Mosaic Monday- Frosted

I woke up yesterday morning to a heavy frost on the ground. As much as I dreaded seeing it, it was actually quite beautiful. While still in my fleece pajamas and before coffee, I put on my coat and grabbed my camera and headed out to take a few pictures and enjoy the beauty of the delicate frost on my garden.

There is a late blooming sunflower that has just opened up and a few small roses on the Knock Out rose bushes. This frost pretty much finished up what was left of the cosmos.



I know a lot of people don't like the 'Purple Wave' petunias, but I love them and have them every year. They are so easy to grow from seed in my indoor growing system, I usually have a 100% success rate. There aren't too many flowers that I can say that about! When they start looking tacky in late summer, I cut them way back and they come to life again rewarding me with beautiful blooms well into autumn. They can withstand a significant frost and still look pretty. They can also withstand the heat and don't have to be pampered. Definitely a must have for me!

I'm linking today to Mosaic Monday, hosted by Mary, from the Little Red House. Hop on over and see her gorgeous fall collage!

Thrifty Finds

Rhoda, at Southern Hospitality, hosts Monday treasures, for people to share their weekend thrifting/garage sale finds. I've never participated in this before, but I always enjoy reading Rhoda's blog to see what she finds in her garage sale ventures. I just had to participate this time, to show my garage sale treasures from this weekend.

I haven't been to garage sales in a long time, but a couple of nearby neighborhoods were having sales and I had some time in between a nursing home care plan meeting and work. So I decided to venture through the neighborhood sales to see what I could find. I stopped at one sale that had nothing marked, I saw this Drexel dresser and asked how much they wanted for it. To my astonishment, they only wanted $100! SOLD! I didn't need another dresser, but I did need a buffet for my dining room.


Before I found the dresser, I found two arrangements for $2 each. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but I liked the containers and thought they were worth the $2. I decided that they would go nicely on the buffet for now.

It is a perfect match for my dining room! It looks so much like the Duncan Phyfe furniture I have! I need to move it to the other wall and have the china cabinet on the shorter wall. It was larger that I had thought and there isn't quite enough space between the table and buffet. That is another project for another day.

I also found these pretty hummingbird prints!

The price was still on the back of the frames. They were $15.99 each.

I got the set for $3.00! I love hummingbirds and was so excited to find these prints!

If you enjoy home decorating on a budget, head over to Rhoda's blog, she is an amazing home decorator and her projects will inspire you!

Now, back to the garden...my procrastination has paid off for once. We have a frost warning tonight and I'm so glad I haven't planted my impatiens yet. I covered the lantana, I think everything else should be O.K.

The last of Autumn Colors

It is amazing to me how quickly the colors of autumn change from brilliant and gorgeous reds, oranges and yellows to the dreariest of browns. I took these pictures yesterday and as I look out the window now at the same tree, the colors have changed overnight. Within a day or two the tree will be bare of any leaves at all.

In the midst of decaying leaves is a promise of spring beauty.

All of the leaves have now fallen off of the Japanese maple, and underneath, sheltered from the cold, was this small volunteer hosta. It was still fresh and green, but not for long since it was covered with a heavy layer of frost.
I've seen pictures that other people have taken of frost and thought they look so cool. I went out to the car, got inside and took these pictures of the frost on the windshield. They didn't turn out that great, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to practice.

Getting Ready for the First Frost

Frost is in the forecast for Monday and I still have so much yet to do. I had a little time yesterday outside and got a few of the things marked off of my mental list. While outside, I saw several bluebirds. I hadn't seen them since spring. For some reason, bluebirds have always delighted me.


I'm not sure what to do with the lantana. I'd like to try and overwinter them in the garage if there's room. I collected a few seeds from each species to plant. I'm not sure that I'll have success with germination; I've read that they take a long time and are hard to grow. I have already tried to root a couple of sprigs and they died. I'll guess I'll try it again and this time bring them inside so that I can keep a more watchful eye.




I dug up all of the gerbera daisies and will keep them inside for the winter. I want to learn how to propagate these as well. It would be so wonderful to have a greenhouse for overwintering all of these plants. I am thankful that I have a loft area upstairs and have extra room for my growing station.

I also moved a large grass, planted some bulbs, moved a few small verbena volunteers and echinacea to one of my side yard beds, and planted the small butterfly bush I rooted, (I hope it wasn't too soon).

While I was working outside I got a call from my neighbor with an invitation to meet some of the other neighbor ladies at Barnes and Noble for a drink and to chat. Do you know how bad fleece smells when you wear it to work in the yard? Like a wet stinky dog. I had like five minutes to change clothes and run a brush through my hair and off I went for a few hours of time with the ladies and to enjoy my favorite Starbucks drink, a sugar-free, light, caramel frappuccino with a single shot of espresso.

Hopefully, I'll have a chance to get a few more things done today. I've got to find some time to finish mulching.