Birds are becoming active

Leaving the house yesterday, I saw a downy woodpecker on the suet feeder, not an unusual sight for winter, but I'm starting to see and hear birds that remind me that spring is on the way. The cheery call of a Carolina wren greeted me this morning, and later, I surprised a female bluebird near the big oak tree in front.

She's the first bluebird I've seen in our garden, although we have many breeding pairs in the botanical garden's meadows. I think we'll try moving the bluebird house on the old Pawlonia to a more attractive spot!

Poking around in the leaf litter in the perennial beds, shoots of spring bulbs are well up, and fresh rosette growth is starting to appear. Hooray!

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Old-World Mixed with Modern

We love the blue-green walls with parquet floors, the mix of light woods and dark leathers in the furnishings, and the enameled light fixtures. -Apartment Therapy

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Bright and Bold Living Room

This colorful room is from architect Scott Weston's home in Sydney, Australia. Love the amazing bookcase and ottoman. Photo from Vogue Living Sept/Oct 2004 and All Things Bright and Beautiful

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Summery, Coastal Style Home

We had chosen the turquoise linen for the sunroom, but when I walked through the dining room and held the sample up to the wall, we both said, "That's it!" The turquoise brightened even the grayest of February days. It has great impact and sets a tone for the colors throughout. Turquoise on tinted linen wall fabric from Quadrille.

Beaded dinner plates from Ballard Designs are topped with striped salad plates from Target. Vintage turquoise sugar pot from Ruzzetti and Gow. Turquoise goblets and flatware from Ballard Designs. -From House Beautiful

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On Bugs ...

Does Blogger have a new bug? A while back, when I was working on another of my Blogger sites I suddenly realised the back button on my toolbar wasn't working. I could click on all the links, but could never get back to the previous page. On other sites it was fine - no problems at all. I didn't really have time to think about it at that moment, so mentally filed it away under "to be investigated" and went on to other things.

And then the other day, I realised it had happened to this site too. (Go on - try it. You're trapped ...) So I started to look at other sites, and lo and behold, other Blogger sites were doing the same thing. Carol, May Dreams Gardens seemed to have got the bug - but I've just checked again and it's fine today. Yolanda Elisabet, Bliss in the Netherlands is affected too. But it's not every Blogger site. Some others seem fine.

For a while I wondered if it was my computer. But no, I tried on another and the same thing happened.

Does anyone know what's going on, and how we fix it? It's a b***** nuisance, both when you're trying to work on the site and when you're trying to read it. So if you are stuck here, my apologies. I didn't set the trap, I promise.

Whilst on the subject of bugs, if you read this blog last year you'll know I was plagued by (read obsessed by) caterpillars for much of 2007. How can they eat so much and do so much damage and avoid predators at the same time. So when I found this David Attenborough clip the other day, I couldn't help but watch. The BBC has opened a series of channels on My Space, and are inviting people to post them to their own sites. So, The Balcony Garden brings you (legally) David Attenborough and the sneakiest caterpillar in the world. The amazing thing is the complexity of the programming that must exist in the miniscule blob of protoplasm that makes up the brain of this tiny creature ...

PS - but an important one : Remember the Garden Blogger's 2008 Carnival? You're still in time to show your appreciation of one of the blogs which you enjoy by nominating it for next week's carnival. It's a great way to say thank you. Click on the link for details.

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Cool, Sophisticated Bedroom

The Master Bedroom is a study in cool, sophisticated glamour. Crisp whites combined with robin's egg blue and chocolate brown provide a an atmosphere of calm. Jonathan Adler headboard and benches are from Hazelnut and the bed linens are from Leontine Linens. The graphic brown and blue rug by Angela Adams gives the room its edge. -From Bayou Contessa

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A Chic, Modern Kitchen

Pale blue works well in this chic, modern kitchen. Unexpected accessories like a vampy black chandelier and sculptural stools keep things fresh.

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Romantic Bathroom Retreat

This bathroom becomes a soothing sanctuary with dreamy aqua walls.

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Planning to plant

Seed catalogs are a great source of inspiration, especially in the grey days of winter. Here in the South, we often have mild days punctuated by colder weather, so we have plenty of opportunities to spend time outside evaluating new projects and doing prep for late winter and spring planting.

Perusing the stack of seed catalogs, making orders, and considering planting plans are evening and cold day activities, and being someone who loves to buy seeds -- this is a wonderful antidote to cold, dark days inside.

Some of the things I enjoy ordering are beautiful lettuces, unusual squashes, purple pole beans, small striped eggplants, specialty sweet peppers, edible flowers, potato sets in rainbow hues, teeny round carrots, yard-long beans ...

Some of my favorite vegetable and seed catalogs are:

The Cook's Garden
www.cooksgarden.com
Johnny's Seeds
www.johnnyseeds.com
Nichols Garden Nursery
www.nicholsgardennursery.com
Pinetree Garden Seeds
www.superseeds.com
Park Seed
www.parkseed.com
Seeds of Change
www.seedsofchange.com
Territorial Seed Company
www.territorialseed.com
Abundant Life Seed Co
www.abundantlifeseeds.com
Renee’s Garden
www.reneesgarden.com
Burpee
www.burpee.com

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Contemporary Living

Design a room that's perfect for relaxing and entertaining guests. In this room, a contemporary blue armchair from The Conran Shop and a brown leather sofa are grouped around a coffee table to make a welcoming, stylish seating area. The TV is hidden in a wooden cabinet. Blue patterned walls, curtains and a print over the fireplace all complement the centrepiece chair. Invest in a pouffe as extra seating and opt for laminate flooring which is easy to clean.

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On the naming of plants

If there's a plant which I find easy to grow, it's Epipremnum aureum, commonly known as Hunter's Robe. That's the plant in the photo.

If that last paragraph had you reaching for the comment button to tell me I got it wrong - hold on. How about Scindapsus aureus, Pothos aureus and Raphidophora aurea? Oh, and as a common name, Devil's Ivy, Taro Vine or Silver Vine. Or Golden Pothos. Or Ceylon Ivy. Or my favourite - Centipede Tongavine. Yep, all the same plant.

I don't have a problem with the common names - it's fairly obvious that each region will decide its own name for a plant and more than one may filter through to common use. But why four official botanical names?

Well, according to the Royal Horticultural Society they're not actually all official, only one is. The others are referred to as "synonyms". And the reason for the alternatives is much the same as the reason for the difference in common names - before the era of global communication, botanists working in different parts of the world would often give "official" names to plants, unaware the plant had already been classified and named by someone else. Occasionally two different people might even manage to give the same name to two different plants.

So someone has to decide which name to use. The rule used to be that whichever name was given earliest won. But that occasionally meant that a name which had become more generally used lost out. So common sense now sometimes prevails and a later, but more widely used name is given official status.

The other reason that alternative names may exist is that sometimes they've just got it wrong, classifying a species under the wrong genus, so that the name has later been changed. Forget Coleus, for instance. It's now Solenostemon.

Again, common sense will sometimes prevail and the taxonomists (the people responsible for classifying plants) will sometimes let us keep the more common name, even when a change of genus is concerned. We were saved from Freesia becoming Anomatheca, for instance. Phew!

And then there was the case of chrysanthemums. In 1989 it was decided that the genus name should be changed to --- umm, er, what was it again? Doesn't matter. It didn't catch on, and at a recent International Botanical Congress (which is where they decide these things), they gave in and changed it back again.

Now personally, it took me a couple of minutes to get my brain around Solenostemon. I typed solestemon, solestenum and a couple of other variants before I just gave up and copied it out letter by letter. I think I may just stick with Coleus ...

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Art-Inspired Living Room

To achieve a look like this gorgeous brown and turquoise living room, take a favorite picture as inspiration, then achieve a cohesive effect with a few pieces in a similar color. Add some surprises to stop the look becoming too contrived.

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Mediterranean-Inspired Living Room

A turquoise feature wall offsets paintings and glass ornaments in shades of blue in this Mediterranean-inspired living room. A contemporary wrought-iron sofa, chair, console and coffee table add to the outdoor feel, while a traditional painted chair provides colour and contrast. Limestone tiles and a soft rug add brightness and texture.

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Prettiest Painted Room in America

A narrow stripe done in shades of turquoise and pale green, this room has a look that’s decidedly “pretty." Or so it was judged in the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute's "Prettiest Painted Room in America Competition."

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Turquoise en-suite bathroom

This master bedroom's en-suite bathroom adopts an aquatic theme with pretty turquoise and blue pebble-mosaic by Orlando Valvona adorning the shower cubicle wall.

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Turn-of-the-Century Kitchen

We wanted to keep the style of the house yet add modern touches where it made the most sense. I chose the pebbly glass for the cabinets because it brings out the texture of the cork floors.

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Our master bathroom is finished. I made the valance above the tub and refinished the stool by recovering the seat and spraying the iron legs to match the metal fixtures.

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Nearly completed master bedroom. Just needs the drapes hung ... and a few of the brass colored metals refinished with oil rubbed bronze finish.

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Peaceful and Cozy Master Bedroom

A fireplace, with white-painted beadboard and a cream travertine marble surround, creates a warm and cozy feel in the master bedroom.

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Clean and Simple Bedroom

A restored midcentury bench’s Indian-print upholstery fabric inspired a color scheme of grass green and light blue throughout the master suite. Wall-mounted swing-arm sconces offer targeted illumination for reading.

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Handpainted Stripes

Improvise to get the style you desire. Sometimes the look you want just isn’t sold in stores. When that happens, you have to improvise. Instead of hanging wallpaper, mottled stripes were hand-painted on this bedroom wall for a softer look.

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Seafoam Blue and Brown

The seafoam hue on the walls is continued on the ceiling for a seamless effect in this living room. A coat of brown on the bookshelves adds depth. Opt for a gloss or semigloss finish here for durability. Ceiling and walls: seafoam blue Eurolux AR5 from Fine Paints of Europe and bookcase: brown Rockies Brown from Benjamin Moore.

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Cafe au Lait & Robin's-Egg Blue

A new way to do neutral? Pale, creamy walls uplifted by a dreamy blue ceiling. Moldings and walls painted the same color create a modern look. Turquoise makes a great accent color. In this dining room, walls and trim: cafe au lait Lambswool and ceiling: robin's-egg blue Skylit, both from Pratt & Lambert.

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Shades of Gray

A pair of deep, gentle hues, combined with bright-blue accents, create a dreamy, restful retreat for this bedroom. Decked in glossy charcoal, the radiator practically disappears into the wall. The use of bright cobalt accessories harmonize with the paint's undertones and bring them to life. walls: gray Rushing River #1574 from Benjamin Moore.

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Late again ...

Why am I always late for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day? Probably for the same reason that I'm always late for everything else - deadlines are not my strongpoint. But I have to admit that this month I actually forgot, and only remembered when I started seeing other people's posts.

Most of the balcony is covered up now. Low winter temperatures mean that over December, January and sometimes February, most of the plants need protection. So they get moved back close to the walls of the house, with the most delicate backing onto radiators, and covered in fleece.

But some just won't give up. What's that showing through the fleece? The salmon pink pelargoniums of course, now blooming uninterruptedly for two and a half years. And as you can see from the buds, they have no intention of being beaten - January temperatures or no January temperatures. And their enthusiasm seems to be catching. My red pelargoniums have been keeping pace with them all winter, and they too are full of buds.

Other blooms - the pansies which I planted last autumn have been blooming all winter, and the "freeby" cyclamens I got a week ago seem to be recovering from their overwatering and are looking far more perky. So I think they'll make it. And the antirrhinums are still with us too.

Not bad for January.

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Serene Azu Villa

These photos are from Azu Villa located on the island of St. Barths. The absolutely gorgeous color scheme perfectly captures the mood of the turquoise sea which can be seen outside all of the windows. The final look is serene, harmonious and comfortable...just perfect for a relaxing beach getaway.

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Tranquil Bedroom

Layered patterns can feel calm rather than chaotic. Just choose simple repeats in soothing shades that share a background color (here, white) and harmonize with walls.

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Flowers for Andee

Like me, I'm sure many of you were readers of Andee's Gardener in Chacala blog, and possibly also of her other blog My Life in Chacala. When I think of Andee's posts the first thing that comes to mind is an explosion of colour, photos with bright vibrant reds and oranges, and posts full of a curiousity about and love of people, places, plants and just life in general.

So it was a shock yesterday to discover that Andee has died. I don't know the hows and whys, and they hardly matter, but Sparks contacted me after he'd seen a comment I'd left on Gardener in Chacala telling Andee she'd been nominated for the next carnival. Later, I received another message from Ginger with the same news.

How sad. I'm sad for her, for her family and for us, who will no longer have the joy of reading her posts.

You'll find other tributes to Andee on Thorntree Lonely Planet and on La Gringa's blog. Most of us didn't know her as well as La Gringa, but I think we can still show how much we appreciated her by sending flowers. If you enjoyed her blog and are sad at her passing, join me in republishing one of the flower photos you like best in her memory. I think she would appreciate it.

Andee's last post, on January 5th, included a photo that has stayed in my memory - a palm tree in the light of the full moon. Next time I see a full moon Andee, I shall think of you.

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Ecclectic Living Room

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In Praise of Human Nature

I've said before that people in Milan are, in general, not very aware of the quality - or lack of it - of the plants they buy. You see people happily loading their supermarket trolleys with plants that are half dead from lack of water, or which have more yellow leaves underneath than green ones on top. In garden centres, where the quality is better, they'll go for the plants with the most flowers already in full bloom or right at the front of the display. Ideal clients, obviously, for anyone looking to rip off their customers.

So it made me extremely happy yesterday to find someone that refused the opportunity. We were invited to lunch with some friends who we'd not seen for a while, and I'd decided to get each of them a pot plant as a late Christmas present. So yesterday morning, just before we were due to leave, I went round to our local garden centre - only to find it closed. Being Sunday, absolutely no other shops in the neighbourhood were open, and so I found myself stuck without a present.

Then I remembered a flower kiosk some way away, which usually had container plants as well as cut flowers. Although I must have passed it several times a month for the last fifteen years, I'd never actually bought anything there, but I thought it was worth going to see if it was open. It was, but the only plants they had were two pots of cyclamen, very clearly the worse for wear. I said to the man " I really wanted a couple of plants like those ..." intending to go on to say "but unless you've got anything of a bit better quality, I'll have cut flowers." However, I didn't get the chance. He interrupted me immediately saying, "No, I won't sell you those. They've been overwatered and they're not worth the money." I looked at him somewhat amazed, said that I'd realised, complimented him on his honesty, and then chose the cut flowers which I wanted. At which point he said that if I thought I could nurse the cyclamen back to health he'd give them to me, as he had no intention of selling them. Wow - they weren't that far gone. So I staggered home with two pots of cyclamen, two bouquets of flowers and with my faith in human nature restored. Not that he's lost out of course - he's just won himself a new regular customer.

PS. Talking of being nice to people - if there is someone whose blog you regularly read and enjoy, show your appreciation by nominating one of their posts for the next Garden Bloggers' Carnival. It's a great way to say thank you. Nominations are starting to come in, but there's room for plenty more. Follow the link for more information.

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