I can’t stand these things indoors. Their smell is so intense it permeates the entire space, giving me a major floral smell headache. But they sure are pretty when the light shines through their petals. And the smell when diffused outdoors is just enough.
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I came upon this colour palette yesterday and had an instantaneous response to it. The pink flowers are magnolia and the red and chartreuse bush on the right is ‘Goldflame’ spirea (Spiraea x bumalda). Of course it could just be the designer in me that is responding to the grid formation but I also think it is the black brick background serving as a contrasty backdrop… the colours just pop out against it. In conclusion: This reaffirms what I already know about chartreuse and deep red against black.
Note to self: Get more black containers.
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I found these scattered around one of the plots at my community garden last week. One of the gardeners left their tomatillo plants in over the winter with a few husks still on the vine and they had decayed into a lacy shell. I think they are pretty and stuck some on the ends of my pea trellis as decoration.
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They say that lightly brushing your hands against tomato leaves stimulates a growth hormone in the plant encouraging radial (aka stockier) growth. I’m still searching for a study that supports this but I chose to believe it regardless, which is why I spend some time each morning lightly touching my young tomato seedlings. I’m sure the extra attention helps them grow healthier too. Plus it just smells good.
Washing your hands before touching the plants is advised, especially if you are a smoker or come into contact with cigarette smoke since it is possible to transfer the tobacco mosaic virus to tomatoes through touch. Some people are mildly allergic to tomato leaves so its probably a good idea to wash your hands after contact too. And that concludes all the hand wash advising I am going to deliver for the next year. Because advisories freak people out and I am more interested in encouraging confidence than inspiring fear.
My little plants are all coming along well. I’ve got about 10 seedlings transplanted to larger pots and more waiting to be repotted. They’re not going to go outside for another month yet so they have lots of growing to do in the meantime. It’s interesting to note how differently each variety grows from the next right from the get-go. ‘Black Pear’ and ‘Purple Calabash’ are the leaders in height with ‘Czech’s Bush’ still reigning supreme as the stockiest plant I have ever grown.
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For years I’ve been trying to convince Davin that a big button press would revolutionize our world. Small buttons are fun and have their purpose, but big buttons offer up a whole new world of possibilities. Big buttons remind me of special button-making fundraising days at my grade school. Throughout the course of the day students were escorted by classroom into a closet-sized room, where for 25 cents a woman would convert a photo of your choosing into a pinback button. I’m pretty sure mine was a photo of grade school me sitting at the top of the slide at my favourite park — all of the rides there were shaped like spaceships and the slide was a part of the Starship Enterprise!
I’m not sure if Davin has come around to my way of thinking or level of enthusiasm, but regardless, we’re making big buttons and I am happy.
The first thing I did was modify our garden designs for the new size. I love the designs at this size and have rediscovered a joy for wearing buttons. Although I generally try to stick to wearing one at a time.
Editing this to add that in a moment of clarity we made a change to the site so now people can choose if they want packaging or don’t want packaging. We try to keep packaging to a minimum in general, however the button sets come mounted on cards. So now buyers can choose to receive their buttons without the cards. Woot!
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