Pumpkin

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

    - Henry David Thoreau

Flower bombing

Ever driven by an ugly field or an empty part of your property and though "flowers would be so lovely here" - well, here is your chance (actually, next spring would be better) to make it happen.  They are called Flower Grenades.  

The "grenade" is made of clay and full of flower seeds.  The clay will dissolve in the rain and in a month or so you should see some wild flowers. 

Although this seems fun and throwing them into vacant lots seems harmless....I recommend you keep the "bombing" to your own property...just to be safe :)

These are from the UK - but you can get them here in the US through Amazon.

I guess it is a love/hate relationship

that I have with spiders....they creep me out (the real ones) but I love Halloween.....so they fit there.  That is why a few years ago when I remodeled my patio garden we had these gates made.

Current photo

Looks lovely in the snow also last December

They are one of my favorite things in the yard.

I keep them in the garden

instead of the closet :)  (my skeletons that is)

I just planted the pumpkins around him the other day, by October the vines should just be starting to curl around and through him and the flowers blooming.  Makes for a great photo opportunity.

And it confuses the heck out of people that visit the house!  I like that.

In the posts are a columnar pear and a dwarf apple.  I love fruit, but fruit trees make quite a mess. After the last of them died (my plum tree,) I told myself only small fruit trees in the future.  These two are perfect for us!

Dark plants

I am always on the look out for dark plants.....just fit well with my dark personality :)

I found the new deep red and black begonia called Lorraine Closson.  Not a huge fan of begonias, just never could get them to grow without looking all stringy and the stems are kinda see through.  Yes, those are technically gardening terms....at least at the Graveyard :D

But this begonia has tight leaves and a lot of of them and the colors are amazing.  I had to have it.  Thought that it would be a good contrast in the shadier grotto garden area by the shop - it would look good against the cream house color and the red trim.  This pot is right outside the shop door....I have second one by the gate, they flank the entrance to the covered patio.

But the pot that I wanted to use as an old antique cast iron thingy in it - probably part of an old fence.  So I needed to find something tall.  I have enough grasses in the yard, so I went on a search for tall dark plants that can handle pots - at least for a year or two, no luck.  So back to grasses and I find a purple millet called Purple Barron.  Love it, I think it works well with the begonia.  I just planted them so they are going to take a few weeks to fill the pot out.

I am very happy with what I have read about this millet and looking forward to moving it to on of the border beds in a few years.  (If I really wanted this pot to look fuller - should have gotten two millets per pot - oh well, live and learn.) As for the begonia.....they usually do not survive our wet winters.....we will see.

Yes, that small plant to the right of the pot has citronella......we spend a lot of time out there so I am going to see if this helps keep the mosquito off us while we are hanging on the patio which we will be doing a lot of while we are building the new abbey facade.

What are your favorite dark colored plants?

The softer side

of the Davis Graveyard.  Here are pictures of the flower garden in our back yard. The fence has been replaced and the arbor has been rebuilt.

 A bright and colorful contrast to the black and gray graveyard decor.  See, the frog queen likes color too.

I wish you all lived closer, I would love to have you over for tea in the garden!

For more pictures of the yard and the property - check out the post husband did on the Davis House blog.

Is that there all the time?

Yes, yes it is.

I am constantly surrounded by lovely people that love this Halloween stuff we do.  We likely all have different reasons....but we are very like minded that way....and our extended friends and family know that we are really into Halloween so I never feel strange or feel the need to defend my home and yard decor......until outside (non-Halloween) people enter the property.

Enter the property and notice that there is a skeleton in my garden......and then they notice the skulls, and the skeleton door mat...and the....

I always answer their questions the same..."yes, yes I do leave that stuff up all year."

I just started white pumpkins around the skeleton.....I don't grow them for use in the display, more of just a photo opp during the month of October.  

Now I gotta put the scary scarecrow back up.....but I am going to wait until after the wedding this weekend.

I love my magnolia tree

but I hate that it drops leaves everyday.....every single day of it's existence.  And they are big waxy leaves and there are a lot of them.  Raking them out of the yard became difficult so a few years ago I removed the grass from under that tree and put in a gravel garden to make cleaning up the leaves much easier.

In that garden I put skull faces cast out of concrete and last week I picked up some black glass beads to scatter among the gravel.  Continuing with my black and gray theme our Halloween decor :)

We are having a wedding at the house next weekend and had a crew of people descend on the yard to get it in top shape.  Some the crew brought their kids.

Kids + concrete skulls + black beads = interactive art!

So now, my skulls have eyes! :D

and in this case a nose! :D

Fairy Garden Competition ~2011

Donni over at The Magic Onions is hosting a Fair y Garden Competition with prizes to be awarded!

Click here to learn more!

The fence is back

Put the fence back on the garden last week.  

Was able to get most of the vines - I have a hydrangea and a trumpet vine that I sadly had to cut back a bit to remove the fence.  They are doing okay and should be back to normal by next spring.

The bench that husband built for around the weeping willow needed to be expanded to accommodate the growth of the tree.    The original bench was in two half circle pieces that were bolted together.  To make more room, he took his original design and made two "benches" in the same style to expand the size.  He put them in the middle of the two circles and then bolted the whole thing back together. 

It will take a few years for the cedar to weather to match the original bench....but I can live with it.

I need to paint and repair the arch at the front of the garden and add a few annuals to the garden and we should be ready for the wedding the end of this month.

I also uncovered the skeleton in the vegi beds.....but that is another post :)

Wanna see some undead roses?

When I first got this rose and it did this I thought....must be the fact that it has been raining so much that it just never opened - just got this creepy undead look.

Davis Graveyard Undead Rose

Now, I am not complaining....that is pretty cool, but not really what I wanted.

I thought....it will be fine next year.

It was not, it did the same thing....has for about 4 years now.

So the Davis Graveyard has a undead rose bush.  How cool is that?!

To make up for it almost all the other roses in the garden are blooming.

Gemini

Ferdinand

Queen Elizabeth

Yes, the Frog Queen has a pink rose....I have several of them actually.  I can handle pink in very small doses.  And this particular rose is on of my favs.

So the lifespan of a wooden fence is about

See the corner post complete rotted out

8-10 years.

That is when I first put in my cutting garden in the back yard.  Since then I have had to replace a post or a panel from time to time.  But this last winter the whole north side of the fence fell over into the vegetable beds.

So we had to dig out about 8 of the 14 posts and replace as about as many panels.

Here is the garden in repair mode.  We are having a wedding in the garden in July, so we are working hard to get ready.  More pictures to follow.

Most of the boards just fell of the fence when we picked them up

Garden view from under the willow tree

front entrance to the garden - archway needs some work too 

In that bed on the other side of the miniature potted fruit trees and fountain....is a skeleton, overtaken by mint! :D

Painting the new fence panels

And the winner is....

Pam over at Labyrinth Creations!

Woohoo!!!  Congrats my dear.  Just email your mailing address to chris@davisgraveyard.com and I will get it out to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered.....and the fantastic programmers at Random.org....use your site often :)

We have a giveaway

Thanks to the super kind and gernerous TrickorTreat from Midnight in the Garden of Evil blog we have a special giveaway.

I met her when she came up for the West Coast Haunters Convention this May and she brought me presents!  One of them was this lovely book - she said I could give it away on my blog....but I thought this would be a more befitting venue to giveaway a book called "Wicked Bugs"....a signed book no less!  That is one awesome giveaway from an equally awesome blogger.

Just leave a comment on this post and we will draw a winner on Friday, June 17th.

Good luck everyone!

Cheers!

FQ

I know you won't believe me

I would not believe me :)  But I have taken pictures of our latest garden remodel I just have not gotten a chance to get them up here.

The reason why is that I am busy with this project.  We are trying to raise money for a new neighborhood park - so all us neighbors are having a plant sale at the proposed park location.  Lots of fun (and lots of work)

I don't know about you but I love buying local plants from my neighbors gardens - we are mostly into native, non-invasive plants - unlike big box stores that will sell you just about anything, whether it is good for your garden or not.

See, a Halloween gal can design something pretty with lots of white.....and not burst into flames :D

I will be back with pictures of my "scary" garden shortly.  (Scary with weeds that is!)

Happy haunted gardening everyone!!

Cheers!

FQ

If you guessed .....

Flip-flops. You're correct!!

I think this installation was in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

I sure hope the Artist got a discount on all those flip-flops......

What's it made of?

Can you guess what this lazy Monster is made of?

Mysterious Fronds

The ferns are starting to wake. They look almost insect like when the emerge.
There is a folklore tale about the fern. It is said that at midnight go to the dark and deep woods. Look there and you may find a fern flowering. This is a magic flower. It is said to give the finder the power to see beneath the earth to other realms. The realms where treasures are hidden. Good fortune will shine on the finder. Beware this magical flower is said to sometimes be guarded by the devil.

"Alien" Cactus found near Roswell

ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) - Little green men are no strangers to Roswell, but now one New Mexico botanist says a little green plant has an out-of-this world connection to New Mexico.

David Salman said he was on a seed hunting trip near Roswell when he noticed a faint glow coming from what appeared to be a meteor crater.

He said it turned out the light was coming from a small patch of carnivorous cacti.

Salman said he found a cactus that eats bugs, glows and probably came to earth on a meteor.

He says he scooped up some samples to see if someone could identify them, so far no one has been able to. 

The Perfect Orchid For A Haunted Garden!

But maybe you will want to wear nose plugs.

Scientists are studing the Saturium pumilum orchid, commonly known as the Carrion Orchid becuase it mimics the "fragrance" of road kill to attract flies for pollination. 

Dennis Hanson Photo

It doesn't produce nectar to attract bees or other beneficial insects, so it doesn't smell sweet, depending upon attracting flies, who then pick up the pollen to be deposited into a female orchid..

The scent is close enough to the real thing, to cause female flesh flies to deposit their larvae on the flowers instead of decaying flesh.


So if you have a sandy soil bank on your pond, or a small stream meanders through your yard, you might find this South African orchid a perfect addition to your haunted garden. .right next to the Skunk Cabbage!

If you listen really carefully

to most of the plants in my garden you can hear them weeping silently and saying, very quietly

"don't move me again.....please, please don't move me again ..."

The more I garden the better I get at putting the right plant in the right spot....but I have to admit that sometimes, it takes more than one placement to find the "perfect" home for a given plant.

Some of the plants that say they like shade, likely meant shade in somewhere warm like California, shade in the Pacific Northwest, often comes with damp and wet.  I have had more than one weak plant just completely denigrate. A sad way to go.

So if they live long enough for me to see they are in distress, I will move them.

Other times they just get too big for their current home and since I am digging them up to divide them anyway, might as well see if it will look better over "there."

So the wheelbarrow and the shovels in my garden garage get the most mileage in spring and fall.

I never thought to see if I could get the cats to help me......this is a great idea. :)

Porcupine Tomato

Solanum pyracanthum

Grown from seed starting in early May, by Halloween it should be 2 feet tall and covered in bright orange spines. Keep this one out of reach of trick-or-treaters, though. The prickles poke if handled roughly and the plant bears mildly poisonous fruits. 

Phantom Petunia

Petunia, "Phantom"

Wouldn't this look lovely when partnered with the Black Velvet Petunia?

WIP from Ron Byrum

This a peek Ron's WIP

It will be a Witch Doll similar to our Witch paintings but a 8 1/2" sculpture. Next comes the lace, dress and broom. We will be listing on Ebay when she is finished.

Bizarre Botanicals

Here's A MUST for every horticultural library!!

If you love gardens

and you are in Cornwall.  You must go to St. Just Church.  The grounds for the cemetery are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.




I could have spent all day in that cemetery. This is what I could manage in the 15 minutes that I had to snap pictures. But as you can see by the amazing flora in the area....the cemetery is stunning.

Red Riding Hood Movie Trailer & Wolfsbane

The Movie I'd like to see. I'm not sure if Red Riding Hood is using Wolfsbane but she might need too!
Wolfsbane(Aconitum) is a poisonous perennial. Wolfsbane comes in: white, yellow, pink, blue and purple. Folklore says Wolfbane can repel Werewolves or can turn you into one. Sacred to the Goddess Hekate and said to be used in flying ointments in the middle ages.
" Widdershins go when the moon doth wane, An' the Werewolf howls by the dread Wolfsbane" from the Wiccan Rede.
"Even those who are pure of heart, and say their prayers at night, can become a wolf, when the Wolfsbane blooms and the Autumn Moon is bright" a poem used in the Werewolf movie for Lon Chaney Jr.
In popular folklore and movies about Werewolves and Witches, Wolfsbane sometimes has a staring role.

Aquarium - (fish+water) = Terrarium

Click here to read more!

Wearable Plants

Gone are the days when you have to leave your favorite plant behind while you are away from home.

Colleen Jordan designed this unique item using computer modeling software and a 3D printer to create it. She then paints and finishes each one by hand. 

Click Here to go to her Etsy Shop.