Herb Garden in May

Liberty Rose welcomes you to our garden in May. The gardens change every month and we'll try to keep you updated. The herb garden has four sections with a round planting in the middle. It's located just off the back porch.    

 This is a view of one of the four sections and you can see the field stone that we have used to surround the herb garden. The boxwood came from a very good friend of ours and line the perimeter of the entire garden.   

This is my fisherman sculpture.

This shows two views of a second section of the garden. You can see the martin houses in the background, and they sing to us while we're in the garden.

This shot is also from the second section of the garden and shows my potting shed (outhouse!). I harvested the Moonshine Yarrow today for use in wreaths later on.

This is from another section, which by my count is the third - (not much happening in section 4!), where we have enjoyed the bronze fennel. I don't paarticularly care for the taste, but you can't beat the smell or the look - plus the caterpillars love to make it lunch (and dinner)

Thanks for visiting. Come again sometime! 

Mom's Day Weekend Open House at Firefly Gardens By Pam

What a successful Open House! We were super blessed with wonderful weather on both Friday and Saturday and the light breeze held off the gnats for us as well. We had a fabulous turnout & my many thanks are extended to all who attended, and a special thanks to those friends who helped out. Here's just a sample of what we offered on the porch, in the shop, and under the tent!  

Mixed arrangements in ball jars with peacock feathers!

I used a lot of herbs and sedums in vintage containers.

Here's some allium in really cool vases and a sweet raggedy from www.ahlcoopedup.com  on our porch

More herbs in assorted enamelware on a vintage table. This is inside my shop.

Another shop pix with a mix of wreaths, herbs and arrangements 

We like to use vintage cupboards to display our wares, which include sedums in tin cans wrapped with paper and tied off with homespun, wreaths, vinage ladies gloves, sunflowers from www.ahlcoopedup.com and a beeskep.  

Turkeys on a Morning Walk

Libby & I took our morning walk in a light mist that turned into a heavy sprinkle of rain. The other morning, we found a treasure of recently hatched turkey eggs that are suprisingly large in size and speckled with brown spots. We went out later with a bucket and collected what was left, but some had been trampled by critters. Today, on our walk our treasure was a perfect turkey feather that I will add to a fresh floral arrangement for our Open House (yes there is a life beyond the Open House preparations, and at this point in the countdown that "life" are my daily walks with Libby! Not a bad life, for sure).

Turns out that the turkeys must have been roosting in the trees directly above our path, because as we walked they created quite a stir as they clumsily flew from one tree to another. They also created a shower of rain that fell down on our heads. Libby had a ball and was grinning from puppy from one puppy ear to the other!

All in all, it was a remarkably muddy adventure and required some hosing down before we went back inside. It was so exciting that Libby is now down for a nap. Oh the life of a very happy dog and her person!

No naps for Mom, though as the countdown is only 2 days left for Open House. See my website for details at www.fireflygardensbypam.com Today, my to-do list has design fresh florals on it, which is loads of fun. I picked up the flowers from local sellers yesterday, and let them soak up water overnight, so taday the ygo into the myriad of vintage containers that I have collected throughout the year. Along with feathers, I'll add in some unexpected surprises like curly willow and fresh herbs. The rosemary smells delicious!

Mullein & wreaths

It's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, so I went scavenging down the hedgerow & got down and dirty digging up some mulleins to replant in my gardens. I LOVE the fuzzy texture of the huge leaves and the super oversized stalks when they bloom. We'll find out later how I did, because they grow with a tap root, so I might lose some.
Today's cookie choice was Russian Teacakes, which I quickly froze or I would eat them all! Just a few more batches to go, but I keep finding some great recipes off Pinterest! Follow me!
I made several wreaths today and here's a sampling:

Brick red and Creamy Bellflowers with red berries encircle an 18 inch hogbrush wreath

This lavendar is faux, but looks good enough to scratch and sniff on an 18 inch Hogbrush Wreath!

Coral Posies and Berries are designed on a 10 inch grapevine for a rustic wreath with a homespun bow.

These wreaths will all be available at the Open House and will soon be listed on etsy and my website at www.fireflygardensbypam.etsy.com and www.fireflygardensbypam.com

See you there!  

Rainy Cookie Day

Today was a dreary rainy Sunday & we SO needed the rain, that I didn't even mind! I baked two batches of cookies for the upcoming Open House, and have several more to go. Today's cookies of the day were  Lime Meltaways by Martha Stewart and Cream Cheese Press Cookies from my Mom & Gram. Gram baked a batch of Toll House cookies almost every day of her adult life and was always so generous with her many visitors. So, when I am baking cookies it's kind f like a visit with Gram. And that's a very good thing.

Website Live!

Please visit my website - it's FINALLY live!!!! www.fireflygardensbypam.com
It was a long, challenging adventure for me and I had loads of help, so thanks to all. Postcards went out today for Open House, and the count down has begun. My to-do list seems to get longer everyday instead of shorter! And my head is filled with ideas! Here's a few "new" items I listed on my etsy shop at www.FireflyGardensByPam.etsy.com and my website today.

This has Lime Hydrangeas and purple berries with striped zebra grass.

I adore the somewhat homely sepia vintage pix on the "Smile Pretty Please" heart shaped wreath box. Wonder if she wore these vintage kid leather gloves (offered under Vintage on my etsy shop only)?  

Open House Products

Here are some products that will ONLY be offered at our Mom's Day Open House (May 11th & 12th from 9-4). For more info you can email me at pam@fireflygardens.com

I promised pix of Curly Willow & here they are! They make into kind of wonderfully wild & woolly OOAK wreaths (that might be a challenge to ship)!

This one is freeform and I used strips of homespun to contain it a bit! Eveyone I do turns out different and takes on a character, size and shape of it's own!

I used a small grapevine wreath base to wire on branches of curly willow and it makes for a wreath that needs some space so it can spread out the spidery looking branches! I could see this on the side of a barn. Again, each one takes on it's own unique character, which is really cool to see as it is created and takes shape.    

These sweet bird's nest topiaries are done in  a grey clay pot and have a bit of burlap or homespun added to them. You can't see it, but buttons are added to the nests to complement the design colors. Perfect choice for a naturalist.

More products will follow - Keep looking!