July 31, 2012 by Born To Organize

Sarah Winchester’s Garden

We toured the perplexing and historic Winchester Mystery House last week, in the heart of Silicon Valley. I wrote about our experience here.

Before the tour, I strolled the well-groomed gardens. Mrs. Winchester planted trees and shrubs from around the world, beautifully maintained for over a century.

I hope to go back one day and follow along with the self guided tour, listening to the recorded messages along the way. Here is a small sample of the grounds.

If you make it to Silicon Valley, be sure to put this on your list. If you live nearby and you’ve never gone, you are in for a treat.

July 30, 2012 by Born To Organize

Changing of the Colors: The Summer Edition

Who doesn’t like the spectacular color change that heralds the arrival of fall? New England’s tourist industry thrives as the green leaves give way to golden yellows, warm oranges and vibrant reds. Though less flamboyant, I present to you the changing of the colors: the summer edition.

First up, Hydrangeas. This lovely goes from bright green to pink, then softens to a dusty mauve before turning a cooler shade of green. You can snip flowers from the vine at this last stage, then brought indoors for drying.

Hydrangeas Fade

Tomatoes need a variety of conditions before they turn from green to red. The smaller the tomato, the faster the transformation. Tomatoes need moderate temperatures, shelter from the wind and time. The color can’t be forced. According to Gardening Know How:

Tomatoes are triggered to turn red by a chemical called ethylene. Ethylene is odorless, tasteless and invisible to the naked eye. When the tomato reaches the proper green mature stage, it starts to produce ethylene. The ethylene then interacts with the tomato fruit to start the ripening process. Consistent winds can carry the ethylene gas away from the fruit and slow the ripening process.

If you find that your tomatoes fall off the vine, either knocked off or due to frost, before they turn red, you can place the unripe tomatoes in a paper bag. Provided that the green tomatoes have reached the mature green stage, the paper bag will trap the ethylene and will help to ripen the tomatoes.

Ethylene Gas = Red Tomatoes

Pumpkins turn orange much the same way tomatoes turn red. In addition to color, they also need to harden before harvesting or they will quickly rot. We had a pumpkin survive on our front porch for over nine months one year. Once carved, however, the fruit rots within a few days. According to All About Pumpkins:

There are many indications that your pumpkin is ready to harvest. A Jack-O-Lantern variety should be predominately orange in color. If the vine has started to “go away” (meaning dying off and declining) this is another signal. Sometimes the stem is already starting to twist and dry. The most important indication to look for, is that the shell has started to harden. If you can easily indent the pumpkin skin using your fingernail, the fruit is still too immature to harvest. If you harvest it at this stage, your pumpkins will likely shrivel and spoil within days. When the shell has hardened, your pumpkin is ready to cut from the vine.

“Acorn” Pumpkin Turning Orange

What’s changing colors in your garden? Do you have a favorite? Please let me know in the comments, below.

July 29, 2012 by Born To Organize

Green House Supply: Purveyor of Salvaged Curiosities

My friend Donna Boss has a charming business know as Green House Supply. She employs her tremendous aesthetic using salvaged, vintage, and previously owned materials to create unique products. She sells jewelry, ephemera, textiles, and other vintage pieces “designed to add to the patina of your life.”

Donna is also an avid gardener and co-founder of our elementary school’s outdoor classroom and organic garden. We became fast friends over seeds and dirt and the politics of school volunteering.

I recently attended one of Donna’s shows, hosted in her spacious garden. Here are a few of her wares:

Greenhouse Design Radio Flyer with Annuals

Greenhouse Design Radio Flyer
planted with summer annuals

Notebooks Created Using Airmail Envelopes

Timely Jewelry

Vintage Postcards, Stamps and Office Supplies
All my favorites!

Nautical Alphabet
I bought letters to spell my husband’s name

Be sure to follow Green House Supply on Facebook for details of Donna’s upcoming shows.

Come see Donna’s wares at:

Goat Hill Fair, Booth #9

September 15th & 16th, 2012

♦ ♦ ♦

July 28, 2012 by Born To Organize

Lindy in the Garden: Our Big Girl Turns 10

Lindy-Lu, our beloved black and white kitty, just turned ten. We adopted her seven years ago from our local Humane Society as a birthday gift for my oldest son. She’s been a gift to us all.

Our family looked at every single cat available for adoption that day, but in the end she chose us. She reached between the bars with her paw and patted my son.

Lindy is good-natured and outgoing and unlike most cats, she comes when called. She’s too big for our laps, preferring instead to lay across the back of the couch, nestling near our hair. The moment I head outside, she is by my side, following me from place to place.

Mighty-Mouse, the neighbor’s kitty comes calling and wants to play. She’s receptive on occasion, but for the most part views him as an annoying little brother. At 16 pounds she could take him, but she prefers to give him a warning growl. Sometimes he actually takes the hint.

As I go about my gardening chores, she settles into the grass or between a couple of nearby shrubs. I often think she’s keeping an eye on me, offering her quiet companionship as she tucks in her paws and gives me the blink of acceptance. The garden wouldn’t be the same without her.

July 27, 2012 by Born To Organize

A Walk Through the (Ransacked) Garden

We discovered the clues one by one.

We uncovered them in perfect order.

On the same day we toured the Winchester Mystery House, my friend Laura and I had an impromptu mystery party in my back yard.

We were in the garden to check out the pumpkins and I noticed our flattened beach ball. We’d tossed the ball around the yard for weeks, so I was puzzled to see it completely deflated. On further inspection, it was full of small puncture holes.

I’ve read that rats will chew on anything to get water, even beams in an attic. Apparently they decided to have a drink at the expense of the beach ball. Darn rats!

Laura then looked over my shoulder and exclaimed, “What happened!?”

Across from the vegetable garden, half of the baby tears had been folded back on themselves, along the rock wall. Neighborhood squirrels must have been looking for buried nuts. We flipped back the layers, watered and tamped the plants into place. Darn squirrels!

“Oh no!” Laura yelled, sounding even more concerned. Our next clue! A corner of our new lawn was now a muddy mess. Layers of sod also folded back on itself. Laura mentioned that crows will dig up grass to unearth the worms and grubs below. It made perfect sense. I see a pair of crows each morning outside my kitchen window, eating worms they’ve pulled up out of the grass. Apparently they moved on to a new patch of grass. Darn crows!

Together we patted down the sod as best we could, then headed inside to wash our hands when I saw one last clue: perfect little raccoon prints leading from the grass to the fountain. The marauder probably stopped at the fountain to wash his muddy hands. Darn raccoon!

It’s a good thing this wasn’t a court of law, as I had mentally tried and convicted rats, squirrels and crows, before discovering the unmistakable hand-like prints of the raccoon.

Can’t you just picture the little line up at the county jail?

July 26, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Lemony Yellows

The first flower on my lemony yellow tour self-seeded from last year. Within two weeks it was covered in buds and blooms and tripled in size. My friend Laura, referred to it as a Four O’clock, the time it usually blooms. Our plant must think it’s in a different time zone, as it was in full bloom at 9:00 this morning.

Lemony Yellow Wildflowers

Next up are the ‘Evergreen Yellow’ daylilies surrounding our Magnolia. Is it just me, or do the stamen look like delicate, curling fingers?

Trio of Daylily Flowers

Yellow Daylily Up Close

Rounding up the tour, we have Fuzzy little Kangaroo Paws shooting up behind the lilies. They’ll grow to about three feet tall and will bloom now through fall. Aren’t they sweet?

‘Harmony’ Kangaroo Paws

What’s blooming in your garden this Thursday?

How to grow Four O’clock Flowers from Urban Farmer.
You can read more about Kangaroo Paw from The Flower Expert.
Growing daylilies from University of Minnesota.

July 25, 2012 by Born To Organize

Winchester Mystery House

Winchester Mystery House is one of the most unusual landmarks in my city. The sprawling mansion covers four acres and stands three stories tall. Sarah Winchester, mired in grief, was convinced that the spirits of innocent people, killed by the Winchester rifles were responsible for the death of her husband and infant daughter. Under the advice of a physic, she continuously built on to her home to confuse and appease the spirits. We took a tour there today with friends and had an interesting time.

I arrived early to take photos of the gardens on the spacious estate, before embarking on the house tour. Sarah Winchester, born in 1884, was ahead of her time. She built an amazing room for watering her house plants, while at the same time conserving water. The second story room has a non-oxidizing metal floor covered with removal wood planks. The floor has a gentle slope, a faucet and a working sink. After removing the planks, plants are set out on the floor and watered in place. The excess water followed the slope of the floor and then drained outdoors to water the garden.

Here is a bit about the house from the official website:

Winchester Mystery House™ is an extravagant maze of Victorian craftsmanship – marvelous, baffling, and eerily eccentric, to say the least.

Some of the architectural oddities may have practical explanations. For example, the Switchback Staircase, which has seven flights with forty-four steps, rises only about nine feet, since each step is just two inches high. Mrs. Winchester arthritis was quite severe in her later years, and the stairway may have been designed to accommodate her disability.

The miles of twisting hallways are made even more intriguing by secret passageways in the walls. Mrs. Winchester traveled through her house in a roundabout fashion, supposedly to confuse any mischievous ghosts that might be following her.

This wild and fanciful description of Mrs. Winchester’s nightly prowl to the Séance Room appeared in The American Weekly in 1928, six years after her death:

“When Mrs. Winchester set out for her Séance Room, it might well have discouraged the ghost of the Indian or even of a bloodhound, to follow her. After traversing an interminable labyrinth of rooms and hallways, suddenly she would push a button, a panel would fly back and she would step quickly from one apartment into another, and unless the pursuing ghost was watchful and quick, he would lose her. Then she opened a window in that apartment and climbed out, not into the open air, but on to the top of a flight of steps that took her down one story only to meet another flight that brought her right back up to the same level again, all inside the house. This was supposed to be very discomforting to evil spirits who are said to be naturally suspicious of traps.” – Read more on the Winchester Mystery House® website

Winchester Mystery House Spider Web windows

Spider webs figured prominently in many of the homes architectural features. An actual spider made a home in the garden just below these windows. I think Sarah would be proud.

July 24, 2012 by Born To Organize

Natural Gifts: Collecting Cosmo Seeds

The idea came to me a few weeks ago: I’ll collect Cosmo seeds to give as gifts for the holidays.

The prolific flowers are easy to grow and spectacular to behold. Cosmos grow in planters or directly in the ground, and thrive with little fuss. It’s a cheerful gift for the middle of winter: the promise of spring blooms. They’ve given me pleasure all summer long. I want to share that with others.

Collecting seeds is easier than I thought. I’ve enlisted the services of my enormous pumpkin leaves. The vines have gently wrapped themselves around the base of the Cosmos, so they’re perfectly positioned for catching seeds. What synergy. I gently shake the seeds from the leaves into a bowl and bring them inside for safe keeping.

Cosmo seeds resting in the crook of a pumpkin leaf

Designing the seed packet will be fun. I have several ideas rattling around in my head. I might employ the use of my Creative Memories digital scrap-booking software to make postcard-sized packets. I have several photos to use in the design as well.

I’ve enjoyed making envelopes from prior year’s wall calendars so that also has possibilities. I use a template to trace the envelope, then fold and seal. I’ll download planting instructions from the internet and then print them on creamy card stock.

I turned my garden calendar pages into 4 x 6 envelopes.

My little seed packets will be small gifts with big potential, given with hope and affection.

Do you enjoy giving gifts from your garden? Perhaps you make jam preserves, dried flower bouquets or lavender sachets? I love hearing from you and hope you’ll share in the comments, below.

Grows on you is a garden forum with advice and visuals for seed collecting.
Creative uses for your old calendars from my other blog Organized at Heart.
I created this sample page using Creative Memories digital software.

July 23, 2012 by Born To Organize

Garden Log: July 23, 2012

Here’s what’s happening in the garden:

As the pale pink cosmos wind down, this bright pink beauty emerged nearby. Could it be the start of a whole new crop?

Our tall clay pot is a Hodge-podge of color. A few seeds, a few cell packs and a volunteer or two add up to Snapdragons, Vinca, California Poppies, Begonia, and a couple of Birdhouse Gourds.

This pumpkin is literally hanging by a thread (see insert). It measures 35 inches in circumference, about 11 inches across.

One of the few surviving pumpkin transplants. Its funny shape reminds me of a large acorn. What do you think?

The darling of the pumpkin patch. It measures 52 inches in circumference, about 17 inches across.

This ill-fated pumpkin sprout has lost its way. It’s growing in the middle of the lawn, no doubt planted there by a squirrel.

I’m hiding indoors from the hot afternoon sun, but will check on the emerging Lacewings at dusk.

How does your garden grow?

July 22, 2012 by Born To Organize

Birdhouse Gourd: First Snow

Okay, not really snow per se, but the birdhouse gourd flower is snow-white. I’m sure the seed packet said something about white flowers, but I’ve been so focused on the gourds to come, that it took me by surprise. I just assumed it would flower yellow, like the pumpkins, zucchini and other members of the squash family.

Not all the garden surprises have been good this past week, but this one’s a gem. I love the delicate petals and the beautiful contrast to the plants green arrow-head leaves. I’ll be keeping a close watch over the next two weeks for signs of emerging gourds.

Have you found any surprises in your garden this week? Please share in the comments below.