Wild, Succulent Woman

No, this post isn't about the weirdest art lady on Earth, Sark (but call her phone number seriously if you want an inspirational message 415.546.3742), this post is about my amazing ability to keep a succulent alive. I know, I know, that's like beating a five year old in a "basic arithmetic" test. I'm good at keeping alive something that is advertised as being hard to kill. Congrats to me. The reason I'm posting this is that, for one, I have a long history of killing succulents and all plants for that matter. And yet, with my new dirt recipe (throwing in sand helped), I've managed to not only keep these guys alive, but they are thriving. Some have grown by leaps and bounds. They are almost too comfortable in my home.

My Marmadoo*, the Award Winning Crafter

Strictly speaking, this is not my craft. Strictly speaking, it's also not really a craft at all. This is my mother's entry in the Bluffview Garden Club Flower Show. I wanted to share it with everyone out there because I think she did a great job -- the judges did too, she got second place in her division. My Aunt Jan won first place in their division.
I felt compelled to share this with you for a few reasons. First of all, I have a very soft spot in my heart for all things Bluffview Garden Club. It's the Dallas neighborhood where I grew up and I had plenty of fun as a child participating in the assorted Bluffview activities -- the Fourth of July parade (where we got to decorate our bikes with red, white and blue streamers and balloons) and the kid's contest portion of the Flower Show. As a note, at the patriotic parade, most people brought their dogs on leashes with red, white and blue. We had a pet parrot and I insisted that we decorate his cage, put him in the old Radio Flyer and drag him through the parade route. One of the many reasons why Ricky, the Amazon parrot, hated me. And the flower show kid's contest... how I loved to do my flower show entries. I always won first place. When I was about 12 years old, I realized that all the kids won first place. Then all my ribbons didn't seem to mean so much anymore.

My mother, however, doesn't always fare as well since the ladies aren't handed blue ribbons quite so easily. For her, taking home the red ribbon is a big accomplishment. And I helped... I didn't have anything to do with the floral arranging, but I did help her with the mandatory (and absolutely ridiculous) artist statement and arrangement title. The theme of the show was "In an English Country Garden" and my mom thought that her location (on an end table) had some subtle colonial/oriental themes to it. She wanted to run with the idea of the British Empire and India as a territory of Britain. The judges insisted that each arrangement come with a 20-word description of the motivations and emotions behind the the arrangement. My mom turned to her copy editor daughter (me) and I drafted a little something, something for her to use. The judges liked it! Yay.

Here's what it said (the more than 20 word version):

In the shades of Rudyard Kipling…Imagine the juxtaposition – on one hand is the orderly English garden, the temperate green hills of Britain’s countryside. Lowly cows, ivy crawling over ancient brick and thatched cottages. And the Empire that expanded to the Far East and India, with the rich fragrances of exotic spices. The ornate and mesmerizing patterns of Indian art and architecture. This flower arrangement, with its delicate small flowers, seeks to marry the two cultures – casual, easy living in the English countryside with not-so-distant memories of a lifestyle gone by, time spent in exotic, hot India, where tigers and adventure dwell in a lush, crowded tropical landscape.

In spouting off such total drivel, I am reminded that I did minor in art history. And that's what it's all about.

* We're a family of robust nick-name givers. All those that are near and dear to Henrys have many a nickname. This is a new concoction for "mom" that is derived from the title that Louisa May Alcott's Little Women use for their mother "Marmie" and me being silly. I thought it fit the fact that the arrangement is from India, as one of my favorite Indian restaurant dishes is chicken vindaloo.

Can't Stand To See Them Go

St. Valentine blessed me with a pair of flower arrangements this year. What can I say, I'm a lucky girl. Oh that and my Granny loves me (aww, Arkansas!). And while the bulk of the flowers in the arrangements lasted a good week or more, when it came time to throw out the flowers, there were three white carnations with life left in them still and a heck of a lot of greenery that still looked nice and fresh so I decided to do a quartet of mini arrangements. I have a little collection of baby glass jars/vases and I thought they'd pair nicely with some bone china candle holders. I tinkered around with a lot of destinations for the four little flower holders and after a stint in my bedroom, bathroom, desk area, kitchen, living room window sills, they found a good home atop my light-up liquor table. I had to turn old Queen Victoria on an untapped bottle of Bombay gin on her side to prop up one little vase, you know, to give the arrangements so height variance.
I was pleased with my camera's treatment of these pictures. Usually shooting candles and twinky lights can be dull. I thought the colors turned out pretty vibrant (and I cheated with a bit of dramatic photo toning). So I am showing three pictures. Below is a shot of a single vase and then a view from above.

Giving You The Bird

What in the world is this? You should be thinking that thought when you look at the above picture.

Well, it is a bird that I carved out of garden foam--you know that stuff that you soak in water and then stuff into flower pots to make an arrangement? I don't know what it is officially called, but I do know that it is super easy to use for carved projects. Of course, it's easy pliability can be a problem, too. As soon as you are done carving your little object, you'll need to coat the the sculpture with a bunch of layers of sealant. I used modge-podge but I think you could use rubber cement if you wanted to.

The picture above is the little birdy all carved and covered in a coat of glue. He's being held up by a toothpick stuck into another brick of plant foam.

Tune in for updates on this project! Pretty soon he should look a lot more like a precious birdy! He'll even be perched on a log!

Garden Checkup

A few people mentioned to me that my previous garden post didn't allow for a very comprehensive understanding of the "after" version of the garden. Well, you people tell me something and I'll deliver. Here's a new picture of the garden, allowing for a bit more scope. I had some wind issues with the astroturf. It's been ridiculously windy as of late on the North Texas plains (where the Big D sits) and my apartment is no exception. So I kept coming home to a bunched up roll of astroturf and fears of agitating my neighbors. And after many hardware discussions with my father about how to solve the issue (including one idea that involved modifying clothes hangers into some kind of tent-style spikes), he and I found garden stakes that fit the bill perfectly. I didn't take pictures of them, but they are basically 18" stakes with a round circle of wire at the top, supposedly to prop up your plants in the garden. For me, however, I used them to anchor the astroturf in place by hammering them in the dirt, leaving the round circle of wire to pen the green astroturf to the concrete driveway. So far, a few gusts have blown through and it's staying put. Fingers crossed...

Speaking of good luck, so far I haven't killed my plants! So that's exciting, too.

Adventures in Gardening, One

The view from my bedroom is really sad.

Scratch that--WAS really sad. I decided I couldn't stand to look at the concrete and barren wall any longer. So, four trips to the hardware store (Ok, three different hardware stores, one got a double visit!) and a stop at Jackson's Pottery later, I've got a little garden. Well, the start of a garden anyway. Texas is still on frost watch for three more weeks, so when that passes, I'll be adding more flowers. I have some patio furniture to add, too, but I've yet to get that ready for its blog debut!

My potted plant collection is all planted! I can't get rid of the concrete, but I covered it with a nice, plush astroturf (From Lowes, $35). I bought plants that are supposed to be all but bad-owner proof. I've had a weak track record thus far in keeping greenery alive, but I'm really going to try to get to know these little plants and keep them happy.

My shiny new watering can has me motivated to keep the plants happy and their roots nice and wet!

The picture from the top of this post, as well as the one directly above this line-o-text were taken this morning. The sun was setting on my garden last night; I didn't get to take any "after" pictures then. But I took a few shots this morning, to give you an idea of how it looks in the light of day. These are my little green plants! A type of ivy, a fancy crawling bushy plant and two varieties of grass. Well, it's better than just plain dirt!