Blue on Blue, January 11, 2016

Welcome to my blog, today I am linking with-

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

I'd Rather B' Birdin' hosted by Hootin' Anni

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Magical Mystical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

The blue Steller's Jays have been showing up 5-6 strong lately.  They tend to run the smaller birds like Chickadees, Juncos, and Nuthatches off.

They like to hammer at the seeds to open them

Fancy feathers-

My little perennial seedlings have finally been getting transplanted.  Pulling the tiny plants apart without damaging the root systems is a delicate operation, but rewarding.   The pinkish color is my new red and blue LED plant light.  Here are Lunaria, 4-6" tall-

and Dahlia 'Harlequin'-

And for my In A Vase On Monday entry, looking high and low around the house for something to put in a vase this week, in pursuit of Cathy's challenge, I decided on a few of the flowers from my Polygonum capitatum (AKA Persicaria capitata) that I grew from seed.  It turned out to be marginally hardy here, so it lives in a large pot with a small lemon tree and trails over the pot.  I picked just a few since I enjoy their long-lasting little blooms and chevron marked leaves.

Here the tiny flowers are displayed in a petite demitasse teacup in a blue onion type pattern by Blue Danube, for the pinkish photos I used an added lens cover that was tinted, marked FLD, I like the colors-

I'm not a pottery expert but I suppose it is copying the matching Hutschen Reuther teapot-

We bought the teapot on a trip I and The Motorcyclist took to Europe BC (before children), where he purchased a BMW motorcycle in Bavaria, Munchen, and we rode it up through Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and to The Motorcyclist's uncle's house in Sweden, north of Stockholm, where the sun only kind of gets a little dark between 11pm and 1am.  I have always wished we could have gotten to Paris on the way up but we didn't make it.  But the trip was also complicated by having to get required servicing when breaking in a new motorcycle, and it was very difficult to find a shop that could do the maintenance on a moment's notice.  We did manage to take a large suitcase on the trip and bought a number of collectibles, toured castles, observed how different countries mowed and baled hay, ate lovely pastries and wonderful little scoops of German ices, swam in the Bodensee at night looking at statues, and met my husband's Swedish cousins.

And now a few of the vases I posted last year for In a Vase on Monday-

Crystal vase-

my ceramic vase-

ceramic vase and chicken-

mosaic glass vase-

 Vase from my MIL-

 My ceramic vase and Mexican box-

Red mosaic glass vase-

Iridescent mosaic glass vase-

My ceramic vase-

What are you planning for your garden next summer?    -Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or email address.

Happy New Year- Snow! January 3, 2016

The surprise this morning is the first snowfall of the current fall-winter seasons.  In view out the back window, huddled under a tree-

Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

I'd Rather B' Birdin' hosted by Hootin' Anni'

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

A rarely-sighted bird visited for some seed last week, a Varied Thrush, Ixoreus naevius, what a name.  Pardon the window glare.  Similar in size to an American robin, and with my favorite rusty peach and bluish grey coloring-

Last year I enjoyed a new bloghop that added a new dimension to my gardening, a challenge by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden to go looking for flowers and foliage to put in a vase.  For this Monday, I looked outside and found some Nandina berries still clinging to the icy bloom stalks, and stuck them in some snow in an iridescent bowl and horse set I inherited from my Swedish Mother-in-Law.

I'm also featuring a sampling of my vases from last year, and more next week-

Daughter's teapot

My pinched vase

Mt. St. Helen's ash ball-

Blue glass vase-

Antique globe with my DIL's pottery cup-

My handmade slab vase-

My handmade slab pinched vase-

Glass swirled knobby vase-

My handmade slab pinched vase-

My winter gardening activites are planting seeds under lights for flowers I want to grow next year, hoping at least some will bloom this year, though some may wait until next year to bloom.  Gaillardias, Platycodon, Dahlias, 

Lunaria, getting the biggest fastest and needing transplanting soon-

Streptocarpus- what a surprise to see a few smaller than 1 mm, plus Asters, Echinacea, and Salvia-

I have 3 shelf set-ups for starting seedlings, they are made from 3-shelf metal units which hold 4 standard 10 x 20" nursery flats.  I suspend 4' fluorescent light fixtures from the top and middle shelf,  and the seedlings can grow about 11" until they hit the lights.  The nursery flats each hold rows of 4 x 9 rose pots which are 2.25" square, = 36 plants x 4 flats= 144 plants per shelf unit x 3 units = potentially 432 seedlings.  I don't want to start that many plants, but in a couple of past years I have actually needed all the shelves plus had overflow.  If I transplant to 4" pots the flat holds fewer plants.

I hope you had a fun and meaningful New Year's Eve, I spent the evening with my 5 local grandkids and niece's family with one great-niece, and then went home before midnight to see the New Year in with the Motorcyclist.  -Hannah

My wish for the New Year-

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or email address.

Pressing On Toward the New, December 28, 2015

The New Year is looming, full of promise like the gorgeous full moon of Christmas.  A Christmas full moon occurred last in 1977, when Luke Skywalker was flying across the skies for the first time.   We saw him again in 3D, it was great seeing the original crew of the Millineum Falcon together again, older and wiser.  Chewie seemed to have hardly aged.

Today I am linking with-

Skywatch Friday hosted by Yogi, Sandy and Sylvia

Today's flowers hosted by Denise  success!

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura  success!

I hope all of you enjoyed some times of celebration with some family members or friends.  This is a memento of my Christmas season with my favorite idealized bird, the beautiful Cardinal.  This was taken last summer with one from my collection of variegated/striped roses, with some Arctostaphylos uva-ursi berries.

Some of my favorite ornaments are ones I made myself, with crochet-

I'm Scotch-Irish so I made a Celtic knot heart-

With needlepoint, the point of the Advent, the angels marveled to see the King of Heaven born as a babe to die.

From my early ceramic endeavors, a hand-built angel, edges rolled with a sea shell-

And one from a mold-

My Christmas cactus came through with some blooms, 

Here with a basket my #2 daughter made-

And here with some of my Charlie Brown collection-

A globe that casts a lovely glow-

 And finally, for my current In a Vase on Monday entry, answering hostess Cathy's challenge to find something in your garden to put in a vase on every Monday of the year, I am featuring some steely blue berries from Viburnum davidii, and a couple of sprigs of the silvery Archangel Lamium.   Here with a wood painting by daughter #2 in her homeschooling days, and a little cardinal and silver pine cone.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah -Hannah.

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or email address.

Rainy Days In a Vase on Monday December 7, 2015

Welcome to my blog, today I am linking with-

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Today I am rising to Cathy's In a Vase on Monday challenge to find plant material in my garden, so I went out in the rain to gather a few sprigs of Lonicera nitida and Vinca major variegata, and found a couple of rose hips from Dublin Bay, a beautiful climbing red rose.  I combined them with a flower from one of my indoor Pelargonium geraniums in my favorite color that blooms all year.  I also used my iridescent chicken dish and a vase I made.

The chicken is happy to be in the mystical spotlight-

The geranium is a delightful peach-

But the camera also likes to make it pinker-

It's hard to have flowers blooming outside all year but indoors is easier.  I'm also making up for the fall/winter lull in the garden by planting little seeds under lights, I hope they will start sprouting soon.  Are you planting anything or making plans for next year's garden?   Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  If so, I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or an email address.