Foraging for Mountain Laurel

Hello and Good Thursday!

Here in Stuart, Virginia we are enjoying an absolutely glorious day. Yesterday, was much the same and I have to say I am ready for these warmer temperatures. 

The past week was filled with a good bit of sunshine but between the high winds and the deep drop in temperature during the night it was basically chilly. It didn't make me desire to do much outside or gardening. I'm glad today is another story.

What I've had on my mind today was Mountain Laurel. If you travel here in the mountainous south you will see it hanging over a rock wall or peeking out the side of an old country road. It's especially glorious on the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

It strikes a genuine heart-note for me. I love it! I love to see it. As a child many days was spent in it; making playhouses or playing hide-and-seek. For quite sometime, I have been wanting some of it here at the house;

mainly here, at this patch of ground between 

our driveway and the neighbors driveway.

I got a little stand of hostas started from some when my sister split hers a couple of years ago.

I was a bit stingy with it. I spread it a little thin as I put it all the way along the whole side of the driveway but it's starting to make a pretty good show of itself. 

I really want this to take on a look as if it just came along on it's on anyway. There's some rambling rose and some forsythia that blooms here as well. As it probably shows I don't really do much in the way of maintaining. At least not like a bona fide flower bed. The mountain laurel should work real nicely to help and a little more privacy and backdrop. 

Once Jack was on the bus, I finished my cup of coffee and gathered my tools to take to the woods to dig up a stash I found a few days ago.

My short(broke) handled shovel, limb snips, and my trusty maddox .

The maddox is my go to tool!

I will remind you to be sure not to gather your plants off the side of the public road or out of any of the parks.

You would stand a good chance of being fined.

Here a nice pic of Rhododendron which also grows wild here in the mountains and foothills. I wish I had found a good patch of it 

but 

I had to go with what was here. 

It can be somewhat mistaken for each other but side-by-side pictures you can see how much smaller the leaves are.

I will say they both grow quite towering and full.

This is a small little bunch and a little scraggly

but I think it will come along.

I start my easily raking the leaves and sticks away to start to determine where the root is running. It's not really as much digging as it is pulling away the dirt. 

You wouldn't want to take a big swing or plunge right into you root and cut or break it off. 

Looks at my little find as I pulled the leaves away.

That leads me to another caution.

Do be mindful of other reptiles such as snakes before just reaching in to grab.

They really don't want any part of me and I don't want any part of them either but these are the kinds of places they like to be.

Pulling the dirt away deep enough you can see 

I've found a good strong piece of the main root. 

When I went to plant back at the house, I  dug up this old license plate from 1955.

I thought that was kind of neat so I wiped the dirt off and scrooched it in here with one of the plantings.

I do hope the next year or to I can share some pictures of my  little bank filled with blooms of roses and mountain laurel.

I also want to thank you for stopping by for a look at my cheap and come along gardening style.

Be Blessed!

A little Americana

Good mornin'!

Well I've been at it again. 

Have you ever just did something on the whim and wasn't sure how it was going to go over with everyone? 

Well that's what this one was.

I've had this eagle above the sink for a couple of three years but when I repainted the cabinets it seemed like he just needed something else. 

So..I added a little Americana to him.

More stenciling and a sharpie; then a little sanding.

I thought about a little more sanding but I stopped.

I may sand some more.

If the Ole Man shakes his head when he comes in it may be  a lot of sanding and maybe some repainting.

It's a little more distressed than you can tell in the pictures above.

I think I'm liking it.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Be Blessed!

Farmer's Market Sign-DIY

Good Mornin'!

Hello to all those out there in blog-land!

Here in Virginia this morning it is a chilly Spring morning; the kind that makes you nervous for all the plants and trees budded out. Freezing temperatures have got me moving and covering up plants I had put out a few weeks earlier when it was warm like a nice summer day. One ole fellow in the community referred to it as Dogwood Winter. I had never heard of that saying but it sounded neat to me so I wanted to share it with ya'll.

For some time now, I have been hankering for one of those beat up old country type signs that are so popular in Farmhouse and Country Decorating.

 So this morning I have my Farmer's Market Sign to share with you.

I started out with this slab of wood I brought home from work the other day. 

It was wide but thin and it being so light weighted it would be easy to hand it. 

It was good and rough as well which made for less distressing.

Yesterday, I gave it a swipe or two of white paint I had left over from painting my kitchen cabinets. 

The rough, porous wood soaked it up quite well.

I used a stencil I already had. 

I don't have a had for doing lettering so some kind of aid is a must for me.

A sharpie worked fine for me.

The Ole Man may cringe when he sees I screwed it right up with a couple of black screws I had in the junk drawer but I thought they added to the utilitarian look of it all.

I hope you enjoyed this project

and 

you are inspired to make one of your own.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Be Blessed!