At Random

Poppies at the community garden, Heritage Farm

It's Friday and I will be going back to Eugene this weekend, so I don't plan to post again until Monday. I hope to come back with pictures of my sister's office garden. My blog is new and I have tried to establish a habit of posting 3-4 days then 1 day off. Last spring I was about to skip Fridays because we watch Grimm. Then the season ended and there was no more Grimm (until Season 2 this fall).


I've been slow to figure out all the ins and outs of Blogger. Just yesterday I found the on/off switch for the annoying word verification you get when you try to comment. So now there shouldn't be any barriers to commenting. Imagine my surprise when today I received 2 spam comments. One at least left a compliment on my post before advertising their own blog/webpage.



I'm just taking this moment to say that my blog is not a place for free advertising, especially for products that I don't even recognize. Some day I hope to offer (paid) advertising space, I guess in my mind that would be for blogs or products that compliment my page or are somehow related.


I will delete any comments that are for self-promotion only.  Now that I've removed the word verification, if I can't tell if the comment was left by a person or a computer program I will delete.


That said, I'd really like to see more comments on post topics or flowers or recycling ideas. Feel free to tack your name or initials at the end, since Blogger will call you "anonymous".


As for the poppies - these flowers were growing in another plot at the community garden and I really loved them as part of the vegetable garden. I had planned on sunflowers and gladioulus in mine. I've got the sunflower starts just no sun. The other flower I really liked in other gardens was California Poppy. I managed to find a tray at the nursery and got them around the edges of our plot yesterday. Better late than never. I hope the reseed.

In the center you can see the one I love, I think it is called a Shirley Poppy,
 if you know the name leave me a comment!

New Pinterest Board for My Blog

This week I added a board to my Pinterest page called "All-Purpose Flower (my blog)". I've added some photos from my blog posts and they directly link to the blog page. 


Pinterest is great, but it's easy to repin photos, re-write the text, then someone else does the same and so on. I've seen photos from a few authors and other bloggers I recognize that get stripped down. By uploading them from the respective blog pages they should keep their original source. We'll see.


I got a little lazy about adding a copyright to my photos over the last few months. So I'm trying to improve in that area now. The only images I'm adding to Pinterest will be ones with my copyright. 


I did add a pin that was not mine. I'd been trying to id a blue flower in a post and found it a few days later on Pinterest. I repinned it into my blog board and listed in the caption that it was for my June 18 post. I will probably add any pins I think are related. But under each pin is the address the photos came from. Mine will always list, www.all-purpose-flower.blogspot.com.

Love in a Mist -this pin was originally from Lotties Cottage

To go to my Pinterest page you can click the red button in the lower right of this page.


If you don't feel like scrolling, you can go directly to my page by clicking here: http://pinterest.com/vhogan2/

If you are not familiar with Pinterest just go to Pinterest.com sometime and start clicking on images you like. If you see things you want to save then sign up and start creating your boards. You do have to use either Twitter or Facebook to initially log in.   

Hits and Misses

On a warm, sunny day in the Pacific Northwest I got to go work at the community garden with my garden partner this morning, then shop at a nursery with my mom in the afternoon. My kind of day.


The highlight at the garden was discovering a tomato on the Early Girl plant, then realizing there were more, 5 total. Since I'm a novice at vegetable gardening I wasn't even looking for tomatoes yet.

My garden partner generously offered me one of her beautiful heads of lettuce. Thank you H. we had it in tonight's salad.

One of the reasons for the trip to the nursery is the crook neck squash pictured below. Despite looking ill it has managed to produce a bloom. I've waited to see if it would come back the way the other two squash have, but no. So I picked up another squash plant and will just plant it next to this one. Did the same thing with our pole beans a few weeks ago.

We got a lot of weeding done, in our plot and around the perimeter pathway. Plus, I finally got to apply the manure tea that I'd started steeping last Wednesday. Instructions were to steep 1-3 days and I did 7. I applied about 2 cups per plant. I had a reminder pop up from Smart Gardener online to apply manure tea every 3 weeks to my peppers. I was surprised to see it listed there, but will use the 3 week interval for my next application.

My partner and I discussed what to plant in the empty spots and settled on potatoes. I managed to find a bag of Yukon Gold at the nursery (1/2 off).  Chris and I will get those in before the weekend since they're off to a late start.  I also found a tray of pastel colored California Poppies and will add them to the garden.

Simple Appreciation

When we were at Esther Short Park last weekend for the Recycled Arts Festival we toured through the Saturday Market tents and then turned to head back to the car. I stopped to take this photo of the roses, I'd never seen them looking so vibrant and healthy.

But the little girl walked into it just as I took it. She was excitedly showing her parents a rose she thought was the most beautiful. Meanwhile they were asking her to move over to another bush so they could get her photo.

It was nice to see her enthusiasm and genuine interest in these flowers. That's pretty much how I feel when I walk into a garden or nursery, but I know the intensity that I felt as a child has lessened. When I look at plants now I'm running through a list of questions about sun/shade/flowering/blah blah blah. 

I'm going to take a cue from this kid and go shopping for some plants to fill in for the lettuce that's done or the empty spots in the garden. I'm going to look for a plant I just love and leave it at that.

2012 Recycled Arts Festival

Despite rain all day yesterday and again this morning, we made it downtown to see the 2012 Recycled Arts Festival in Vancouver, WA. We stumbled across it a couple of years ago and I recall a few vendors seated around Esther Short Park with some interesting metalwork.


I will admit that I was surprised to find that this year's festival had taken over the park with white canopies lined up along all the walks. With Saturday Market on the west edge of the park, there were a lot of people selling and checking out all the goods.


Here are some of my favorites:

Stained glass using a recycled window frame

Signs claiming 'you pick' free (slugs, weeds, etc.) attached to old rakes and hoes

wall planters

These wall planters look new, not sure what they are made from, but I still liked the shape and color.

I wanted all of the items above, but alas I did not buy anything since I did not bring any cash. I also didn't get vendor names, it was crowded, many did not have cards available, but I'll include a copy of the map listing all vendors at the festival.

giant driftwood chair

Chris claimed this chair, I didn't see a price, but they had a sign saying you could get in and take a photo for a $1.

Vendor Map

Moving the Umbrella to the Deck Railing

I live in a 3-story townhouse with a deck/porch at ground level (lower deck) and a deck on the second story (upper deck). The lower deck is covered by the upper deck, they face west, so we get lots of afternoon sun on the upper deck. They are about 6' deep and 20' wide.


When Chris first moved in he had a couple of lawn chairs and decided to get an umbrella. Since I moved in we've added a table and a few planters. It got to the point where space was tight. Something I saw online made me wonder if we could attach the umbrella to the railing and get rid of the umbrella stand.


I mentioned it to Chris and he came up with a great idea that was inexpensive and easy to install.

He got some pvc pipe, attached it to the outside of the railing post and strapped it with metal pipe strap.

He used some wood blocks as spacers to line up the pvc pipe with the post cap. The pipe sits on the edge of the deck and Chris placed a smaller diameter pipe inside to get the umbrella to the height we wanted and leave it open to drain.

Since there are two posts on our deck railing, Chris attached pvc pipe to both so we could move the umbrella from one to the other. He later added a tiki light to the empty spot.

So far we really like this set up (we'd like it even more if it would stop raining). We moved the table next to the railing, rather than up against the house. We have more space to move around without the umbrella stand in the way. We can easily add a couple more chairs if we have guests.  If you have a deck this is a way to create some more space. I also like it because it is an option that used vertical space.

White Roses

Last night we attended my sister's graduation from community college. It was a large group, over 600 graduates there. She has worked hard and is headed to the education program at Washington State University.


To celebrate I gave her a white rosebud. I know that flowers have certain meaning, even specific colors do. But, I picked white because of an earlier gift I'd received from her.

This miniature white rosebush was a birthday present from her a couple of years ago. I've never had any luck with planting hot house plants outdoors, but this rose loves it here.  I saw it two days ago and it had a few buds blooming, today it is covered with buds. It shows the same determination and perseverance as she does. Congratulations - we are all proud of you.

Summer Solstice and a Growing Garden

Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. To celebrate, we went to the community garden to plant a couple more onions and the rest of the seeds. Chris planted lettuce, radish, beet and bush bean seeds in the leftover space. We picked more radish and made a salad with them for lunch.

Zucchini with lots of flowers

We were surprised to see that two squash plants (which didn't look too good a few weeks ago) have miniature squash starting.

Tiny zucchini 

Tiny little Hubbard Sqaush

We only have 3 squash, the zucchini, a crookneck and the Hubbard (based on a friend's recommendation). The croockneck looks like it's still struggling, but putting out flowers. In future, I think I'd like more room for squash and pumpkin.

Now that we might actually start watering the plants ourselves (goodbye rain), I decided to try one of my "moo-poo" tea bags. We filled a bucket with about 3 gallons of water and left a tea bag to steep. The directions say to steep 1 bag in 1-5 gallons of water for 1-3 days. We left it at the garden (with a note not to drink it). When we go back in a day or two we can add more water and make it an even 5 gallons. 

Natural Brew Premium Soil Conditioner from Authentic Haven Brand

I look forward to trying the 'tea' it seems like a more effecient way to fertilize than applying compost to the entire garden. Plus, it is natural (organic) not a chemical fertilizer.

P.S.
If you are interested in seasonal folklore visit Seasonal Wisdom, Teresa O'Connor's website has a section devoted to seasonal folklore including the Summer Solstice.

You Never Know What's Waiting Around the Corner

In yesterday's blog post, Impromptu Berry Picking I mentioned that I had more photos.  My mom took me to visit her friend on Saturday to see her yard. She had been a Master Gardener and her yard appears to be a lifetime's worth of trips to the nursery. The front yard is tiny and packed with evergreen shrubs and flowering perennials. The backyard is a small orchard with fruit trees and vines.


Along her driveway were a variety of plant groupings.

Creeping juniper with a succulent

Cotoneaster and thyme (with extras)

Mix of corsican mint, lilly of the valley and 2 blue flowers I can't id
(If you can id them leave me a comment)

I just loved the mix of ground covers as well as the variety as you walk along her drive. 

We had seen just about everything when my mom wandered into the far corner of the front yard to get a better look at a pink flowering vine. That's when we found this guy:

Big Foot

The trees and shrubs in the front yard are fully grown and keep "Big Foot" hidden from street view. It was an amusing discovery in a yard with no tchotchkes (pronounced "chochkas", yes I had to look it up).

Impromptu Berry Picking

Mom took me to see her friend's yard Saturday and we got out of the car, said hello, and went directly to the raspberry vines. She had baskets and gloves ready, all we had to do was start picking. 

We picked quite a few and got to take most of them home with us. Picking the berries was unexpected, and appreciated, since I love raspberries and hardly ever get them fresh.

I believe she said that she had lived there for 50 years, it's a small house that sits right on the street with a very large yard behind it, the lot is 1/3 acre. The back yard is full of apple & cherry trees, even a large fig tree. There are marion berry and blackberry vines, tomato and cucumber plants, basically an edible garden planted well before it became trendy. 

Mom's friend was a Master Gardner and is active in two garden clubs. When we first got there I noticed she had a rain barrel, she told me it had been there for about 20 years.

In her driveway I noticed the gold poppies. They weren't California Poppies, more icelandic, they really stood out with the dark green foliage. I was told that they weren't planted there, just appeared at some point. When we were about to leave she offered me a plant to dig up. I passed for now, since I just got all the nursery plants in the ground. But I said I'd like some of these poppies, we agreed I'd dig some up in the fall.

It's nice to see an established yard and garden. Her yard has plants that are fully grown and have been left to their natural form. In tomorrow's post I'll include photos along her drive and the surprise hidden in her front yard.

We Grew Radishes from Seed

A year ago I swore never to try radishes from seed again. No matter how often I heard how easy they were. But when given a free packet of seeds at our community garden I figured I had nothing to lose. So I planted a row, then two weeks later planted another row. I marked the calendar for the date my first crop should come in.  


Today at the garden, radish and lettuce were looking good, the spinach was making a comeback after days of rain, and we have flowers on the zucchini!

When I took a closer look at the radishes these little guys were popping up out of the dirt.

Here's to Janet, we will savor these in tonight's salad.

What To Put In The Last Few Square Feet?

Saturday my mom and I will visit the garden of a friend of hers who lives just a mile or two from me. We've met a couple of times and she was part of the group to visit Chapman's Greenhouse in April. I believe she is a Master Gardener, whether she is or not, I will be asking her advice.

Empty spot just behind the teepee became hose storage area

I've got a tiny spot left in the community garden and I'm stumped about what to put in it. It's about  4'x3' and was the 'bog' that the leaky water faucet had created. The faucet's been repaired and we planted everywhere but there. I feel like something should go there, but am drawing a blank. Veggies? Flowers? Hoses?


It needs something compact, I liked the idea of rhubarb, but no matter what I come up with the problem is not knowing if it's too late.  I'd decided on some California poppies, but today I read the seed packet and it said planting season for our climate ended in May.


Usually, my problem is too many ideas, this time it's not having any. Hopefully by Saturday I'll have one.

Afraid of Peppers?

Are you afraid of peppers?  Maybe you should be...

Photo from richardwiseman.wordress.com

Found this photo on Pinterest, it's from the June 5th blog of Richard Wiseman. Most times I just assume that the photo has been photoshopped, but these look like the real deal.

Love This Blue

I don't know what this is, but I want it.

Saw this planter and snapped the photo, but I've never seen this blue flower before.

Can anyone id this for me?

Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Races

Today we saw the Dragon Boat Races at the Portland Rose Festival. I have lived in the Portland Metro area for 25 years and had never been to this, so decided it was time. To our surprise we found a great parking lot, walked a few blocks down to the waterfront and got to see the boats just before the noon break. 

The races took place all weekend and start about every 10 minutes, except for the noon break. So we decided to walk along the waterfront and look around.

Today was clear and in the low 70's, the first sunny day in a week, so everyone came out. We wandered past the "fun" center and ended up at Saturday Market. Turned around and came back to find the races had started again.  All the boats had teams with clever names and ranged from young to old. They all looked like they were having fun.

While watching the boats I turned to see a group of dogs posing for a photo shoot. Not only were they cute, but they each wore green vests identifying them as Autism Service Dogs.

We ended up at a restaurant on the waterfront at an outdoor table where we could still see the boats (and hear their drumming). It was a great day and to finish I'll add the video Chris took of one of the races (with his commentary).*

*6/11/12 the video may not work or even show up in some formats, it's posted on my facebook page, just click on the button with the pink tulips to the right in the sidebar.

We've Got Peas

Lots of pods, I've resisted trying one so my crop wouldn't look puny.

I set them on the retaining wall to get a better picture, but will leave them there since it will be easy to pick.

Our other crop, lots of strawberries on the ground, self-starters since the one's I'm trying to grow are in a hanging basket, not sure how they got there. I'm thankful for plants that require little to no sun to produce.

The Farm

Here's a photo of Heritage Farm from last weekend.  We managed to get there in time for a break between rain storms. We were told at the beginner's class that we may get a tour of the site later, but for now we are to stay in the community garden (the area to the left near the little green shed). This site was the "Poor Farm" back in the depression. It has a sorry sound to it, but when I'm at the garden site I wonder how they felt to live and work here, it doesn't seem so sorry now.

Blogs I Like

At the very bottom of this page, if you scroll past this post and the two previous posts, you will find some links to "Blogs I Like". I see a lot of other blogs who list just about every blog they've encountered. It takes time to check out new blogs and to me it is a little overwhelming to see a list  that long. 


My page layout is still in the works, there are some changes I will make. But for now the list is at the bottom center of the page. It includes Blogs I really, really like, some I read before making my own and others I've found since starting All-Purpose Flower.


The reason I'm pointing this out is because anytime you read my blog, the blogs listed there have links to their most recent post. Just click on one and you're there.


Ornamental is a blog by an artist, Nina Bagley. I've been reading her blog for about 2 years. In a May post, called post cards from alabama, she shares some photos and included one of a magnolia blossom. 


The way she described the scent brought back memories of the first Magnolia tree I experienced. She wrote,"for those of you who've not had the heady pleasure of drinking in its lemony scent, i hope you will have that privilege in your lifetime." I've thought about it a couple times since and that is why I'm inviting you to visit her blog. 


Visit Ornamental at: http://ornamental.typepad.com/ornamental/

One Single Foxglove

The only room we have for plants in the back yard is straight up the fence. I've been slow to plant anything since the evergreen clematis plants died. So this spring I came up with a couple of ideas. One was to ask Chris what he'd like. To my surprise he said a foxglove would look good. 


On one of our many trips to the nursery, we picked one out, it then sat on the back deck until it was just about to bloom. Then it became my mission to get it in the ground before blooming.

It's a standard pink foxglove, but if you look closely it has an elaborate design inside each flower.

I picked this location because Chris can see it from the desk downstairs. It looks a little tight behind the tree, but I think it fits in with the trellis and flower. Now just waiting to see if the Morning Glory seeds will grow up the gate, not very sunny now, but could be later this summer.

Upcycled Garden Art

"Salvage Garden"  is the name of the garden display area at Monticello Antique Marketplace in Portland, OR. I've been interested in recycled garden art for awhile and when I found their garden display I was in heaven. I like the name so I've adopted it when I refer to recycled, upcycled, salvage, or re-purposed garden art. Everybody seems to have a different name for it, but they all refer to re-using items in new ways, with the benefit of keeping them out of landfills.


A lot of the 'old junk' has character and I enjoy seeing the clever ways people can put them to use. I have a Salvage Garden Art board on my Pinterest page where I've collected over a hundred ideas, the ones I really love, but there are many more to be found there. Here's one example:

Wheel rim turned planter from FaroutFlora.com

Today I got my first copy of an online "magazine" that I'd recently subscribed to. I'd found a garden blog called Gardens Inspired through Pinterest. The author, Debra Anchors, has also created Upcycled Garden Style via Scoop It. She has put together pages of ideas and photos. What's great about it is that you can see lot's of salvage art, but most items have a direct link to DIY instructions. 


You can also follow Upcycled Garden Style like a blog by e-mail or by RSS feed to a reader. Check out Upcycled Garden Style at: http://www.scoop.it/t/flea-market-garden-style

Summer Snapdragon

This is something new (to me) this year. I found this at a local nursery and thought it looked a lot like a Delphinium. But it is actually a snapdragon. Angelonia angustifolia 'AngelFace Blue'/ Summer Snapdragon.

I've been moving it around, first had it sheltered, but it wants sun.  The Proven Winners tag says it's easy to grow and is drought tolerant and deer resistant. Would have liked to have tried it at my former home, aka deer central.

Japanese Snowbell

Styrax japonica (Japanese Snowbell) is the name of this tree in my parent's backyard. I spent years calling it a pear tree, mistaking it for an ornamental pear tree. Right now it is fragrant, loaded with white blossoms, and buzzing full of bees. Flower petals fall over the deck and the lawn and when it's all said a done, the tiny "pears" fall and will reseed.

My parents have lived here for over 20 years and have watched the original landscape planting grow, sometimes beyond what they'd like (this tree included). This tree, some sweetgums, and a couple of rhododendrons were among the original owner's contributions to the yard. While it is messy (planted too close to the deck) and has grown outward as much as it's grown up, I think it makes a great focal point.


To see varieties available locally here's a link to Portland Nursery.