Spring in my Southern California Garden

Time to take a walk around my Spring garden. I am not sure what planting zone we live in but we are about 1 1/2 miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies, it never gets too hot or too cold here. My garden is a bit wild and wooly right now. I got behind last year with radiation and I need to catch up now. The weeding has gotten behind but we will take care of that. Spring came a bit late this year with the cooler weather, rain, and my late pruning but plants are finally blooming. Snaildon guards the front garden. I found him at a local nursery a few years ago but Hubby wasn’t enamoured with him as much as I was. (For one thing he is about 3 feet tall and weights about 500 pounds! He is solid concrete.) I visited him off and on for a year or so continuing to tell Hubby that we needed him. One day after I had given up, Hubby went to the nursery to pick up some flowers for me and came back and told me that Snaildon was on sale and he had bought him! It took a bit of work to get him moved into place but I love him! And every child who comes near climbs on. I just love the expression on his face! He is surrounded by two of my regal geraniums and in the background purple Osteospermum and Bird of Paradise. You can also see the bottom of my bougainvillea that I will talk about later.

This is my Pinkerbell regal geranium that I bought last year, I think it was at Armstrong Garden Center. It was such an unusual color and it is doing very well. I love regal geraniums (look at the spiky leaves), ivy geraniums (grow like ivy) and scented geraniums, but not zonal geraniums (fuzzy scalloped leaves). The zonal geraniums can get budworm caterpillars that will eat the new flower buds. I finally gave up buying them several years ago because the caterpillars were having a feast on them.

These are mostly ivy geraniums. I buy them in different colors and they can make quite a show. I found the white metal stands at an antique mall many years ago. Hubby has repainted and repaired them more than once. Full disclosure, this photo was taken last June but the geraniums look about the same today. You can see my purple agapanthus (or Lady of the Nile) blooming in the background. (It wouldn’t be blooming this early yet.)

This is one of only three zonal geraniums that I have. I have kept this one because of the unique variegated pink color of the blossoms. I can’t remember where I bought it several years ago. It was either at Armstrong’s or online. I have bought geranium plants and daylilies online in the past with great results.

This is one of my scented geraniums, they tend to have smaller blooms and they can get huge if they like where they are planted. I am going to have to prune this one way back this fall. You can see my agapanthus buds in the background, they will flower later. There’s a white regal geranium in the back left too.

These geranium blossoms have almost a neon pink color to them. This is an example of how a geranium can just take off and grow into a bush! I will need to prune it back in the fall for sure.

There are five different colors of geranium in this photo. In the foreground you can see the buds from one of my daylilies.

There are three or four different colors of regal geraniums in this photo. You can never have too many regal geraniums!

This purple Osteospermum grew from a small 4” pot. It can take over an entire garden area if it is happy where you plant it. When it gets too large I yank it out and it often comes back again. If you deadhead it, it continues to flower for quite some time.

Found a friend on the milkweed while I was taking photos today. This monarch caterpillar is the first one I have seen this season. I am losing them to pests I’m afraid.

I love double impatiens, they look like small roses but they like shade. The nursery sells out quickly so I have learned to start watching for them early in the season. I bought the basket online somewhere a few years ago.

One of my irises that I bought. I didn’t like the color at first but it is growing on me. I like to plant perennials that come back every year and bloom all season. I love irises and daffodils but they last such a short time.

Another happy geranium.

Love these colors! They are all just a bit different from each other.

And another regal geranium, the hanging planter came from an antique mall in Missouri a couple years ago. We brought it back in the car much to Hubby’s chagrin because it isn’t small! We enjoy the neighbor’s bougainvillea on the wall too.

I planted this bougainvillea about 15 years ago at the front corner of our wood fence. It was in the shade a bit so I was afraid it wouldn’t do much. I was hoping that it would grow enough to catch the sun at the top of the fence. It sat there for three years doing nothing and then took off. I learned later that they sulk a bit when planted sometimes. I wanted it to grow down the fence completely so I could see it from the kitchen window. Last year the neighbor wanted to replace the wood fence with this white vinyl one and we shared the cost after they promised me that the bougainvillea would carefully be taken down and then put back up. It is doing fine.

It has reached the kitchen window and moved on down toward the back yard. The neighbor is getting ready to prune their pine tree a bit, it is coming our way and it is blocking the sun for the bougainvillea a bit more than it should. I will have more blossoms when there is more sun.

The coleus started a bit late but it is beginning to grow now.

I have a few early daylilies blooming, I really love their unique color combinations.

Another daylily, I wish they bloomed longer!

Time to do some work in the garden!

A Bit of French Provincial on the Tablescape

I have thought about pulling together a blue and yellow table setting for a couple of years but just never got it together. My yellow tablescape last week was really popular on many tablescaping sites so I decided to keep some yellow this week only a different shade, lemon yellow, and add blue. I have always loved the way this color combination works together. This table was another case of just looking through my tablescaping collection to see what would work on the table. The tablecloth is marked Ridgefield Home, it probably came from HomeGoods a few years ago. HomeGoods often has a good selection of random inexpensive tablecloths and I have learned to buy it if I see something I like.

These colorful salad plates came from HomeGoods a few years ago. I think the plate is no long available except maybe on Ebay. The pattern is called Mandarin Blue and they were made by Ralph Lauren. I really love the overall design that covers the entire plate, the rim design, the yellow flowers, the butterfly, everything makes it pop. The design really compliments the yellow dinner plate and cobalt blue charger.

I bought these yellow dinner plates on clearance at Sur La Table online several years ago. They were part of their Fresh Squeezed Lemon Collection.

This bright blue metal charger came from Pier 1 several years ago. The color really pops on this table with the yellow.

This flatware came from Villeroy and Boch online several years ago. I had been looking for yellow flatware for a long time and was delighted to find this set, the handles are some kind of plastic. The pattern was called Play!.

The yellow napkin came from Linen Tablecloth online. I have bought several table linen sets from them from time to time. The flowered napkin came from Pfaltzgraff online several years ago. The pattern was called Summer Breeze, they are still available on the secondary market right now. I think the ceramic napkin rings came from Ebay, I have had them for several years.

The plastic cobalt blue goblets came from Pier 1 several years ago. They currently have them on sale in various colors. I have this style in several colors now. The yellow goblet was made by Noritake and the pattern was called Yellow Perspective. These were made between 1970 and 1983 and I found them on Ebay. This pattern came in other colors, I have them in cobalt blue and sage green also. Ebay always has this pattern for sale in various colors.

I really love these small vase place card holders. I put a few small faux flowers in them and they were ready to go. I bought them on Amazon last month.

I bought the faux yellow tulips on Amazon a few months ago. I have had the cobalt blue glass vase for many years, I can’t remember where it came from.

I love this color combination!

Quiche for dinner!

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In My Mother's Kitchen

After my mother died and we went through her house I brought home a few bits and pieces from her kitchen that reminded me of our kitchen while I was growing up. She had moved from a house to a retirement community and she had a small kitchen there so there were only a few things left from those years. I remember this meat grinder. She made the most wonderful ground roast beef sandwiches in the 50’s and 60’s, probably with Miracle Whip and sweet pickle relish and maybe something else. I wish I had that recipe, I can still remember them. With five children including four growing boys, to save money my parents bought part of a cow every year and froze the meat in a deep freezer on the enclosed back porch. Mom would send me out there to get meat for dinner. I remember there would always be several wrapped meat packages waiting to be thawed and used.

I saved some of her recipes in her handwriting, I wish I had saved more. I remember these, I need to make them again sometime.

My memories of this large slotted spoon go way back. I can see Mom at the stove stirring things with it and straining various foods. I love using it.

This pie plate is another constant childhood memory. It is just marked USA on the bottom. My mother loved to make pies and pumpkin was a favorite, many memories of pumpkin pie and other pies in this dish at holiday dinners.

This serving bowl was in constant use at dinner time. For holiday dinners it often held some kind of Ambrosia salad, one of Mom’s favorites. It was made by Fostoria in the American pattern, the pattern was made between 1915 and 1982. This bowl was a wedding present to my mother in 1938.

It’s difficult to see all the frosted fruit on the outside of this bowl. I don’t remember it being used for food, I think she put flowers in it sometimes. It may have been a 1938 wedding present as well.

This is a large shallow bowl or tray. Every Easter it held plastic green grass and Easter eggs. It must be over 60 years old now.

Someone online recently helped me identify this large frosted shallow bowl. I had wondered about it for years. I think it was a wedding present to my mother in 1938. I am showing the bottom because the design is on the bottom. It isn’t marked so it was probably made in the United States using molds from Verlys in France. The pattern was created in France in 1935 and was called,  “Les Canards Sauvage”, (Wild Ducks). It has also been identified as kingfishers and koi. I remember Mom floating flowers in it sometimes and also a vague memory of some kind of floating dessert.

In my mother’s recipe file were a few recipes from her mother, my Nana. She would have been cooking after she was married in 1909 and in the 1920’s and 1930’s. She had a large family to cook for. I always wanted to try this one!

This is another recipe from my Nana, it took over 15 hours to make this one!

A photo of my mother in 1956, she was 40. We were living in Elsinore at the time and there were lots of pepper trees. Every time I see pepper trees, they remind me of Elsinore. I love having bits and pieces from my mother’s kitchen.

We Need some Brightness on the Tablescape!

I didn’t have an idea for a table setting for this week but I knew I wanted something bright. We need brightness right now! I wanted to use my yellow chargers so I started there. I realized that I don’t have any yellow tablecloths so I bought this yellow gingham tablecloth on Amazon last week and crossed my fingers that it would be a gold yellow instead of a lemon yellow and I got lucky. It is a perfect match for the chargers. I really struggled with the photos for this tablescape. My iPhone 11 camera really fought with the bright colors and bouncing light and I had to make some adjustments. The gold yellow color is washed out a bit in some photos and the color shades are not the same all the way through the photos. I am still not happy with some of the results but I decided to just move on.

Once I decided on the yellow chargers and the tablecloth I went through my dishes looking for something that matched. I wanted to do a table with just yellow and white so that really limited my choices. I don’t know where I found this small yellow gingham plate, I have had it for several years. It is marked EIT (English Ironstone Tableware) and English Ironstone, Made in England.

This larger ironstone plate (I didn’t have a dinner size plate that was the right color) came from Pier 1 several years ago, the pattern was called Chloe.

This is another Color Spectrum charger by Mikasa, the color is Sun Yellow. I have wanted to use this charger in a tablescape for a long time but this shade of gold yellow doesn’t match most of my lemon yellow dishes. I bought these chargers on Ebay a few at a time because I love the quality and the colors. I have them in several colors now.

I knew that the only yellow flatware set I have is lemon yellow and wouldn’t match these dishes so I looked through the photos of my flatware sets and suddenly saw this one. Bingo! I bought this inexpensive stainless and plastic bamboo flatware set several years ago when I first started tablescaping. I can’t remember where I found it, it is just marked Stainless, China but I see it is available online several places.

I can’t remember where I bought the yellow gingham napkins a few years ago but it is amazing that the color matches the tablecloth perfectly. The flowered napkins came from Sur La Table online, I bought them on sale a few years ago. I can’t believe how well they compliment the flowered plates. At the end of the season, Sur La Table often has good buys on napkins and other tablescaping bits and pieces. I have had the beaded flower napkin rings for a long time, I can’t remember where they came from. I tried a white napkin ring first but it just didn’t add much and I suddenly remembered these, problem solved!

The white place card holder can be written on as well with a special pen. Can’t remember where I bought them but it was probably Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel. It’s a nice simple place card holder, I have used it several times.

The clear goblet on the right is actually the pattern my mother chose for her wedding crystal in 1938. She couldn’t remember the name of the pattern or who made it and I searched for decades trying to identify it with no luck. Finally one day I was reading through old San Bernardino newspapers online doing some genealogical research looking for information about my grandparents and I stumbled on an article about a wedding shower for my mother that mentioned her gifts and the name of her crystal! This Rock Sharpe crystal goblet was made by Libbey and the pattern was called Ridgeway. I was able to complete the set buying them a few at a time on Ebay. The gold Poly/Carb goblet on the left was made by Le Cadeaux and the pattern is called Fleur. We found them at a gift shop on one of our trips up the coast last year but they were really expensive so we only bought a few of them. I had been looking for that color for a long time and after we got home, I found them much cheaper online so I bought a few more.

I started with a white lantern for the centerpiece but it was just too much white and not terribly exciting. I did a bee tablescape last year with this bee hive pattern but they didn’t have this matching cookie jar then. I found it at HomeGoods earlier this year. I was looking around the house for anything that was a gold yellow color and finally found this cookie jar. Not really my first choice for this table but it’s all I have that is that color! I would have liked to have added the matching salt and pepper and cream and sugar but they are stored in the attic and I ran out of time. I added a couple small birds to fill in a bit.

I put the bee hive cookie jar on a small white stand to add a bit more height.

I wanted a bright cheerful table. I think this one works!

To see 160+ tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

Please check out the March 2022 issue of Country Sampler magazine for a photo of one of my Spring tablescapes.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!

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