Happy Easter!

In honor of the Easter Bunny  .... some of my favorite bunnies.

Anne's Rabbit

... just loves purple Homestead Verbena

Flopsy and Mopsy live in my backyard. 

Spring, when the Phlox blooms is their favorite time of year.

I found this little bunny hiding out at Homestead Gardens last year.

Apparently he really loves Petunias.

This is my very favorite.  Our granddaughter, Addie with Flopsy and Mopsy.

All of these images were snapshots taken with an inexpensive little point and

shoot camera and then enhanced a little bit by me in Photoshop.

Hope you have a Happy Easter!!

Spring????

I am still having technical difficulties.  Well ... not exactly.  I know what the problem is.  I just haven't had the time to reload all the photos that are missing form my website.
But ... in the meantime ... I think Spring may have sprung!   At least for the time being.  And here's the proof.

"Cotton in March????" you say.  No.  It's a Bradford Pear Tree.  I love, love, love these trees.
They are one of the first things to bloom around here and we have lots of them in Paris Landing.

Kind of takes your breath away doesn't it.

Winter may be back next week, but in the meantime ...

Happy Spring!!

Things I Like

A door plaque at Anne's House.

Flags displayed so proudly.

And elephants in hidden gardens.

Rufus on North Poplar

As some of you may know, North Poplar Street in Paris, Tennessee is one of my favorite places.  Every year the folks on North Poplar have a yard sale and I always try to go.  I seldom buy anything because I get so carried away taking photos.  And that's exactly what happened this year. 

Meet Rufus the Gardner

Rufus resides on North Poplar Street in the backyard  of the home belonging to Tae & Karen Eaton. 

The Eatons have transformed their backyard into a magical haven which would befit the finest landscaping magazines.

And they did all this work themselves.

I love this backyard and want one just like it.

More photos from North Poplar to come!

Storms and Bunnies!

We had a terrible storm come through here.  Straight line winds came across the lake at about 70 miles an hour uprooting trees all up and down the shore line.  See the pretty lake picture at the top of right column on this page ... the one with the pretty blue water and white dogwood.  Just imagine standing in the same spot I was in when I took that photo with a 70 mph wind blowing in your face. 

The storm passed.  Thank goodness no one was hurt and there was very little structural damage.  But I can't imagine how many trees have been lost. 

On the bright side  ... SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG! 

Flopsy and Mopsy are playing in the phlox and ajuga.  That's Flopsy on the left, Mopsy on the right.  My sister, Anne, gave me these cute little brown ceramic bunnies years ago.  They are starting to show their age.  I think a bird may have been using Flopsy's head to open sunflower seeds.  Our youngest granddaughter loves these rabbits.  Everytime she comes to visit she has to pick them up.

This was last year - or was it the year before?

This is when we were trying to go in for the evening.  She wouldn't give up Mopsy.

I can hear everyone say "Awwwwww!" This is so sweet!  I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to catch this photo.

Other bunnies in our neighborhood ...
I think I found the Easter bunny.  He's hiding at Homestead Garden & Gifts on East Antioch Road just down the road from me. 

He loves petunias.  Have you ever smelled petunias???  The fragrance is a little like cinnamon.  A wonderful fragrance.  I didn't buy this planter.  I think I may have to.

Happy Easter everyone!

Wall Calendar

Fall doesn't seem to have arrived yet.  We still have impatiens blooming as you can seen here around this little Dutch Girl in my Mother's garden.

My Love Affair With Basil

Growing a few herbs is one of my favorite past times and basil - well basil!  I just love basil!

I put out four large leaf plants this year and volunteer plants from last year’s seeds have sprung up here and there. I have been letting them grow wherever because we never seem to have enough basil. We probably use more basil than any other seasoning next to salt, pepper and garlic.

We are eating the stuff almost as fast as I can pick it - so trying to put some up for winter has been challenging. Drying basil or other herbs is really easy.

I use one of those old fashioned, accordion style clothes drying racks. I place the rack in my guest bedroom (which is seldom used for guest). I try to pick large branches of basil so I can just hook them over the rails.

It takes a week or so for everything to get crispy dry. Maybe longer. Check for crispness. Drying herbs will fade in bright sunlight, so the darker the drying space the better.

 Once the herbs are crispy dry - carefully remove them from the drying rack. If they are really crisp leaves will start to fall off when you move them. If you have a pet, as I do (yes - that is Murphy sneaking by in this photo) you might want to put a towel on the floor to catch the leaves and keep them sanitary.

Once you have them off the rack, just strip the leaves and store in air-tight containers. I do not crush the leaves. Keeping the leave intact as long as possible helps preserve the essential oils that give herbs so much flavor and fragrance. I just stuff them into containers and of course some of them get crushed in the process. When you are ready to use the herbs simply rub them between your fingers to crush.

By the end of summer I will have several gallons of dried basil- so no - it will not fit in those fancy little bottles that come with most spice racks.  

Canning jars work just fine and look pretty sitting on my kitchen counter.

September Wall Calendars

September!!!  Wonderful, glorious, beautiful September!  September is one of my favorite months because:

• August is over and August is always the hottest, driest, most miserable month around here.
• Some of my favorite people were born this month.
• It's the beginning of fall and cooler weather - but not winter.
• There's just something about September that makes me frisky!

So - I have these wall calendars I do every month for your desk top.  They are local scenes from around my neighborhood.  Not sure how well they will work from this blog.  The whole idea is that you right click on the image you want to use, then you go down to "save as" and click, then save it where ever you store photos for your desktop.  If it comes out blurry or bitmap from this blog go to my fan page on Facebook at Artist Lee Owenby and click on the image to get the big version, then right click, etc.

This little boy who is playing with a rabbit in a pot full of petunias lives in my Mom's front yard.  He is there year round with his rabbit.  We've become very attached to him.  My sister, Anne is the goddess of petunias.  She only has to plant them once and they come back every year.  When I plant them they die.

I know it's a little late in the year for wild roses but I just had to squeeze this in before winter.  In May, every year the wild roses bloom in Henry County.  This particular batch grows in the right of way next to our driveway.  It always amazes me that despite the fact that the county sprays them with Round Up every year and mows them down several times during the summer - they always come back.  And they are gorgeous!  Wild roses seem to have the most fragrant blooms of all roses.  Just had to share.  I love these roses!