#7 of 10 Things I Love in No Particular Order

Gardening!

You are probably thinking, well duh! This used to be a gardening blog after all. She must love gardening. And I do love gardening! These are things I love most about gardening:

Gardening is like "infinite decorating". I love interior decorating but one can only re-arrange and re-vamp a room so often without becoming obnoxious to those around you. Everyone wants to have their "spot" to relax and if you keep moving it around they get a little cranky! Gardening on the other hand is different. If you don't like where a plant is sitting, yank it up and plop it in the ground somewhere else! My favorite thing to do lately is re-vamping different areas in our yard so they are lower maintenance which gives me time for other things like enjoying the garden!

 

I re-vamped this area last year. Before this all the plants seemed to dry up in the hot sun. So why fight it? I added a dry bed and plants that don't require much water. Now I just ignore it and it's still happy.

 Another view of the dry bed re-vamp. 

These rocks were much cheaper than a new couch!

  

Gardening is full of surprises.  Sometimes that can be a good thing, sometimes it's not good or bad, just interesting.

Believe it or not this green flower is an Amaranth "Love Lies Bleeding". I grew it from a seed packet that has a red flower. It never turned red, it stayed green just like you see. Surprise!  

I planted this hardy hibiscus seven years ago and the blooms are the size of dinner plates. They are like this every year but when they actually bloom and I see them again it always surprises me how big they really are! I love them!

If you look close you can see a dragon fly trying to blend into this rock. Surprise!

#6 of 10 Things I Love in No Particular Order

Reading!

I love to read a good book. Fiction and non-fiction. I don't have time to read as much as I would like to but when I do here are some of the books I enjoyed.

 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson,

followed by the other two books in the series.

A thriller and a half, I couldn't put them down. 

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

An amazing story of several characters in India.

The characters could all be considered "misfits" and 

they are together out of poverty and end up creating

their own little family. It will make you 

appreciate your own life.

The Intimate Garden by Brian D. Coleman

This is probably more of a coffee table type book, 

but the pictures and ideas are wonderful.

Check out one of the houses featured in the book, 

the garden is jaw dropping beautiful.

Seattle Curb Appeal

 The Ultimate Plant Book, by Kate Bryant and Tony Rodd

This book is about 4 inches thick and has detailed information about every plant or tree you can imagine. It also has great pictures! 

I use mine so much it is starting to wear out. 

One of the best impulse buys I have ever made at Costco.

Grasses: Versatile Partners for Uncommon Garden Design

By Nancy J. Ondra (author) and Saxton Holt (photographer)

I found this book in the gift shop at the Oregon Garden.

Many plant books are limited on the information for grasses

and this fills in the blanks of my gardening book collection

Great pictures and great detail of common and exotic types of grasses.

For The Love Of A Dog by Patricia McConnell

This is non-fiction by a wonderful animal behavioralist.

Keith and I were lucky to be able to attend one of her seminars 

when she was in our area. We have read many of her books she 

opens up a whole new perspective on dog behavior.

  The Art Of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein

This book is written from the perspective of the dog. 

You will laugh, cry and never forget it.

Stress Less, by Thea Singer

I am only 3/4 of the way through this book but I think it is worth mentioning. I read a review in the newspaper about it and asked Santa to give it to me for Christmas and he did! It is much more about science and research and the damage that chronic stress does to our bodies and to the very core of our DNA rather than how to go about reducing stress. It will scare you into exercising, eating right and de-stressing! Now I'm stressed! Eeek! The good news is it may not be too late to reverse some of the damage of stress. A very interesting read.