The looking garden...inspiration for our indoor days

We should make space not only in our garden{s} for plants. Living greenery inside our homes has been known for decades to aid in cleaning our air, which we all know during winter with the house all shut up, the air can get rather stale.

 "The good news is that a classic NASA study found that common house plants could improve air quality. In fact, they reported that houseplants were able to remove up to 87 percent of air toxins in 24 hours. The recommendation? Use 15 to 18 "good-sized" house plants in 6- to 8-inch diameter containers for an 1,800 square-foot house.

Plants can remove a variety of toxic air emissions including ammonia, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, benzene, xylene and trichloroethytene.  Remember-the healthier the plant, the more purifying it will be." sourced from sixwise.

Spice up the average house plant look with a recent added interest of mine. SUCCULENTS! Their not just for "green roofs". Oh yes, the Earthy upcoming wedding has spurred this all on. Imagine, one of those moss planters from my last post with a few added succulents of purple tinge Rosettes, coordinating with the color scheme she has chosen. They would POP against the moss & odd Sedums. 

This succulent bowl, arranged with candles, is a look I may very well incorporate to the outdoor decor. Very possibly, in my home before & after the big day:

Now lets hop away from the average containers used for our house plants and check out the
Living Walls! or more like Framed living art!

The best part of this version is that by using a picture frame and chicken wire over the moss, you drastically reduce the Modern art look by giving it more of a "Country Living" influence. PLUS by spreading out the low amount of succulents you may have {they do average just over $3 each online}, you spend less when combined with a Thrift store Frame. Just allow time to provide babies for filling it out. An ever changing piece visual.

 YOU can make this Living indoor art by clicking over to Ready Made* for all the How to. 

{ http://www.readymade.com/projects/framed_vertical_succulent_garden/next_step#steps }

Psst. This would be the time to start begging and passing word you are on the hunt for some succulents. Tell all your friends, your mom, your brother. The Post lady and your/their coworkers. There is bound to be someone willingly to bear these little gems into your hands. They are easy to care for & there is always someone thinning out the babies they produce. Oh! & if you come across an extra amount,especially purple ones, .... Feel free to send them my way! I promise to share their final locations in planned projects. sigh..the downfalls of being a semi hermit Lady... So few to beg succulents from!

  Want something a little easier that even those who claim a black thumb can enjoy? Air plant living wall art!! 

This style is far too modern for me but the idea & concept is rather Impressive by Flora Grubb Gardens.

 How about combining the two in a Living wreath? 

"So your getting a Wreath & a little Garden, all in one".

The how to for this Holiday Everlasting wreath from Flora Grubb gardens " The Cutting Garden ": 

{ http://floragrubb.com/cutting/?p=400 }

I especially like the very detailed, {cough. cough ...lots of pictures} tutorial for an all out succulent wreath over at Sparrow Post for this one :

http://www.sparrowpost.net/oldschool/wreath.html

Be sure to check out the proper zone & needs before ordering succulents online.Explore away and get creative! Let the pieces above inspire you to experiment with things around you. Like the bowl idea? Why not try making a light weight Hypertufa bowl or make the trough shape to fit along that odd corner of a room? Fine Gardening has a very nice how to with visuals {did you really think I would have it any other way?}. The possibilities are endless.

The Holidays are fast upon us and I find I am not as productive in projects as I would like. My goal is to get some bowls & troughs made up this week as well as Help little Man BEGIN his present for Panda in the wood shop. He is making Bedside "Dog steps" for use by Ming the Peke being Panda's Bed is set very high up. He is using cedar shingles for the stepping portion with sides a solid wood, painted in the color of her theme. Now Ming the Peke can hop from bed to bed throughout the night without waking anyone up with her falling and whining. Maybe I can put an order in for my bedside as well...

Sweetest Dreams,

~Tammie

Making and Loving Moss recipe {plus a sneak of wedding plans}

The love affair with woodlands has no known beginning for me. I have always been drawn to Ferns, forests, Moss and creek beds. Something of recent has brought me to step into a direction of incorporating them into our home. I have tried to raise ferns which seem to not favor our interior environment of old homes. In winter, they always die off. I will try again soon but my topic today is MOSS! Soft luxurious green moss with their irresistible earthy appeal.

The love of moss is everywhere! Once I began looking for it, I noticed it is almost everywhere I go. Why, just check out this link for Wow adoration on Green Graffiti. Moss is amazing and rather GREEN for so many uses.

So what has brought this on of late? I am planning a wedding! Not mine but a dearest friends. We are so similar in our likes and ways plus she has asked I be a bridesmaid as well as help plan this wedding. So of course I jumped feet first and loving every minute of it. The feel is so very hard to describe being most hear "hippie" and it's just not the same as her vision. Semi casual, earthy, outdoor and intimate are just a few words I would use. With a twist of Bohemian romance & woodland feel.

Now the moss comes into play where decor is needed. I have it in my head to whip up some troughs of various wood and cement structures to grow and fill out for setting around the outdoor reception. centerpieces as well. Like this one:

 and this one:

 Moss is easy to whip up with a decent backyard source like mine and plenty of time {a year and a half} to tend to their growth. I have found 2 ways to grow it. {Share Courtesy of About.com in gardening by Marie Iannotti}

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1. The easiest way to get a patch of moss started is to take a piece from somewhere else and move it. Rake and scratch the surface of the soil you’re going to be putting it on, so that the filaments make good contacts. Wet the are and lay the moss on top of it. Press is well into the soil. It even helps if you pin it in place or put some light rocks on it to anchor it. Newly transplanted moss will need to be kept moist for the first few weeks. You can tell you moss as taken when it doesn’t lift with a light tug.

It’s probably wise to take your transplant moss from a similar surface to minimize transplant problems. 

How to Get Moss to Grow on Rocks, Bricks or Pots

It’s a little harder to start moss on a rock by simply lifting it and moving it. To grow moss on rocks, bricks or pots, many people have luck cultivating moss by mixing it with buttermilk and painting it on the new surface.

Moss Making Recipe:

• 2 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups of chopped-up moss (Fresh or Dried)

Mix until creamy and spreadable. If the mixture is too thick, add a small amount of water. If it’s too thin, add more moss.

Paint the mixture onto the new surface. You can allow the mixture to sit for a day or two, to start the process. You may get mold first, but by about week 6 you should see signs of moss.

**To keep your moss growing well, you need to maintain ideal moss conditions: shade, moisture and a low soil pH. You’ll also need to keep the weeds out. Moss can’t compete for moisture with the roots of weeds.

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The love for Ferns and woodlands come into play with this easy idea of slicing a log for the cake stand! Perfect even after a wedding. Fern fronds laid about to pull it together. Wonder what cake she will decide on...

 

 What is a Natural setting event without some Homemade favors! Wild Blackberries are abundant {and free} around me & her Mum. Perfect to go with the dark purple flowers she has her heart set on. I must keep my eye out for sales on decorative canning jars. Really do not want to use the everyday kind for such a special piece. I do believe she will adore the label with this idea as well.

 The other piece of decor I have set my eyes on long ago when we first discussed her getting married...Chandeliers! Grapevines with moss tidbits and wild grasses. Votives in glass holders secured between the hanging apparatus {not sure if we would use heavy duty rustic rope or rusted chains} for hanging in the canopy dining tents.

So be prepared for much more woodland love coming from this chick. Oh, and I have yet to mention I am planting that back garden I gave up on/downsized from, outside the picket fence, in cutting flowers. Beyond Frogs little strip of flowers I had mentioned previously. Nope. We are going to Market this next summer! Looks like long stem Sweet peas will be one of my main growers. White Willow, the Bride, may be using the DARK purple Sweet peas in her wedding too. This year is the trial garden and I have been devouring so much beauty on this endeavor.... Reneesgarden.com has been seeing A LOT of traffic from this house.

I am succumbing to a sore throat and must hop off to the herb store for lozenge ingredients. This time I am adding lemon extract...and hiding them from the kids. They are THAT good.

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

The children of the forest past, come alive...

For a moment we were little again. Free and wild roaming the woods with not a care in the world. It was cold but not unbearable. It was wet but just a medium thick misting of rain flowed from above. Heavy drops coming down from where the water had accumulated on high branches. A comment was made on how it reminded me of the movie scenes set in the forest wilds of Washington or Oregon. The fallen trees bare of bark with wild mushrooms growing in their formation with the luster of whimsical bright moss patches & wet ferns grouped everywhere your eye would land. 

I in my Navy wool Pea coat, jeans,boots, fingerless gloves and a thick beanie. He in a thin fleece overcoat, jeans & Army boots. As well as his small black beanie which barely covered his big head & ears.

A moment we both escaped into as though the last 20 some years were all but a distant dream. It started with a simple invitation to see "my woods". To walk the ridge and look for deer tracks. We walked that ridge and ducked under trees which had been bent by the hand of Nature into M's & U's. We held back thorny berry briar's still thriving with powdery hues of purple & white. Snagged our clothes on wild roses bare of their summer petals and leaves, making our approach a combined effort of movement.Their presence forcing you to be patient and slow as though they demanded you soak in and acknowledge the wonders spread before you.

My baby brother Army... Oh how I adore and love him so. I miss our time together. Just him & me as well as Big brother John Boy. When we would spend from the time the sun was rising until well after it had fallen. Out exploring. Building forts, scavenging for "food" and coming up with the most wild imaginative adventures we, as kids, could come up with. This was a day, like a page direct from our childhood story.

We stood atop the ridge, looking down into the deep ravine. Surveying for a movement. Observing the dips and thick logs laid out in our path. Then he saw it. An arrow! Sticking out from the ground. It's quiver a beacon of pink & white. We did not have to speak a word nor did we for a long period here. We both knew what the other was thinking and gladly descended into the belly of our playground. He motioned  we split up. He on the south. I on the north. Scouring the land beneath each branch. Each leaf & pine needle bed. Gently stepping so as not to break the silence with an echo alerting of our presence. One after another were found with alert to the other a simple small whistle and smile of acknowledgment. At one point he had found over 8 which I could not help but motion my hands up and down as though to say "Dang it man!". Both of us smiling with the mindless way we had stepped right back into time without a second thought or hesitation.

 The sky was turning more grey, alerting us to head back to the house before we were caught in a down pour. Not enough time to build a pine branch lean-to, as we may have done those few decades ago. Oh, how I would have loved to do just that. Sit beneath our Pine fort. Listening to the rain beat down on the leaves and watch the world stay alive as we hold on to the moment of a big sister with her little brother escaping into the past ways of their childhood.

It was the most enjoyable afternoon. The most heart filling time I have had the opportunity to share with him in a very long time. The bonds of brother & sister never broken. Never dismissed. Just hidden deep inside to be brought out on occasion as one would a most cherished treasure.

There will be more of these times. I feel that deep in my heart. There may very well come a time we may not be able to descend the ravine and stay out in the cold rain as we had once done. A time when these memories stirred by a simple scent on the wind. A sound through the trees and a knowing twinkle in each others eyes will be just enough to fill us with sibling love. Resurfacing those moments forever etched into our being.

Until next time....

Sweet dreams my friends,

~Tammie