Flea Market Whites

My sister and I went to a local flea market and I scored!

In fact, we met up with our other sister at a garage sale on the way.

Chippy and Ironstone.

Two of the best whites there are.

You should have seen us carrying all of this to our car.

I am not including the cute little round metal table I found for the deck.

It is yellow and is not allowed to show its' face until it has been painted white.

I was told the pitcher was worth much more than I was being charged.

But, that's not what I am paying.

I took it home at my price.

It pays to haggle.

The bed, well, I am not too sure where it is going at this very moment.

But.

I knew I couldn't leave it.

Actually it was my little sister who sold me on it.

For that price, you can put it on the deck she said.

SOLD!

We were quite a spectacle.

Laughing with sisters is always the best way to spend a day.

I am sharing my new whites with Kathleen from Faded Charm and WHITE WEDNESDAY

and

Cindy from My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

A Free Plant is NOT Always a GOOD Thing

Some of you may remember, last year Mr. brought me home a truck load of free plants.

He got them from a co-worker's yard he had done some yard work for.

As soon as he said the word free along with the words Peony and Day lily I said "of course!"

BIG MISTAKE!

Along with these free plants came a very  VERY invasive plant.

VERY

VERY

VERY

invasive plant!

Today I am planting here to make this area look better.

Mr. M. helped in his own non-gardener way.

Round up the BAD PLANT!

Yes it did seem to help, but it did manage to kill a few other plants as well.

I must say, with having more than a dozen huge dead spots in my flower gardens, 

I was about ready to till the whole gardens up and grass it over.

It was so depressing and I felt overwhelmed with it.

Where to start.

It took me almost a month before I would even go into my gardens.

I started with one spot and cleared it away.

OK

Not so bad.

Then I did another.

and

Another.

Until today.

I am almost finished with my spring planting and I have started to mulch and it just makes that ugliness go away.

I am happy.

My gardens are happy.

This spot now has a beautiful white shrub rose to grow and make this area look beautiful again.

Another white shrub rose, lavender, boxwood and some ground covers.

Thankfully I did not put this nasty plant in my new garden I planted last year.

This is an update on the fire pit garden I had put in last year.  

You can see where it started here.

The roses are so beautiful and so many of them.

They smell so good when you take a walk on the path.

This picture is the back of the fire pit garden.  

I am hoping the bushes will grow full and tall and block the driveway view.

This is how the garden looks from the fire pit.

I mulched it and finished the rock border.

I was even graced with foxgloves that grew from last years plants.

I love the purple, pink, green and white.

This is the front of the huge wild rose.

This HUGE rose bush is a wild white rose.

It only blooms once a year in spring.

I dug up some plantings about 5 years ago.

It makes a great climber and is so hardy.

They can be found on almost every ditch along the roads around here.

This is the pool garden.

My favorite shrub rose in a dark pink.

The arbor that leads to the pool.

Wild roses on each side. 

We are going to put lattice on each side of the arbor so I can train the roses to grow up and over each side.

This is what it looks like from my neighbor's side.

This huge maple is only 10 years old.

and

We did not plant it.

I grew from a seed all on it's own.

This is another maple from seed.

Most of the maple trees around our main yard have grown from seed all on their own.

We only move them if we have to and only after they have been given at least two years in the spot where they started growing.

Wild roses on the side arbor.

My cat mint is really starting to fill out.

I still have a lot of mulching to do.

Of course, I may find some new Summer plants that will just fit into my gardens.

There is always more room for a pretty plant.

JUST NOT THE BAD ONES!

Treasures on a Thursday

I had to run some errands today.
On my way home, I stopped at one of my favorite antique dealers.

I am never disappointed when I visit.

He always has a white table or three for me.

He knows I can't leave them behind when he throws such good prices at me.

So, they all came home with me!

Come on, don't even tell me you would have left them behind.
Seriously!

Oh yeah, another chair. 

This chippy little white darling is going in my gardens.

Did you count them? 

I know you did.

Actually there are four tables there.

The iron tables are two separate ones.

Perfect for my deck!

Oh, I already told you.

I HAVE A TABLE PROBLEM!

How could I resist those casters.

and 

That wood and white combination.

I can never resist these little drawer tables.

This little darling is the perfect size for an entry or any spot in my house for that matter.

Back to my errands, one stop I had to make was to have a mammogram.

OK ladies, I have to say that I was wrong, wrong, wrong, not to have done this four years ago.

Does it hurt?

Yeah, some.
 But I can handle a little pain that lasted a mere seconds each time they took the picture.
They only had to take 4 pictures.

I did not wait around for the results, they will call or send me a report.

I am here to say, if you are holding off on doing it because someone said it might hurt.

Stop waiting, get it done.

Maybe you will be rewarded with treasures too!

How is your day going?

Me, I'm off to clean some tables.
And put a dent in the 10 yards of mulch we had delivered yesterday.

Year of the Roses

This year my roses are just so happy.

So many buds.

I try not to buy hybrid or long stem roses because I found that I do not have the time nor the want to take care of them the way they needed.

So, I decided to find roses that work in the Northeast with minimal care.

Wild roses, Iceberg roses and shrub roses seem to be the ones.

This huge bush is a pink fairy rose.

I the next week or so it will be covered in little pink roses.

This rambling rose bush started out small, around 1 foot high.

Once the roses are spent the rose bush will bloom again later in summer.

They are one of my favorite, maybe that's why they are all throughout my many gardens.

I may have also picked up two or five more to plant this year.

I do not know the name of this rose. 

I have two of these planted in the new garden I planted by the garage last year.

They are full of pink rose buds. 

These were supposed to be all white.

I guess I failed on planting an all white garden this year.

I just couldn't resist these pink and white combos.

I made sure to get some of Mr. M's favorite foxgloves.

These are just waiting for a spot in the gardens.

And if I run out of room, I can always plan a new flower bed.

Yep, I'm a crazy gardener.

I have 10 yards of mulch being delivered this week.

A long weekend, beautiful weather and lots of Advil and I am all set!

How about you? 

Any special plans for the weekend?

Are you done gardening or just getting started?

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

I am joining Tracie from Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party.

Snow Balls

It is prime snow ball season here.

and

I thought I LOST MY CAMERA!

I had been searching the house and gardens for the past three days looking for it.

Thank goodness, as of this very morning it is now back in my posession.
I did what any blogger would do and wandered around Arbor House Lane gardens.

Taking lots of photos of my gardens, before I headed off to baseball of course.

My Snow ball bushes are just beautiful this year.
Many of the bushes are just packed with fluffy white snowballs.

Almost all of the winding paths will have a snow ball bush.

This Viburnum is also loaded white white flowers.

I think this is the prettiest I have seen it.

The flowers remind me of a lace cap Hydrangea.

As you can see Mr. Mittens is still letting himself out daily and enjoying it very much.

This is the arbor that leads to our front door.

Both sides are covered in wild white roses, an autumn clematis and pink fairy roses.

In the next couple of weeks it should be an amazing site.

Snow on the mountain to go with my snowballs.

This little snow ball bush is a transplant from one of the larger bushes.

I let them under root for a couple of years and then transplant them. 

This is the flower bed you see first when you drive in the driveway. 

I just clean out overgrown ivy and I am ready to put in a few annuals and then mulch.

Sooooo fluffy!

A garden angel.

Snow ball bushes on the side of the house.

More in the back.

Just to show you, it really is not all white at my home and gardens.

These are some after Easter discounted hydrangeas I bought at Home Depot and planted in my little wagon.

Thanks for stopping by to see some of my gardens.
Now git and enjoy Spring before I throw a snow ball at you!

I am sharing my gardens with Tracie from Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party.
Stop by and visit the beautiful gardens.