Lavender Days

I've been spending as much time as I can in the garden.  It's good to be out there again, even if I'm not quite up to doing everything I want get done.  No digging yet but I can pull weeds - and there are a lot of those! 

Picking lavender is one of my favourite things to do.  It takes time to cut each stalk and allows me to daydream as I go along.  The bees like the lavender too but we get along pretty well together.  I make sure I leave lots of flowers behind for them to enjoy.  There's plenty to share.

Lavender is my favouite scent to use around my home.  I dry the bundles that I pick from my garden to hang around the house.  I also use dried lavender buds to make sachets for my linen cupboard and am always looking for lavender scented products to use.  The handmade soap above is from Post Road Vintage and it smells wonderful! 

Like many of you, I've been scrambling to find another way to follow my favourite blogs since Google Reader is shutting down in just a few days.  After trying out a couple of different readers (amd making a complete mess of my blog list in the process!), I finally decided to use Bloglovin'.  It was super easy to transfer from Google and so far I'm liking it.  A lot.  You can follow my blog by clicking the Bloglovin' button on my sidebar.

See you soon!

Lynda xo

Soft Pastel Peonies

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June." ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

My peonies are in full bloom and they're beautiful this year.  With the exception of the abundance of weeds, I really think my garden has done better with neglect.  Most of my plants had to fend for themselves last year.  I watered when I could, deadheaded once in awhile, fertilized never, yet this year I'm rewarded by an abundance of blooms! 

One problem I have is that my beautiful pink peony has powdery mildew.  It appeared last year and I tried spraying it and *thought* I had it under control, but by Fall, it was once again covered with it.  I wasn't able to cut this peony back before Winter so now the powdery mildew has taken over.  Once it's finished blooming, I thought I'd cut it back and begin spraying every two weeks.  I only use natural, homemade remedies in my garden and am using a baking powder/soap/water solution for the mildew.  It's planted where it gets lots of sun so I'm not really sure why it gets mildew.  Have you ever had a problem with powdery mildew on your peonies?  How did you get rid of it?  My Mom divided this peony from her garden when we first moved into our house so I don't want to lose it.  It's always been special to me but even more so now.

Luckily, the blooms aren't affected!  So far, I've picked two huge bunches to bring inside and the bushes are still full.  I keep bringing more inside because they're just one heavy rain or strong wind away from being ruined.

You'll have to forgive me for once again going a little overboard with the photos!  I was having so much fun photographing and editing them, that I had a hard time narrowing it down to just a few photos.

I've signed up for Kim Klassen's Round Trip summer session and am learning so much!  I bought Lightroom 4 about a year and a half ago but never felt that I was using it to its potential.  Kim explains everything so well in easy to follow videos.  I'm completely loving Lightroom and what it can do!

These photos were all edited in Lightroom then moved to Photoshop to add a bit of texture.  I used Kelly from Kim's Cloth and Paper Collection and Whitewashed by Florabella.  Lately I've been drawn to soft, barely there textures if I use them at all.  Sometimes a little texture can go a long way!

June really is the loveliest month in the garden.  The Summer heat hasn't wilted it yet and the bugs haven't eaten everything in sight.  I might have another bunch of peony photos to come ~ that is if the weather and the light cooperates!

See you soon!

xo,
Lynda

For the love of lilacs

I went a little overboard photographing my lilacs this year.  A combination of not having had my camera out in months and wanting to capture my favourite of all the spring flowers.

In my tiny garden, I have 6 lilacs, all of them syringa vulgaris or common lilac.  I need to keep them pruned so they don't grow out of control but I've left two of them alone to grow as tall as they like.  They're over ten feet now and were absolutely covered in blooms this year.

Lilacs don't make the best cut flowers, usually wilting within a couple of days but it's worth it to have the house filled with their fragrance.

These are the common lilacs that I'm familiar with, always the same soft purple with a wonderful scent.  If you drive along any rural road, you'll often see a lilac bush in the middle of a field where a farmhouse once stood.

Already beginning to wilt.

 

An antique ironstone pitcher is filled with pink and purple lilacs on top of a dresser in the upstairs hall.

Now that the lilacs are over for another Spring, the peonies are getting ready to burst open.  We're experiencing cooler than normal weather that has delayed them but they should be blooming early next week.  I'll be ready with my camera as soon as they're open!

See you soon!  xo

Heartfelt Thanks

Thank you.  These words just don't seem to be enough to convey my gratitude to each and every one of you.  I want to thank you for your kind words after the death of my Mom.  To thank you for supporting my husband and then myself through our cancer diagnoses and treatments.  To thank you for continuing to read my blog, even though I didn't update for months at a time.  I always knew that you were more than just readers, you're also friends.  And I love you all.

I've finished my last chemotherapy treatment.  What a wonderful feeling that is!  I'm scheduled to see my oncologist in early July to determine if the cancer is completely gone.  My energy and stamina are still quite low but improving every week.  And I can't wait for my hair to grow back.  While showers are a breeze and there's never a bad hair day, I'm a little tired of the bald look.

And I think (fingers crossed!) that I'm back blogging again!  Although my lilacs have long since faded, I'll have more photos to share with you in a couple of days.

See you soon!  xo