Here is something I learned this winter:  My citrus trees (I have an orange tree that was a mothers day gift about 4 years ago and a lime tree that was a gift from my mother about 3 years ago) prefer a bit more winter cold than I thought they would.   For many years I was bringing them into my living room for the winter.  Every year, they complained (as loudly a citrus trees can complain) about the dryness and the scale that unrelentingly attacked them was just one big gross mess.   Needless to say, they have never thrived enough to actually set fruit.

But this year, I kept them in the much cooler 3 -seasons porch.  I knew they wouldn’t freeze solid, but I was concerned that I was taking my chances with killing them with a bit too much cold.  Caution was thrown to the wind.  Because I also had about a dozen other plants there (babysitting the neighbors houseplants) the room stayed very humid and the result is that for the first time, I have baby fruit.  I also didn’t have a stitch of scale.    Fingers crossed that the oranges and limes will be harvest-able before the end of the summer season — because I am making this beauty of a cake that I found via poppytalk even if I have to go to the grocery store to do it!

Appollina created it after being inspired by a Stella McCartney dress.  Don’t you just love the creative process and seeing where the ideas for beautiful things like this comes from!

Recipe: Citrus Cake with Lemon Curd Filling and Orange Lemon Icing (a.k.a. Stella Cake)

Life has been a bit hectic lately – the kids are out of school now, we are preparing for a big vacation and I have a number of exciting work projects in the works.   I can’t wait to share with you all the good news as it starts to firm up over the next few months and I was thinking that it might be a good time to make sure my email list is in top shape.  Are you on my email list?

I hardly use it, so you might not know if you signed up (so feel free to sign up again — my email tool weeds out duplicates so you won’t get multiple emails).  If you want to be among the first to know some of the fun things that I personally, and Studio ‘g’ has going on, please consider signing up.  I always share big news here, but I plan to start sending emails for the best stuff, (and their might even be some special perks for the email list too!).   Here it is –  you can sign up below or over in the right hand column right under subscribe.

Also – I have a little announcement to share with you today. We have baby chicks. The really exciting thing about them is that they were laid and hatched by our chickens. I know this is a completely normal and natural thing to have happen in the barnyard, but it is a first for us and we are completely amazed by the whole thing. Our broody bantam has been sitting on 6 eggs (actually more — but things happen). Three hatched yesterday, we are hoping for a few more today.

BTW, this isn’t a picture of our babies — the picture is from Legare Farms (I haven’t had a chance to get a good snapshot yet)….but this is a pretty close approximation of the cuteness we are dealing with here.   I promise, pictures of our babies just as soon as I can grab a good one.

I happened to notice today that Piet Oudolf’s website seems to have some new images since the last time I visited (for a good old fashioned drool-fest).

His gardens have been photographed by some of the best garden photographers in the industry and I thoroughly enjoyed the inspiring visit….. take a look, these are my favorites, but I am curious what are yours?

images by Nicola Brown, Walter Herfst, Neil Holmes, Marianne Majerus, Jürgen Becker, Jo & Rob Whitworth, Andrew Lawson

I love a garden with a good back story.  And this one, with it’s tale of grandeur and notoriety in the 20′s, 30′s and 40′s, decades of decline and neglect to be followed by nearly being forgotten completely is hitting close to home.   As you know I have been involved in the re-discovering of an extraordinary historic garden and the path to restoring it is in no way clear or even completely probable. Restoring a garden like Dunaway gardens (or the property that I have been involved with) is an epic undertaking.  But Jennifer Bigham has been spending her life’s savings bringing back the water falls and pools that were carved from a granite mountain, the amphitheater, the wetlands, the japanese gardens and blue bonnet tea house that originally graced Actress Hetty Jane Dunaway’s  ‘Theater Garden’ .

Hetty Jane Dunaway was the most highly paid actress in the south and when she married she moved to the Dunaway Gardens property north of Atlanta in the 20′s where she set out to create a garden for theater professionals.  She developed extensive gardens and used the place to help other actors, actresses and troupes that traveled the southern united states at the time, to gain skills and perfect their craft.  At it’s height, Minnie Pearl was the director and Walt Disney was a frequent visitor.

The collection of images and stories of what once was and what is beginning to be again (found on the Dunaway Gardens  website) is extraordinary and fascinating and certainly makes me want to head south to revel in its remaking.

Are you ready for another Latin lesson?  I hope you are finding this useful, and please, if you have a question, I will do my best to answer.  So lets look at a few more ‘A’ words. Aquatica, Arenarius, Arboreum and Arundinacea.

Aquatica – I think this might be one of more obvious ones, but just in case — Aquatica refers to water.  Aquatica plants are either water plants or plants that grow near the water.   In the case of something like Mentha aquatica, it is the only variety of Mint that grows in this environment.   Phalaris aquatica (above) is bunch grass that I find particularly attractive – but when researching for this post, I learned it is invasive in many areas and is toxic and even deadly to some livestock. (so, I’m not planting it)   Check out other Aquatica plants (like the really cool looking Sensitive plant – Neptunia aquatica) on this pinterest board.

Learn about Arenarius, Arboreum and Arundinacea after the jump.

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Truly artistic garden art is not always so easy to find.  The market is flooded with kitsch and sometimes downright tacky garden “art” so truly beautiful, and unique pieces that are appropriate to grace a beloved garden are often hard to find.   Joy de Rohan Chabot’s furniture and garden accessories are different.  They are unique and interesting expressions in bronze that celebrate the beauty of nature in nature.   The Pansy chair is my favorite — I think I would use it as a focal point in the same way a bench might be a garden destination, but this has so much more color and style to work with.   My head is spinning with what plants would best partner with it for an exciting overall composition.  My first thought is peachy colored irises…..but I am curious what you would plant near it?