How about a facelift?

Recently I had a little down time so I decided my director chair bar stools needed a little face lift. I know what you are thinking. Director chairs are a little old fashion so yes I have had them for many, many years. At our last house we didn't need them so they stayed in the attic. Here we have a small eat-at bar and so I drug them back out. Okay I hear your moans all the way down here! The pink canvas screams "girlie". I told you I have had these for a long time. These were mine from my single days. So anyway, I purchased two cans of black spray paint and taadaaah!!
They really turned out great! The hardest part was taping up those brackets. Not much fun there. Now my biggest problem is trying to find canvas. I can't find these things anywhere except on the internet which I'm not a big fan of ordering off of but I may have to. If anybody has seen these in stores anywhere please let me know.

How about a little gold?

I couldn't help but notice how the sun was lighting up this Arkansas Blue Star the other day so I snapped a picture. I brought this plant home from the nursery last fall and planted it here in the bird bath garden. I really wasn't sure what I had here but I thought free plant, hey why not. Well it has turned out to be a great plant for all seasons. This spring it was a beautiful springy green color with a nice and airy texture. Then it bloomed little pale blue blooms. And now it is a little mass of gold. So I thought it was blog-worthy. Here's some facts on it:

Botanical name-Amsonia hubrichtii
Full sun to partial sun
2.5' T
2.5' W
Blooms late spring-no fragrance
Prefers well draining soil but it has adapted to my wetter than wet bed
If it gets leggy after blooming just trim back to keep bushy

I like it so well I think I may need to get another or two.

The UBER Award

I've just received a new award. It is from Linda at Meadowview Thymes. Check out her blog and see all the fun things she has. She has beautiful pictures, wonderful quotes, lovely flowers and beds and a gorgeous backyard pond. She is one of the first blogging friends I met after I started my blog and I feel like I have known her a lifetime.

This 'UBER" is an acronym for U've been excellently rewarded. This award is given to sites that:
1. inspire you
2. make you laugh and smile
3. or maybe give amazing information
4. a great read
5. has an amazing design
6. and any other reasons that you can think of that makes them UBER amazing!

I can nominate anyone I choose so I send this award out to anyone who wants it. All my blogging friends have fantastic blogs. If I chose any I would highlight my whole blog roll and paste it here. Everyone is deserving.

What's a girl to do?

It's raining outside and I'm loving it! Yes, you heard me right!!! Loving it!! Why you ask? Because just as I was pulling into Mickie D's this a.m. to grab a coffee, work called and said I didn't have to work today. Hoorah!! So after grabbing my cup of joe back home I flew(not really) but it sounded good.

Now here's the bad part. I am the type of person that always has to have something to do. This drives my hubbie crazy but I just can't help myself. He'll say something like, "Don't you want to take a rest or maybe a nap"? My usual reply? "I can rest when I'm dead." Don't get me wrong a nap is a great thing and I do occasionally nap. But usually it is in front of the t.v. right before bedtime. So what have I been up to this a.m.?Well, it just so happens I brought home some artificial greenery from work yesterday. Yes, it was headed for the trash bin too. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I knew to take it. This is my bathroom mirror which as you can see looks pretty drab. So here's where some of the greenery went.Now I realize this isn't going to get me a full page spread in Home Decor(if there is such a magazine) but it helps. Yes, I know I need to paint this room as well but that is a project for another rainy day.

So what am I going to do now? Well I also hung a little greenery above my kitchen cabinets and noticed while I was on the ladder how dusty everything is so look out Mr. Dusty here I come.

Changing out some shrubs

Earlier I posted a photo and info about plants in my bird bath garden. It seems they were all drowning. So I elected to remove some of them and hopefully plant only water loving plants there. Trust me, this will be a slow process. But I did get my sweetspires moved.

I have six of them and moved them closed to my Keepsake garden. This is on a small slope so hopefully they won't drown here. I don't know how they have survived. When I dug them up puddles of water were left in their holes. Right now their foliage is turning a red color which is really pretty.(picture courtesy of the internet)

This is what they look like in bloom. Here's some more interesting facts.
Botanical- Itea virginica "Little Henry"
2-3' T
2-3' W
Prefer full sun-partial shade
Blooms in spring
Hardy in zones 5-9
Has a mounding growth habit

New Award Given

I've been given an award from Daisy at Dancing with Daisy. If you get a chance check out her blog. She has neat videos you can dance to as well as wonderful poetry and photos. Thanks Daisy. Since I love all my blogger friends I pass this award on to anyone who wants it.

Color on the Natchez Trace Parkway.....

Yesterday morning we decided to get up early and go down to the Ross Barnett Reservoir and take in some Fall color.
So with coffee in hand out the door we went at 6:40. It was a beautiful sunny morning with a temperature in the high 40's.The reservoir runs along side the Natchez Trace Parkway which is about 5 minutes from our house. On some mornings I take this route to work. It allows for such a great start to my day.
The trees are showing lots of color now. It's almost like this happened overnight.I had really hoped to just park and observe but instead we drove on down the road to check things out.It's a good thing there were no other cars around. We would drive a mile or so and then I'd ask him to stop so I could snap a pic.If anyone had been around they would have wondered what that crazy lady was doing running back and forth across the road. Actually, my hubbie probably thought I was crazy but I was having such a great time!This was the last place we parked before heading back home. Sometimes you can see wildlife such as deer, eagles, hawks and wild turkeys. We didn't see any yesterday but we did see some herons.

In the summer there is lots of boating and fishing that goes on. It's nice that you can just pull up to the side of the reservoir in your vehicle.

We had a really nice morning yesterday, hope you enjoyed the visit.

Iochroma is finally blooming!

I've done some posts where I mentioned my Iochroma but had not posted on it. I saw this plant for the first time last year and just had to have one. We were tossing it at work so I brought it on home. I didn't get it planted until late summer but it bloomed until frost. The hummingbirds really enjoyed it.

I was really excited to see it coming back this spring. It grew and grew but no blooms. (It's about 5 feet tall.) I tried everything to boost blooming but it refused. The other day I was looking at it and noticed buds. Then we had a couple of frosts and I figured that was it but low and behold it is now blooming. In the background you can see some frost damage.
I love the long tubular blooms and how they hang in clusters. I also bought a rose colored one this year but it didn't perform as well. Plus, Mr. big green caterpillar loves these plants.

Here's some facts:
Botanical name-Iochroma cyaneum
Native of South America and relative of the Angel trumpet
Full sun to light shade
8' Tall and 8' Wide
Hardy to 20
Shrub like in zones 9B-11
Perennial in zones 8-9
Annual in all other zones