Found a few beauties as I was walking up the street at home.
I don’t think I’ve ever noticed these double? ruffled? bi-color? daffodils
before in my neighbor’s yard?!

Made Earth Day today a little more special.

Looks like my friend & master gardener Rosene has accepted my coleus challenge. Every year she propagates hundreds of coleus starts and shares them with everyone. But now that she’s quarantines with all these coleus plants, I though she could use a new challenge… of growing a COLEUS TOPIARY!!! And it looks like she’s well on her way! With a beautiful tiled ClayQuilt in the back ground… which kinda looks familiar!!!

And here’s the picture of the challenge inspiration I saw on Instagram… looks like she’s got a ways to go!!!

So it was a tough day down in Peoria for some good friends of mine when the gusty winds blew through last Sunday! They have an amazing terraced backyard garden with large trees, tons of hostas & flowers, and a LOT of rustic decorative accents all over the place… even a ceramic totem pole made by “you-know-who”!

Well… after the gusty winds…
they now have a few less trees and one less totem pole!!!

Yes, the storm took out one of their largest trees, which in turn took out portions of other trees… and totally smashed my TOTEM POLE!!!

But like I tell my students… “It’s just clay!”

I was just happy that the tree fell where it did… damaging the trees & totem… and NOT my friends or their house! Could have been so much worse… luckily, they had a beautiful green bowl of chocolate to help with the aftermath… also made by “you-know-who”!

Almost a month… and not only have I not killed it yet, but it’s still blooming!!!!

Looks like these African violets are very happy in their fancy homes!!!
Thanks to Nancy for sharing the photos… and her husband Rick for growing his collection
in my stamped & soda-fired flower pots.

If you want your plants to be happy too…
my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW is less than a month away. November 23rd & 24th.
More details to come…

While I was visiting my friends in Peoria last weekend, it looks like something fun “sprouted” in one of their flower pots overnight?!!! Some groovy squiggly soda-fired plant stakes just kinda-sorta randomly “appeared” while they weren’t looking!!!

So much cooler than pumpkins this time of year! Sure, not so good for jack-o’lanterns,
but much better colors, textures & groovy shapes!!!

Gotta love a good collection. I always love to see what people collect and how they display them. Like this amazing collection of vintage pulleys hanging on the garden trellis railing in Gerry & Rosene’s back yard. And you know… rusty metal & weathered wood. What’s not to like?!!!

So many colors. So many textures. So many patterns! Loving all of these different coleus plants that my Peoria friend Rosene has been propagating in her basement. She’s already working on next’s year’s crop… some of which might just make it up to live on my front porch next summer?!!!

Personally, I’ve always been a gourds over pumpkins kind of guy! So much cooler… textures, patterns, colors… go figure!