Fun Delivery

This morning greeted me with a huge semi-truck full of pots! The pots for the awaited Adopt-a-Pot program are finally here! They are just the perfect size and color (one less thing to be nervous about...you have to make all the decisions before you actually get to see the pot...and we ordered 30 of them, so yeah, it was a relief they turned out so great!)

Now, we wait for the weather to cooperate and for the plants to come in! :) It's an exciting time!

P.S. There is a cart full of beautiful primrose in front of the store! If you are in need of some bright, spring cheer stop by!

New additions

Yes... these are my mom and my new planters! Very Roman...very whimsy...very cool!

What have you added to your home to make it feel more alive lately?

I am so excited this morning, I can barely sit down long enough to write anything!

Adopt-a-Pot: a city beautification project is OFFICIALLY A GO as of this morning! (To learn more about Adopt-a-Pot, visit our website HERE!) I am very excited about this project and want to thank everyone for their support, excitement, interest, and encouragement! I will be contacting those of you who have expressed an interest in adopting a pot very soon with more details! If you are interested and would like more information please visit our website for more information or contact myself (Laura) or Susan via e-mail, phone call or a visit to the store!

I am going to go get busy ordering some pots! :)

Happy day to you all,
Laura

P.S. A HUGE load of houseplants will be arriving tomorrow afternoon! Come check out how to add some life to your home in January!

Happy New Year!

The start of this new year brings with it the start of some pretty cool stuff! We have started a new monthly newsletter (which we are very excited about)! It will have more gardening information, tips, advice, reminders, random (and funny) information, gardening quips and more! Check out January's Newsletter HERE! (I will be posting the current month's newsletter on this blog and on our website, but if you would like it to come right to your e-mail inbox please sign up here!)

2011 also brings new projects to beautify Ontario! Check out the new Adopt-a-Pot community project HERE. I am working toward a 2011-2012 launch!

Our 2011 seminar schedule will be published very soon, so be watching for it! We have some fun ideas in the works for you! (Thank you to everyone who made the 2010 seminars a great success!)

I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this next gardening season-winter is tough on gardeners! I have big plans for my garden- do you? It's a great time to start thinking and planning!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and as always... Happy Gardening!
~Laura

Spinning away winter

What are you doing keeping yourself busy with this winter? I hope to have more time to spin during these cold months. About twelve years ago I learned to spin fiber and have been hooked ever since. Gandhi said that if people would spend one hour a day spinning there would be world peace and I am sure that he was right. It is the most relaxing, meditative thing to do. Even non-spinners sit staring at the wheel of the spinning wheel as it goes around and around, almost putting them into a trance-like state. I enjoy knitting with my handspun but most of the time the skein of yarn is my finished product. If I knit something with it that is just an extra finished product. It is always amusing to me when many of my spinning friends have a plan for their fiber, from start to finish. How am I to know if a fiber feels like a scarf or a sweater or a pair of socks until I am finished spinning it?

As far as knitting goes...I enjoy small projects. By the time I am done with one sock I am ready to move on to another project, not finish the second sock. Surely there has to be other knitters with the same attitude? Children's clothes are for me. They are small, almost always soft, and cute. What isn't cute in miniature? My children, two of them married and one in college still, often ask me who I am knitting the baby clothes for, like I am trying to hint at having grandchildren. But I just smile and say that they are for baby shower presents or just the right baby that happens to enter my life. They don't buy it!

That is just one of the many things that I hope to do this winter. I hope that you have projects that you are looking forward to doing on cold, winter days and evenings. Life is too short not to have joy and peace added to the daily grind.

~Susan

12 Shopping Days of Christmas

We are having big sales starting tomorrow, leading up until Christmas! Every day, for the last 12 shopping days up until Christmas we will be putting a different item on sale. Once the item goes on sale, it will remain that way until Christmas! Watch the video below to check out the items that will be on sale!


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Spring fever already! It's going to make for a long winter...

I have to admit that tonight, while sitting in my chair looking out the window at black nothingness, I am already starting to itch for spring... I know, it's just a bit early to be thinking that way (we aren't even done with Thanksgiving!), but I can't help it! Being busy outside in the dirt is just part of me! I already have plants in mind for specific areas in my garden, and plans cooking away for a new trellis system for roses to climb up and block out some ugly vinyl fencing (vinly fencing is a whole other soap box I will not make you suffer through...for now anyway :) Back to the garden....I finished up hauling out a huge pile of garden clippings out of the yard, filled the bird feeder, emptied some pots and threw away some of my fall decor. The wind was frigid! It felt like it was blowing right through my many layer of clothes sending me right to the store to buy some good winter boots. I loved every minute of it though, and wished I had more out there I could work on! This year, instead of leaving quite a bit of my clean up for spring, I cleaned out all that I could. While it doesn't make much difference to the plant's growth whether or not you cut them back in the late fall or early spring, it does lessen the likelyhood of insect pests harboring over until spring, and I really hope to get my aphid and mite population down (I had to spray and spray and spray this year!)

This fall, I decided to take the production part of my garden out. Yes... it doesn't seem quite right...working at a seed store and all...it didn't feel quite right either. My rationale: I have such a tiny yard and, late's face it, vegetable gardens, no matter how many pretty raised beds and bamboo teepees you have, still look untidy and wild. Because this part of my garden is emphasized by a boxwood hedge from the rest of my yard, it is the first thing you see when you go into the yard. My solution: everything out + a big fountain plopped right in the middle + formal French garden surrounding it = much needed structure and beauty! The rest of my beds are of a more wild nature, English cottage style, so my yard cried out for some definite structure and a focal point. I think this garden will do the trick! For now, until Aaron and I buy a bigger peice of land, I will be regularly visiting our local produce stand (and my parents garden!)

Now, for the important info I wanted to share tonight....

We only have one seminar left this season! This one falls this Saturday (November 27th and 10am). We are looking forward to teaching you how to make REAL garland and wreaths for your home! We have yummy snacks planned, and even decided to kick it up a notch and make you a latte or mocha to sip on while you work away! (There will be a small fee for those who want to make and take home their own wreaths and garlands, but feel free to attend to just watch the demonstration too for no fee!)

Have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

~Laura