Lilies!

Yay! This is the first time in 3 years that the deer haven't devoured my pretty lilies.

If You Build It, They Will Come

OK, I got the roof a little crooked, but hopefully they will still come. I got the kit to make this birdhouse from the Preble Co. Historical Society.


And here is something really amazing: My tulips have NOT been eaten! Aren't they gorgeous?



This poor yellow tulip has practically been showered in Liquid Fence, otherwise it would be in some deer's tummy by now.



The deer won't eat the hyacinths, thank goodness. Here are some of my little hyacinths that are my favorites.



Have a great Sunday!

Christmas Paperwhites

I love to force some bulbs around this time of year. Paper whites are so easy to do and they grow and bloom very quickly.

Here's how: find a shallow dish and fill with decorative rocks. (You can find both in the craft store's floral section.) Set the paper white bulbs on top of the rocks and fill the dish with water until it is just touching the bottoms of the bulbs. Within a few days you will see roots growing out of the bulbs. (Make sure to keep the water level at the bottom of the bulbs.) The shoots will grow and blooms will form in about 3 weeks. You cannot reuse the bulbs because forcing them uses up nutrients that cannot be replaced.

You'll love having flowers blooming in your house in the middle of winter!

My Gardening Saga Continues.....

Well, my first vegetable garden was doing well. I had surrounded it by an 8ft. mesh deer fence that several people have had success with in the past. But the lure of my veggies must have been too much. They broke in one night and ate every last tomato and corn cob. Yep, that was about 200 tomatoes and around 40 ears of corn. My heart just broke in two.

So, guess what will be in my letter to Santa Claus this Christmas? A permanent, sturdy and very high fence around my garden. I'll try again next spring.

In the meantime, here are some blooms that they haven't eaten yet.

My Easter lily bloomed twice this year:


And these sunflowers had bees all over them!


I need to give these babies a good shower with deer repellent. At least the deer won't eat my basil. I still have pesto to look forward to.

Summer and Gardening

I made this card for Priscilla's Midnight Madness sketch challenge #2. I finished on time for this one! Yay me!



I used the stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps called Echos of Summer. The details are on the Cottage Studio blog, where I posted today.

Here is a photo of the garden that my husband and I are putting in this year. We took out the sod last week, and here is the horse manure being dumped:


My husband tilled today, so in about a week I will plant. This week I will work on getting a fence around it so the deer will stay out. For more pics, you can see my facebook page.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.