Showing posts from July, 2013

Backdrops for a Country Cottage Junk Garden

July 29, 2013
I don't live in the country.  I live in a residential cul-de-sac in a smallish town.  No country fences, no old barns, no barn wood, no meadow, no great garden backdrops, period! So to create the country, cottage, rustic, junk garden look I strive to achieve, I have to pull in some props.  Some of my props are well known:  the stepladder in the front border, the potting sink, and the chippy white painted wheelbarrow.  These fun pieces appear over and over in my posts, but what about the workhorses, the backdrops to my vignettes? THE WAGON WHEEL $15 \ My old buggy wheel here with Lady's Mantle, hostas, and other garden junk beside the house.


Add a Bike to Your Garden Just for the Fun of It

July 28, 2013
Sometimes while I am waiting for just the "right time" to post a garden photo, I wait just a little too long, and the plant or pot is a little past it's prime. That is the case with my bike basket this year.  Here my bike basket is just gorgeous in June. Garden Bike 6/25 My bike basket annuals are Large Lilac Blue Verbena, Superbells Yellow Chiffon Calibrachoa, Supertunia Mini Purple and ornamental oregano.


Serenity in a Junk Garden

July 27, 2013
Back on June 19th , I shared a neutral, peaceful junk garden vignette that featured my newly found chippy barn door. Now in late July, the barrels have filled in nicely. Chippy Barn Door Under a Tree with Barrels of Sweet Potato Vine, Creeping Jenny, Bacopa, and Ponytail Grass.


A New Toy for my Succulent Garden Bed

July 25, 2013
I bought myself a new toy.  Really! Vintage Tonka Front End Loader


Revisiting Vignettes: Pressing Garden Matters, Another Kitchen Fairy Garden, & Laundry Themed Wheelbarrow

July 24, 2013
I really enjoy dreaming up clever outdoor vignettes re-using second hand, vintage junk that I can find inexpensively.  I hope you enjoy seeing them! In this post, I will be revisiting three garden vignettes to show their progress this summer season. Garden Junk Vignette - Iron, ironing board. clothespin bag. There was " Pressing Garden Matters" that debuted in late May  here. Now in late July, the Rose Star Calibrachoa in the "laundry basket" has filled out nicely.


12 Creative Garden Ideas Under $20

July 24, 2013
A new blogging friend of mine, Melissa, the Empress of Dirt has assembled a great post with twelve creative and frugal DIY garden projects. There is a good variety of projects in this round up from a variety of garden bloggers, including me.  Here is a link  to more photos and instructions to each project! Thanks, Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER In A Reader. Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER by Email. Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER on Facebook. Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER on Twitter. Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER on Bloglovin'.


Up Close & Personal With My Cottage Garden Plants

July 23, 2013
Yesterday I shared labelled photos of my front yard cottage garden to give you an idea how I achieved the cottage garden style that I love.  That post is  here. Since I planned out my garden to achieve a "full bloom" look from late June through early August, most of my perennials were blooming in the photos.  Another way I manage the "full bloom" look is using annuals that bloom all summer. Here is a close up look at the flowers in my zone 3 garden, and what I like and dislike about them, and a 1-10 rating. Plant Key:   1.  Creeping Baby's Breath (P)  - I love the long bloom time, the non-invasive slow spread, and the airy light blossoms.  This perennial blooms from mid June through early July. Overall rating (8).     


Anatomy of a Cottage Garden

July 21, 2013
I am a cottage style gardener.  My flower gardens are not formal.  I like to mix annuals, perennials and garden junk.  My only rule is "taller in the back and shorter in front".  The junk serves two purposes, vertical interest and visual interest.  A flower bed is just far more interesting and pleasing when there is some height, and varying heights. Plan a garden! Plant a garden!  It's fun!  I have made mistakes in design and just moved the plants the following year.   Below are labeled photographs of my 2013 front yard border.  P=Perennial, A=Annual  (Zone 3) Cottage Style Garden Planting Diagram


Planting Under a Spruce Tree: Another Terra Cotta Pot Edging

July 19, 2013
2013 Terra Cotta Pot Garden Edging 2012 Terra Cotta Pot Garden Edging


Deadheading: The Beauty and Bane of a Flower Garden

July 19, 2013
I am a deadheader.   Just what is deadheading? "Deadheading" is the removal of spent blossoms to encourage further blooming and/or to improve the appearance of the plant and garden.    I have been outside "deadheading" for a couple hours and am still not done.  After three days of hard rain, deadheading is a must. I have read many a garden book that touts deadheading. The whole theory of deadheading is that the plant will have extra vigor to produce more blossoms if the spent bloom and seed producing part of the stem are removed.  If the plant is not seed producing, it can set forth more new blossoms". A spent blossom on a trailing petuna pinched off below the seed forming area of the stem.  


Woman's Work: Utilitarian Kitchen Collectibles

July 16, 2013
I always am drawn to vintage utilitarian kitchen utensils and cookware, used by mostly women, in their heyday.  I found this bread board for $1 at an estate sale recently. I think the coil stove element "burn mark" made the piece "extra special".  I know it was used for cooking family meals in the 1950's.  I recently picked up the whisk at a consignment shop for $1.


Curb Appeal

July 14, 2013
I purchased my home in 1990 as a recently divorced 34 year old parent of two children aged 11 and 5. This is the Century 21 file listing photo.  I loved this house.  The "Wedgwood Blue" new steel siding was very "in" and the house was up on on a sloped yard.  It seemed like my castle on a hill.  It worked for us.  Only a single stall garage, but I only had one car. The two tall shrubs were immediately removed and the lower shrub on the left was later removed to give the covered patio a view of the street.  I became a gardener too.


Re-Using the Futon Ends & Pottery Barn Chairs in the Garden

July 14, 2013
Do you remember last year when I used the arms/end of an old college futon in my garden? If you want to revisit that post, click  here.


Horticulture and Garden Junk

July 11, 2013
A local horticultural society has asked to tour my flower gardens on Sunday afternoon. I am hoping they are not expecting a conventional perennial border with all the Latin botanical names of the plants, because I am a junk gardener with a green thumb. Not a traditional gardener at all. Not sure if they are the Junk Garden type... Petite Hosta Showcased in a Lamp Skeleton Rusty Iron Garden Figurines Craft Shop Star Birdhouse, Wooden Daisy, and Window Screen Flower. I hope they enjoy my "Garden Junk" style! Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER In A Reader. Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER by Email. Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER on Facebook. Follow  ORGANIZED CLUTTER on Twitter.


Outdoor This and That 16: What's Blooming/Weeding Tips/Seal Coated Driveway

July 08, 2013
I sometimes get so wrapped up in my garden junk that I forget to show you the beautiful flowers now blooming now in my gardens! A beautiful fernleaf white Dropwort Filapendula.


Garden Hens and Chicks and Roosters

July 08, 2013
There is a very small little flower garden close to my covered patio and next to the driveway.  It is edged with a pre-fab concrete scalloped border. I have been planting succulents in three iron wheels in this garden the last few years.  Mostly sedums, hen and chicks and moss roses.


Fork & Faucet Handle Garden Flower Copy Cat

July 07, 2013
I am a big fat copy cat today.  


New Finds and a New Outdoor Vignette

July 06, 2013
Last weekend I attended an estate sale.  I purchased the following:  (also an old breadboard, I will show you later) Two vintage and weathered galvanized buckets $2 each.  A wooden handle garden hand rake and a "Good Grip" aluminum hand rake.  $2 and $3 respectively.


Home Tour 2013

July 06, 2013
I have seen a lot of blogger home tours recently.  I really have never put together a whole home tour, just reveal posts room by room.   I hope you will enjoy my unique  "Organized Clutter" style home, lovingly and whimsically decorated with family heirlooms, collected antiques and vintage items. The Living Room


Dianthus: A Cottage Garden Flower

July 02, 2013
As a fan of an informal cottage garden, "Pinks" or Dianthus are a perfect choice for me.   The foliage is narrow, usually somewhat grasslike, and the blooms are pretty erect to slightly trailing to sort of willy-nilly.  All blossoms have the distinctive jagged edge. Pinks are either annual, biennial, or perennial.  All are pretty hardy, and able to survive a Minnesota Zone 3 winter. I have already shown you in a previous post my perennial cheddar pinks to the right of my creeping baby's breath.  The cheddar pink has bright pink blossoms against silver gray foliage.  A very showy combination.  One tiny blossom of a zing rose dianthus deltoides is visible.  Do you see it?


Patriotic Kitchen Vignette

July 01, 2013
Do you ever wonder how a vignette comes together?   For me, I always have a couple of key pieces in mind, like flags for the 4th and some red objects.  (The handier the items the better) My beloved red handled masher purchased very recently and the nut grinder were already in the kitchen.