Flowers galore!

This year I simply can not enjoy winter in the garden. Why? Maybe because there is more projects going on outside of the garden, that include my attention? Maybe because I pay more attention to indoor decorations? As you can see on my blogroll there are some amazing blogs posting great pictures and educating at the same time about interior design. It is enough to mention Joni @ Cote de Texas and Shawn @ Country French Antiques as two favourite ones - girls, are you on Twitter?

Enough said about reasons for not enjoying winter garden - or rather I should think of it as 'lack of attention'.

This is the reason of me browsing summer pictures, so here we go with summer flowers:

On the above picture - there is amazing plant, that has shown its glory this year Lythrum salicaria. It grows in hot, not too moist spot.

Tagetes erecta.

Zinnia. What's on background? Euphorbia characias Humpty Dumpty - glorious plant!

Zinnia with double petals.

Don't you just feel to sit here and enjoy?

Nigella damascena about to loose all petals.

Physostegia virginiana.

Freshly cut lavandula - for scent and wreathe.

"Can't you take also pictue of me? What do you see in these...?"

My pyjama morning picture session :)

What are you focused on right now?

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year ~ Charles Dickens

I wish Merry Christmas to YOU and I send big, big thank YOU for visiting my blog, which is a journey that is changing my life.

If u don't have a blog yet - this part of the year is good time to start it. Why? I'll explain my reasons in next post...

Christmas Decorations in Warsaw 2008

Nowy Świat Street





Crossing of Chmielna and Nowy Świat.



Chmielna Street.



Chmielna Street.



Expensive shop on Chmielna - see the legs of the shop assistant on the left?

Every time we love...

Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.

~~ Dale Evans Rogers

Delusions of our childhood days...

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!
-- Charles Dickens

Christmas spirit in jars...

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. - ~~Harlan Miller

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree ~Roy L. Smith

Christmas decorations in Warsaw.

Christmas time

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart ~~ Buddha

Winter morning from my window...

Where angels dwell

It is not known precisely where angels dwell - whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode. ~Voltaire

Blooms of December

Hardy geranium still blooms indoor. Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Garden.

Small water garden.

Little tired with brown color outside, I decided to browse through unpublished pictures and I found one set I'd like to share - it reminds me of paradise and first palindrome said by Adam which was "Madam, I'm Adam". (what palindrome is look here)

Looking for inspiration and new backyard landscape ideas? After Christmas preparations’ madness will be over, it will be a good time to plan changes in the garden for coming year – if you look for different gardening ideas – this post is for you.
So, today I share the inspirations on how to combine water and stone garden. Do you think to build a pond? Maybe a fish pond? So this garden design idea could be great for you.






In the summer I visited wonderful nursery, that has its own self tending backyard pond. I visit this place few times a year – just to see how they take care of it and how it is changing with the flow of seasons.
Their yard landscaping has matured already and their pond doesn’t need any pond filter – this function is overtaken by plants. If plants cover 2/3 of the pond – that is the time awaited by every pond owner – when fish pond becomes self-maintained and there is no need additionally to filter the water.
Looking for landscape ideas that will make your flat, boring garden – more diversified and more interesting? In this case entire region and area are fully flat – no hills. The designer of this pond made a great job – it is main attraction of the nursery. It includes cascade and fountains, there is a big hill just next to the pond – somebody digging out the hole for the pond, left the soil next to it.
Planting at the pond and on the hill makes it a very decorative part of the garden.



This is one of the hills - can you see this Sorbaria pendula - looks like it was created for this kind of planting on rapid slopes - reminds beautiful scarf dancin on the wind...











View from the top of the hill.

Woman, 80, faces prosecution for feeding birds in her garden

Bird feeding season is coming closer, so in case you haven't heard the story yet, I would like to share it with you. The story happend in UK.

Mrs Coton - has been feeding the birds in her garden for 20 years. Can you believe, that she was warned:

"that she could face legal action from her local council if she does not
desist from feeding the "feral" birds.
Officials said that a neighbour had complained that her "overfeeding" had led to large groups of birds congregating on the street creating "environmental" problems and
damaging property.
Coventry City Council said it was considering serving an abatement notice - similar to orders given to neighbours who play loud music late at night - to curtail her bird feeding. If she fails to comply she could be prosecuted..."
Read rest of the story here...

These are the pictures of bathing bluetits, on early July morning... hope you enjoy.

Seeds swaping - hot Capsicum Annuum Cyklon

Still some seeds to offer for swaping.

Experiment on replanting Hydrangea

As the young garden gets older, year by year the plants are changing sizes and shapes. Flowerbed carefully planned and planted one day becomes a mess - this is natural and happens in every garden everywhere the world. If you see it happening in your garden, it doesn't mean that you are a lousy gardener! This only means, that your garden needs redesigning approach again :) And this is what you do, as soon as possible. Beacuse the later you do it, the more difficult it gets.

You just take pencil and make some arrangements on the paper again :) When Autumn or Spring arrives - thats the best time to move plants - this is what you've heard, right?

I made transplanting in all possible months - so I feel like an expert now. Somebody said, that expert - this is somebody, who made all possible mistakes in his field...

Today I would like to share a picture with you - it shows the difference between Autumn and Spring transplanting of Hydrangea macrophylla. Both were bought together and planted together 3 years ago - I prune them pretty heavily every year.

When that particular bed, one year ago was in the need of reapproach, I decided this spot is perfect for Hydrangea, as they love sun in the morning and shadow in the afternoon.

Before transplanting both looked exactly the same. Hydrangea on the left was moved in the Autumn - in October. Hydrangea on the right was moved end of March/beginning of April following year. The soil was prepared in exactly the same way, at the same time.

You may judge the difference by yourself!

Left one, was thinking entire season whether she liked moving or NOT. I was expecting kind of reaction... but no... no growth, no flowers, no bye bye...

Same with majority of other plants - it may be treated as general rule, but there are always exceptions, that prove it. One of them is Robinia (mophead) - that should be moved in the spring only - it has difficulty to adapt in the cold.

Majority of plants, planted or transplanted in the Autumn, are at least 1-2 months ahead of those planted in the Spring, because even if the upper part of the plant is dormant, the roots keep growing - they stop only when soil gets frozen.

If you want your plants to grow best in the next season, it is much better to move them in the Autumn - they have much better start in the coming growing season, as they don't loose time on adaptation and roots in new place are already established.

What about your transplanting adventures?

Tagged by Richard at CatskillCottageSeed.

I was tagged by Richard Reeve @CatskillCottageSeed.com to reveal 6 random things about myself, so here we go.

• Started blogging 12 months ago, and my eco-gardening blog in Polish hit 34.000 visitors in first 6 months - to my big surprise! 10.000 visitors/monthly in season months!

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• One day, abt 5 years ago, I got so much annoyed with living in the city, that during morning jogging I decided, to move. Where to? In extreme version it could have been middle of the forest, but luckily turned out to be suburbs of Warsaw - so we keep an access to city treasures, but can fully enjoy living close to nature.

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• I found my way to Twitter via Joe Vitale book 'Hypnotic Marketing' - amazing book, that changes the energy flow - can't explain why - and changes the approach to marketing. This book is real fire and burns hands and mind while reading!

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• In Malmoe/Sweden they have such a unique place called Ribban (cold bath house), where for the first and so far the last time in my life, I jumped straight from the sauna to the Baltic Sea - it was beginnng of December, temp. of air and water was close to 0C. OOOHHH - I thought I will die on the spot, but no... it was just very refreshing :)

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• In my last regular job I got stucked lil much too long doing things I didn't really like. It was not like this from the beginning - just developed in different direction than I did. My mistake was to not cut it at the proper time. It ended 18 months ago, not funny at all (depression, burn out etc.) Never going to make this mistake again! As Gary Vaynerchuk says 'there is no reason in 2008 to do s**t you hate' - if you haven't yet, u need to see this one! (attn: it contains some adult language)
  
  

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• My first big love was music. I was also very keen to know everything about bands I loved. One day universe dropped - so called - possibility in front of me, which I never, ever in my life had dremt of! From that day I had the chance to meet world's biggest names i.e. Miles Davis, Chick Corea, even had the chance to organise the tour of 12 concerts in Bulgaria of my kid's years fav band Uriah Heep. I thought at that time -it was the lucky coincidence, but later I understood something that Paulo Coelho wrote 'if you really want something, world and universe will do everything to give it to you'.

This were 6 random things YOU didn't know.

So, now I would love to know more about:

Lynda at Food, Farm & Farm Life in East Africa

Katarina at Roses and Stuff

Valorie at Visual Vamp

Shawn at Country French Antique

Vicki at FrenchEssence

Millie at The Laurel Hedge

Rules are following:

1. You mention in your blogpost two links of this meme http://ewainthegarden.blogspot.com - this will help us check how far this particular meme reached - I will report it after seeing hits in my stats. And also you need to link the blog who invited you to play.

2. You post 6 random things about yourself we didn't know.

3. You choose 6 people you would like to know better and you invite them to play.

I am REALLY looking forward to know more about Lynda, Katarina, Valorie, Shawn, Vicki and Millie!

Still blooming Friday- broadcast from the garden!

Watch this Dendrathema carefully! After snow melted and freeze past, it is still in bloom. What's more interesting, this just one stem that popped out from the ground. I forgot to prune it and look with how many flowers it graces us!



This one is also surprising - isn't it?

Blooming Friday is hosted by Katarina at Roses and Stuff - come on!

I’m Thankful for You

Thanksgiving is the appointed time

for focusing on the good in our lives.

In each of our days,

we can find small blessings,

but too often we overlook them,

choosing instead to spend our time

paying attention to problems.

We give our energy

to those who cause us trouble

instead of those who bring peace.

Starting now,

let’s be on the lookout

for the bits of pleasure in each hour,

and appreciate the people who

bring love and light to everyone

who is blessed to know them.

You are one of those people.

On Thanksgiving,

I’m thankful for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Poem by Joanna Fuchs. www.poemsource.com

What can warm YOU up on this cold winter morning?

Maybe the view of these red & energising chilli peppers - my last crop from capsicums growing in pots. Collected just before the snow has covered everything.

... or the view of this still profusely blooming hardy geranium - taken home for winter.

.... or maybe couple of cats, that don't want to go out ?

What would cheer YOU up this morning?