Monday, April 5, 2010

Other Things

The warm is kicking everything into high gear. Now I think we are ahead of schedule. I sure hope we are not being set up for a repeat of the great Easter Freeze of '07'. Cool is coming in a few days. Maybe it will slow things down for a bit.

The maples are blooming and one of the most ethereal sights of the forest is the first blush of spring when a light fog of red, yellow, orange and green hovers on the tips of the trees. The hushed spring hillsides hint of a riotous fall on the other side of summer.



I accidentally bought a couple more Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge' last week while pricing plants for a landscape job. I am not familiar with the pricing of plants here and had a legitimate reason to be in a nursery. They should look very nice with the yellow and purple Lorelei iris that Bulbarella keeps digging up and giving away and that keep coming back no matter how hard she tries to get rid of them. The two smaller Yuccas I planted last fall are not looking to happy. The place I put them in may be too shady and wet. They need to be moved.



In the midst of all this spring garden cleaning I have been cleaning the wood elements in the cabin to get them prepped for staining. I have the vinegar to clean the loft floor one more time. I have also been looking at tile and have it narrowed down to three choices.

I was thinking I should match the stain to the tile and wanted to pick a tile to be able to choose the stain. Our design consultant said no, we should match the stain to the lightest tone in the cabinets. That does seem to make more sense. Now I can also check the tile against the cabinets for the all important flow.



Even more important and the ground zero starting point for the choice of tile is checking the tile against my dirt for that all important flow. I am so in the zone.



At some point I should no longer have any exposed dirt. It will be covered with plants and leaves and sticks no doubt.



But I dig in the dirt. Dirt is somehow unavoidable no matter how hard you try to keep it where it belongs.



The green world is coming. Soon browns, greys and the golden orange of my dirt will fade into the background. The new green foliage of Eremurus is my entry for Gardening Gone Wild's photo contest this month.



Right now yellow is announcing the upcoming change to green.

14 comments:

Siria said...

Hi Christopher! I'm not sure I understand which is your floor tile. Are there different samples of tile in the picture with the wood cabinet door? I love all of them and they do match your dirt pretty well. You are so right! I don't care how much green and leaves are covering the dirt, it is unavoidable to drag it in! Get yourself a good vacuum cleaner. Is the vinegar working well on the wood? It works great on tile floors too! :)

I love your photo contest entry. Good luck!

Christopher C. NC said...

Yes Siria, the picture with the cabinet door has the 3 tile choices I narrowed it to. Now I think it has been narrowed to the final tile choice. It is one of those 3. I will be trying the vinegar cleaning on the wood loft floor on Thursday when it is supposed to rain.

Siria said...

I don't use the vinegar full strength. I dilute about 1 cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water. You might google to see what might be recommended on raw wood. I use it both on my tile floors and also on my (finished) wood floors.

Carol Michel said...

Perish the thought of a freeze like we had in "aught 7"!

I do like the idea of matching the tile to the dirt... very practical!

Anonymous said...

I love it when you 'accidentally' buy plants. Hahaha!!!

bev

Les said...

I also love the spring woods at this time with that glow of just emerging green leaves punctuated with reds, chartreuse and yellow.

My mother once picked a carpet based on the colors of shedding cat and dog hair.

Christopher C. NC said...

Siria I will be sure to google vinegar cleaning before I start on Thursday. Today I am headed out to do more paying work.

Carol if another "aught seven" freeze happens again, perish is the operable word. My mother loves my tile color thinking too. Her husband forced a white tile on her in the kitchen, then fusses when it isn't clean.

Les I am hoping I can capture that spring woods subtle color palette at some point. I think I may need to match the furniture to the cat hair.

Christopher C. NC said...

Bev it is funny how at certain times a plant just shouts "Buy me" when I walk by.

Lola said...

Good choice on both.
I use the vinegar with water to clean my kitchen floor which is like linoleum.
I'm no expert but I doubt it will be another 07. Too far into the yr.
Gotta get busy.

Lola said...

Forgot to ask if your dbl daff might be Quail!!!

Anonymous said...

All wonderful, and let us hope the coming cold snap is a mild one, not a repeat of that horrid year you mentioned. Cooler would be better for all the plants, things are moving way too fast. And yes, there will always be dirt brought inside. Our mudroom is proof of that. I need to stop coming in the addition and use that mudroom, but the tile has held up well to the dirt. Might I suggest the grout also be the color of your dirt? That is the thing that is difficult to clean. Your Eremurus looks like a winner!
Frances

chuck b. said...

I hate my dirt. I really do. It gets everywhere. Can't seem to make peace with it.

Melody said...

Nice color and composition on the pic of the eremus. It is definitely eyecatching - good luck.

Dee @ Red Dirt Ramblings said...

Hurray, the cold temps are burning away and beauty lies within their wake. Happy Spring Christopher.~~Dee