Doors for Salvage Hall

Salvage Hall has of course been built with reclaimed building material. Still missing was the doors. Doors are one think Doug and I have plenty of. The farm we purchased 3 years ago came with a barn filled with "stuff". In that stuff was over a dozen doors. We have brought a few home to donate to Salvage Hall.

Salvage Hall will soon be ready to hold classes and workshops.

Wedding

The wedding is just a little over a week away. Kat has asked me to help decorate. I am going to order Cream colored roses to add to the simple white branches and greens. There will be tons of candles and flameless candles all over the reception. There is a large fire place in the Library that we can also put candles is. I know it is going to be beautiful and very "Katie".

Council Ring

I spent a wonderful morning visiting Cherry Lane Farm and Trudi Temple. Trudi is having a field stone Council Ring built on her farm. The stone is being brought in from New York state on two trucks. The ring will be 30 feet in diameter. I was excited to be a small part of its beginning. I held the measuring tape while Trudi and her right hand, Gene, measured out the area for the council ring.

Dried arrangement

This August I cut flowers to dry in my shed. Some of the plants I used were Peony seed heads, Penstemon seeds heads, Lavender, Joe Pye Weed and Panicum. I tied them into small bundles and hung them up side down in my shed. The shed is a dry dark place. It is perfect for drying flowers. This is the first time I tried drying Joe Pye Weed. The trick is to cut it before the flowers open.

I used a white pumpkin to make my fall dried arrangement. I also added fresh Lavender and a small amount of fresh Golden Chamaecyparis. I am hosting a bridal shower this weekend and few dried arrangements will add an elegant touch.

Fall Window Box

Yep! It is time to change the planters and window box for Fall. One thing to keep in mind, do you want to water? This has been a dry Fall so, Mother Nature has not been much help in keeping things green or alive. By omitting live plants I have created a maintenance free window box. I trimmed a few Juniper branches and added them for something that appears alive. Then I added two small pumpkins and an old bird house. There was some ivy still growing so, I left it in place.

Fall Color

For a brief time each year the colors are amazing. As an artist, I would love to be able to save color in a bottle. I can imagine holding the intense red leaf of a Burning Bush and having it melt in your hand. I don't think there is a name for every color in my yard.

Fun Decorating for Fall

This year, like every year since 1988 I cut up one white sheet and create a large spider web. The first spider web was at our house in Lemont, Illinois some twenty years ago. We have made it at every home since. When we lived in Indiana, we made a large web with our neighbors and connected our two houses. It has become a Halloween tradition, along with our very cool pumpkin carving. I started carving pumpkins when the children were small. I would surprise them when they got home from school with some type of extreme jack-o-lantern. Vicky has done a great job of taking over the pumpkin carving. I can't wait to see what she surprises us with this year.

August with the two Linda's

August was packed full of fun excursions. I spent one day a week with one of my Garden YaYa's, Linda. Not only are we both named Linda but our last initial is "H" too! Upon meeting some many years ago, we found we have lived parallel lives.

Trip #1 A train ride into Chicago. We visited the Farmers Market on Daly Plaza. I bought a wonderful Garlic and Cheese spread and Linda bought Chocolates. We shopped and had lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Later we strolled around the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park and finally, drinks and live music at the outdoor Park Grill. A Perfect day in the City!

Trip #2 A visit to the sustainable farm of the "Queen of Gardenista's" and founder of Market Day, Trudi Temple. She is one of the best "life" story tellers you will ever be inspired by. I promise you every gardeners wants to be apart of "Trudiland". She is not just a kindred spirit,

she is more of an energy, unique and exciting to be around.

Trip #3 What month would be complete without another trip into Chicago. This time my Irish twin and baba sista, Lisa and her friend Liz joined us. Yes, it was Linda, Linda, Lisa and Liz walking and embracing our look of suburban tourist lost in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood. One gentlemen called us the Golden Girls (I am sure it was not about age, we are all blonds). We shopped and laughed. We had dinner at a wonderful Mexican Restaurant and of course there was more laughter. After dinner and two pitchers of Mexican mojitos, we were on our way to see the garden and outdoor entertaining area at the home of Rick Bayless. I love being me!

Next month, the Renegade Craft Fair in Bucktown. I am really going to try to shake the suburban house wife look. Wish me luck!

Trudi Temple farm walk

Last year we had the pleasure of having Trudi Temple speak at the Nursery. She also graciously welcomed us into her Hinsdale garden. This year Trudi has invited us to tour her Northern Illinois sustainable farm. One thing for certain, when Trudi is sharing her gardening knowledge, it is a memorable experience. I can't think of any other speaker I have enjoyed listening to more. Trudi is a kindred spirit. On Thursday August 12th we will be taking a chartered bus from Spring Bluff Nursery to Trudi's farm. We will enjoy lunch at the farm and Trudi will be our guide for this rare opportunity.

Nodding Onion

Last year I propagated Nodding Onion from our farm. I am excited to see it getting ready to bloom. This is a plant native to north east Illinois. The latin name is Allium cernuum. Unlike other allium, it has flat leaves. In early spring it is amongst the first plants to appear and it has a blue color to the leaves. The name comes from the nodding habit of the flower.

Early Morning in the Garden

The rain last night and the cooler air temperature made for early morning fog. What an enchanting setting for the garden. The garden is much work when you work full time but definitely worth it!! I am almost ready to mulch and like any gardener I know, I have thoughts of changing things. I am trying to talk Doug into making the patio bigger and moving the grilling area. We have a brick patio so it is easier to enlarge and keep the same theme. I think I have a good chance of a win this time.

Simple container

I put Sedum and Lantana together with an old bird house and left over curly willow branches. This container sits at my front door and everyone comments about it. I am having fun this year using odds and ends instead of all plants in my containers.

Window Box

Last year Jake built me a window box for Mother's Day. I planted it with a ton of beautiful flowers. This year my feelings are "keep it simple". I love the way it looks and the new Pretty Much Picasso petunia looks fabulous in it with red cabbage. Great job Linda!

Its Gardentown!

Oh my goodness! Its finally back, EXTREME Gardening. I woke up to sunshine, coffee and a walk to water a few plants and the hanging baskets in my yard. Next I filled two truckloads of plants to take to a Garden Festival. I got to talk with other gardeners and back to the nursery. I was talking to a client about getting trees and shrubs installed and I noticed a pound of dirt under my nails. I have funny tan lines on my feet from my Crocks. I love summer!

Feels like summer

Today I helped plant a large garden. We planted 30 different varieties of Tomato plants,15 types of peppers, eggplant, basil, cabbage, lemon grass, melons, cucumbers, squash and onions. I had a good time and learned how to plant a large garden in uniform rows. It looks really good and it will be fun to watch it grow. I got a little sunburned, I think that was meant to be.

Bill Shores in Rick Bayless' Garden

I am very excited because I got tickets to a tour of gardens designed and tended by Bill Shores of Shores Garden Consulting. The tickets for the tour sell out within days. Last year a waited to long to decide and I missed the boat. This year however I acted quickly and got 4 tickets. Myself and a few garden buddies are going to spend the night downtown and make a few days out of it. The following day I volunteer in the Lurie Garden. I love my life!
We are very fortunate to have Bill Speaking at Spring Bluff Nursery on June 5th. His talk will be on Urban Agriculture and Small Space Food Production.

The BEST gifts

Last spring I was working with a new client who has a wooded back yard. She has no turf only the forest floor and many woodland plants. We decided to make an exchange of woodland plants I had at my farm for Trillium which grows abundantly in her woods. Spring went by so quickly I did not get a chance to return for the plants.

Would you believe that wonderful gardener called me this week to remind me to stop over and collect the plants. I of course was not going to let this opportunity pass me by again. I found a small window of time on my next day off and I have adopted a small group of beautiful Trillium.

MINT mint MiNT

The early warm snap has given the plants a jump start and it is time to start my spring clean up. I enjoy weeding the mint bed because it smells divine the entire time your in it. The harder I work the more fragrant it is.

Just when I thought no one knew what I was doing, my daughter popped her head out the back door with excitement "your in the mint"! She then proceeded to open all the windows.

Spring Cleaning

On Saturday, we spent the entire day on the farm. I was able to spend a great deal of time cleaning out my flower garden. What a beautiful transformation. This has been such a warm spring so far, everything is growing wonderfully. Weeds? Oh, the weeds are staying ahead of the game too. It is a game! Maybe I should say challenge. Every year I stride forward to stay ahead of the weeds. When fall is around the corner I rather loose the battle. I am sure this year will not be any different, but until then, I am going to keep on picking those weeds. The flower garden is into its 3rd year. Last year it was very beautiful and I know this year it is going to be outstanding. I added Amsonia and Ornamental Oregano in the fall. I am looking forward to taking many pictures.
On the farm there is an old Lilac bush. I have been trimming away a little each year to rejuvenate it. I see new grow on it already. I hope this year we get a few more blooms. It would feel good to know I helped it bounce back to life.

Itching to plant

I was at JoAnn Fabrics the other day and came across the most adorable ceramic pots. They are shaped like a large cup and saucer. I purchased three of them. I really want to purchase more. I am going to plant one for my mother in-law for Mothers Day. I will plant the others for the new garden in the woods at the farm. These will be adorable. The fun part has just started. "In search of great plants" is next! I already have a dozen ideas of the direction I want to go. I will go back to JoAnn Fabrics for some type of moss. At least one of these should be a miniature garden. I adore spring.

Pansy where are you?

The weather has finally broken and I need my Pansy fix. I have pride in myself to be the first in my neighborhood to plant pansies. If the plant is "hardened off", it is hardy to 15 degrees. The sooner you get them planted, the sooner they will grow!

It is also time to cut back my perennial grasses. I find it is easier to tie them up first. This makes for less mess and easier to haul off the bundled grasses.
If you look up into your Maple trees, you can see them in bud. Some of these buds are beautiful colors of crimson and reds.

I will be cutting Forsythia branches to force indoors. I hope the rabbits did not eat all of them this winter. I am really into color from nature, and forsythias are a beautiful yellow.

I am really toying with the idea of getting a few chicks. I want a few chickens in my yard. If I give free eggs to the neighbors, I might just get away with it. Our yard is filled with trees and shrubs. During the growing season, you really can't see inside the fence. I don't believe a few chickens will be of any bother to the neighborhood.
Happy Spring!

Change is in the Wind

Change is in the wind, has always been my favorite part of spring. Renewal, rejoice, rebirth.... My career is blowing in a new direction. I am giving up my design table for Managing the sales yard. I have a previous Management background, but I gave it all up for greener grass? My nature is to see what can be improved and as they say "don't complain unless you want to take over the job".
Its going to be fun. Spring here I come 1,2,3 and leap!

Fresh Mint

Last week we had Mojitos. Yummy mix of lime, mint and rum. I can't believe we paid $4.00 for that tiny box of mint. It grows so plentiful in the garden for most of the year. I closed my eyes when I opened the box. I had to breath in deeply and all at once the essence from the mint made me want to believe winter was over and spring had arrived. For a brief moment I thought of opening my eyes and seeing green every where, but reality set in and I knew that the earth is still asleep in the midwest.
Today the sun is out. There is still snow on the ground and the only way to describe it is "bright". It almost hurts your eyes.

Pizza Night

A couple of times a year we get the family together and make pizza. Everyone has a job. I prepare the dough, Vicky and Kurt prebake the individual size crust, I make the sauce and sausage, someone else cuts up mushrooms, green pepper, onion, fresh cheeses, basil and garlic. Everyone gets to put there own pizza together and put it in the oven. Its a fun night. My sons friends appear out of the wood work on family pizza night. We usually end up playing board games or telling stories.
Its always a great night, its fun to see who shows up and what they bring to the evening!

Stepping closer to the farm life

We are preparing to put our home on the market. We have lived here for 10 years. Our son was 9 when we moved here, the mark on the closet doorway says he was just under 4 feet tall. Now at 19, he is 6'2". Tears of joy, but time passed to quickly. Yes, it has been a home not just a house. We have shared joys and sorrows, we have had celebrations and much laughter in this home. We have watched our family grow in many ways. It has served its purpose and it is time for everyone to move on.

Its time for us to venture out and claim our dreams of farm life. We plan to rent until we build a suitable home on our five acres located 2 hours south of our current home. The first step is selling this house. We have a great yard. Since we are both gardeners, we over planted. We have a very private and peaceful yard in the summer. We put in a pond and two years later, we enlarged it. It is a very enchanting setting. I know I'll miss it but I am looking for to over planting another pit of earth.

Soap that does NOT dry out your skin

I am going to make soap today. I have some new fragrances and I am dieing to try. I also found a wonderful lotion that I want to try and scent with Lilac. The new soaps will be Lilac, Freesia and Mint. The existing fragrances of Lemongrass, Ginger Ginger, Lula and Posh will still be available. I am also going to make more wax tartletts, the Lemongrass is very nice and lemony. I think the Lilac and Mint are also going to make nice scented tartletts. Check out http://www.treestarfarm.com/ to see more soap info.

I started making my own soaps when I figured out store bought soaps are really detergent. There are not many natural oil soaps. My soaps are made with a blend of Coconut Oil, Sweet Almond oil, Mango Butter, Olive oil and Vegetable oil. I use a technique called "cold processed" to make them from scratch just like the pioneers and my great grandparents did.

I also figured out the store bought soaps were drying out our skin. My daughter Kat, has suffered with eczema since she was a child. She is very sensitive to soap drying her skin and causing irritation and itching. She is my main soap tester. She is now an adult and swears by the soap made by Mom. I have gotten the entire family hooked on my soaps. I started selling them at craft shows last winter and it was amazing to see how "aroma" sells.

One other interesting fact, we have been talking amongst us and found we don't have as much soap film build up in our showers since we have been using the home made soaps.

Lavender and Rosemary

Lavender and Rosemary, sounds like great names for new pets! Truth is, I purchased seeds today to start indoors. For the next 3 months these will be "pet plants". I always tell people I don't like to over winter plants in the house because I don't like caring for "pet plants"! This is different, I can watch the entire process from seeds germinating to tiny plants begging to go out doors and sink their feet into that rich soil at the Farm. I have a wonderful location in a sunny window above my kitchen sink. I could start talking to them when I do dishes, when no one is looking of course!
I have wanted to plant an entire field of Lavender. There are many tasks to achieve before I get to that point. I still need to find a good spot for the vegetable garden, fence off the grapes so the deer quit dinning on them, weed the asparagus patch, create a path to the Loo.....its the "Land of endless projects"!

Small Farm Renovation Continues

The five acres that we have was once part of a larger farm. I was told it was divided some 25 years ago. The wooded 5 acres with the house and barns was sold and the farmer kept the tillable land. Some of the out buildings and the house burned down. The main two story barn remains. This is the building we are trying to renovate. It has a small cabin that was build in the last five years attached to the barn. We have enclosed the cabin and are trying to make it more winter resistant. Doug found large beautiful shutters in the barn. He has cleaned and painted them and he is going to attach them to the cabin as bermuda shutters. We have built an adorable out house. It is large and very bright. I was attended a lecture by a Dutchess who was rebuilding an estate garden, open to the public. She said one of the most important features should be "the nicest Loo anyone has seen". I have incorporated that thought into the outhouse.

At the present time, the first item we are going to purchase this Spring will be a chipper shredder. We have an abundance of limbs and branches to turn into usable mulch. I spend way to much time weeded the flower beds and mulch will help cut down on that.

New Puppy

Yesterday my daughters family increased by one. The new addition is an 8 week old black lab named "Zoe". She is so adorable. There is nothing like a new puppy. We had labs when Sayrah was groing up so she knows what she is getting into. If you have ever had a puppy, you know what I mean when I say "puppy breath".
As a Mother and Grandmother, it is amazing to watch your children grow and experience joys and a few set backs. I'm here if she needs me, but my job is to watch from a distance. I still enjoy giving words of wisdom when asked. I did a fine job raising her and she is doing a fine job too. Carry on!

Bridal Shower Planning

I am planning a bridal shower for my daughter in June 2010. A friend with a greenhouse is going start Rosemary and Lavender from seed. I want make tiny topiaries for each place setting. I have dreamed of this day, of hosting a bridal shower for my daughter. There will be lots of vintage cloth and china. I'm going to carefully plan the gardens and containers this year. More heirloom plants would be nice. The fairy garden should have a "Fairy Wedding Theme" too.

Some women dream of the day they get married, and dream of the perfect wedding. I have three daughters and I have always dreamed of their weddings. With our oldest daughters wedding, she wanted it simple and "NO" shower. I was devastated! This time I will have the shower of "my" dreams. Go MOM!!!

Garden Club

Once again I have been asked to speak at the Sugar Grove Park District Garden Club. This is the third time I have been invited to kick of spring and share gardening motivation. Last year I showed the club members how to make a trellis using twigs from there own gardens. I also shared how to avoid rabbit damage to perennials by using Bunny Barricades.

I think this year I may talk about using wine bottle as garden art. My herb garden is edged with wine bottles. It ads a bit of flair and the bottoms fill with water for the butterflys. I have been wanting to create a pole or tree trunk (dead trunk of course) of spikes to display wine bottles. I think it will also have corks and a string or two of lights for evening pizazz.

Plant flowers in numbers to create impact

Its nice to have a variety of plants in our flower gardens, but when we have one of everything the garden can appear a bit busy or kaotic. Planting groups of the same plant can acheive visual unity. This is pleasing to the eye and really gives your garden impact from a distance. You can choose to plant a group of the same plant (3 or 5) or another option is to plant groups of 3 different plants together and then repeat this combination in other locations.

For example a spring combination of tulips and daffodils planted in numberous locations. These are nice in groups of 5 and 7. Did you know, you can choose Tulip varieties that bloom early, mid or late spring?

For summer you could plant Salvia (annual or perennial) repeated in groups of 3 or 5. Mixing plants in the same group are very lovely. I like a combination of 3 Salvia n. 'Marcus', 3 or 4 Echinacea 'Sunset' and 3 Origanum 'Herrenhausen'. This combination will have slightly different bloom times, with the Salvia blooming first. Trim back the Salvia after it blooms and you will get a second bloom in the same season.

This is a simple and fun way to add the impression of disign qualities to your flower garden.

The days are getting longer. I long for the smell of fresh cut grass. Everything is frozen. I am starting some new classes this week at the community college. I am so excited. It is a new path that I have been wanting to take. I am at a point in my life that I have a whole stack of experience. Its time to put them all to use. I am full of anticipation on how it will come together. I am going to put effort into organizing my schedule.

This week I have to make more soap. I need to increase my inventory. I need to make more candles and finish a final landscape design of Sarah's back yard. I must do some networking for Bunny Barricade. I definately have to exercise. I think that will be the key to making it all work.

When I Started Gardening

I am linda ruth. Some people were born to sing. Some people were born to be Doctors or Lawyers. I was born to garden!

I have photos of me at the age of two picking grass. I not only picked it, I studied it and generously shared it with my 9mo old sister. I liked to pull it and study the dark green blade and how it gradually changed color to its white root. The root is rather sweet tasting. I loved finding four leaf clovers too.

I can remember a summer that my Mother planted moss roses. I would dissect them. The seeds are so tiny. I must have been 4 or 5 years old.

My first garden was at age 7. My father bought seeds and gave my a small area of earth in the back yard. I watched it grow each day and here I am today many (many) years later watching my gardens grow.