A Bit o' Blarney

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irishgirl1.gif (60x90 -- 4160 bytes)Magi's 'Bring It On Home' 
With a Bit O' Blarney

In this Series
Decorating on a Shoestring
Makin Hay
Dog Daze of Summer
Now We Are Four!
Dried Flower Baskets
A Bit o' Blarney
Save that Trash

 

Decorating Comes Home!

Buy it (if you can't make it!)

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Magi

The creative mind plays with the objects it loves..... (carl jung)


 
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RainCloud.gif (100x81 -- 3431 bytes)On this grey, rainy, end of Winter day in March...I'm sitting at my desk looking out the bay windows that face the front property. I notice the ground is moving...under the newly grown green of the fresh virgin grass and wild flowers that are always the first to pop their heads up--the brown earth seems to be alive, like a dog with itchy skin....I don my binoculars for a closer look.

wrentree.jpg (100x76 -- 19639 bytes)There are dozens of varieties of finches, wrens, towhees, titmouse, flycatcher, kinglets, chickadee, shrike,  3 types of woodpeckers, blue jays galore, mockingbirds, cardinals, a family of squirrels...a bunny or two. 

I see the prints of the deer that come in the wee hours, and a smattering of others all in their winter attire, grays  with yellows spots on the tails or breast, all fluffed against the rain...

suetlog.jpg (80x167 -- 3098 bytes)There are cut logs hanging amongst the clusters of the "Popcorn Tree" filled with suet for the birds just desserts. We took small 4" tree trunks and cut them into 12-16 ' lengths. Drilled 1' and 1/8" holes- one for a stick perch , the other for the suet, scattered around the log, screwed in a hanger and strung it up in the limbs for a natural addition to what mother nature has to offer.

I have a winged wonderland that even the dogs stop and watch in silent amazement...

They are busy busy busy...eating everything in sight, from what the trees have to offer to what I have managed to scrape together in the form of a variety of feeders for seed and suet. We fell upon this smorgasbord quite by accident, but I have learned from nature, just what everyone's tastes are....

sapiumleaffall.jpg (100x74 -- 2609 bytes)So I plot a plan in my head to expand on what nature has provided.....the Popcorn tree for one -  what we grew up calling it - other wise known as Sapium sebiferum, the Chinese Tallow Tree.  To plan for this tree takes an eye for the future...it's very invasive and grows from runners as well as the dropped seeds, yet when controlled, it's a joy to have sapiumflowers.jpg (100x74 -- 2351 bytes) mixed in with your garden and landscaping. The summer brings an umbrella of green shelter, autumn a blaze of burgundy red, spring the tendrils of fragrant sweetness.   But it is now, at winters end that we see the tree in a skeletal version filled with ssebiferumfruit.jpg (75x85 -- 1828 bytes) clusters of seeds that resemble those sweet popcorn balls of my childhood. 

Much to the pleasure of these birds I'm watching now. The popcorn tree is absolutely considered a noxious weed by everyone BUT the birds. I have found ways to incorporate it into many of my gardens. It's easy to shape and stunt for a large Bonsai type of tree in a smaller garden...

bonsaitypetree.JPG (100x74 -- 2192 bytes)It makes a great canopy in the heat of summer.  In spring, use caution and plenty of allergy spray...the flowering fingers that sprout, shoot out dust just like pines do. This tree, in me, has inspired a play ground.

vinedecor.jpg (100x69 -- 2109 bytes)Cut down those honey suckle vines, or trim up those grape vines to transplant or ready for new growth. With the cuttings, freshen up or make new wreaths. You can also bring them indoors to add new life to an old curtain rod, hang to drape over the bathroom mirror or kitchen window. Vines have a multitude of uses!!!! Experiment!!!

Now is the time to start cleaning up all that dead wood winter's storms have cleared and left behind. While you're meandering around in the snow or misty grey days, look at what is there.  You can get the vision while everything is still naked from winter.  It's a blank palette, a giant coloring book - your mind can add in the colors, shapes, textures you wan to see throughout the year.

Planning for nature takes an open mind. It never ends up like it looks on paper. It's the surprises that are the most pleasing.  It's the time when it's still safe to go out and dig up those plants you had admired as they bloomed and want to add to a garden.  Transplanting, moving, rearranging - that's the mood of March!!! Blow out the old...as the new enters on the breeze.

With the March winds blow in bits of imagination for the seasons to come...

lazy.gif (100x98 -- 2322 bytes)You'd LOVE to throw out that stuffy old chair and the stuffy old man sleeping in it all winter!

You'd LOVE to burn all that dried out greenery still hanging around the corners, (hidden from view) of the porch and over wintered gardens.

You'd LOVE to be able to see out of those grayed and speckled windows but you can't get thru the mud or snow drifts to get at them.

You'd LOVE to have something - ANYTHING -fresh in the house, to remind you that there are living molecules in this world and yours!!!!

ahhhh March!!!

The month of hope...of dreams...  So don't mope - just scheme!  And follow me into my boggy wooded wonder land!!!!

C'mon! Don those hip boots, and camo' gloves! Grab that vest and lets go hunting!!!

PUT THAT GUN DOWN!!!! Plant hunting that is!!! sheesh!

There's more than gold at the end of that rainbow!!!!

An Irish Prayer

May those that love us, love us;
and those that don't love us,
may God turn their hearts,
and if He doesn't turn their hearts,
may He turn their ankles
so we'll know them
by their limping. 

 Home ] Decorating on a Shoestring ] Makin Hay ] Dog Daze of Summer ] Now We Are Four! ] Dried Flower Baskets ] [ A Bit o' Blarney ] Save that Trash ]


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