More Plants to Share

I have been busy once again in the yard. Good thing Susan of http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ is hosting Outdoor Wednesday so I can share what I am accomplishing. Be sure to visit Susan and all her participants and see all the amazing outdoor pictures.

I just want to show you what's on our deck a little closer. Here's a coconut tree I bought from Walmart. I know I will have to take it indoor when it gets cold because it is tropical.
Here are some kind of orchids. I think I will have to take these indoors too in the winter. I might need a green house pretty soon, lol, if I run out of space inside the house to keep all these plants.These orchids and the baby mermaid and small cherub are sitting on our fountain.

John and I went to an estate sale yesterday and bought these 2 cast iron urns. I have been looking for some but they are too expensive in stores and most of the urns that I see aren't even cast iron. I want heavy ones that won't fall when the wind blows hard. Strange but the smaller one is heavier than the taller one.

I transplanted my topiary into the bigger urn. I do not have anything to put in the smaller one yet so I am still shopping around.

I think the topiary is perfect there, don't you think?

I had to show you my 2 pineapple plants. I bought the small one, I believe from Walmart about 2 years ago. It has not grown much but it has a little baby that is starting to grow.

I planted the big one from a fruit that I bought from the grocery. I cut off the top about 1 inch lower and just stuck it in dirt. Then I went to FL. When I got back, I was so surprised to see it this big. We bought a pair of these pedestals from a garden shop in Baton Rouge where we bought the gazebo from. They are really solid and very heavy. I can't move them.

I just love all the details. Luckily, when I showed them to John, he liked them too.

Here is the other one. They are very identical.

This is my next project. Any good ideas of what type of plants I should put in here? It looks pretty bare in spite of me planting all the time. Everytime I buy plants and I plant them here,

they seem to disappear. They are never enough. Maybe I need fuller ones but I do not want any where snakes can hide underneath. Any suggestions? Thanks Susan for hosting another outdoor event. And thank you all for coming by. I always enjoy the company.

Let Me Tell You 'Bout the Birds & the Bees & the Bunnies & the Trees

I am so excited cause I get to join Kathleen for "Let There Be White" for the first time. Be sure you visit her at http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/. Kathleen always shares the best recipes and the most creative tablescapes.

But first, I would like to take this opportunity to greet my grandson a VERY HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY! Isn't he a cutie? He is such a happy baby, always smiling. Happy Birthday, my dearest Brendan. I love you very much!

BTW, his mom is a photographer so if you need one for a wedding or for any other special occasion, you might want to consider her because she is very reasonable and I think she is very creative. Of course, I am a bit partial too, :-) You can visit her on her blog at http://tinaoverbaughphotography.blogspot.com/

And now, for "Let There Be White, Part II".

Since I am posting a tablescape, I thought I would kill 2 birds with one stone and link my post with Susan's Tablescape Thursday also. You can find Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

After you are done visiting these 2 gracious ladies' blogs, you can browse through their participants' sites too and enjoy all their wonderful tablescapes.

I wanted to do my setting on the rectangular table outside since my salad plates have topiaries on them, which makes them suitable for outdoor use, but I got lazy cause the rectangular table is at the very far end of the deck. This space by the window has a view of the pool anyway so we can just pretend we are outdoors, ok? LOL!

I used my 2 white birds as part of the centerpiece with candles and 2 flower vases with white flowers.

Although my dinner plates and chargers are all white, I cheated a little cause my salad plates have a green topiary on them. Sorry, Kathleen!

I saw the salad plates from TJ Maxx and had to buy them. I really like them so I used them instead of the white salad plates that match the dinner plates. They do go well together too, don't you think?

I used a bunny salt and pepper shaker set that I bought from a shop at Disney's Celebration in Florida and to match them, I used my white bunny napkin rings.

Since the theme is outdoorsy, I decided to use my Bee flatware. I saw these first on Susan's blog and fell in love with them so when they were put out on sale at Horchow.com, I bought a set.

Thought I'd share some night pictures too.

I also used the white target bird s & p set.

A white pitcher and tea candle holders.


Thank you all for stopping by and thank you, Kathleen and Susan, for hosting these fun events.

A Pair of Huge Sevres Eggs

Let's all join Sally at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ and show off some blues. Let's check out her participants' sites and enjoy their blues too!

For today, I would like to show you our pair of Sevres eggs on ormolu stands. I think they call this shade Celeste Blue.
I might have shown you these in passing but never on their own. They are quite large, in fact, I cannot find a pedestal big enough to hold them. Their base alone is 18 inches wide.
They have a different hand painted design on each side.
John likes to collect eggs so we have a lot of egg shaped items here at the house.

Because I cannot find pedestals big and strong (they're heavy!) enough to hold them, they are sitting on the floor on either side of the French Provincial cabinet in our formal dining room.

In case you are wondering, behind each door of the cabinet holds a set of dinnerware.

Thanks Sally, for diligently hosting Blue Monday week after week.

And thanks all, for visiting my blog. I really do appreciate it, especially when you leave a comment. I hope you all have a nice week!

Pink Flowers and Longwood Tour

Saturday is a double post day for me. First is Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/. I host Sightseeing Sat. and I invite anyone interested to join. You can post any travel or scenery pictures. I will have Mr. Linky at the bottom and you can enter your permalink there.

I went around the deck taking pictures of all the pink flowers that we have and this mandevalia is the first one. We have 3 colors growing, white, yellow and of course, this pink one. Actually we have 2 pink ones, the other one is below.
I just love how it climbs the trellis.
and this is some kind of an Asian orchid, I believe.

This is an artificial rose but I just love it because it looks so real.

This is the other mandevalia I mentioned above.

I hope you enjoyed seeing our pink flowers. Thanks to Beverly for giving us an opportunity to show them off.

An now for Sightseeing Sat, I would like to show you one of the more interesting antebellum houses here in town.

As you know, we had guests from Chicago last week and I took them here.

This is the view as we drove in.

This is the front of the house. It is octagonal in shape.

and this is the back

What is so interesting about this house is that the owner never finished building it because of the civil war. The family occupied the basement because that was the only finished portion. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures there or I would have shown you the furniture which are mostly original to the house.

This was supposed to be the main floor and there would have been a 4 seasons statue placed in each niche.

If you look up, this is what you will see.

It was supposed to have 6 stories. Some of the old stuff found in the house, these are an old luggage and trunk.

the basin that they used for baths

Packing crates since they mostly ordered furniture from out of the state and country. Mr. Nutt and his wife Julia built the house but never finished it. Mr. Nutt died right after the basement was done so Julia lived there with the children. They had 11 children though not everyone lived to adulthood.

Here I am with my classmate from HS who visited me after 43 years of us not seeing each other.

balcony. I love the tall Corinthian columns.

front entryLook up!

An Austin guy donated the house to the Natchez Garden Club with the provision that it should never be finished, to preserve history.

The carriage house

My niece Stephanie and her friend, Elvira.

The Out House. Gloria, this is for you!

Close up of the out house.

I hope you enjoyed this tour. I wish I could have shown you the finished part with all the furniture but unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures. Sorry!

If you want to participate, please enter your name and your permalink. Thanks.