This adorable 929-square-foot carriage house in Des Moines, Iowa was completely transformed by the Country Living design team. I love the simple stencil pattern on the gorgeous aqua end walls of the upstairs. -Country Living
There hasn't been any rain today so far, but the cold front continued to push through. The high was in the upper 40's (° F) - chilly for us at the end of March. Not only our native woodland wildflowers are in flower, but leaves are expanding on most of our native hardwood tree species as well as native shrubs. A favorite native vine, coral honeysuckle, is 'waiting' for the first hummingbirds in our yard.
The hummingbird website posts indicate that sightings have been all around us, but in spite of our feeders being up, we haven't seen any yet. Hopefully, sometime soon!
The potato sprouts are finally making an appearance in the satellite garden. The squirrels have been disturbing the beds by digging holes, but the potatoes are fine.
The radicchio, much appreciated by squirrels and woodchucks last fall, has produced lovely new spring leaves. I've harvested a number of them already.
But I'm on the trail of nabbing my primary vegetable garden herbivore, an errant woodchuck, who unfortunately thinks our natural garden isn't a bad home, even though it really isn't normal woodchuck habitat, or maybe s/he has just been pushed out of good habitat, without natural predators to keep population numbers in check. 
I'm not sure how to consider the wildlife habitat issues in this regard -- I AM a wildlife gardener, but if a hungry woodchuck (due to overpopulation) eats all of the veggies I'm growing, in sequence of preference (uh, I'm trying to grow my own local vegetables), well, I'm thinking I need to relocate the culprits to more fertile (!) pastures.
I've now got a large Havahart trap, baited with spinach dabbed with 'Chuckster' paste, with drops of some kind of woodchuck lure leading to the trap. The smaller trap, baited similarly, simply had the spinach disappear. We'll see!
Designer and artist Laser Rosenberg created this cool bathroom with inspiration from his clients love of "hotel style." -Laser Rosenberg
This chic bedroom by LA interior designer Betsy Burnham is both tranquil and fun at the same time. Check out that "headboard" and fab red chandelier. And I so want that chaise. -Burnham Design
I still haven't replaced the rain gauge by the main vegetable garden, but the birdbaths serve as crude measures of how much rain we've had. They're full right now, hooray! It's been dry the last couple of weeks, and the afternoon warmth has pulled additional moisture out of plants and soil.
But this morning, a big front is pushing through with lots of thunderstorm activity, and is periodically pelting down raindrops, alternating with light drizzle. I just looked at the U.S. drought monitor yesterday -- it's predicting continuing drought with improvement (compared to last year, anything is improvement). But I don't think non-outdoors-oriented people are paying attention to how the prolonged drought is affecting plants, not only in our gardens, but in natural plant communities.
My gardening companion, on a botanizing trip yesterday to get photos, reported that Steven's Creek and Savannah River Bluffs (two SC Heritage Reserve sites) were wonderful, with lots of spring wildflowers in bloom. He said, however, that Heggie's Rock, an interesting granite outcrop area protected by The Nature Conservancy, had been dramatically affected by the ongoing drought, and that the unusual plants there, adapted for the unique circumstances of the empheral pools that are characteristic of these plant communities, were barely evident, and there were many indications of drought-induced die-back in the vegetation. This is troubling for a plant community adapted to seasonal drought. Hopefully, today's rain will pass through that area as well.
The cornflower blue in this gorgeous kitchen is what sets it apart. Such fabulous subway tile and perfectly cute fabric on the stools add a burst of soothing color. -BeachBungalow8
This pretty hall in the Long Island home of Margot Brunelle Fooshee (who is head of marketing for the J. Crew clothing company) is painted Benjamin Moore's Blue Seafoam. The painted dressing table and mirror from Now/Again in L.A. holds a shell-filled apothecary jar from English Country Antiques. -House Beautiful
This upbeat home was a submission into Apartment Therapy's Fall Colors Contest 06. The entire space displays a fabulous use of color. Definitely check out the rest of the pictures of their apartment. -Apartment Therapy
The fresh pink and aqua combination in this living room is really quite lovely. -House Beautiful
Provençal decorating mixes a plain country look with heirlooms. Calm blue-grey walls and white woodwork provide a backdrop to a painted freestanding bath. An Osborne & Little floral blind and seat cushion from GP & J Baker pick up the colours of a painting. Bare stained boards are warm, a white heart-shaped metal chair adds glamour. -House to Home
I had a lot of fun monitoring our bluebird boxes at the Garden last season, something I hadn't done before. A series of replacement boxes and several new ones gave us about 12 total boxes. Most of them are in the meadow area, but others are in other open and edge areas. I snagged a mechanic's mirror at a local autoparts store to help me see into the top of the nests, and started my weekly rounds, checking on the sequence of bluebird broods, and the nests of other birds such as chickadees and tufted titmice.
I checked all of the boxes last month to make sure they were empty and clean, and ready for this year's season. We always see lots of bluebirds in the meadows, so we know we have a flourishing population. And, I'm always glad to see the male or female perched on top of the box, checking out the scene, perhaps.
Coming back from lunch today, I was delighted to see a pair of bluebirds investigating a box that hadn't been used last year, except for a paper wasp building her nest. It would be an excellent box to keep a close eye on, since I walk by it frequently!
The photo is one of a bluebird parent and fledgling that I took in the Garden a couple of seasons ago.
I cooked it in a very small quantity of water and oil, not even sure which bit or bits I was supposed to eat. The green bits were nice, but nothing special. Just greens. The white spikes in the middle were a bit bitter, but OK. I'm not sure I'd bother to get it again - there are other greens which I like better. But it was curious. Has anyone ever come across it? Or even grown it?
Love this gorgeous room designed by Tricia Guild, a design institution in Great Britain, where her bold sense of color and pattern have been translated into influential collections of fabrics, wallpaper, furnishings and accessories. -Designer's Guild via Atticmag
An birding class in the botanical garden this afternoon reminded me of how useful it is to go out with an experienced birder as a leader. His ability to hear and identify calls, and then point out where to look, helped us spot an excellent variety of birds and added lots more to my 'seen in the Garden' notes. This is a good time of the year for birding, as the spring migrants start coming through.
A highlight was getting a good look at one of our red-shouldered hawks (probably the male), and seeing the female on the nest. I first saw the nest about a month ago; the pair was building their nest then. They finished the nest about a week later, and started incubating the eggs.
Some of our winter residents are still here -- we all got a great look at a yellow-bellied sapsucker vigorously drilling fresh holes in a young tulip poplar. They'll be heading north quite soon. This photo by Lang Elliot is from the Bird Guide at Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- one of my favorite sites to learn more about birds. A useful feature is being able to listen to song and call recordings for each bird, as well as learn about their basic biology. This is another link to an interesting piece at Hilton Pond. org about yellow-bellied sapsuckers.
We had another good look at a bird that I hadn't ever seen, a Northern Water Thrush, vigorously 'working' the stream near the Woodland Wildflower Garden. There was a pair, apparently, but even though shy, their characteristic bobbing foraging behavior in the stream was easily seen this afternoon. They're also on their way north to their breeding areas.
Other interesting sightings were yellow-rumped warblers, red-eyed vireos, a pileated woodpecker, a red-bellied woodpecker, a yellow-shafted flicker, dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, an Eastern phoebe, and a white-breasted nuthatch. We also heard and saw more common 'backyard birds': tufted titmice, Carolina wrens, a male bluebird, and a male cardinal. We ended up seeing over 22 different species of birds in one afternoon -- a good number, with plenty of time to see many of them. An excellent outing, to be sure.
The kitchen of artist Diana Fayt gives the illusion of a blue sky above with a lovely blue painted ceiling. -Apartment Therapy
I DO enjoy my containers and hanging baskets; they provide green cheer throughout the year, add spots of color in the warm season, and give me a chance to experiment with plants. I'm not one to be out there watering twice a day (I definitely don't enjoy the water running down my arm as I lift the watering can up to water the garage baskets and I'm much too occupied with other things to be watering that much) , but I don't mind hauling the can around -- it's good for me (weight-bearing exercise, you know).
So having the first days of spring find me changing out some of the tired ornamental kales which I never much liked (the purple and white variegated ones that were about all that I could find late last fall) and replanting other plants to a 'nursery' area. In their place, until it's really warm enough to add some of the more tender things, I put in lemon and silver thymes, some wooly thyme, and a couple of Veronica 'Georgia Blue' whose flowers are so spectacular right now.
My goal is drought-tolerant baskets, using heat-tolerant and water-sparing herbs, succulents, perennials, and tough annuals. A secondary screen is ability to bounce back after wilting. It's much too discouraging to have plants wilt slightly, and not pop back after a quick drink of water.
Later in the spring, I'll add some Callibrochoa (definitely a tough plant). This was a basket from last year which I especially liked.
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