What are you doing this weekend?  My parents are coming to visit — cross your fingers that they are on one of the very flights to leave Denver today.  We will know in a couple hours.   Meanwhile….it remains unseasonably warm here….but I just can’t complain.   If you aren’t outside enjoying the weather, here a few interesting things…..

• The Plant Journal #2  – Exciting!! — See more here
• Quirky Garden shoes for the New England Prepster crowd?
• I can’t hardly believe that this is what it really is.
• Expecting guests? Thinking that this might be a nice way to make a first impression.
• Green and White …..L.O.V.E
• Wouldn’t it be great to install one of these right next to you garden spigot?
• Urban Growth Strategy 1, 2, and 4.  A totally cool set I think.

image from The Plant Journal.

This feels like a real tease -I’m sorry (kinda).  But I suppose it wouldn’t be a real garden story if you didn’t feel the full range of emotion that a garden design client feels.  Including impatience. ;0

When building a garden with a design and build team, there is, of course, the excitement of the crew showing up.  The rapid change as everything quickly gets torn up is startling and amazing.  Then the period where the hardscaping seems to take so much longer than you want it to.  But when the plants arrive the thrill comes back…..but you will have to wait until next week to see the end…..but until then, you can wallow in the middle part where a whole lot of stuff happens but it sometimes seems like forever until those workers will be gone!

Images from Earth Designs – See the beginning stages of this  garden story here and here and here.

I woke up this morning wishing for a big vase full of cut Viburnum bodnantense. Lucky for me, it is ever so happily growing in my garden.  I go outside in pajamas, slippers and with coffee and visit my shrub.

To force or not to force-that is the question. Should I wait the month for them to open naturally or take them in?

Felcos in hand I decided to walk around the garden. Checking in on my dear woody bloomers and making sure that there was not something else I should be snipping for arrangements.

AND then it hits! It feels too much like spring and I start fussing around in some sort of gardening autopilot. My January border is brimming with potential.

The quinces ‘cameo’ and ‘jet trail’ are budded up and ready for the forcing challenge but then there is Corylopsis glabrescens ‘longwood chimes’, which could look so nice cascading out of apothecary jars. Wait! Big branches of Magnolia stelatta and Cornus mas that I could place in large cylinder vases or display in tin fluted urns. And fragrance? What about Lonicera fragrantissima and the many witch hazels?

Since it was 40 degrees, I was able to slow down and take it all in. My coffee was starting to get cold. Slippers and fingers muddy from removing leaves from the base of a stewartia where scilia soon will be emerging. Last year on this very day I could have been shoveling 13” of snow and skating on the frozen vernal pool. I would happily be in winter hibernation where seed and plant catalogs with their tantalizing descriptions and glossy close ups would be enough for me.  Happy that my plants were all tucked in under the snow and were somewhat out of sight. Is this how global warming will affect us gardeners? An early onset of spring fever?

With too many choices to sort out with out a full cup of coffee in system, I decided to snip a few pieces here and there and start an experiment that I will share over the next few weeks: 6 great woody shrubs /ornamental trees that are great in the garden and lovely when utilized in arrangements. Stay tuned!  - Roanne

images from roanne robbins, rogerstone gardens, away to garden, the examiner, sweetbay 103, forest farm, and fantastic plants.  (links to come)

Do you know that this past few weeks has witnessed some particularly spectacular Aurora Borealis Displays in the far north? It is apparently due to a solar storm that has been showering our atmosphere recently. The Aurora Borealis is only visible in the north and likewise ‘borealis’ in plant nomenclature refers to northern plants – or plant from Northern areas. Given the high latitudes, it can generally be assumed that ‘borealis’ plants are pretty hardy. Care to see a few borealis plant? Visit my B is for Borealis board on Pinterest.

Image above of Jovibarba ‘Borealis’ is from Simply Succulents.  And the video below is a fascinating look at the dancing light of the most recent Aurora Borealis over Birtavarre, Norway.

Keeping track of products and sources from a show like the gift fair is harder than it seems.  I am trying to sort through booklets and brochures and pair them with images.   It is a struggle so I am going to keep this super simple.  Mosaic of images here — more information on Pinterest.

Here’s the first round of things worth remembering from my trip to the NY International Gift Fair.   I am also in the process of pinning each one of these image (in full size) over at Pinterest (with a fair bit of additional information where I have it).

Left to right by Row:

Painted Garden Table, Outdoor pillows, Outdoor Poofs.

Outdoor mats/ rugs, art packs from Hudson valley seed library,  Metal Birdhouses and outdoor accessories

Kitchen paper picnic mat, kitchen paper cake mat, Garden apron

Klein Reid vases, self watering herb pot, self lit container garden

wooden-look place-mat, woven detail on metal furniture, beach bags

outdoor tableware, garden calendar, garden window decals

solar powered waving queen of England, colorful display, pretty fabric (not exterior)

Capiz chime lights, painted bike helmets, Full Pot Flourishes Resin Planters

Did you see the fantastic mural at a NYC nursery by street artist Roa over at Leaflets yesterday?   I am absolutely in love with this art — so much so that I am re-considering a plan I am about to put in place.

Have I mentioned that I am going to be commissioning a mural for the garden side of my barn?  I have a few ideas about what I might like as a backdrop for my garden and what I want to see when I look out my front door and take in the scene but I want to see what happens when I share my vision and then turn it over to another artistic mind.

My plan has been to (hopefully) find someone who is looking for a giant canvas through the magic of craigslist –  I think it would be wonderful to perhaps give an opportunity to a young artist – but now I am wondering if it might be a better idea to reach out to specific people whose work I like (though I just don’t know who they are)  - or maybe street artisits…. hmmmm.   What do you know about commisioning art? Working with muralists?  Finding street artists?

images from Unurth