Wow, the conditions have been perfect for them early this year, hot and wet. I'm moving this into the flower beds with the perennials, as it was being swallowed by some Giant Hosta. 

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This hanging pot with Mandevilla, the rope broke and then fell. In one night the potato vine in front was totally chewed off along with the Caladium. The beauty of pots is you can move them around. This one is safe now in a raised area and after a week, it's recovering! (Ps whatever ate it, didn't touch the Mandevilla) 

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This large focal pot has lots going on---and everything is very happy, even in this very hot spot! Mandevilla, lime and purple Potato Vine, and a wave petunia. 

The box planter above is filled with marigolds and zinnias and more purple. I have some giant sunflowers and bush sunflowers growing inside the railing.

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I do love the red, lime, and purples....!

Up on the porch a have a pot of Nasturtiums from seed going crazy. I had no idea how large these got as it's my first time growing them. Next year I will start them in small pots in the greenhouse, so I can transplant just a few here and there.

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When cleaning the craft room, I donated my baskets, and let Goodwill store them. If I need a basket they are all cheap there. I did take some outside, this one had a florist's liner which I drilled holes in. 

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It's filled with Alyssum, Caladiums and Nasturtiums. Again, I had no idea how huge they would get. My Caladiums all grown from bulbs are varied sizes, which I will sort and label for next year. One of the down sides of buying bargain multi-packs, it's hard to tell what you are getting. Considering one Caladium plant is at least $6.99 a bag of bulbs for $6.99 is very cost effective if you have the patience and space to start them in February.

The back yard is spilling with planters and pots of everything. It is cooler back here because of shade trees. A blessing and a curse with all the leaf/wingy dingys falling all the time. Silver Maples are very messy trees.

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I bought lots of Impatiens to go with my seed plant starts.  I use railing pots along the vegetable garden to encourage pollinators. We are going to place these into the vegetable garden now, to encourage pollinators. 

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 A 'crazy' close neighbor has a beehive now, with no water source or flowers in his yard, totally against our county codes here, so our yard is swarming with honey bees. Since I am deathly allergic, my time outside is limited now. But, I do love my flowers. 

Bees love the marigolds so I will continue do trays of seed starts of those.

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Moving the flowers away from our seating areas should help. 

I found some of these tropical Mandevilla (with waxy leaves and red flowers) labeled tropical???quite reasonable for $3.99 and have used them everywhere. I hope to keep some in the house over winter. So far they flower constantly.

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These large colorful pots without flowers will be fine around our seating areas. Plus we have pots of peppermint as bee deterrent to place around the deck.

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The pots under our roof extension are really taking off. Impatiens and all the Coleus grown from seed are a colorful and total shady happy solution. I have a few Impatiens in there also, but I think the plants are plenty of color. I will try some potted ferns here next year.

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The white Caladiums are startling. I will be labeling all the corms when I dig them up for storage this fall by leaf size and color. Downside, the dusty pots sides occur with every rain or when we put the sprinkler on here. I may whitewash these pots next year so it doesn't show. Or we may add pea gravel over the paver base. This is the first year for this 'new area' of total shade and our paver base path--so it is still a project in progress.

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These smaller pots seem to keep the leaf size under control, or maybe it was the dirt? 

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I even tried a mixture in a hanging pot. Turns out those are Giant Coleus...they were so small when I planted them it was hard to tell.
NOTE TO SELF: Come up with a better labeling solution for seeding trays.

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This wall pot is happy here in almost total shade. Ceramic wall pots tend to boil  plants, so I have stayed away from them, but this one is so pretty.

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Here an elephant ear(small bulb) and some small Caladiums ended up in a small pot. Again, I will be labeling everything ...lol. Small bulb Elephant Ear, is still huge!

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These are the last pots of Caladiums that are so slow. I have to figure out where to put these and in what...LOL. Maybe on Monday after the holiday. 

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Stargazer lilies...getting ready to bloom in these pots. They need to go in the ground along our north fence when it is completed. So many projects, so little time! 

PS, all my Hosta grown from sprig starts last year are thriving in the ground. Definitely worth coddling those assorted bags of starts. 12 assorted Hosta for $5.99 at a big box hardware store, not sure which one.

Happy JULY Gardening! Hope this helps give you some ideas or tips on pots and planters.

Thank you for any and all comments.

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Thank you for your cooperation, 

Sandi 

Midwest Gardening: What's Blooming/Growing

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We spent a hard week trimming, clearing debris and all dead/dying/overgrown stuff out. 

Time to enjoy some blooming.  

Everything seems to be just growing so fast right now. Here's some quick photos with only one story, lol. 

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Only thing blooming around the pond right now is this rosebush---which had been dead/dormant for over 10 years. Last year I coaxed three flowers out of it. And, this year I cleared all the other plants around, trimmed and fertilized. And, Whaaa-Laaaa---roses and lots more buds, too. It was originally a climber and gets long tendrils, which I have been cutting back also? I am far from a rose grower...but I'm proud of this! 

(Honestly I knew the root would be huge -30 years or so- and really didn't want to dig it out...LOL)

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It has luscious crimson roses! 

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One of two pots around the pond, I planted with this purple thing...hoping it climbs out soon.

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Geranium blooming here. The squirrels have been digging in all three pots along the garage...it will be a miracle if some of the plants make it after being planted multiple times. 

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I bought red geraniums early---an 8 pack, but one was this color...it's pretty, but???

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The squirrels have been rearranging the Gnome village in the backyard. Everyday!

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I always thought Gnomes would live under a shady tree. The Grand helped me place all these...! 

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I'm cutting lettuce today, and the peas are starting to blossom.

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Also more lettuce and onions, picking for the week! 

Tips on keeping garden lettuce on this post:

Midwest Gardening:First Crop and Tips

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All the tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans are starting to bloom! And a few short sunflowers.

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Pots are starting to explode, the Caladiums and Elephant ears....are really winding up! 

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The back pond is running, and the trellis rose is starting to bloom. Hubby is working on a base for a new fence behind here.

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Last thing I planted last week---sweet peas for the east fence.

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The Hollyhocks are thick with leaves and forming the bud stems at about 4 feet high. I wonder how tall they will be this year?  The birdhouse is moveable, I never know when plants may cover something!

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These are the Hollyhocks I planted last year---they should bloom this year, HH's are biennial--so they seed and then bloom after the second year.

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Last Iris....waiting to open.......sigh. such a short season!  My Sedum plants are very happy, also.

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I've actually sat  here a bit... the crazy hot temps have cooled off, and watching the birds with my feet up and a cool drink is...

One of Life's simple pleasures! 

WHAT DO YOU HAVE BLOOMING?

Thank you for any and all comments.

Finally I am able to reply to comments by using Chrome. So all you Mac users who have upgraded to Catalina---this might help the glitches on Safari  and Blogger!

Join me at these fine blog parties:
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 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

Thank you for your cooperation, 

Sandi 

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