Suburban Wildlife Garden: St. Patrick's Day

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Useful Garden Pottery

I've been on the lookout for a large pot or urn for my front porch. This week I finally found one at Hill Country Water Gardens. It's always a joy to visit this unique nursery.

They seem to have everything I love; from plants...

...to pottery...

...complete with wildlife like this green anole...

...and fountains with very special goldfish and koi.

I was tempted to buy another birdbath for my back garden as well.

But in the end I decided on a pot from the clearance area. It has a hairline crack at the top, but since I don't plan on using it to hold water that's okay. Here it is on my porch.

The staff at Hill Country recommended that I add some pea gravel to the base as ballast. I may also try hanging a light-weight pot of flowers just inside the top. For now I'm enjoying the fact that I finally have something on my front porch besides my welcome mat.

BTW, I hope all of you had a very Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's the Oxalis that's decorating our breakfast table this week.

‘I’m very glad,’ said Pooh happily, ‘that I thought of giving you a Useful Pot to put things in.’
‘I’m very glad,’ said Piglet happily, ‘that I thought of giving you Something to put in a Useful Pot.’ ~ A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love St. Patrick's Day. It reminds me of traveling to Ireland just before my son was born. One of my very favorite movies is Waking Ned Devine. If you haven't seen it, please check it out. It's very funny. Here's a little St. Paddy's e-card with a sweet song you might enjoy...

St Patricks Day Postcards.

And now, back to gardening...the holly near my front porch has brilliant red berries right now which you see here and tiny white flowers that attract the bees.

The lavender I planted around my front garden birdbath is finally coming up. I can claim these blossoms as my own.

So far I can only see a few bluebonnet leaves peeking up from last year's batch, just left of the terracotta water dish...

I can't believe the same dianthus are still alive after almost a year. Still, I'm going to have to fill in the bed with some more plants this spring. Time to go to the Natural Gardener! :-)

No great reason to show my hose holder other than the fact that it's rather new & I like it.

In other news, my cat Lily has taken it upon herself to start a new, rather disturbing, habit called 'barbering' where she nibbles the fur from her belly and lower legs to about one millimeter in length. Here she is in all her naked-tummy glory... Oh Lily!

Yes, she is a shaven maven. The vet says her condition is not life-threatening, but we're still trying different foods at this point to see if perhaps she's developed an allergy. I wonder if she's getting ready for bikini weather. On the bright side she seems just as fat & happy as always. The photo proves the fat part for certain. Heh.

I will now leave you with something hopefully a bit more in keeping with the holiday; a little Loreena McKennitt...

"May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire." ~Irish Blessing