Category: Life

Random posts that have to do with my life in general. Many of these posts were written when I lived in New Hampshire.

The Winter Bouquet Sans Hydrangeas

Dried flowers and weeds bouquet
Fall and Winter Bouquet

I’ll have to dig out my old photo of some dried hydrangeas I had years ago when I first moved to the northeast. The house we bought had the most amazing plants and shrubs growing all over. It’s where I learned about what grew in the north as opposed to the Florida plants I was used to growing.

The yard had a big wisteria vine covering an arbor. It never bloomed while I lived there (only 2 years), but it was amazing. There was a hydrangea tree which got pretty white flowers on it and they would dry up at the end of summer and become pretty shades of tan and pink. I’m pretty sure it was a Pee Gee hydrangea.

I have a photo of those dried flowers somewhere, but this winter I have to make due with my dried flower bouquet without hydrangeas.   It has some weeds, coneflowers, grass and a pinecone.

I can’t wait to have hydrangeas growing in my yard – and other flowers. I miss having beautiful gardens. It will be a lot of work, but I know that if God gives me the time and abilities, I will make this yard into a stunning showcase! Winter is a time to rest and plan. And I have big plans!

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She Liked My Hydrangea Pictures!

blue hydrangea photo
Blue Hydrangea photography by P. Carter @ Hydrangeasblue.com
If you have spent any time uploading photos and artwork on the internet, whether for pleasure or work, you have probably run into unscrupulous people who grab your images to use on their own sites.

Sometimes they only want the image to draw readers, because the image is a good one, or related to the writing. I don’t have a problem with that if the writer asks permission or at least links the image back to me. I’ve had a few people contact me to ask to use my hydrangea photos. And I’ve had others simply take the images – usually with links back, but sometimes not.

WordPress offers a “reblog” option where someone can re-blog the entire post from one blog to their own. It can be turned off by the blogger. I have re-blogged from others, but I always ask permission first. Even without permission, it’s a good thing to have your blogpost show elsewhere to further readership, IMO.

The use of images is what bothers me. I’m a designer for an online print-on-demand site and I’ve had my design images stolen and then put up for sale at Amazon by downright dirty rotten thieves. They know what they are doing and they steal from lots of people to make a quick buck. The owner of the artwork must then spend lots of time filing notices to get their stolen property removed. And that doesn’t always work either. I’m betting that I will still find lots of my images for sale on Amazon. I get tired of looking.

Some internet users are simply ignorant of the ways of using images. Pinterest tends to have beautiful images with no links, but that is not the only place.

Bottom line is photos, illustrations, pictures in whatever form, came from someone. Give credit where credit is due. When you see something you like online, make sure it is free to use for yourself. Contact the owner if possible, or better yet find free to use images at sites like Pixabay, where all images are safe to download and share.

Do you like my hydrangea photos? Please do what is right.

Heading Into Fall and Not Doing Much Planting

Extinct?
Image by Chiot's Run via Flickr

The New England Fall season brings us a new set of circumstances to deal with and probably not many people are thinking about planting anything.  They are thinking about chopping, splitting and lugging firewood and maybe buying a new or used wood stove.  They are concentrating, like I am, on the cold season that is coming all too soon.

Fall is a great time to plant perennials and get them established before snow to bring beauty to the landscape the following year.  I have mail-ordered some hydrangeas and other things – I can’t even remember what – that should be showing up on my doorstep any day now.  Or maybe it’s October that they ship?  The problem with mail-order is that I tend to forget.  I have too many other things to worry about and when the arrive I will worry about planting them.  I have the bonemeal, a shovel, work gloves and spots selected in the yard, so I am ready.  I think.  As long as they arrive in decent weather.

In the mean time, I will be waiting for my wood delivery to arrive and after the new wood stove is broken in (I have to do a couple of low temperature burns) I’ll be getting my wood organized before it’s covered with snow.  Then it will be time to rake the abundance of leaves that will surely cover my yard.

I enjoy Fall tremendously, but it’s a busy time.  For me, it’s the whirlwind before the calm.  Once the snow falls, it seems that things calm down and people stay inside as much as possible unless they ski or drive a snow plow.  Winter brings it’s own chores that are not nearly as enjoyable and there will be no planting going on then.

Paper Hydrangeas For Decorating

silk flower arrangement hydrangeas green

Many brides choose hydrangeas for their wedding bouquets and decorations, but using real flowers means they must be arranged and created (in the case of the bouquets) shortly before the ceremony because flowers only look fresh for a short time.  Once a flower is separated from it’s water supply, it’s only a matter of time before it will begin to die.
To do some decorating with hydrangeas yourself, maybe you would like to consider artificial flowers. We all know there are silk replicas of every type of flower, but I’ve come across an Etsy crafter who will create hydrangea flowers from paper according to the color you want for your event.

If you don’t know what Etsy is, it’s a place online where people can show off their crafts and creations and sell them.   Wanda at TreasuredEditions is the woman who makes the flowers, and if you are interested, there is contact info on her page to get pricing and all the details.

Just thought I’d pass on another way to achieve the hydrangea look for your wedding or event.

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About Me

This is how the blog began and also how it has changed over the years. The writing began in New Hampshire and now has shifted to Florida.

The first part of this blog was written when I lived in New Hampshire. It was a hard time, and then a good time. Even though I had been born in New England and lived there into my early twenties, I hadn’t owned my own home.

For most of my adult life I have lived in central Florida. I moved here in 1979 with my son. I got married and had three more kids who were raised in Florida until 2005 when we moved to New Hampshire.

After eleven tumultuous years, I could no longer afford to live in New England. My second oldest son stayed in Florida when we moved. When I moved back south, he and I decided to share a house and split the costs.

So, the early blog posts cover my time learning about life in New Hampshire. More recent posts are about my time here in Florida and learning to garden all over again for this climate.

I really miss this yard.

backyard garden
My New Hampshire backyard

I was not good about tagging and categorizing photos and posts when I began writing, but here are some photos I kept of New Hampshire.

nasturtium flowers
Alaska Nasturtiums grown from seeds

Now I live in growing zone 9b where everything is different! If you are a Floridian who wants to learn how to grow your own food, please follow me and we can learn together.

Thanks for reading. ~ Pam

Are We Gardening Yet?

Anyone thinking about gardening yet? If you love getting your hands into the dirt like I do, then I’ll bet you are dreaming of seeing green now that Spring is on the horizon.

Somewhere under the mounds of snow are my hydrangea shrubs.  I long to see how my new little cutting from last year is doing.  I planted next to the steps and it was my fist try and propagating a hydrangea.

It can be a long wait to see our garden beauties again, but they somehow manage to come back looking just as lovely year after year (with perhaps a few broken stems) despite the igloos they inhabit in winter. I had noticed that the main, large shrub had another off-shoot, or new little plant growing up beside it last summer, but I never got around to digging it up. I plan to do that this year, but I’ll have to check with my landlady to see where she’d like to plant it since this isn’t my yard.

If you are thinking about buying a hydrangea for the first time to add to your yard, check out my Blue Hydrangea page which includes information about choosing a shrub, how to plant it and how to take care of it. They are very easy to grow if they get a good start and are planted in the right location. The blooms last a very long time on the bush, and they have some of the most gorgeous flowers you’ll ever see. Remember that the plant will end up being quite large so give it enough space to fill out in the years to come.