Arbor Oak Cottage: Pacific Northwest gardens

Showing posts with label Pacific Northwest gardens. Show all posts

27 May 2014

Peony indulgence!

Last weekend was a perfect opportunity to visit a local Peony Farm. Next to my favorites of fluffy pink roses is the fluffy pink peony. And I never miss a photo opportunity of beautiful flowers. Sorry, I did not take the time to write down the name of each variety, but you can visit Adelmans Peony website http://peonyparadise.com/ to see more.

Enjoy! (there's a lot of pictures, I couldn't help myself, there were too many pretties to resist)

01 May 2014

The buzz cloud in my cottage garden....

Yes, my cottage garden is starting to awake on this wonderful May Day! I call this tree my "buzz cloud" as it reminds me of a fluffy cloud of blossoms and the honey bees love the sweetness of this Lollipop Crab apple tree.

Lollipop crabapple is a slow-growing, dwarf version of an ornamental crabapple tree, named because of its pleasant, rounded shape. Mature height of Lollipop crabapple is about 8 feet, with an equal spread. I think mine reached beyond maturity with all the organic compost it gets in the cottage garden. It will get a good pruning after the blooms fade.

Leaves appear first then white blooms appear on the tree in springtime, followed by small, golden crabapples in late summer. In autumn, the foliage takes on a yellowish tint. Lollipop crabapple isn't difficult to maintain and is suitable for growing in US Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 4 and above.

Honey Bees love it in the spring and the birds love the tiny fall apples

I took some time to step inside the tree, the bees didn't seem to mind that I was taking in the intoxicating scent too.

And since we have had some really nice warm weather the peonies were ripe for the picking~a perfect May Day bouquet!

01 August 2013

Fresh Cut roses

Really, it was a just a trip to put one fresh bouquet, but I couldn't resist. My roses are having a second go around after resting for a few weeks, So I gathered some of my favorite vintage and new vases and got busy.

This is what I actually set out to cut. David Austin Shakespeare and Glamis Castle roses with false Queens Anne lace. These 2 roses are both extremely fragrant.

Eden roses so super gorgeous in a this lovely vintage crystal bud vase I picked up an estate sale last summer

My most challenging vase--shaped like a purse, it has to be stuffed full to look halfway decent! Zepherine and Mary rose and that mystery yellow rose that I still have not figured out what it is called.

A big handful of cornflowers are always perfect in an old canning jar. My most recent find at our church parking lot sale, this 2 quart blue mason jar. Not a reproduction. I actually was there when the old guy brought in the box of awesome old jars.

Fully opened Eden roses are so fluffy almost like pink peonies, they are awesome in this tin vase which I placed on my ladder planter stand.

Someone asked me to photograph my ladder again when the plants had filled out, so here it is, I have had to replant some of the pots already.

Below is the pic of the ladder in May

Joining in these parties this week

Garden Party @ Fishtail Cottage

Share your cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen

Fresh Cut Fridays http://rosevignettes.blogspot.com/

Make it Pretty Monday @ The Dedicated House

Cottage Style @ Lavender Garden Cottage

It’s Bloomin’ Tuesday @ Ms. Green Thumb Jean

Knick of Time Tuesday @ Knick of Time Interiors

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Tuesday Garden Party @ An Oregon Cottage

Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer

22 July 2013

Summer on the front porch

Over at Etsy Cottage Style, I joined in on a creativity challenge that was to create an "outdoor space" be it for dining or relaxing. Since we spend most of our outdoor time on our backyard patio were I have always focused my decorating, I decided to focus on our large front porch. It does have seating, and we have a beautiful view of farmland and mountains, but I have really neglected it the last few years. I needed this challenge to make it a lovely place for evening relaxing with a glass of wine.

Many of you follow my blog know I have been obsessed this summer with apple green. But I do love the combo of yellow and blue too. I already had a lot of yellow going on here so decided adding blue would be inviting in my dark red porch.

As you know, I am a believer in "use what you have", so there is nothing here I went out and bought. The yellow chippy plant stand serves a coffee table. It was a cheap estate sale find that I spray painted and distressed. That cover on the bench is just and old round table cloth I threw over the bottom cushions.

Love this rusty kitchen scale I found at an estate sale this weekend! I actually sanded some of the rust off to smooth it out. The yellow star vase was part of the Bauer pottery set that belonged to my grandmother. An old mason jar full of cornflowers is the perfect country blue.

A jelly jar of yellow coreopsis is just the sweetest!

A bit wider view of my updated seating area. I drug the hubs out here to see what I had done, he actually was impressed, his comment was we should sit out here this evening since it is so nice. Now I am impressed because most of the time he really thinks all my fussing around is a waste of time, but he knows I enjoy it LOL.

I planted huge baskets this summer so they would look good thru the end of September. These are only half full, image how big they will be in a month!

Sharing what we see from our porch, the pics do not do it justice. Below, we had a new full moon last night. It made the porch makeover extra special!