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Seashells can be used to create interesting decor accessories

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My parents used to be what I’d call winter Texans. Yes, they were snowbirds, but instead of going to Florida like many of the other snowbirds they found a place to call a home away from home in Texas.

My mother liked to do various crafts while she was in Texas and she’d bring them home when they came back in the spring. She made decorative plant pots and even hanging patio lights.

However, my favorite types of things that she made were made with sea shells. She’d get nice glass wear and fill them with shells and believe it or not a pretty glass full of attractive shells is quite nice. She’d also use plain glass jars and glue shells to the outside. The jars could then have tea light candles inside them. This made simple yet attractive candle holders.

She also used shells and starfish to decorate the outside of plant pots. She wouldn’t cover the whole pot with shells, no, she’d just make an attractive pattern on the pot.

When I visited Quality Shells a few minutes ago, memories of my mother and her craft projects came rushing back to me. All those memories got me thinking that seashells, sand dollars and starfish could be used to create decorative items for table center pieces, or candle holders at weddings and other party settings, or then could be used as I’ve described my mothers use of them.

I have some shells that I just leave on top of a mantle piece. I like the look of them lying loose on the mantle. Their colorful shells catching my eye as I pass them during the day.

If you’d like to use shells for your own craft projects why don’t you visit Quality Shells and select some of their beautiful shells for your next project?






I see green growth in my garden

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The weather really warmed up here over the last few days. All the snow and ice that we got a week and a half ago is pretty much gone!

The moisture must have done the grass and the garden beds some good. The grass doesn’t have that worn out dormant look. It actually looks pretty green. I guess that’s because we only had really cold weather here this winter for a month and a half rather than three or four months like we normally do.

From my kitchen window I can see small patches of green poking up in the garden beds. One of the sedum has new growth starting, and there’s definitely some chives coming up. Near the chives I see another patch of green but I can’t remember what I’ve got planted there. I’m wondering if it’s some bulbs coming up?

I’ll have to take a walk outside tomorrow and see what else is happening in the garden.

It’s a shame that these plants are coming up and that the snow has melted. You see, we are expecting at least one more round of fairly cold weather in the next few days. I hope it doesn’t damage the foolish plants that decided to begin to grow so early.

Have any of you noticed signs of your plants beginning to grow again in your gardens?

Tips on how to learn more about the plants growing in your garden

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I often receive questions that ask me to explain in detail how to care for specific perennials. While I am working on having a very large index of care information for specific plants it does take time to create this information.

Now, even though I grew up in a family that gardened, I still found myself somewhat bewildered when I moved into my current home and started a garden of my own. I was growing a number of new plants – perennial and annual that I’d never worked with in the past. I too, had tons of questions.

What did I do in order to brush up on my knowledge?

Well, I went searching on the internet to find information on specific plants and gardening techniques. This was a wonderful method of getting information and my list of gardening related bookmark is huge! Unfortunately I also came across information that contradicted other information that I’d found.

That’s when I began buying gardening books. I bought a few good general gardening books, one or two about perennials and annuals, and a few that discussed gardening in my particular area, or at least in my Country. That was one of the best moves that I could have made. Now I’ve got 10+ very helpful gardening books at hand whenever I need to look something up.

Practice, experimentation, talking to other gardeners, and joining garden forums such as the Garden Web also helped quite a bit.

I observed my plants carefully in the first year on my own, taking notes occasionally as to the various plants bloom time, how often it bloomed, when it first started to grow in the spring and so on. I learned a lot just by observing my plants and caring for them as best I could.

Of course nothing pleased me more than when my mother, visiting from our home town and staying with us for a week or so, remarked as she gazed at our garden, “It’s so nice to know that one of our children inherited my green thumb”. What higher compliment could one gardener give another?

If you are just starting your garden, or still in the process of learning about new plants you might want to pick up one or all of the following books:

Perennials for Dummies by Marcia Tatroe ISBN 0764550306;

Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials: 10th Anniversary Revised and Expanded Edition by Ellen Phillips and C. Colston Burrell ISBN: 0875965709;

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques by Tracy Disabato-Aust, Steven M. Still ISBN: 0881924148.

Enjoy your garden!

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