The pergola, another “outdoor room”.

As I looked for  various pictures of pergolas, I realized that there are many options. It can be a place for dining, resting, sleeping, relaxing, an entrance to another part of  the garden or simply a place in which to stroll through. My favorites are covered with vines. From climbing roses, to wisteria, clematis, grapes… it’s really up to you. I think mine will have a patio underneath, covered in fragrant flowers and may possibly conceal an outdoor bath. I particularly like those made or natural organic elements such as those made from willows or other twigs. What would yours be like? We can always  dream.

Quincy Ca Barn Quilts

For those of you who know nothing about Barn Quilts, I wanted to share this link about the Barn quilts that are popping up everywhere around here. There is some great info on how it all began and for those of us who want to get away, but not spend a lot of money, then perhaps hitting the back roads in the Sierra near Quincy for a “Barn Tour” is just the trick. The funny thing is, in Quincy Ca, not only are they popping up on barns, but cottages, sheds and even some of the merchants are hanging them. The best part about this whole movement, is that its done by volunteers, who have a passion for quilting. Now if you like what you see, then come on up to Quincy Ca this weekend, May 21 & 22 because we are also having a Quilt Fest at our local Plumas Sierra Fairgrounds. Be sure to take  a walk down Main St. in Quincy too, as there are beautiful quilts hanging in most of the merchants front windows.   For more information please visit

http://quincycalifornia.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/plumas-county-joins-the-barn-quilt-craze/

The First of Spring in my garden…. the beginning.

Though most of you have been enjoying Spring for quite some time….up here in the mountains, it is just beginning. Funny how some flowers appear before the first leaves come out on the trees. And though its just a small teaser of what’s to come, I thought I would share with you my garden… from beginning to end. So here is a small sampling of “the beginning”.

Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.  ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

More than just a vegetable garden

For  years my vegetable  garden was really quite simple. I rottotilled a rectangle, planted some rows and that was it. But it recently occurred to me that a vegetable garden can be more than that. It can be designed as a beautiful garden space, like any other garden space. It can have shape, form, accessories and more. So take  a minute and think about how you can transform your  vegetable garden into something new and  ”outside of the box”.

In the night the cabbages catch at the moon, the leaves drip silver, the rows
of cabbages are a series of little silver waterfalls in the moon.
-  Carl Sandburg

The Garden Retreat…..A Little Summer House

Today I want to share one of my dear passions; The Garden Retreat, also known (in England) as The Summer House. The Summer House can be many things to many people, but I think of  it  as a little  cottage in the garden. I always wanted it to be “a room of  her own”,  a girlie place filled with my favorite things. A place to sleep in, with the doors wide open, so that the fragrance of my old fashioned rose garden, just a few steps away, would lull me to sleep. There would  be a cozy chair for reading and shelves with my entire garden library. But a “Summer House” can be many things. It can be a potting shed, an artist studio, a home office, a guest room, a meditation space, a place in which its sole purpose is just to enjoy the garden from.

Good Night and Sweet Dreams.

The Art of Paper Flowers

I am quite the collector of fine papers, also a lover of flowers. Recently I learned the art of paper flower making. Though some are easier than others, the constructions is really quite the same, its all just a matter of which papers that you use and what shape  you cut the petals. I suppose I could and have made these in a variety of colors, but there is something about the purity of white.

Roses with cut petals, made out of coffee filters

Roses with torn petals, made out of coffee filters.

Peonies made out  crepe paper (I pulled gently on the edges to give a “ruffled” affect.)

Giant  Magnolia cut out of cardstock  paper with wired petals.

“The Rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart.”

Its a party…for little girls

Do you remember when you were young? When you would play “dress up” with the highest of heels and as much junk jewelry as you could muster? Or the first time your mother would let you put on lipstick? There is something about being a “big girl” to a little girl. Little girls want to do what ever big girls do. So next time your little girl has a birthday coming up, why not give her a “big girl’s spa party”.

Its really quite simple to do in your own home, with a few products from Emily’s Garden. So come by my shop and let me set you up for a day she will always remember.

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls.Audrey Hepburn