7 Things I Learned from the Dundurn Castle Kitchen Garden

We visited Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario recently (which you can read about here) and one of the treasures is the kitchen garden. I learned a few things from touring the garden.  I probably would have learned even more if we had taken the guided tour, but the tour wasn't until the afternoon so I guided myself through the garden and here are the important things I learned:

1. Gardens look best when they are organized.  The garden at Dundurn Castle is surrounded by a tall wooden fence and then divided by pathways into rectangular sections.  Just inside the main gate is a round decorative garden and at the opposite end of the garden is a beautiful little garden shed, which leads me to the second thing I learned.

2.  Every garden should have an adorable garden shed.

3.  The interior of the garden shed will look amazing painted cobalt blue.

4.  And if said garden shed is filled with vintage gardening tools and mason jars to keep seeds in it will both look good and be useful.

5. Hanging beautiful braids of garlic from the rafters will add enormously to the atmosphere and will later add enormously to the tastiness of your cooking.

6.  Sticks and string make good frugal supports for growing bean plants.

7.  And a costumed guide helping with the gardening chores gives just the right touch - every garden should have one.

Anyone else truly, madly, deeply in love with that garden shed?  I thought I would see a bunch of hands waving in the air.  Yeah, me too.

Rose Mosaic

I couldn't help myself with all that rose loveliness going on in the garden - I just had to put the photos together and make a mosaic.



Linked to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

Friday Photo - Roses in our Garden

Roses in our neck of the woods usually bloom in June - except for this year when the very warm spring has brought the beauties out early.

 

Sigh - rose heaven!

Front Porch Planters

A few days ago hubby and I planted the flower pots that go on the front porch. 

My mother made this gorgeous wicker chair about 10 years ago.   She had no room for it at her house, so I helped her out and put it on my porch.  What a wonderful daughter I am.

  I even put a pot on my new blue bench.

 

The watering can beside the blue bench was brought back from Nigeria, where I lived as a child. It was made to water like fine spring rain ... and it does.

Now we have to water and wait and watch while the plants fill in and grow - my favourite part!

Linked to Inspired By link party at The Inspired Room.

My Favourite Flower

This is the time of year when my favourite flower blooms.  Some people (that would be you Mom) think they are a bit of a weed because they spread so readily.  But I think the lowly forget-me-not is divine.  It is the perfect shade of blue and compliments all the other spring flowers in the garden.  

They looks amazing with red tuilips:

And with yellow daffodils:

And with purple lamium flowers:

And they even look great on a towel.

And between you and me, they're not very difficult to grow.  What's there not to love!

Linked to Sweet Shot Tuesday at Life with my 3 Boybarians

Earth Hour

Saturday was Earth Hour and we were supposed to turn off our lights for an hour between 8:30 and 9:30.  

So we had to do a little preparing.

It also seemed like a good day to finally plant the pots of seed, which really should have been planted a couple of weeks ago.

We collected a bunch of these yogurt containers,

punched holes in the bottom of each container,

labelled them with the names of the seeds (and other random things - thank you Kate),

filled the pots with soil and planted the seeds (all done at top speed by William),

 watered each pot and covered the tray with plastic wrap.

And now we wait!

 

Plants with Roots

While we  have many houseplants, some of which I have shown you before, two have been in our family for years.  The plants we have are actually cuttings from the original plants.

The first one is this Christmas/Easter/Advent/Lent/Valentine's cactus. Yep, it blooms at different times every year.  This year it has been an advent and lent cactus, as it is in bloom now and was blooming in December before Christmas.

My husband's Grandmother took a clipping of this plant in her pocket when she snuck out of the house to elope.  She was Protestant and her husband-to-be was Catholic and their families wouldn't hear of them marrying, so they eloped.  Isn't that an interesting thing to take with you.  

The second plant is a Thousand Years Green, or at least that is what we call it.

My Great-Grandparents were missionaries in China and my Grandmother was born there and lived there until she was about 12 years old.  When she was retired, my Grandmother visited China twice (once she even got to see the house she had lived in as a child and saw the hospital her father had helped design and build).  On one occasion, she brought a cutting of this Thousand Years Green plant back to Canada in her pocket.  She looked so innocent that the airport security guards didn't find the contraband plant. 

I know some people don't like houseplants but I love them.  They add a nice touch of greenery in the looooong dull winter.  I'm also fortunate that hubby has a green thumb and cares for them.  Of all our plants, however, these ones hold special places in my heart.

Do you have houseplants?  Any that you have had for years?