Grace's garden

This afternoon, I visited Grace - my neighbor and one of my dearest friends. A couple of weeks ago, I won this Waistie Pouch from Teresa of Gardening with Soule. She held a fun contest "You know you're a gardener when..." that another blogger and I won. It was the story of my little gardener savant 3-year old who would yell "moonbeam coreop-pah-sis!" out of a moving car window that won it for me. Check out the other entries for a laugh. Though the Waistie Pouch has the potential to be a very useful product, I didn't think it would fit my needs as much as it would Grace's, so I've regifted it to her. As you can see in the photo above, Grace has hundreds of blooms in her garden - a veritable rainbow of perennials that encompass her entire front and side yards! She thinks the Waistie Pouch may be useful when deadheading. Continue with me on a tour of Grace's garden - though I warn you - this is the season when there is not a lot to see... Can you imagine what it's like during the height of spring and summer?

Here, a quiet and secluded nook for reading. This is the lush walk to the front door, but as Grace says, the front door is for salesmen, the side door is for friends.

A great two-toned hibiscus

Canna

Reblooming Iris

Snapdragon

Campanula

Notice the different stages of the Angel's Trumpet below...

Cosmos and a tall native sunflower (the sunflower is probably about 8-10 feet tall).

Butterfly Bush

Sedum

Nasturtium - am I the only one who loves the foliage even more than the flower?

Solidago - done with its blooms.

Dahlia

Zinnia

I love this foliage. I believe it's a calla lily.

Monk's Hood behind the porch swing.

Ornamental cherry

Moonflower bloom getting ready to open

A little corner garden in the back.

This is the heuchera corner of the large "Topsy-Turvy" garden in the back. A new side garden that will contain azaleas, a raspberry patch, and other plants will connect the front garden to the Topsy-Turvy garden.

A Hollyhock somehow found its way into the Topsy-Turvy garden.

Grace's Noah's Ark of coleus (except there's only one of each!) potted up and ready to go inside for the winter. In the spring, cuttings and divisions will provide all the rich coleus foliage Grace will need.

A very old ornamental pepper, adding a splash of color to the large shady back deck where Grace relaxes and has dinner every night.

Just past a few houses down the street, Grace tends her aptly named "Creek Garden" where she grows vegetables in a larger space that she shares with another neighbor/gardener. The Malabar spinach grows on a trellis here. Grace loves to add some freshly cut spinach to her soup bowl just before she ladles in her hot soup. For convenience sake, she also keeps a smaller pot of this favorite spinach on her driveway.

Another container on the driveway holds the remains of summer's zucchini and the recent addition of fall's lettuce. Grace also grew some colorful lettuce and herbs in a beautiful wagon wheel shape near the side of her perennial garden this spring.

And finally, what everyone who passes by gets a kick out of - her delicious and beautiful Meyer lemons!

St. Michael's, Maryland (part 2 of 2)

The sights in this little town of about one square mile go beyond the cute shops on the main street that I showed you in my previous post on St. Michael's. Here, the new home of the Hooper Strait lighthouse, moved from another area on the Chesapeake Bay. This is a "screw pile" lighthouse, meaning the cast iron legs that the house sits on are actually screwed into the earth making it more stable. Notice the bathroom at the left of the house. No need for any cleaning as this bathroom used to stand right over the ocean!

In the lighthouse...

Below is a large rain garden - filled with rain from the night before! This rain garden is situated on the grounds of the library, immaculately landscaped by local master gardeners.

To the naked eye, it appears that St. Michael's is right at sea level. This was confirmed the morning after a gentle rain. Here's the completely flooded parking lot of the restaurant we ate at the night before (the waterfront view was great, but it sure was not the Bistro - see part 1). You can probably just make out a guy in a blue shirt in the very center of the photo creating a sidewalk with wooden pallets so restaurant goers can actually... go.

Guess it's not a problem for all of St. Michael's residents.

A couple hours later, all is sparkly and right with the world again.



Below, the Chesapeake Maritime Museum is creating a natural shoreline along the bulkhead. The bulkhead alone, being a vertical wall in the water, does not protect against erosion. Creating this shoreline of stone, sand, and bay grass protects against erosion and also provides a home for other plants and animals.

You know it's the Eastern shore when you spot jellyfish everywhere!

And because this blog is one step away from being a duck and goose blog...


A short drive, rich history, and wonderful food are a combination for a relaxing and low-key weekend. The only potential problem with this town was discovered just as we were about to drive home. In Justine's, a charming ice-cream/espresso shop, my husband read a newspaper clipping that stated Dick Cheney owned a home in St. Michael's. I guess if we go again, I'll have to keep one eye on the gorgeous storefronts and one eye on the people ahead of me or my husband will be strolling the cute streets - ready for a rumble.

St. Michael's, Maryland (part 1 of 2)

With a slight air of superiority, locals call St. Michael's "the town that fooled the British". During the war of 1812, the British planned to destroy the little town and all its expert shipbuilding facilities. The townspeople put out their lights and hung lanterns in the trees behind the town causing the British to overshoot. The British were fooled and the town was spared.

St. Michael's, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, is frequented today by tourists drawn to the water sports, history, fresh seafood, unique shops, and great restaurants. Being very close to home, we visited St. Michael's last weekend for a little anniversary trip. Incidentally, the quaint bayside town of St. Michael's was also named #8 in Coastal Living Magazine's top 10 Romantic Escapes in the US. Apparent to tourists is the pride that the locals take in their just under 1 square mile town! Enjoy this tour of some homes and storefronts in St. Michaels...

A fun use of fallen tree branches below...

One of MANY doggie hotspots in town. This is a very pet friendly town!

Purple hyacinth bean with a closer-up photo below.




Yes, it's a colorful and pretty planter, but imagine about six identical ones on a very large wraparound porch - cat lounging in the background.

Now here, I must stop and digress... I can understand why our waiter's friend, chef at another popular restaurant, actually eats here on his days off. Like Bloody Mary's? Try the stiff Chesapeake martini - sport of bloody mary with tabasco, horseradish, tequila gold, vodka, and garnished with a shrimp. I personally guarentee you'll be...happy...after the first couple of sips! Then, move on to your soup of roasted red pepper and tomato with lump crabmeat, a swirl of scallion pesto and creme fraiche. Now in our parts, appetizers are usually great, but most restaurants fall flat after the first course. At the Bistro, the duck confit was amazing, and the tres leches-inspired vanilla creme cake with caramel sauce topped off an evening of culinary perfection. And can you beat the flower box with it's great combo of succulent and vine?