gardenrooms

Pot-Pourri

" Keeping the sweet smells of Summer "

I'm reading The Bedside Book Of The Garden by Dr. D.G. Hessayon. It's a lovely book and I've been enjoying this gift so much. After reading about how to make Pot-pourri, I'm looking forward to using the glass jar of pedals that I've been collecting for the last few months on our kitchen counter. I cut back all of our English lavender this week (and a clients) so the little dried tops are going into my concoction as well. I've looked at several recipes for Pot-pourri and found that it was very popular for centuries as well as essential in a household because of the lack of sanitation. That's changed now but pot-pourri is still a wonderful way to bring the smells of a garden inside. The easiest and best recipe I've found is a simple one (see below) First of all Roses, Lavender and Carnations will keep their scent, there are several garden flowers that retain their color to add into your potpourri such as Marigolds, Corn Flowers and Chamomile. Experimenting by drying different flowers is the best thing you can do. I dried some Verbena as well and it smells wonderful and adds the green that I was hoping for.

30 g dried orris root

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teasppon cinnamon

A few drops of flower oil 

Add this mixture to your pedals and gently toss like a salad, then let it sit in a closed container for about 3 weeks.

photos in my kitchen this morning, and the lovely drawing is from a book that I've had for years called Floral Fragrances, by Hillary Walden. 

Happy Weekend and thanks for stopping by gardenrooms ! 

The Equinox

Every year in Portland, the Vaux Swift's put on a show in a quiet NW neighborhood right before dusk. This year was the first time we had the pleasure to witness one of nature's equinox treats. It only occurs at this time of year before these little birds migrate south for the winter. The birds found the chimney at Chapman school in the 80's for their evening roost and have been back every year since then. Here are a few photos from Sunday night. Thanks Rand for taking us to the Chapman school to see this for ourselves (so much fun).

 

1.swift via seattle audubon site. 2. vaux swift @ chapman chimney via yourroadmaptohome.com 3.&4. my little iphone :)

Jewels of Summer

Love these little end of Summer treasures..

cup & saucer 

rose hips 

last sun flower

eggplant 

tomatoes

strawberries ~ all from Jan's garden.  Thanks Jan for the delicious tomatoes ;)

The Rose Garden

We live on a street with a rose garden. There are actually 4 rose gardens in our neighborhood. The smell is amazing at certain times of the year. The neighbors that face the garden have grown pumpkins to go with their adorable bunnies. Wanted to share a photo of their front yard with you all today. Hope your weekend is great and thanks for stopping by gardenrooms.

1. 2. 3. standing in the rose garden. 4. our neighborhood bunnies & pumpkins. click on images to enlarge.

Summer hues

I've been putting away the Summer things in anticipation of Autumn. Not quite sure I'm ready to say goodbye yet, maybe just a few more days of Summer would be nice. There's definitely a coziness that settles in after Labor day though and I'm ready to make soups and pull out the blankets when sitting outside. 

images from cottages & bungalows, cote ouest.

This & that

Lots of organizing and packing this weekend. Cleaning too. The weather is nice but Fall is definitely upon us.. hope you've enjoyed your weekend gardening. Here are few photos of ours. It's all about the flowers.

1. kitchen sink & begonias I started from slips. 2. more flowers in our alley. 3. hypdrangeas galore. 4. Edible flower guide from Cook's magazine. 

Flowers and goats

Happened upon a gem of a little farm nusery on the way to recycle some things. Naomi's. If you're in the NW and love flowers, plants or goats this definitely warrants a stop. 2 little milk goats live there during the day.

1. alley sunflowers 2. a window box i made 3. & 4. the  little milk goats, oona and binga at naomi's. 

Home.

Six weeks is a long time to be away & I've so missed every little thing. It's easy to take the little things for granted. Today is the first day I feel relaxed enough to check in and post some photos. I have lots of garden rooms to post later this week. Hope you're all enjoying the long weekend in the States and the beginning of your week everywhere else. Thanks for stopping by ! 

 photos from earlier this year..