Posts from the ‘Flower & Garden’ Category

Oct 9

10 – Toad Lily: My Top 10 Favorite Plants

It took me a while to pick my last favorite plant, the Toad Lily. Surprisingly, it beat out Sedum, Echinacea and Red Twig Dogwood.

Random Unmarked Plant from Plant Sale Posted on Twitter

I found this little gem at the Snohomish Garden Club plant sale this past spring. When I brought it home I noticed the tag was missing and had no idea what it was. I didn’t even remember why I picked it out. So I took a picture and posted it on Twitter. Almost instantly my friend Jenn from Wisconsin told me it was a Toad Lily.

It was then that I knew why I picked it out. I love toads and lilies. Why not a Toad Lily?

Still not knowing what a toad lily was, I planted it in a part sun/shade spot by the cherry tree in my back yard. I figured it would stay small and I could enjoy the little spots on the leaves. I’m not sure why I didn’t just Google “Toad Lily” to find out – this is what I normally do with new mystery plants.

Almost six months goes by and I barely notice the plant. Mid summer I did notice it was taller than I expected so I moved it toward the back of the flower bed.

Then, earlier this week I was on Twitter again and my friend Kari from Connecticut posted a picture of her Toad Lily. I’m not kidding you, I opened the link, gasped, and ran to see if mine was as beautiful.

I had no idea. I fell in love instantly.

Toad + Lily + Spots + Beautiful = Top 10 Favorite Plant

My Toad Lily

Sep 30

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Veggie Garden from Kitchen Window

View from My Kitchen Window

This is the view from my kitchen window. From here I can see my dahlia garden and veggie garden. These once empty raised beds are now full of tomatoes, carrots, green beans, sunflowers, pumpkins and random herbs. Because of the raised beds, drip irrigation, manurer and all the sunshine, this garden is very happy.

This picture was taken just a couple days ago and as you can see, the rainy season is here.

Sep 16

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What’s Blooming September 15

Here’s everything that’s blooming in my garden this September 15, 2009 – aside from the dahlias that are still blooming!

And YES the crazy daphne is still in bloom.

Aug 31

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Outdoor Movie Night

Last night we held our first outdoor movie night in our back yard. We asked everyone show up around 7 p.m. to pick a spot and visit. Then started the first movie, WALL-E, around 8:30.

After the kiddies went home, we watched Haunting in Connecticut for our second movie. We figured a scary movie was fitting for backyard movie entertainment.

Then for the third movie, Adventureland, we went inside since our friends Aaron and Kala were the only ones left and it was starting to get chilly. That and we didn’t want to keep our neighbors up too late (we did let them know & invited them).

I tried to get a picture of everyone during the first movie but, unfortunately, it turned out a little blurry. I’ve never been known to be a great photographer.

Anyway, to add to the overall outdoor movie experience we ended up renting a popcorn machine. We LOVED the popcorn machine. It not only added to the experience but freed up time we would’ve spent manually making popcorn for our guests all night. We may even look into buying one for future parties – it’ll be well worth the investment.

To fancy it up a bit, we also provided some fun popcorn toppings:

Truffle Salt
Parmesan Cheese
Melted Cougar Gold Cheese
Tabasco
Johnny’s Seasoning Salt
Fresh Ground Sea Salt
Peanut M&Ms
Gummy Bears

But, since the popcorn machine is magic, it really didn’t need any toppings at all. Every batch of popcorn tasted perfect.

This is a bit of a surprise since we didn’t purchase the pre-measure kits that came with the machine and ended up guessing: 1 cup of popping corn, 1/4 cup of grape seed oil (then olive oil later when we ran out) and 1 tablespoon salt.I’m sure these aren’t the official measurements but they worked great last night! Plus, we just used the random oil we had in the house and I’m pretty sure this is NOT what you’re supposed to do. I read online that coconut oil is best.

All in all it was a great time. I highly recommend throwing an outdoor movie night – even if you can’t get your hands on a popcorn machine. It’s even a treat for the chickens since they’re waddling around the yard right now eating up fallen popcorn.

Aug 16

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