Bloom Thyme Friday: A Thing for Glass

I have a thing for glass. If you know me you might say I have a thing for several things … family, roses, flowers, jute, coffee, books and JESUS … And not in that order! LOL But, today we are going to talk about glass.

Sunday there was a friend in the garden who decided to take some flowers home with her. I sent her to the potting shed for a vase to put them in. Know this… vase means bottle, jar or something of the sort.

She found an appropriate bottle but we realized the myriad of flower containers in the Potting Shed had diminished to a couple. Oh no! 😱😳  So, I headed into the garage where I have another “supply.” If you went to my attic, you would find yet another “supply.” #dontjudge

As I lovingly took them from the garage shelves and put them on the Potting Shed potting bench I just kept looking at them. All different. All conjure up memories, stories and the like.

They sparkle. They shine. They represent special dinners, yummy snacks and everyday life … jams, jellies, spaghetti sauce, soups, spices, honey, smoothies, pickles, and containers friends have saved for me because they know I have this “thing.” Then there are the classic Ball and Mason jars which truly take me down memory lane to my mother who spent her summers and falls “putting up” the food we would enjoy all winter. For our family often it was out of necessity but no less delicious. Rarely do I have canned food that is as delicious as the food she served us. She had a “thing” about serving good food!

So today you get to see what I saw as my beauties were laid out on my potting bench. I left them there for a couple of days just to enjoy their size, shape, color. More than once I have thought about the container designers. Did they know the their beautiful glass container would have another life as vases for my home grown bokays, my sprigs of something (link)  and holders for dried flowers and seeds in my potting shed. And, the label designers… I hope they didn’t know that I would use gallons of GOO GONE to remove their creation to make them my own. They will leave here and have yet another life once the flowers have faded.

Note the brown bottles on the shelf. LOVE THEM so much! They play off Annie’s Moo Poo tea packages so well!
The smallest ones are the ones the children pick and stuff full of flowers!

While you are being dazzled by the beautiful containers, DON’T MISS the amazing stem of The Fawn (Faun) rose—a ground cover rose. These blooms are small but just about perfect. This rose is new to me and I have read it is very disease resistant. I’ll admit I have struggled to keep the leaves on this rose healthy, but the blooms ARE amazing. And, I will keep it and keep trying. The blooms are worth it!

Now I’m wondering what it is that you have “a thing” for. That thing that you tend to have too much of.  That thing(s) that makes you soooo happy!

Keep enjoying the simple things, keep blooming and Happy Bloom Thyme Friday!

Container Gardening: From Ordinary to Extraordinary

I love growing in containers. I grow everything from tomatoes and herbs to exotic flowers and shrubs. Each year it is fun to decide what containers to use and what plants to try.

Through the years I have turned just about everything into a container for plants. Sometimes I find something unusual and the container is more important than the plant. But, most of the time my containers are ordinary and it’s the plants that make them special.

However, there is one container that I use every year that is very special to me, this little metal water pitcher that is filled with lemon mint…

Mammy's Pitcher
Mammy’s Pitcher

This pitcher belonged to my grandmother … the same grandmother who went to see her doctor when she was in her 80s and asked the doctor to give her a pill that would make her feel strong enough to hoe in the garden. This little pitcher was a part of her everyday, ordinary life. To me it is completely extraordinary in the memories that it holds!

I am told she had the greenest of thumbs and could grow anything. And, you can be sure that I love it when other family members say, “You remind me of your grandmother, Mammy!”

Here are some containers in my garden and even a picture of me taken a few years ago dressed in one of Mammy’s dresses, holding her water pitcher…

My favorite plants to use in containers…

  • Tomatoes (Because I am obsessed)
  • Chile Peppers
  • Roses
  • Mint (…Because I love it and use a lot of it BUT it will take over if you plant in ground!)
  • Most used cooking herbs
  • Nasturtiums (Planted around my tomatoes)
  • Dorotheanthus Mezoo (Big name but excellent trailing plant)
  • Lantana (Hummingbirds & butterflies love)
  • Wave Petunias (’cause they can take the heat)
  • Geraniums
  • Coleus
  • Ferns
  • Gardenias
  • Succulents

For more on container gardening, click here.

What do you grow in containers?

You might also enjoy these family stories…

Memories of My Mom…

My Dad the Sailor…

Bloom Thyme: From Ordinary to Extraordinary

I love growing in containers. I grow everything from tomatoes and herbs to exotic flowers and shrubs. Each year it is fun to decide what containers to use and what plants to try.

Through the years I have turned just about everything into a container for plants. Sometimes I find something unusual and the container is more important than the plant. But, most of the time my containers are ordinary and it’s the plants that make them special.

However, there is one container that I use every year that is very special to me, this little metal water pitcher that is filled with lemon mint…

Mammy’s water pitcher…

This pitcher belonged to my grandmother … the same grandmother who went to see her doctor when she was in her 80s and asked the doctor to give her a pill that would make her feel strong enough to hoe in the garden. Don’t you love that. I’m sure I will be the same way!

This little pitcher was a part of her everyday, ordinary life. To me it is completely extraordinary in the memories that it holds!

I am told she had the greenest of thumbs and could grow anything. And, you can be sure that I love it when other family members say, “You remind me of your grandmother, Mammy!”

Here are some containers in my garden and even a picture of me taken a few years ago dressed in one of Mammy’s dresses, holding her water pitcher…

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My favorite plants to use in containers…

  • Tomatoes (because I am obsessed)
  • Chile Peppers
  • Mint (…Because I love it and use a lot of it BUT it will take over if you plant in ground!)
  • Most used cooking herbs
  • Nasturtiums (Planted around my tomatoes)
  • Dorotheanthus Mezoo (Big name but excellent training plant)
  • Lantana (Hummingbirds & butterflies love)
  • Wave Petunias (’cause they can take the heat)
  • Geraniums
  • Coleus
  • Ferns
  • Gardenias
  • Succulents

For more on container gardening, click here.

Do you have a container that holds special memories?

You might also enjoy these stories…

Memories of My Mom…

My Dad the Sailor…