MORE BEES PLEASE!

With the bee population in danger, I think it is terribly important to do what we can to attract them to our gardens. In our garden they love the abundant lavender - I had wanted to harvest the lavender this year, however, could not bring myself to cut it back since the bees were enjoying it too much. I have to suffice by pinching off the odd sprig to sniff or throw into the kids bath.

If you really want to be a hit with the neighbourhood bees, then I suggest growing Sea Holly. I have several Sea Holly plants in a sunny location that will usually boast no less than 3 dozen bees of many varieties (big & fuzzy, small, orange backed, thin - my bee termination is not up to par!). It sounds like a formula one racetrack when nearby. I staked these lovely, prickly, silvery flowers with candle sticks that we had made for our garden wedding 7 years ago. They are stairway spindles that we bought from ReStore and my husband painted them white with different flowers. They looked so pretty with lit candles scattered around the garden on our wedding day and now I am thrilled to recycle them yet again to help keep the long Sea Holly stalks staked.

I plan to divide these plants up in the fall or next spring and create more bee havens around the garden in the future.

GARDEN BOUNTY

We have finally been harvesting our veggies we planted back in the spring. The tomatoes are ripening and the lettuce is abundant. We try to mix lots of herbs in with our salads which is easy to do when the herb garden is a few steps away from the kitchen.

I was never a veggie garden person in the past, however, it is so satisfying to pick your own things that I am now hooked and planning additional spots to plant edibles. The kids love picking peas and strawberries and I plan to add raspberries, cukes, squash and more....

PICTURE FRAME

I was looking at some of my favourite garden books yesterday (a brief moment when my toddler was napping) and was inspired by a old photo frame that the author had hung from a tree in their garden. When Quinn woke up we went to the basement and searched out our own old wooden picture frame and went to hang it from a plum tree in our garden. I could not find fishing line so I just used white thread to hang the frame.

It will be interesting to see who and what images I can capture as they pass through the frame. It's also a great way to recycle an unwanted picture frame.

IN THE GARDEN

Here are a few photos of the garden.... Elizabeth has been "Chef" all day (she even wore her chef's outfit to the library this morning) so it was fitting that she pick some yellow wax beans to accompany our dinner (chicken breasts stuffed with pesto - also made from the abundance of basil in the garden).

John's tomatoes look like they are on steroids - he specifically requested roma's when I was tomato shopping back in May. My 100 millions aren't doing too bad either. The strawberries produce enough for a delighted toddler to sample almost daily. The new herb garden has taken off. We have been using lovely herbs in our many Jamie Oliver inspired meals. Some of the herbs growing there are: sage, rosemary, thyme, fennel, coriander (although not successfully), bay, tarragon, sweet marjoram, summer savory, dill, chamomile, burnett, lovage, borage, parsley, Italian parsley, oregano and lemon thyme.

The secret garden's pathway has become overgrown with self seeders such as mallow, lemon balm, some purple flowering stuff and buttercups.

The garden is lovely - I added a beautiful french white lilac, many ornamental grasses and a brilliant ornamental oregano this year. We are all enjoying our the many aspects of our garden and hope our wonderful weather continues.

GARDEN TREASURES

I love this time of year when all of the garden is a promise of green mounds. The colours are so natural and invigorating especially after a spring rain. I enjoy walking around the garden taking stock of what is poking through the earth and have been pleasantly surprised that some perennials survived last years construction zone. Plants like Astilbes and Epimediums prosper and I had quite forgotten exactly how many hostas were speckled around the garden. Although I don't have much in the way of spring bulbs, the shades of green are varied and plentiful. My favourite Forget-Me-Not's petite flowers shine electric blue in the twilight. We watch daily as the ferns unfurl. The Soloman's Seal is standing tall like silent soldiers gently getting ready to show off their little hanging blossoms.

We have many treasures speckled about the garden. I so enjoy chancing upon a little garden creature or ornament and my collection is subtly growing. My pond has been removed (not conducive to toddlers in the household) and has been replaced with loose gravel in an attempt to create a serene Zen-like garden, albeit a mixed one, due to the abundance of cottage favourites - Alchemilla Mollis, Coreopsis, Brunnera, Aqueligias, House Leeks and more. Buddha quietly sits in this garden alongside a small pagoda and bamboo water spout (from the pond's days). It remains tranquil and can also be viewed from my daughter's bedroom window.

STUDIOS

I've just bought the latest issue of Studios - a special supplement of one of fave mags "Cloth, Paper, Scissors - and thought I should show off the space I use to create and store my stuff.

Firstly, I like a chaotic element when it comes to studios. The smell of turpentine and brushes littered with colourful remnants of paint are a delight to my senses. I love sunlight illuminating the space and Vivaldi or The Cure (ya, weird combo) blaring from a high tech. sound system. Dreams to be sure. I love supplies from paint, wool, fabric and sewing supplies, paper, rubber stamps, flowers (silk and paper), brads, beads, inks, charms and other random bits of ephemera.

I love having a stash of supplies at hand for whatever project takes my fancy. Over the years I've collected and amassed a variety of things that have formed a collective in a room in our house. While it is not my ideal space, it suffices for now (until I can convert my large solid garden shed - an ongoing dream of mine). I seem to, however, do most of my crafting at the kitchen counter and ferry things up and down stairs on an as needed basis. This facilitates my need to create and watch the kids simultaneously.

PLUGGING ALONG...

I've neglected my poor blog of late, however, better than not paying attention to my family. Thought it needed some colourful photos of things that have been done around the house, so...

The dinosaur is in Quinn's room. It was a cut out wooden piece I found at Michael's and covered in Basic Grey's Archaic papers. It sits on a shelf of Love letters that my husband cut out before alpha's became popular and readily available (on that note, check out robynquigg@wordtothewall.com that custom cuts beautiful quotes in any font imaginable to simply adhere to your wall - we'll have a sample of her work at our EllaBella Studio). Just have to find the perfect photo of Quinny to put on my dinosaur.

Have also been making more fabric toy bags that the kids love. It makes clean up time easy (when energy and desire permits, of course!) and we have a hers and his section of the cupboard to house them in. Again, fabric scraps are used and I can whip one up in 10minutes (short enough time that the children don't get into too much trouble in my craft room).