I Enjoy Year 'Round Blooms

Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day the 15th of each month.  She has quoted Elizabeth Lawrence, who said, "We can have flowers nearly every month of the year."  Well, I may not have any outdoor blooms right now, but I do have some flowers from summer that I can enjoy, because I dried them.  I also have a few indoor blooms, and lots of flowers on items around the house.

I didn't keep up with harvesting the lavender this year, but did get some hung.

Here's a wider view of where the lavender is hung, along with some yarrow.  I love the ad from I think, the 1940s.  I have had fun finding the towels from the ad to display.  The words on top say, "Even a man can do a good job with Martex Dry me Dry."  The ad also states the towels are from 25 to 50 cents each.  I paid more than that for them.  Here's a link to other posts I've done on some of my collections.
 

Here is another way I enjoy flowers year around.  I like to change these out from time to time.

In the past, I've posted a number of the blooms I have on the walls.  Some, just lean.

 I almost took a different photo of this, but decided to be willing to show I sometimes have some clutter. I think these hydrangeas are from 2010, because I don't think I got any dried this year.

 Here are some blooms from this year.

I didn't dry as many straw flowers this year, because I liked how they looked outside.  Still, I am glad I got some.

Another source of winter blooms are the lovely books on gardening, of which a tiny part of my collection is shown here.

 This begonia did not bloom this summer.  I'm glad it is now.  It's a nice touch of color in what is now the grandsons' toy room.

I have 3 holiday cactus plants that are about finished blooming.  Still, they are nice and colorful.

The other two are in the garden window in our dining room that we put in what used to be a bedroom.  It looks like I need to do some cleaning in here.

I have had 'Naomi' the longest, and can remember the name, maybe because it is the name of a person.

It's January, and I'm always happy when the days are getting longer.  I hope the rest of winter goes by quickly.  In a couple months there may even be some outdoor blooms.  In the meantime, the seedheads are fun to look at, and seeds are available for the birds to eat.  Already, some of you in warmer zones are getting some hellebore blooms, so the countdown to spring is under way!

'Black Jack' sedum:

Ironweed:

I love the look of the empty pods of the hibiscus with the blue sky in the background.

Joe Pye Weed:

Wild Quinine:

The strawflowers I didn't get dried, in the shadow of my legs:

I hope this finds you well.  There are lots of colds and such going on around here. 

Taking Liberties with GBBD

I have one plant blooming this January Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  It's the rosemary plant that bloomed last winter, as well.  It's in my garden window.  There are a number of African violets, in various degrees of health.  Maybe some of them will be blooming in a month.

'Naomi' is finished blooming.  The other holiday cacti in the smaller pots have had a few blooms, but also have some nubs that haven't yet.

 I thought of going out into the cold to take photos of seedheads, but I've already shown some lately.  It occurred to me that I have flowers in some form in every room of the house I go into, so I went around and took lots of photos, most of which did not turn out decently.  I have been working on organizing and getting rid of clutter in a room upstairs, so these photos include dust. Don't look too closely if you are faint of heart.

Dining Room:
 

 Kitchen:

Entry Way at the Back Door:

Living Room:

KJ's Toy Room/Computer Room:

(That's a phone book on the bottom of the pile that says something about a law office.  We are not using the services of any lawyers.)

Stairway to Second Floor:

Base of Steps:

Our Bedroom:

(The only reason I have this Roseville vase is because it had been broken and repaired.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to afford it.)

The Room I'm trying to Clean:

I grew all of the flowers and dried them except for the next ones, which are part of a wreath type thing I made in a class a number of years ago.  It's down, because I need to sort through and get rid of most of the flowers in.  I normally only keep dried flowers around 2 or 3 years, sometimes fewer.

I came across this photo of a young me from over 15 years ago, at our previous home.  Even though the peas are loaded, they still have some blooms on them.  I need to get some rabbit fencing so I can have a crop like this again.

 

I am excited to think that in a month, it will be the middle of February, and I may be able to get started planting my early crops.  I've already told some of you that I've decided to enjoy seeing your springs unfold, and not feel sorry for myself while I wait for my turn.  I look forward to seeing what you have blooming.   

The days are getting longer.  Yeah! 

Grandson Fun for Wordless Wednesday

Things I Collect Other Than Plants Pt. 2...

One day, when Larry and I went to antique stores looking to find things for our dining room and kitchen, I picked up this thing that looked like hairpins sticking out of a base. I asked what it was, and was told it was a flower frog, for holding flowers in an arrangement in a vase. I said, "I grow flowers, I should get this." I don't remember when I started looking around for more, but for my birthday, Larry bought me a book called, "Flower Frogs for Collectors" by Bonnie Bull, published in 2001. I found out flower frogs come in many different sizes and shapes, and are made from a variety of materials. I didn't find many locally, but when I checked Ebay, I became quite hooked. I am happy to say I am no longer addicted to Ebay, but for several years, I would look at the list of flower frogs where the auctions were going to be over in the next day or two, then look at the newly listed ones until I got to where I had left off the day before.

I am planning on dusting soon, and considered doing that before taking the pics for this post, but decided if I did that, I wouldn't have time to take the pics tonight, and I seem to be in a toot to post this. I left out the pics that showed the most dust, so my whole collection will not be on display. ;o)

So, here's my first flower frog:

Here are some more that are in the dining room. I like old pictures of flowers, too.

Here is the living room:

The landing at the top of the steps to our second floor:

Our bedroom:


Maybe I should have posted this last one on a Wordless Wednesday post.

If you have any collections, I'd love to see them. I don't know if I want to start a meme, but you can let people know in a comment here if you post any collections on your blog, and if you want me to try to use a Mr. Linky dealy.