Ants be gone!

For the past several years I have been at war with ants. Argentinian Black Ants to be precise. With cooler weather the problem abates, but the minute the temperatures warm up they are back again. Nothing can be left out, I even have to refrigerate Miss Twiggley's dry cat food

 I have worked very hard to build up the population of good bugs and propagators in my garden and every time I was at my wits end with an evasion of ants and was picking up the telephone to call an exterminator I would look out of a window and see a beautiful butterfly flit by, a buzzing bee, or birds at the bird feeders. I just couldn't risk endangering this.

So, I have been trying natural remedies and I have come up with two solutions that in combination seem to be working.

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 Diatomaceous earth, a benign white powder is excellent in getting rid of ants outside; it simply dehydrates them. I have been sprinkling it around ant hills at the perimeter of my house. So far it has completely destroyed all of the ant nests I have used it on. I will leave some nests in the far back  of my garden because I believe in the diversity of insect life in creating  a healthy garden.

Inside the house where I can't physically reach the ant nests I made my own ant bait - the ants simply ignored the commercial products I purchased. I tried several recipes I found online all using a combination of borax and some type of sugar/syrup solution. Borax is the killing agent and the sweetner was the attractant. This failed to attract my seemingly gourmet ants.

Then I realized that they really, really, liked wet cat food, the cat food of choice ironically is also Miss Twiggley's - Meow Mix. I used cat food containers with a bit of food left in and mixed in the borax. This is the same 20 Mule Team borax that is used for laundry, I just happened to have an old box in the garage. I added a little water to thin it. The nice thing about the cat food containers is that you can partially close the lid and the ants can still get in.

I made up a couple of these traps, putting one in my pantry and one under the sink. For a couple of days it was a bit yucky because in order for this to be really effective you have to let the ants come, feast, and take the food back to their nest to kill the queen before they die.

As of now, I am ant free! I love when persistence pays off. I wish I could give you the actual measurements I used but it was a bit random - I tried to add enough borax to kill but not so much that the ants wouldn't eat it.

  The bait is not poisonous but I would still make sure it was completely away from any pets or children.

This is probably the strangest post I have ever written but I thought this information might be helpful to others that want a environmentally safe way to deal with their ant problem

I hope you have a wonderful and pest free day!

The good, the bad and the lovely ~

My week started off  in a stressful way with a very sick Miss Twiggley. I woke up one morning and found her sleeping under the bed - not a normal thing for her to do this time of year. Then I saw that she hadn't eaten, both signs of illness in a cat, or at least the cats I have lived with.

I quickly got her to the veterinarian where she was diagnosed with a high fever and an intestinal infection. After four days of antibiotics and a lot of anxiety on my part, she is finally feeling better, her fever is gone and she is eating again. I just hope it doesn't return. 

my beautiful girl

Now for some of the good parts of the week.

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The poppies have all bloomed, they were beautiful this year. I have been waiting for them to dry out so I could collect the seeds. It is so much fun to turn the pods, which I am saving for dried flower arrangements, upside down and watch all the the tiny seeds fall out. As my very nice friend and exceptional gardener, Ralph said, "It's like shaking a pepper shaker"! I will plant them in the fall and hope that they will do as well next spring as they did this year.

I am trying to finish the new drapes for the entry hall. I was held up waiting for the gimp trim I had ordered to arrive. I found what I think will be a perfect accent trim online here. They always seem to have the trim I am looking for at very good prices.

The zinnia seeds I planted have germinated and put on their second set of leaves. I love the old time Pink Enchantress but this year I am also trying a new offering, a bi-color zinnia in pink and chartreuse. I am looking forward to seeing this new zinnia bloom, the photos in the seed catalog are gorgeous.

I also sowed sunflowers and nicotiana Sensation seeds. Nicotiana  used to be available in six packs but for some reason they haven't been available the past few years in my local garden shops. It makes a lovely, colorful and fragrant summer annual.

Lastly, 

I leave you with the picture taken in the front garden...roses, Queen Anne's Lace, Foxgloves and Cleome. I have had never planted Queen Anne's Lace before, goodness what I was missing. There will be a lot more next year!

I hope you have a lovely, peaceful, and relaxing week.

Thank you for visiting.

Pretty ~

Climbing Pinkie rambling with abandon along the deck railing in the back garden.

Such a pretty and such a reliable rose. She seems bred to delight, both in the garden...

and in the house.

We had a delightful surprise of rain today which kept me out of the garden but that was okay as I have been busy working on the new drapes for the entry hall. Sewing on a rainy day is almost as nice as baking. And now I won't have to water for a few days, always a good thing!

Thank you for visiting.

An introduction ~

Just is case you haven't met, I would like to introduce you to Sally...Sally Holmes that is.

Sally Holmes is a vintage rose with large, tightly packed trusses of ivory single 5" flowers of 8 to 12 petals  beautifully complimented by bright yellow stamens. 

This rose can be grown as a large shrub or a small climber. I have been growing her as a climber in this spot along the driveway at the entrance to the front garden for several years. Two years ago I had to drastically prune in order to install the new arbor I made to replace the old one that had fallen apart so she took a real hit. Now, between the rain and another year of growth she is well on her way to a
 complete comeback.

For some reason this rose blooms a bit later than most of my other climbing roses which makes it even more special. And it does have an excellent repeat throughout the season.

Such a pretty Grande Dame of the garden.

Last weekend I spent some time cleaning out my fountains and starting them up again. I have one in the front, which you can see in a couple of these pictures and another in the back garden. I had forgotten how nice it is to be working in the garden to the accompaniment of softly trickling water -small pleasures.

Thank you for visiting.

I wish you a rosy day.

A new use for tomato cages ~

I love tomato cages, you know those inexpensive ones you see at the discount stores. They come in several sizes. I never use them for supporting tomatoes because they just aren't big enough. But I have found them useful in other ways. 

 First I paint them with a rust color spray paint so they will blend better into the garden - Camouflage is the name of the color I use. Then I dress them up with finials. For a person like me who thrives on details both in the garden and in decorating, some sort of finial makes an important difference.

 To make the finials this time, I took some old bathroom cabinet door knobs, glued them on the top of pots and  spray painted them in my signature red color.

Very simple

Then set them on top of the over-turned tomato cages. The tension of the wires keeps them in place.

Voila! What I call a Poor Man's Tutor.

In the first picture below I used one as an ornamental way to keep this small and newly planted rose safe from being stepped on. 

And...

here in the vegetable garden I am using one to support climbing string beans. I will plant the bean seeds around the the bottom.

These are 4 foot tall tomato cages with a bottom diameter of 18 inches, but I also use the smaller ones depending on what I plan on using them for. The smaller sizes work well in pots for topiary.

In a casual cottage garden like mine these fit in perfectly, add architectural interest. a pop of color, and are useful. You might want to give one a try.

Thank you for visiting.I hope you have a wonderful day.

Baskets in the garden ~

When I am out walking around in my garden checking what needs to be done, what is blooming, or what looks particularly nice that day, I will often stop to deadhead an occasional flower, or pull a weed, then I wander around with it all in my hand until I can trek back to the bin. I had the realization that it would so much more convenient to have some kind of containers, attractive enough to leave sitting throughout the garden, that I could toss it all in.

So a few weeks ago when I stopped by Michael's, to pick up something completely unrelated, and saw wicker laundry baskets on sale for $5.00 I thought these might be just the thing.

I bought 5 of them and tucked them around in various spots. Now I don't have to back track to the trash bin every time I have a hand full of weeds. Every once in a while I will empty them in the compost pile. Because they are made out of wicker they are very light weight, surprisingly strong and won't mind a bit of rain. 

 Being new they are a bit bright, over time they should acquire some patina and won't be as obvious.  I am very fond of baskets and really like the way they look, after all wicker is just dried plant material.

As a bonus, they can be stacked if I do want to store them.

Because my garden is fairly large I could really use a couple more of these...for appearance, cost and effectiveness they are just exactly what I wanted.

Thank you for visiting.

Spring at it's best ~

In the far back of the garden sits my little vintage greenhouse. Somehow or other, a time long ago, we had it moved on the property - a gift from a friend that didn't want it anymore.

I really don't use it to grow plants but rather to store pots, other gardening containers, and baskets.

It's a cute little structure made even nicer this time of year when the white Lady Banks rose festoons it. This rose like it's sister, the yellow and more well known variety, blooms only once a year in early spring, but like most of the once blooming roses it is so lavish with it's flowers that I really don't mind that it doesn't repeat.

It would be hard to ask for anything prettier than these charming clusters of white flowers tinged at their centers in soft, soft yellow.

When the Lady Banks roses bloom this signals to me that spring has definitely arrived and every year I look forward to this display of nature at it's best.

Thank you for visiting.

May your day be filled with the beauty of spring.

Success! ~

It has taken me a very long time to find the right fabrics for reupholstering the furniture in my living room. I found the perfect fabric for the sofa/canape, a beautiful cream jacquard, right away, then after looking for several weeks I came across the lattice print you can see on the wing chair in the picture below. 

I immediately knew this was the right choice . And when I got the chair back from the upholsterer last week I loved it.

 The big problem and the final piece of my decorating puzzle was what to use on the two matching bergere chairs. My first instinct was to find a solid fabric in the same color or a bit lighter than the lattice print - no go. After sending away for a lot of samples nothing worked. So I decided to try other colors....cream, pale pink, green. It has been weeks now, going on months, and as fabric samples came I couldn't commit to any of them. 

Reupholstered wing chair in lattice print

Now I am so happy that I waited because two days ago, in the mail came a sample of the fabric I was dreaming of. A lovely velvet, called Straw that is as close to perfect as I could have ever hoped for.

You can see below how well it matches the fabric on the wing chair.

Today I ordered it - hooray!

Here you see the combination of fabrics for this room: the floral drapery print, the lattice print, the solid velvet. and the cream jacquard. The very pale pink I am going to use as a accent color on the seat of an antique child's chair. The celadon green on the right I am planning on using for the new drapes in the entry hall. The drapes need to tie in with the living room and the adjoining room. This green does both.

I have to say that this has been one of the most frustrating decorating projects I have ever attempted , mainly because of not being able to find exactly what I wanted and trying to barter with my self over what I thought would be right. What have I learned from this, something I have probably always known, that it is better to wait for the right thing rather than settling and being unhappy with the results...even if it seems to take forever!

As soon as the fabric arrives I will send the chairs off to the upholsterer, then this extended project will finally be done.

Thank you for visiting

I hope you have a successful day.