IN A GARDEN: March 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Nursery Tour

We are spending the weekend in Seattle. It is Jenna Dears 21st birthday this week. More on that perhaps later.

The weekend started off with a 3 day youth conference at the church Jenna attends. I met up with the interns and had a wonderful time enjoying the speakers and meeting many of my daughters friends. It was wonderful to see her in such a great place with such a lively community of young people.

After the conference Saturday we had some time to do a little shopping :) Jenna hung out with us in Bellevue as we shopped till we dropped. Sunday morning found us taking a little excursion to Woodenville. There are lots of lovely things in Woodenville, one of them is my all time favorite nursery Molbak's. It is like going to garden mecca for me.

So come along and I will give you the tour.

As we passed through an outdoor dining space, it was at the moment a misty morning. Jenna calls Seattle spring weather moody. Today I could see why. Clear skies, oophs now it is drizzling, oh wait a minute put your sunglasses on it is so bright, now it's over cast, next thing you know buckets of rain are falling. Moody is one way to describe a day in Seattle :)

On entering the first building you are hit with everything decorative to do with gardening.

Around every corner is a new vignette. From one garden theme to another.

Lots of ideas to gather for future thought.

Then the you get to the plants themselves. The green houses go on and on, but I love how each area is put together with such flare. These are not just a bunch of plants stuck on benches.

As your pass through a large section of pots, you then walk into the covered outdoor area.

Plants in every direction going on and on and on.

Back inside to another building holding all the tools of the trade. I could have spent hours just browsing the seed racks...

Tomorrow we celebrate Jenna's birthday. I am looking forward to a day in downtown Seattle. I do hope the sun shines...but I heard something about 50 mph winds?

Sunday, March 21, 2010

My Last Class

Friday morning I was trying to encourage students to complete their work, I was trying not to think about this being my last class with this group. Then one of my favorite students told me she had left a note for me on the table to read later. Well that did it, I barely got through the next few hours. Saying goodbye to all these amazing kids, some whom I have taught for six years was really getting to me. Then they started asking me to sign their year books...oh my! Teaching has been a fairly new experience for me in the last ten years. I can't believe how much the relationships can impact both ways. There were some students that immediately took to my class and flourished. Then there were those students who struggled, and struggled. Then there would be that aha moment!. They knew it, I knew it and everything would start to click. Those were my favorite moments! I hope to continue some private lessons down the road, but I don't think I will ever quite experience anything like this again. Sixty or so students in four classes ages 7-16. So much effort, so much reward. For those who do this as a career I fully applaud you!

So here is a short over view of what their final drawings looked like. We did portraits of a few famous Presidents. For this lesson, the main point was to teach them how to find the shapes and values and to translate that on their paper. They rub the back of a copy of the picture with graphite. Then using it as carbon paper they tape the picture on their paper, and trace out the main lines. Removed the picture and then worked very hard on their values,shapes, and texture. This saves a lot of time in drawing to get to the main point on this assignment which is value. I like to stress that they use at least five values on their picture.

I will be posting all my students work on my blog "The Drawing Pad"

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Plants and Pots

The weather is all spring like. One minute it is sunshine and birds chirping, then the wind comes up, and the next thing you know we have a spring shower.

I had a chance in between the changing weather patterns to plant some spring flowers and get my pots all cleaned up and ready to go.

When I was out shopping with the family this weekend, I ran across something that was not exactly potting material, but a must have ;)

For my readers in town, I found these adorable chintz trowels at...wait for it....Ranch and Home, and they have matching hand rakes and pruners!

Here is my final decision on my roses. I placed my order today!

Harlow Carr

This is a David Austin English Rose

Lady of the Mist

Lady of the Mist ( I am on a waiting list for this one)

English Legend Rose

Louise Clements

English Heirloom Rose

April in Paris

Hybrid Tea Rose

Easy Does It

Floribunda

Oophs I guess I did go over my limit of only 3. April in Paris is to replace another rose I lost over the winter, Pristine.

Easy Does It, is for a back up in case I don't get Lady of the Mist.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Just Breathe

Sometimes we just need to stop and take a breath. My grand daughter and I got to spend a lovely morning together this week. I needed to introduce her to my world of plant shopping :) We went to three nurseries and looked at all the available offerings. She was so content to ride in the pull along wagon with her snack of orange juice and sausage biscuit. Of coarse I came home with some new babies. Meg had her all dressed up for the outing. When I went to pick her up she said "Nana look at my new dress!" She was so happy to be going on errands with me and all dressed up to boot. I know these days of her enjoying my simple company and a simple outing like this will fly by quick. I am trying to not let it all fly by so fast it becomes a big blur.

We ended up at the park for some romping and sunshine. (momma said she took a good long nap this afternoon) It is funny how the older I get it is the simple things I am beginning to enjoy more. I think that is what makes grands and their Nana's so able to enjoy the same things. It was so good to just be in the sunshine and take a breath.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Only Ten More!

Well I finally made some progress in the garden this weekend. Pruning my roses is taking much longer than I had hoped. Out of 73 roses though I have only ten more left to prune!

It didn't help that I had a traumatic dental visit earlier this week. I was getting a crown done. They said 1 1/2 hours...it went 2 1/2 hours. You know it is not going well when they have to numb you three separate times; when they run out of gas in the middle of your procedure; and when the next day the dental assistant calls you from home on her day off to see "how you are doing." Ugggh, I hate the dentist and now I hate them even more. I was definitely down for the count for two days. Ick!

On a happier note I did get to spend and afternoon with the babies. Here are a few pictures of a lovely spring moment. Puddin Toes learning to petal.