Mlle Magpie

Birthday in the Backyard

 

Last weekend we had my youngest daughter's female classmates over to celebrate her 8th birthday.

 

 

 

 

My three children all helped to set up for the party. Here's my 11 year old hanging up the small pink paper lanterns I picked up a week ago when I went on a road trip to Target in Plattsburgh. My bestie and I like to take our little road trips to Target and Michael's across the border every few months - it's great to take a day off from the hospital, do a little shopping and have some much appreciated girl time. 

 

 

 

 

The cherry tree in our backyard was in full bloom. It really is one of my favourite times of the year in the backyard.

 

 

 

 

We had matching pink flowers on the table outside.

 

 

 

 

Last fall, I hung up some birdcages in the tree to add some interest over the winter time. Husband wasn't too sure about that but I think they look great in the tree. By the way, you can see the green climbing rope in the background - I was so glad that all the girls loved taking turns climbing up into the tree.

 

 

(all photos taken by 15 year old son)

 

 

And the weather was just perfect for the party outside. Sunny and warm. Just like my sweet little daughter :)

 

Mlle Magpie

 

More Roses for the Garden

 

Gentle Hermione

 

Since the weather has been incredibly warm this past week, it has been such a delightful break from the winter season. Makes me feel like gardening season is just around the corner...

 

 

Wildeve

 

I've already ordered another bunch of David Austin roses to add to our city garden. Can one have too many roses in the garden?!!

 

 

Winchester Cathedral

 

These English Roses are grown in a nursery in Tyler, Texas and will be arriving up here sometime in April.

 

 

Eglantyne

 

There really is nothing like these gorgeous, fluffy and fragrant beauties.

 

 

Queen of Sweden

 

 

Princess Alexandra of Kent

 

 

St. Swithun

 

 

Clearly I am partial to the pinks.  My favourite colour!

 

Do you have any special garden plans for this spring...?

 

Mlle Magpie

 

Wildflower World

 

 

At the farmhouse I used to have a patch that was my cutting flower garden. Since we're at our city house more than we are at our farmhouse, it has become a bit too high maintenance for it to work out well with respect to the watering and the weeding. This year I sowed wildflower seeds over the entire patch and I think it really is the best solution all things considered. 

 

Husband is away on a big business trip but I'm hoping to get away to the farmhouse for a bit this weekend with my girls and the dog (son working at neighbourhood organic food shop) to get some fresh air, see how things are going in the garden and take a spin on our bicycles...

 

Mlle Magpie

Garden Goodness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The previous owner of our house had planted a perennial garden full of flamboyant bright coloured flowers. Over the last few years I have been slowly phasing out the loud plants and working on a more cooler and subdued palette. Blues, purples, soft pinks and lots of white.

 

 

 

Jeanne D'Arc Living inspiration.

 

 

 

Just to let you know that I will be flying to the land of "British Country Living" tonight. Will be away for a week in Cambridge and London, England while tagging along with my husband on his business trip. Looking forward to visiting the Cambridge Botanical Gardens and walking around London. Hoping to go to Portobello Market, visit Cabbages and Roses, Liberty of London, and Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Couture Shop too. Oh, and you never know, perhaps the Queen will be inviting me over for a spot of tea when she finds out I'm in town. Lest you get too jealous, I will be packing my umbrella and raincoat - the weather forecast is for rain pretty much every day :)

 

See you when I get back!

 

Mlle Magpie

Long Weekend at the Farmhouse

 

 

We spent the Canadian Victoria Day long weekend at the farmhouse.  The very old tree in front of the farmhouse; this will be the summer that I hang a chandelier from one of the branches for some romantic al fresco dining...

 

The kids rode their bikes on the country road. Molly ran around in the fields. Since the weather was lovely all weekend, we were able to garden quite a bit. Husband mowed the lawn. I cleaned up the beds around the house and planted wildflower seeds in in my former cutting garden plot (I'm going for low maintenance this year).  

 

 

Planted blue lobelia in my my galvanized steel buckets. I also cut lilac branches to scatter through the farmhouse in milk glass vases. As you can see from these cut lilacs, spring has been quite cold and not very sunny - the lilacs are only now about to bloom.

 

 

Of course I cut a whole bunch of lilac branches to bring back to the city with us. 

 

Mlle Magpie

Mother's Day Gardening

 

 

Hope all mothers and mothering souls were able to enjoy a nice day yesterday.

 

Buying flowers for the garden and gardening are a Mother's Day tradition for me - my favourite way to spend this day. I'm very excited about the city garden this year (you may recall that post-H1N1 I was pretty much not able to garden at all last summer and the garden was a little sad and neglected despite some help from my Mom and the family).

We're changing things up a bit in the backyard. Husband is putting in two raised beds for vegetable gardening where there used to be a flower bed. A couple of ill-positioned small trees have come down bringing in some more light. The David Austin roses I ordered arrived last week and they're in the ground now. Bought a bunch of new plants this weekend which I'm also excited about like this Nelly Moser clematis. Lots of pale blues and purples...

 

As my husband was helping me to dig a hole for one of the roses, some rocks would come flying out.

 

 

This was one of the bigger ones that flew out at me! Sometimes, it's the little things in life, isn't it...?

 

Mlle Magpie

 

p.s. let's not forget about my potting bench project - not yet started, but definitely high priority for husband and son soon

 

Planning for a Potting Bench

 

 

 

While waiting for spring to arrive up here, I have of course been dreaming of gardening. One of the specific things that I have been dreaming about is having a potting bench in our city garden.

 

 

 

 

 

Being the vintage-loving gal that I am, I initially I thought of using a vintage table as in the above photos. But I'm planning on putting the potting bench on the side of our house in a completely unsheltered area and we do get quite a bit of rain here. Alas, for practical reasons I decided that it would be best if the potting bench was made out of cedar, which is naturally weather-proof. Also thought it would be a nice idea for a Father and Son project. So we've been looking at ideas for the design of this potting bench...

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, I think it will look a lot like this one as the space where I want to put it is not too large. Just thinking about the idea of my own potting bench makes me very happy and is helping me get through these cold and very un-spring-like days. I can't wait to have it made so that I can organize all of my pots, soil and gardening tools and start gardening!

 

Mlle Magpie

 

p.s. sorry, lost sources of photos except for last one, from Canadian Gardening magazine

 

Garden Flowers On My Mind

 

 

 

More snow coming down now. Of course I'm dreaming of springtime and gardening. Starting to make plans for our city garden. What's on my mind?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These David Austen roses.

 

Mlle Magpie

 

p.s. roses found here

A Beautiful Fall Day

 

Scene from our city backyard

(photo taken by son)

 

It's the middle of fall here and a beautiful, crisp, sunny Sunday afternoon. Spent some time shopping for warmer clothes downtown with husband. Now just resting up before my son helps me plant a variety of pink tulip bulbs in the garden...

Hope your weekend is going well.

 

Mlle Magpie