Love, Joy and Peas: herb

Showing posts with label herb. Show all posts

Friday, July 15, 2016

Lavender Wreath Making at Willow Oak Flower and Herb Farm

Happy floral Friday! Last Saturday my friend Sandy and I enjoyed a lavender class at Willow Oak Flower and Herb Farm. We had a great time and she kindly agreed to model with the wreath she made in our class (thank you, Sandy!).

We also made some new friends, including Barb, who kindly modeled the pre-made wreath form provided to us for making our lavender wreaths (thank you, Barb!). If I heard correctly, the wreath bases were made from organic thornless rose bushes grown on Willow Oak Flower and Herb Farm.

The instructor (whose name I didn't hear, but who was super nice) demonstrated each step.

These are some of the materials used to make our wreaths. We harvested our own lavender flowers from Willow Oak's flower and herb gardens. We each cut 36 stems from their lavender plants, lined them up (using the bottom of the flower heads as the alignment point), trimmed the whole group of stems to about three inches each, then separated them into six piles of six stems each for making the wreaths. As you can imagine, the wreath making area smelled great.

Willow Oak also provided previously dried statice and tiny white flowers as accents and a piece of lavender ribbon to finish off the wreath. The lavender class was a fun experience, made even nicer for having been shared with friends.

What is your favorite herb? If you have any wreath making tips, I'd love to hear them!

Thank you for visiting! May God bless my kindhearted models and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
My lavender: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/07/lavender-spirea-double-day-lily-mexican.html
My Spanish lavender: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/05/funky-lavender-thyme-allium-marigold.html
DIY sleep tea with lavender: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/diy-sleepy-time-tea-recipe.html

Note/disclaimer: I wasn't asked or paid to write this post. All opinions are my own.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Funky Lavender, Thyme, Allium, Marigold and Dahlia Photos for Floral Friday

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" My wonderful husband bought this Spanish lavender a few weeks ago and it's almost finished blooming so I'm thankful to have a photo of its first year in our yard.

I planted this French thyme last year and it's nice to see it covered in little white flowers.

This giant allium flower is a little miracle. We bought the bulbs last fall but each thought the other planted them. So when I found them in late winter/early spring I took a chance and planted them. Voles ate two of the three that should be blooming now but one survived and I am thankful. We have three more that are supposed to bloom in early summer.

The marigolds are growing and I love this bicolor red/orange marigold.

This is a funky shot of our bicolor dahlia. I love how the petals are shaped.

Thank you for visiting! That's all for this week's tour. Which was your favorite photo? May God bless you this spring and always!

Related posts:
Dahlia loving cat: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/cat-enjoys-my-first-dinner-plate-dahlia.html
Sunflowers, dahlias, marigolds: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/sunflowers-dahlias-marigolds-verbena.html
Giant dahlia close ups: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/10/delightful-dahlia-close-up-photos.html

Friday, September 4, 2015

Dahlia with Skipper, Unusual Zinnias, Vinca and Dill

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" It's been hot and we've lost some plants but overall the flowers are doing great despite the heat.

I love these puffy, pom pom type zinnias and this pink one is my favorite of the bunch.

We've got a variety of vina flowers but this was the prettiest of the week.

In the naturalized herb garden we have this volunteer dill and I like its cheerful yellow flowers.

And the giant red zinnias are going strong. Some are nearly five feet tall and need staking. But it's worth the effort for their gorgeous flowers.

Thank you for joining me on this week's mini garden tour! May God bless you!

Want to help determine this week's most popular flower? Please share which photo you like best from today's post! I'll be gathering your votes from various sources and posting the results in the comments section of this post next week.

Related posts:
Unusual flower photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/sunrise-zinnia-pink-rose-sunrise-dahlia.html
Pom pom cherry blossoms: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/cherry-blossom-pom-pom-flower-photos.html
Late summer flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/chrysanthemum-obedient-plant-tithonia.html

Friday, June 26, 2015

Sunflower, Day Lilies, Vinca and Mystery Flowers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Above is our first sunflower of the year. Bees love sunflowers and I love them both.

Our double bloom orange day lilies started opening this week too.

As did my favorite bicolor day lilies, the El Dorado style. We originally had six of these pretty plants but are down to three (I think this was mostly because of the backhoe situation).

The vincas have been blooming since we planted them but this is the first decent photo.

And these tiny but pretty yellow flowers started blooming this week too. My dear friend Missy gave me the original plants and they spread a bit wider each year. Neither of us knows what the plant is but I think Missy said it's an herb of some kind. If you know what it is, please share.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you this summer and always!

Which is your favorite flower/photo from this week's post? What is blooming in your area?

Related posts:
Black eyed susans, sunflowers and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/teddy-bear-sunflower-black-eyed-susan.html
Sunflowers and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/sunflowers-dahlias-marigolds-verbena.html
Bees and sunflowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/bees-fighting-over-sunflower-photo.html

Friday, July 11, 2014

Morning Glory, Marigolds, Zinnia and Mystery Flowers

Happy floral Friday! I finally have a decent morning glory photo to share with you. We've had blue ones in the past but this year they seem to be all white. The pink flower in the background is an evening primrose.

Although I've been under the weather this week (migraines), my Maryland garden is thriving. The marigolds especially seem to be growing more than any previous batch. They're much taller and wider than usual and have even spread into the pink zinnia bed. I like a well packed cottage garden look and the hot pink and bright yellow are a nice combination so I'm glad for their extra growth.

While the majority of the French marigold plants (grown from seed!) seem to be primarily yellow there are some reds, golds and oranges sprinkled in.

In this overview photo you can see we have a carpet of marigolds.

This last photo features mystery flowers from a plant my dear friend Missy gave me last year. I think she said it was some kind of herb but neither of us knows for sure what it is. If you know, please share. Thank you for visiting! May God bless and keep you!

Related posts:
Day lilies, dahlias and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/dahlias-day-lilies-daisies-and-more.html
Missy's garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/missys-marvelous-gardens.html
Missy's fall flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/chrysanthemum-rose-and-butterfly-plant.html

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Missy's Marvelous Gardens

My dear friend Missy graciously opened her home and garden to me (and my camera) yesterday. We had a great visit and I enjoyed touring her marvelous gardens. Above is one of her front yard garden beds, a delightful mix of flowers, herbs and foliage plants.

Here's a close up of her patriotic porch display with beautifully flowering strawberry plants in wooden boxes. Missy's clever ideas make her garden a beautiful, fun and unique place to visit!

She has some of the best window boxes I've ever seen lining her deck.

Her chervil must be eight feet tall! She had to bend a branch to get it into the photo. You can see a bit of her back yard behind her.

Here's a landscape view of her back yard. I like how she made the bed curve and lined it with large stones.

Hearty thanks to Missy for sharing her beautiful gardens and modeling for my blog! Come back Saturday for another blog post featuring some of Missy's prettiest flowers up close (tomorrow, as usual, I'll be posting flowers from my own garden). May God bless Missy and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
Missy's fall flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/chrysanthemum-rose-and-butterfly-plant.html
Egan's back yard retreat: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/egans-backyard-retreat.html
Mary's amazing garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/05/marys-amazing-garden-retreat.html

Friday, September 21, 2012

Flowers, Bees, Butterflies and Birds

Happy floral Friday everyone! Today's photos were taken at the U.S. National Arboretum by my husband and I (first two by me, second two by Ben). I hope you enjoy them and I'd love to hear from you. I finally figured out how to adjust the settings so anyone can comment so hopefully it will be easier to comment now.

The bird in the photo above was just looking around but I love how it looks like she's staring right into the camera. We were walking through a meadow and she was perched on these dried flowers.

This bee was hanging out on some sedum flowers.

Ben took this fantastic photo of two yellow butterflies enjoying yellow flowers (one was still on a flower and one was flying towards another flower). I thought his was the best photo of the day.

Ben also took this lovely flower photo in the National Herb Garden section of the U.S. National Arboretum.

Hope you have a wonderful Friday and weekend! May God bless you!