The Heat is On...

Literally! -- we officially turned our furnace on last week.  Brrr...fall is definitely here!  The chilly air has me feeling the rush to get everything done before the ground freezes!  Thankfully, Mother Nature is still giving us some fairly warm and sunny days!

As long as I can get my shovel into the ground, I will be busy, busy, busy raking leaves, trimming perennials, planting bulbs (like a crazy lady!) and mulching.  With all of this work, I can confidentally guarantee a very pretty spring! 

Here are a few of the bulbs that will be blooming in our gardens for Spring 2011.  Can you imagine all of these in springtime bouquets?!  I cannot wait!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dream A Little Dream...with me.

It's that time of year, again...when all of the woulda, shoulda, couldas somehow manage to sneak in on me.  Oh, yes...I was going to divide that aster, move that peony, weed that garden...

Know the feeling?...all of those unfulfilled, garden "dreams" that went by the wayside when summer sports and get-togethers crept in and took over.  Have no fear.  Now is the time.  "What?!", you say?  "It's nearly November!  The snowflakes will be flying soon!".

Here's the plan -- While you're doing your fall clean-up, extra mulching, planting bulbs, etc....take notes.  Keep a Garden Journal.  I know that I sure am!  Dedicate a notebook to all of your gardens -- flowers, herb, veggie, lawn...for all that you want them to be.  List the plants that you want to divide, new plants that you want to try, what you want it to do {attract butterflies, suppy food for wildlife, be fragrant, supply fresh food for your family}, or how you want it to look.  Pull photos from magazines, articles from the newspaper, bookmark things you see online & reference in your journal...anything to help you visualize your dream.

Early next spring, as you are looking through gardening magazines and seed catalogs, pull out your journal. Your notes from this fall will help guide your garden into a fresh, beautiful start for 2011!

Happy Garden Journaling!



Remember, if you need any help making those dreams come true, Garden Coaching from Seeded Earth is always available...a magic wand of sorts?! 



Olive, my garden buddy!



Getting Back to Your Roots

In the ever-changing economy, many of us are taking a step back and looking at things in a different light.  Our thinking seems to be more local in support of "the little guy".  What a great concept to gain from such trying times! 

This is something that I am considering while making my lists for flowers & plants to grow for the 2011 season.  What about the old standby??...the little guy, perhaps?  With our need to have bigger, better, improved plants, many of the great characteristics of many plants and flowers have been lost...hybridized out.  That new sweetpea may have amazing color, but what happened to that sweet fragrance that I remember from my childhood?  This new chrysanthemum may be perfectly shaped with huge blooms, but will it return for me year after year like Grandma's did?  

There are many reasons to choose the new, improved varieties...But, a large portion of my orders will include those "little guys", the heirloom varieties that still manage to easily impress with their standout qualities -- disease resistance, stamina, color, fragrance, etc.  I can't wait to see them shine in Spring of 2011!!   

Sneak peeks for 2011 coming soon!!

Outside the Box

While grocery shopping last night, I picked up the latest edition of Martha Stewart Weddings - The Fashion Issue.  The "fashion" part of my wedding is already figured out, but still, I flipped through.  While flipping, I stopped on a page with some *amazing* bouquets & arrangements.  They are just my style!  Check these out!

Martha's focus on these bouquets & arrangements is their shape.  They don't follow your traditional, tight {inside the box} bundle of flowers.  These are all very shapely, artistic and unique.  Fresh, thoughtful beauty.  I love it. 

But wait...!  There's more!  Martha (well, the editors) included another flower article!  This one concentrates on getting creative with fall arrangements.  Typically, we would have very few flowers left during the second week of October, which can make putting arrangements together pretty challenging {but a lot of fun at the same time!}.  This is where thinking outside the box really comes into play...by adding seed heads/pods and various colored foliage, gorgeous arrangements begin to take shape!  Check out these bouquets from Martha's magazine that do a beautiful job of incorporating fall foliage!

The possibilities for bridal bouquets and wedding arrangements really are endless.  Seeded Earth would be honored to create {or help you create} your bouquets & arrangements for your special day!  With new flowers blooming continously from March thru October, you have an abundance of choices that will ensure your wedding flowers will be gorgeously fresh, unique and beautiful! 

Chasing Rainbows

Big goals, big dreams.  We all have them, don't we?  Some come true, some we hope will come true, and some we just seem to give up on.  Why would we ever give up on them?  Why should we?  Is it not true that every goal and every dream that you have in your heart can come true?  You are the one who can make them happen.

So far in my life, I believe this.  I believe that we shape our own lives with our own goals and dreams, we paint our own picture.  What a fantastic feeling when we succeed in painting that picture!  I have a "bucket list" of dreams (that I continue to add to)...

Ride a live bull for 8 seconds.  Check. 
Attempt to ride many live bulls.  Check.

Jump out of a perfectly good airplane.  Check.

Finish that darn Organic Chemistry class and actually get the horticulture degree.  Check.

Find the most wonderfully perfect guy for me.  Check.

Next, finish a marathon before age 30.  December 22, 2010 is the date that this goal would expire.  I began training for this goal in May.  Instead of just finishing a marathon, I decided that qualifying for the Boston Marathon would be a pretty neat goal to tack on.  Successfully running the Boston Marathon...my dream!  For nearly 5 months, I ran, I chased.  I chased that rainbow and can you believe it?!  I found my pot of gold!  I completed the 26.2 miles of the Quad City Marathon in a time of 3:36:49.  4 minutes and 10 seconds faster than I needed to in order to qualify for Boston!  {Check.}  April 18, 2011, I will be chasing that next dream!

Seeded Earth has been my dream for as long as I can remember.  I have always wanted to have a little business of my own.  Would I like for it to grow and be hugely successful someday?  Of course!  For now, it is the perfect start to everything that I have always wanted!  Just like the other rainbows I have chased, I love the feeling of accomplishment this gives me.  I love the challenge.  I will continue chasing rainbows to make Seeded Earth be everything I know {and hope} that it can be.  It may take some time, but this one is a beautifully long rainbow that is allowing me the opportunity to meet some great people!  For that, I am thankful.

Moral of my story?  Never ever, ever give up on your goals or dreams!  When you reach the pot of gold at the end of one rainbow, find that next rainbow to begin chasing.  You will get there.  The rainbow may seem extra long at times, but don't forget about the extra treasures that you are picking up along the way...friends, knowledge, experience.  You will reach your treasure...and you may just find that the treasures along the way have made that final treasure so much more than what you ever dreamed it would be!  Paint the most perfect picture for your life with all of the colors of that rainbow!!