December 15, 2012 by Born To Organize

Seeing Red: Seeds, Buds and Blooms

There is no shortage of red this time of year. Nothing shouts Christmas like a rich, vibrant unadorned red. My favorite shades of crimson come straight from the garden.

The Magnolia seed pods opened in the past few weeks revealing brilliant red seeds. They’re smooth and shiny and perfectly formed. I saw a crow perched in the Magnolia tree earlier this week. They usually prefer the much taller, denser trees in the neighborhood. I often see them feeding on the ground, usually helping themselves to worms in the grass. Now that I know they’re omnivores it makes sense. I hope I get a chance to take a picture of the shiny black birds with a bright red seed in their beak.

Magnolia Seed Pod

The miniature cyclamen continue to thrive in the fairy garden. Unlike me, they love the cold weather. Don’t they look happy?

Miniature Red Cyclamen, thriving in the cooler temps

The viburnum shrubs had a rough year. Thrips took hold, infesting the lower third of all the plants lining our front deck. We bought lacewing eggs to help combat the problem. I heavily pruned the damaged leaves as well. My son spotted a praying mantis on the window just above the plants last week. It’s good to have reinforcements.

Viburnum tinus: Tiny buds

The Abutilon are a modest red. Their heads our bowed, requiring one to look up into the skirt-like bloom to get the full effect of their beauty. Our neighborhood hummingbirds are big fans. It’s fun to see their long beaks disappear into the bent flower.

Abutilon: Today’s bud, tomorrow’s bloom

Abutilon opens up

When it’s too cold or wet or dark to play in the garden, I’ve been keeping my hands busy making this wreath. I bought a steel form at a craft store, but everything else is up-cycled. I used a simple Larks Head knot to attach four layers of paper and plastic. The outer layer uses strips of green plastic bags that come wrapped around our newspaper. The second row includes clear dry-cleaning bags, filled in with old bits of tissue paper. The tissue paper is on its third life: first as gift wrap, then protection for Christmas decorations and now part of the wreath. You may recognize the bow. It’s a recycled See’s Candy wrapper. It was so relaxing working on the wreath, that I’m a little sorry it’s done.

Recycled Wreath

Recycled Wreath Closeup

Are you seeing red this time of year?

December 14, 2012 by Born To Organize

An Apple a Day, Plus a Candle You Say?

Candle Cutter in Process

It’s fun decorating with consumables. Creating centerpieces from seasonal fruit, ensures a uniquely fresh and original setting at your holiday table. I was delighted to learn how to make a Clementine Candle yesterday. It was easy to do and smelled…well…good enough to eat. Pictures and a DIY video can be found here.

Making candles from fruit reminded me of my clever Candle Carver™. It’s a gadget that carves the perfect, tea-light sized opening in the top of an apple. Since you only remove the top portion, you can eat the rest of the apple centerpiece when you’re done.

I think Granny Smith would be proud.

Here’s what you do:

Select three to five apples with flat, level bottoms. They’ll need to stand firm, so nothing tipsy or top heavy.
Insert the candle carver at the top (or bottom) of the apple, and twist till the base sits level with the opening.
Remove and compost apple top.
Insert tea lights into each apple, light and enjoy

Candle Cutter

Carved opening, sized for a tea light

I used three apples stem side up and two, stem-side down for variety

Apple Candles (or genetically modified Pimiento Olives?)

This also works with pears, oranges, or any other fruit with a firm, supportive center.

Resources:

Tea Lights (Party Lite® Candles burn slowly and cleanly)
Soy Candles
Candle Carver™
Clementine Candles

December 13, 2012 by Born To Organize

Sweet Clementine…Candles

Today’s weekly email from Pinterest suggested “Pins You’ll Love.” Boy do they have my number. One of the pins was a do-it-yourself candle project from Apartment Therapy. The title: How to Make a Clementine Candle. I watched the instructional video and headed straight for the kitchen. I had a basket full of Clementines just waiting for something fun.

My first attempt was a bust, as you can see below, but the second one turned out okay. What a fun project.

You simply cut around the middle of the Clementine with a small knife, careful not to cut into the fruit. Then gently remove the fruit from both sides, leaving the internal stem intact. The stem acts as a wick for your candle.

Clementines

The instructions say to cut an opening in the top half using a knife. I’m not the best carver, so I improvised instead, using a small, sharp, cookie cutter shaped like a snowman.

Snowman Cookie Cutter creates a vent in the top of the “candle”

You fill the bottom half with olive oil. I pushed the stem into the oil for a few minutes to make sure it wicked properly.

Clementine and Olive Oil

Clementine Candle

I’m ready to host a dinner party, just so I can line the table with these fruity delights.

Snowman “Chimney”

Let me know if you give this a try!

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see my Granny Smith apple in action.

From Apartment Therapy:

What is a Clementine?
California Cuties®: I buy them by the bag full.

December 12, 2012 by Born To Organize

Gifts for the Joyful Gardener

Gardeners are practical souls. We don’t mind dirt under our nails, or bruises on tired knees. We’ll get up early or stay out late, weeding, pruning, planting and generally enjoying our time in the garden. We love sharing seeds and flowers fresh from the earth and enjoy swapping tips for keeping the garden pests at bay.

If you have a joyful gardener in your life, here are a few gift ideas to tuck under the tree.

Practical

Your gardener will never lose their gloves in the garden again. Floral Gardening Gloves allow you to pull weeds in style.

Floral Garden Gloves

Seed Keeper or Seed Keeper Deluxe. I’ve been using mine for several months. It’s an easy and efficient way to store and retrieve the seeds you save or buy. They come packed with all sorts of garden goodies as well.

Seed Keeper Deluxe

Fanciful

Slipcovers: They’re not just for sofas! Dress up your pots with a Patio Art Planter Slipcovers. You can change with the seasons, or simply cover up an ugly pot. It’s a nice way to wrap up a potted plant to gift as well.

Slipcover Your Plants

Fair trade birdhouses attract birds to the garden. Keep those baby birds toasty warm till it’s time to leave the nest.

Fair Trade Birdhouses

What a clever idea! It’s a card and a desktop garden all in one. It’s edible too. It’s a postcarden! Click on the photo below and check out the time-lapse video on their site.

Astronomical

For the gardener with the travel bug: “Botanically themed cruises and garden tours of Europe are designed for gardening and gourmet enthusiasts who enjoy taking in ancient castles, magnificent châteaux and stunning landscaped gardens with iconic sites.”

Let’s all go! Who’s with me?

December 11, 2012 by Born To Organize

Mellow Yellow, Garden Gold

Yellow is a happy color. It exudes warmth and cheer. In the garden, it weaves its way through most seasons: striking daffodils in the spring, followed by snapdragons and sunflowers in the summer and fall. As the blooms fade, several trees take over, dropping golden-yellow leaves in.

What’s unusual this year is the number of summer plants still in bloom. Our deciduous trees have lost most of their leaves in time for winter solstice. I thought the snaps were done until several days of heavy rain. Now they’re back to in soft, buttery shades of yellow.

A tomato plant still towers in the side yard, sending out tiny yellow blooms. Several pumpkin plants self-seeded and flowered as well. Even in California, it’s unusual to see pumpkins bloom so late in the year. I’m trying to squelch my fears about global warming. Perhaps my garden’s micro-climate is simply in sync with the menopausal gardener.

Using yellow in the garden from Sensational Color:

Yellow is considered a warm color in landscape design.
Yellow’s appearance in the garden has a stimulating effect.
Yellow flowers come forward in the landscape, helping to make a large garden feel cozier.
Yellow lilies make for a bright, long blooming addition to any garden.
Yellow’s complimentary color in the garden is purple.

The Snapdragons returned after a heavy rain. I didn’t notice the tiny grey spider when I took the picture.

Yellow Wildflower Still Blooming

It’s mid-December. Do you know where your pumpkin flowers are?

Fruit-Loop Tree? Nope! Just three stages of an orange

Side Yard Tomato

Fruit Cocktail Tree Leaves

The Color Yellow:

Color Psychology
Vincent Van Gogh, master of yellow
Sensational Color, my go-to site for color theory and ideas

December 10, 2012 by Born To Organize

Cats in the Garden: The Holiday Addition

Our afternoon temps were in the mid-sixties (F) this weekend, with skies bright and clear. What a perfect, late-autumn day. I planted tulips, raked leaves and swept the patio, happy to have the time outdoors One by one the cats joined me in the garden. They vie for my attention, while avoiding each others wrath.

Over the years I’ve had a few cats that got along, but mostly my feline companions merely tolerate each other. The current pecking order is as follows: Lindy is ten, and has lived here the longest. She mostly gets her way. Sadly, she’s been terrorizing Slinky, who backs down every time. I’m convinced that if Slinky “stood up to her” things would improve. Before Slinky, Lindy got along with all cats, including the visitors.

Lindy-Lu, we love you

Lindy spies Slinky behind the trellis

Top Cat

Beijing, once a stray, joined us three years ago. She’s an aging cat with arthritis and kidney troubles, but she behaves like a brute and takes no prisoners. She makes us laugh. Beige is always looking for a lap and will settle into one the moment anyone sits down. She’s in love with my husband, and I think she wonders where he goes all day.

Beijing or ‘Beige’…cause she’s neither white nor orange

Slinky is young, semi-feral and just now spending most of her time indoors. It’s been a long process, with a few setbacks. She enjoyed the late afternoon in the garden as well, hiding from Lindy but keeping her eye on me. By evening she came indoors where she is enjoying her new digs.

Slinky takes a bath

Slinky Keeps Watch

I can’t begin to imagine a world without animals, nor my life without felines. Their (mostly) serene presence soothes the soul.

December 9, 2012 by Born To Organize

The Big Chill: Out of the Crisper and into the Soil

Three’s a Charm

When you live in a warm climate like California, it helps to employ a bit of trickery with the tulips. So when I bought three bags of tulip bulbs back in October, the first step was a cool dark rest in the crisper drawer of our fridge. Keeping bulbs in the frigid dark, prompts their DNA into thinking they’ve been through an early chill.

Today I planted about a dozen bulbs along the rock wall near the garden fence, convinced that the racing squirrels overhead were just waiting to dig them up for lunch. I tamped the soil firmly and with determination, hoping they’ll stay planted through early spring. I buried the rest of the bulbs in a variety of pots, and in a few random locations around the garden.

Ready to Plant Tulip Bulbs

Squirrel in the Pittosporum

Squirrel in the Pine

Figuring I could hedge my bets (or chance of survival) by interspersing the bulbs in heavily planted pots, I tucked them deep into the corners and under the canopy of existing plants. I hope they survive the onslaught of the squirrels. They’ll be a magnificent if they do.

Tulip Bulbs

December 8, 2012 by Born To Organize

A Treasure from the Past: The EncyclopÆdia of Gardening

Sulton's Seeds, Fertilisers, Horticultural Lundries

Sulton’s Seeds, Fertilisers, Horticultural Sundries

Mom only saved a few of Dad’s possessions after he died, but what she did save are gems. I have his photo albums, some of his landscape drawings, a few paintings and his painter’s easel. What I didn’t realize before today was that the battered, green book of his that I’ve hung on to all these years is a gardening encyclopedia!

While rummaging through a cabinet in search of a White Elephant gift, I removed the book to reach the back of the cabinet. Before returning it, I cracked the cover and there it was: my father’s lovely handwriting dated January 3, 1930. The next page revealed that I was holding The EncylopÆdia of Gardening by T.W Sanders, Knight of First Class of the Royal Order of Vasa, Sweden.

The Encyclopedia of Gardening

My dad was a horticulturist, so it’s not surprising that he had this book. What amazed me is that I didn’t realize what I had all these years. It’s a small book, no bigger than a paperback. There are no illustrations, but a few advertisements appear on the last few pages of the book. I’m dying to sit down and read it cover to cover. I read the forward and some of the introduction, then decided to look up a few plants.

Adverts

I’m named after Dad’s sister, Alys, so I started with Alyssum. Not only did I find it listed, but there was a small mark next to the entry. Goosebumps! As an aside, I learned that Alyssum was first introduced in 1710. I can’t get the grin off my face.

One last little treasure: between the middle pages were four postage stamps from India, where Dad lived before the war. The stamps say India Postage, Three Pies.

I’ve been beaming all day.

Resources:

December 8, 2012 by Born To Organize

Watering Can Stickers: The Shape of Things to Come

I love a little synchronicity now and again. Just two days ago I wrote that I planned to seal my Cosmo Christmas Cards with a self-made sticker using last year’s garden calendar. The following day a friend gave me a large punch shaped like a watering can. How perfect! I’m having fun thumbing through my old garden calendar, selecting pages for the punch. Jane Shasky’s garden illustrations are magnificent.

The Lang Herb Garden Calendar, painted by Jane Shasky

Watering Can Punch

Watering Can Stickers

After punching the shapes, I run them through my hand-held sticker maker by Xyron. Voila! Custom made stickers.

December 6, 2012 by Born To Organize

The Christmas Tree Dilemma: Real or Fake?

The Crew: Ready to deliver the neighborhood trees

I struggle with this question every year: Is it better to have a freshly cut tree or an artificial one? I think the answer is neither. Or both.

Aren’t you glad we got that settled?!

As a nature-lover, I’m not fond of the idea of cutting down a tree each year, only to throw it away (or at the very least compost it) after a few weeks. People float the idea of a live tree that you bring indoors each year, but given the size of the average pine or fir, the tree would outgrow your home in a few years. Further, the tree would do poorly in a dry, heated home, preferring the outdoors instead.

Clearly, artificial trees are the way to go.

Or are they?

Fluffy Under the Tree

Artificial trees last a long time. You can use them year after year, they never dry out, they’re less likely to catch fire and they’re sized for the average home. They are, however, made from synthetic materials, that will one day end up in a landfill. Styles change, the frame of the tree might break or you may buy a bigger (or smaller) house that dictates the size of the tree.

In our neighborhood, we have a coordinated effort to display cut trees on our lawn each year. The trees go up the first week of December and come down New Year’s day. I’m block captain for our street, and we make it a family affair. We borrow a neighbor’s truck, load up the trees, and delivery them up and down the block. The neighborhood coordinator purchases over 300 trees. Each block captain collects the order forms, deposits the checks and then delivers the trees. It’s fun and festive.

Indoors we have an artificial tree that we store and use year after year. We made that choice for all the reasons I mentioned above. So…I feel like a fraud at times, supporting different choices on either side of the door.

One choice isn’t really a choice at all: simply giving up the long-held and delightful tradition of a Christmas tree.

If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree each year? Real or fake?

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