Spring Decorations

January 14, 2012 at 5:48 pm (Botanical decorations, Pelargonium, weather)
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January is always so grey and dreary, although here at Minerva’s Garden I did notice an English daisy and violas with one or two little blooms on them, and some crocus tips pushing their way up out of the mulch the other day.   However, I was determined to start out the year fresh with some pretty indoor spring decorations!  I have paper and silk flowers, as well as some real flowers blooming away indoors to make our house more cheery.  Here they are:

Paper cherry blossoms on a branch from the backyard, plus a hot pink silk flower with a bright imitation green apple in a basket, and some white silk flowers in a soft pink, grey and white vase.

The flowers couldn’t have been easier to make–from Martha Stewart, and then hot-glued to the branch.

 

The mantle with more paper cherry blossoms, bright pink silk flowers in glass vases, some little birds in a basket--love it!

Sideboard with a pottery bird in the basket, clear tumbled glass and wine corks with a pink flower in a tall vase, and a shot of green in the bottle with white silk flowers.

 As you can see, the color scheme is mostly shades of pink and green, with some crisp white as background.

 

Re-imaginging some things I had around the house--Dollar Tree silk roses stuck through the fabric of an old lampshade, with a base I had but got at a flea market for fifty cents years ago and painted white. Alongside are paperwhites blooming on the right, and a little green vase with white silk flowers, and an imitation bright green apple, all on a pink placement!This lamp is so sweet--makes me smile each time I walk into the room and see it!

 

Some real flowers: Paperwhites, January 2012

 
 
Pink pelargoniums, commonly (but erroneously) called geraniums, on a curly wire plant stand and a stout ceramic container, January 2012

None of these ideas are original to me, but I found them online, and just tweaked them to suit what I had on hand around the house and garden, or what I could get inexpensively at Dollar Tree–love that!

 
Have you done a little spring decorating this year–do tell in the comments!  I love to hear from my Minerva’s Garden readers!

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Snow and Salad Greens

January 14, 2012 at 5:23 pm (Salad Greens, Vegetable gardening, weather)
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Welcome to 2012 at Minerva’s Garden.  Sorry for the lack of posts lately–had a family member with emergency surgery, so things have been hectic.  However, I’m back now!

The weather reports are saying that we might get a bit of snow tonight through Tuesday, so if you are living in the area and haven’t done so, you may want to take today to protect any sensitive plants that are still lingering outdoors.  I have salad greens outside under two and three layers of clear plastic, and so far this winter they have done great!  I picked a big bowlful of them last week, which we thoroughly enjoyed in our Saturday Cesar Salad and homeade pizza tradition.  With winter salad green production, because the temperatures have been so cold, it takes the plants much longer to recover and regrow than in warmer summer months, so I’ll have to wait a while before I can pick again, but still, it’s great to have some fresh produce from the garden! 

As you may remember from a previous post, I have some basil and lettuce and radicchio growing under lights indoors as well.  They are still pretty small, but the lettuce is about ready to pick at the baby stage, with leaves about four inches long, so that will be an additional source of greens for us.

Would love to hear from you–feel free to leave a message.  Do you do any winter vegetable gardening?  Will it be snowy in your area this weekend–let me know, because I love to hear from you!

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