trader joe's plus your own back yard

I absolutely love putting together floral displays.  I usually go to Trader Joe's (everyone's best friend) and pick up an array of whatever they have on hand that looks inspiring, then go out into my own yard and cut some trimmings from anything out there.  I've used clippings from our olive tree, bougainvillea, oleanders, or any other greenery that seemed like it might add a nice touch.  My daughter Christine has a lovely eye for putting florals together, so I asked her to help me throw something together as an example...

The trick to putting flowers into any odd container you feel inspired to use, is to find a vase that will fit into the pot, basket, box, etc. that you are using and then try to cleverly hide it (as I also did here)...

Simply mix in the flowers with the greens from your yard and evenly spread them around and over the edges of the basket to hide the vase that is inside...

And, there you have it.  It looks like a basket of collected flowers, but they will stay fresh in the vase hidden inside.  What a happy little bundle to have in your home or give to a friend!

outdoor bath

I cannot stop drooling over and dreaming of this amazing bathtub.

It really is the dreamiest...

{found on greige}

you say potato, i say potato

Our good friend Tesfaye recently convinced me to grow potatoes in old tires on the side of my house.  Have you ever heard of this?  Apparently, as they grow you stack up more tires...  I'm not really sure.  Since Tesfaye is a gardener, I seem to take his word without questioning it.  So, between the rest of our garden and our chickens (did I tell you we got 3 more?), I don't think we'll be going hungry any time soon.  Have any of you ever grown potatoes?  Have you ever heard of growing them in old tires?  I'll keep you posted on how it goes...

Have a wonderful weekend!

garden boxes

For Easter this year I made each family a little garden box full of herbs planted in these vintage boxes I picked up at the flea market.  I sent the Chicago Burches all the fixings in the mail, but put together everyone else's to give to them on Easter.  I lined the bottom of each box with some kind of moss-something-or-another from Baker Nursery (sorry, I can't seem to remember what it was called, but the wonderful folks at Baker will surely know what you need...).  

Then I simply filled each box with dirt and planted all the herbs side by side...

I think they turned out so sweet and everyone seemed so excited about them.  Don't you think this would be the best present to give someone as a housewarming gift?  I know I would love it...