What is this? A pan of boiling potatoes?

The mirowave cooked its last baked potato

and wamed its last cup of milk for a coffee this week!

Now it is back to basics and Cooking 101.

Summer fabrics for the garden!

Memories of Tuscany, Provence, Al Fresco dining, warm summer evenings, fresh basil from the garden, Rose beer, all things Mexican, garden design, Weeding.nl, relaxing in the garden, puttering around in the garden, music,cycling planning winter quilt projects,and Hosta's. I hope everyone is off to a great start to the summer.

Thursday night was a perfect summers evening for a bike ride. No mosquitoes!(Yet) This is the harbour at Eem Brugge(Baarn). Don't know why there are so many boats! It is vacation time in this region! Most Dutch have left the country by now. The southern region begins their summer vacation next weekend.

Enjoy the weather while you can!

Friday had a very wet start to the day!

Great for the garden!

Cows. Look closely and you will see that they are for decoration an not consumption! Need something as garden ornament? This is the thing to get! Our garden is a bit small for the required amount of grass needed per cow!

Lots of flowers are needed for attracting butterflies and bees.

Flowers From the Garden
Passion Flower

Day Lilly( Daglelie) Hemerocallis Frans Hals

Our new rain water measuring system! Yesterday the rain seemed to come from no where. Out of the blue, while I was out on my bike, between two stops, Rain. Tropical showers if we can call it that here. For those of you who are not used to metric it also gives an imperial reading!

The next project is on its way. Inspired by a stop in Alaska last year. This old back pack will be filled with potting soil and a selection of plants. The challenge is where to hang it!There is an old photo with the original idea on this Blog but you have to go back a few months to find it!

The Yucca's are in bloom for the first time!
Seed heads from the spring flowering Alliums.

Smaller late flowering Alliums attract bees as well!

Steps in the garden to add height and interest.

A walk along a country lane on a Saturday morning!

A bit of a garden update today:
The two Hostas "Fire and Ice"
are in the wheelbarrow.
A bit of morning sun makes this sort grow better
Perfect spot for them in the front yard.

The yellow climbing Rose that I bought at the Lidl
isn't yellow but well a climber this time!
The colour is fine so this time it is staying put
and will not be making its way to the compost bin!

The Climbing Ivy is starting to climb!

Hosta "Popcorn"

Warm. Very warm today. Not much gardening/Weeding.nl activity after 2.30 pm. Had an early start to the day too! It is the type of weather to relax, look around, see what's what. What seeds should I gather so I can create next years garden ideas?( Feels a lot cooler to sleep in the kitchen with the door open than upatairs in the bedroom!)

I have seeds from this plant. Euphorbia(Wolfsmilk).

Will be giving it a try in the garden!

What an inviting place to sit! Wouldn't want to sit here too long without a cushion! Makes a nice ornament in an English garden though. Under the big Oak tree next to the babbling brook with the sent of Honeysuckle in the air, a row of Hollyhocks of mixed colours, Climatis with flowers the size of saucers, Echinacea, Womans Mantle, and climbing Roses rambling through the old dead wood of a Maple tree.! Wait! This sit set is on sale! Spotted at www.debeeldentuin.nl in Garderen! Where to put it?

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood,

and I—I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Fransen Hostas was the destination today! We drove west through a beautiful part of The Netherlands to Ter Aar for their Hosta weekend! Open on Sunday!

The 2009 catalogue contains 1001 Hostas in the regular list and more than 500 varieties in their limited supply. Outside, the show garden has many Hostas and a few other shade loving plants planted in the full ground. A footpath leads you through this to let you see what you too can have after a few years !

Inside the nursery the Hostas are container grown and displayed in alphabetical order to make it easy(difficult?) to select. What a great way to learn about Hostas! I'm sure nobody leaves with just one plant.

"This selection contains the new introductions and Hostas that haven't been seen for a long time. These are not in the 2009 catalogue and are available for purchase after our open weekend at the end of June"

After using their website www.hostakweker.nl or www.hostaparadise.com I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Ofcourse some photo's are not like the real thing. Some were better and some Hostas didn't even stay on the list! There was only an empty space of the one Hosta that I really wanted. "Paradise Glory". It is a beautiful Hosta that will be by our front door. I always said that where we live is a little piece of paradise! Joyce and Marco Fransen are very helpfull. He used his bycicle to go to one of their other "greenhouse's" to find one. This is what makes shopping at a family run nursery so special, Service and heaps of knowlege. We drove home with two catalogue's and Hosta's: Fire and Ice(2), Paradise Glory, Orange Marmalade, Praying Hands, Liberty, Popcorn and the free Hosta of the month American Icon! Taking the total of Hostas in our backyard to 37 and 3 for the front yard! The answer is - there is still room!