Today's mood is all about a newly bred flower. All winter long I've had this mediterranean thing going on. My craze this winter has been redecorating the inside of my home to look like my perception of what a a spanish hacienda looks like (I've never really seen one). I'm still working on that... each of my 4 interior projects are half finished. Carpet is off the stairs but not the floor (boy is that hard to do all alone!), 2 walls are stucco'd, I don't have a couch yet (mine moved when my daughter went to college 2 years ago) and my wall / room decor is half country half tuscan. Oh well... back to that flower thing!
Today I decided to carry this MexiSpanerranean (my new word for Mexican / Spanish / Mediterranean) theme over to the outside of my home. It's gonna be a tough long journey as I live in a split-level ranch. I have absolutely no idea how I'll convert the physical aspects of the structure to become hacienda'ish... but spring has almost sprung... and I'm dreading finishing the yard work project left over from last year. You don't know me, so quickly I'll explain. See that hole below? Well, our well broke and we needed to drill a new one. This is what my FRONT yard looked like (saddening visions and thoughts are filling my mind at what is under all the snow we have) last fall. The excavator put all the dirt back in the trench but he didn't rake the mess out. AT ALL. The "dirt" you see is actually shale and clay (shale + clay = Stone a/k/a ROCK). I'm a single mom (my son's forehead is peeking at you from the right of the photo looking down the well casing ~ Say "hi"!) and I'm tiny (at least in my own mind). I just couldn't physically rake this all out (it's about 170' long)... so I left it until I could save the money to have someone else "fix" my beautiful yard! Anyway... back to the flower again! Sorry!
Today I actually got excited about redoing the front yard! I discovered a new flower that will begin my haciendas' exterior transformation! It is called a Cherry Brandy Black-Eyed Susan! Most people know what a black-eyed Susan looks like. Those terrific yellow, orangey flowers with the black button eye that grow in the wild and many country yards (at least in Upstate NY). This newest selection of the Black-Eyed family adds a fresh new color to the range -- cherry-red. OMG! Here it is:
Thompson & Morgan are flower breeders located in Jackson, New Jersey. This year they are proud to present the first-ever red Rudbeckia from seed - Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy a/k/a Cherry Brandy Black-Eyed Susans)! These robust plants have outstanding garden performance, producing a mass of attractive, cherry-colored blooms all summer long - triumphing over heat, drought and poor soils! (DO YOU HEAR THAT?? POOR SOIL! I could just kiss them!) They say that this are stunning when planted in drifts in borders or can be planted in large containers to create a feature plant on a patio or terrace. Flowers average 3-4 inches in width, 24 inches in height. It is an annual flower that may winter over in Zone 7 ~ it is a half-hardy annual which will germinate, flower and die all within one year. JUST LOOK AT IT!!
Available exclusively from Thompson & Morgan, http://www.tmseeds.com/ or call 1-800-274-7333. Go to their website and check it out! A full packet is only a couople of bucks! WOW!
Well, I hope that this first post is good for you! I really enjoyed writing it (even if it did take me two days to do - I had to get photo permissions :)... - I must say that tmseeds were really nice, tho!)
Talk to you again shortly!
PS ~ Please subscribe and pass me on!
Michelle@crookedacrescrafts.com
http://www.crookedacrescrafts.com/
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