Thyme and Dough: Cafe and Nursery

I have been driving by this little Belgian cafe off of 290 every time I drive in to Dripping Springs, and it never fails to be closed the days I am there.

Its actually a partnership between the chef who is from Belgium, and a gardener who supplies the herbs, vegetables, and flowers for purchase.

You go in the little house to order, and you can either eat inside if the weather is a bit grey, sit out on the patio, or eat among the flowers! The wait for your meal is a bit lengthy as everything is made fresh, but you can puruse the gardens outside in the meantime.

And, the coffee is PERFECT. Mmmm. 

I found some Creeping Jenny while wandering! This is so one of my favorite ground covers, and is great in containers as well!



Isn't the light green bright and happy?

My mom, brother, and I spend about an hour out here and it was so peaceful and enjoyable. I love just being outside, breathing in the fresh air....



How Does Your Garden Grow?

Week #2 of Herb Garden.

The seeds sprouted so quickly!!! I was expecting to have to wait like 4 weeks! Whew!

{Oregano}

 

{Basil}

Week #3 of Herb Garden:



Look how much they grew! Its like an ant jungle! That basil is going to be craaaazy... I need a food processor so I can make pesto lol.

I trimmed out some of the plants to give the others more of a fighting change. In a few more weeks I will have to replant them in larger pots and see what happens. I was worried because I really only get about 2 hours of direct sunlight, but they are all doing so well!

 

Even the chives popped up!

So Aldi had Hydrangea bushes for sale a few weeks ago, and I could't resist! Even if it fails, it will still be worth the attempt! I just love them....

{Chives + Hydrangeas}

I replanted the bush from its smaller foil container. I also have a bit of Acid mixture which I will be feeding the plant every 3-4 weeks with water until the soil pH balance is just acidic enough for the petals to remain this purplish blue hue.

Acid for Blue - Base for Pink.

Little Tiny Baby Seeds

The sun peaked out today!

And my gardening began.

Instead of getting carried away with my eagerness for a wonderfully blooming herb and flower garden, I am taking it one very small step at a time.

First step, purchasing herb garden kits!

They come with vitamin enriched soil pellets, seeds, and a "greenhouse".

I planted Oregano, Basil, Chives, and Parsley. I would like to also get some Thyme and Rosemary, and then I think my little herb garden will be happy and contact! 

I had to pour a few teaspoons of water in each pot prior to planting the seeds, and they blew up!

Next step, plant some seedlings for a few flower pots! I purchased some Delphinium seeds, but am thinking of getting some Begonias and Impatients as well.

I love all the purple hahaha!

Hoping to be able to get a dwarf hydrangea bush in a large pot as well like last year.

Yes, it is possible to successfully pot a hydrangea bush! I wish I could transplant them of course and have a beautiful yard with many bushes...

*cross fingers* Good things come to those who wait *cross fingers*

My hydrangeas from 2 years ago at my old apartment! I think they might have been exposed to too much sun and I over watered them lol, so hopefully I have learned.

Spring is in the Air

 

 

 

Last weekend (ok, really the sat before this past weekend) the clouds finally parted and the sun peaked his head out. After a rather dull grey winter, it was such a beautiful day!

I headed out to the park close to my house for some card games, frisbee, and fun. I wanted to bring a little snack of some sort for the group, even though it would only be the afternoon and not meal time, so decided to try out this recipe for Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries.

It was such a hit!

I did substitute a bit of cream for some of the cream cheese to make the filling a bit lighter, but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. They taste sooo good with a bit of lemonade too!

I can't wait to bring these to a real picnic later in the season...

Who wants to go berry picking?

Hydrangea Buds

My hydrangeas only had 2 flower bundles at first, but I found a new bundle growing behind the others a few weeks later.




It started off as white, but then slowly each day color began seeping into all of the petals! It was really cool to watch!





Also, since I planted a couple of my hanging pots... these are the results! I think the hanging bubble lights add a bit of wimsy, don't you? Hehehe. They look so great at night though! Little floating glowing balls of sun shining against the sky.






The petunias and creeping jenny have done really well with the amount of sun my patio gets. The phlox has been somewhat moody, but I am still not sure if it is due to not enough sunlight (we had a full 2 weeks with mostly cloudiness which didn't help much) or more of a watering issue.


Its definitely been interesting trying to figure out the exact amount of water and sun each plant needs to sustainance.

The Missing Flower!

Yay for figuring out what this flower is actually called!!! Woot!

This is an Osteospermum!

And now that I know their name, I found why why they have been mad at me these past several days... they like full sun.

And of course, it has been cloudy for the past several days, with no sun. Just my luck.

The first few days I purchased them though they recovered from a similar fate rather quickly so I am hopeful that once the sun does pop up they will yet again bounce back with vigor.

We shall see.... I definitely love love them so much!!!

Flowers Make Spring Magical

Finally pictures of my very own flowers!! Its been hard to get good pics since during the morning sunlight hours I am at work, so the full effect will not be felt until I am able to take some pictures during this time. Few more weeks...


These are my geraniums! I have a wonderful pot of these lilac pinkish and white flowers that I absolutely love. They are super easy to care for as well.



I have to water everything more often then I expected, but its actually sort of enjoyable and rewarding to see them all happy when I do.


Its amazing how quickly the flower buds change when you water them!

Next, I have a hanging basket of rosemary (it smells soooo good!) with these bellflowers and a little alyssum just to add some depth into the mix. The bluebells were such a surprise when I stumbled across them but I absolutley love them.

I heart their shape and color! They are definitely blue but they do have a hint of purple hehe.

Now for the drummond phlox!! I know I know they are really pink hehe, but they didn't really have the blue purple color I wanted so this worked well. Look at all the flowers hat bloom on it!

Drum roll pleeeeeeease.... My hydrangeas! They are the perfect perfect color blue. Once they get used to the soil in the pot I think they may start turning a bit purplish, so i will have to keep maintaining a balance using a pH lowering fertilizer.

I am so happy with them though! I wish wish wish I could have a whole backyard fence lined with these bushes hehe.

I planted a bit of creeping jenny with them as well just to add a bi of trailing color to the pot. The bright green just seems so friendly to me...

I still haven't figured out what this flower is!? They look exactly like daisies except a lilac color... What ARE these?!!!

Potted Plants

Now that the flowers are being brought out in all the Nurseries and Lowes and such, I have had such fun browsing the aisles and picking out a collection for my potted garden. The first step will be to purchase these beautiful petunias for 2 hanging baskets. I might include some pure dark purple flowers with these as well just for more color variation, but we will see! These are definitely my favorite as far as color.

These ones are called “Grace ward” or lithoridaor. The plants grow a bit taller so I might not put them in my flower boxes but rather one of the large pots on the patio. They might work only if they tend to droop.

Below are Purple Drummond Phlox. These also grow a bit tall so again, possible a potted plant rather than my flower boxes. I love the pale purplish bluish color though!

Now I fell in love with Foxglove quite awhile ago, and even though it is a bit too cold for the flowers to be out once they are being sold I definitely plan on getting just a large full overflowing pot of these. I might do a mixed pot as well with these in the back, but we will see.

Finally a flower for my flower boxes! Simple white geraniums I think will compliment all the other colors extremely well.



These little Starbursts I jut thought looked super cute. I am not sure how to care for them yet so once I research that I can know if they would suit a potted plant garden well. They just seem very fun!

Finally, the hydrangeas. Ah. If only I had a huge yard to grow bushes and bushes of these. Absolutely beautiful. The exception is that you have to keep the soil slighly acidic to grow this color. Yay for ammonium sulfate, pine needles, or oak leaves hehe. I plan on growing one bush of them in my pot, and keeping up with the soil pH will be much easier when dealing with only one pot!

As it apparently snowed yet again this past Sunday, I am glad I didn't purchase all these prior to this past weekend. I think I will wait a bit longer to purchase the actual flowers to avoid any frost issues. I can at least get all the hanging pots and flower boxes set up though! And I need a couple of smallish patio chairs for lounging... Yay!

I heart the relaxing color scheme....

Winter Garden Shopping

Even though there are still a few weeks left until I plan on contemplating my patio garden plans again, I did visit the plant nursery next to the hospital again recently. Oh what fun!


These are a few of the styles they are growing rosemary bushes now. Obviously in the christmas theme... but I like them for any season! Aren't the shapes super cute?



I still am not sure if I want to have one window plant ledge for my patio with herbs and such, including rosemary. I need to research which herbs can grow well in the same soil and condition so that all of them prosper in the same pot. Cilantro would be great but I'm not sure it will actually grow with the other herbs... but it sure is yummy.




These were a few of the flowers that I unexpectly found and really loved. Alyssum is one I am a bit familiar with and seems to favor the conditions of Dallas and my morning sunshine filled patio. Very basic but it might look good with a couple of other flowers in a pot.

These flowers were so gorgeous all bunched together. The color just hits you all at once! It was more of a fuschia than red, but both look beautiful. Not sure if I want to go with such a strong color palette though. They do grow in other colors so I might check out those instead. I am looking for more of the soft blues and purples and whites really.


Aren't these fresh and cute as well?

Of course they are again in the red hot family of color, but I do know these come in varying colors. I can't wait to hunt for my potted plants this coming April!! So much fun!

My Patio Garden!... in the future!

So even though its fall, nothing is even thinking of growing and every little seed is hidden away in a warm cacoon of soil, I am still contemplating the potential future of my little patio.


I know I am vastly limited in both space and the rare morning sunlight that bathes it, but there are some things that I can do to make it my own little getaway.


I love both the Japanese maple tree in the corner, and all the mixes of potted flowers displayed. Obviously the square footage is much more than mine, but I do like this one. The one below shows a great use of dwarf conifers which I never thought of using until now. They stay green throughout the seasons which is a great bonus, and they vary in so many sizes so getting that visual interest factor is super easy with them. Definitely a must for my patio garden!!





Now for the real fun! Picking out plants!!! :D I am seriously excited about it!


At first I thought I wanted more of a vegetable herb garden, but because I only get sun in the mornings I don't think there are many vegetables that would like the space. I still might end up with one pot of garlic, thyme, and rosemary and then another hanging pot for tomatoes, but thats still up in the air.


I really wish I could get a Japanede Maple because they are pretty much one of my favorite little trees, but it would severely limit the patio in regards to grilling and just sitting and relaxing out there. There has to be space for me as well!


The first plant that I HAVE decided on though is the Clematis "Prince Charles". Its actually a climbing vine plant with these beautiful soft blooms in the late summer and early fall. I have always been in love with ivy, but because the architecture of my apartment isnt stunning or quaint in the least (which is the only match in my mind for ivy). I think this plant will do nicely.




I am going to get three long rectangular pots lined up alongside eachother in front of my patio fence and place small wire trellices in them in such a way as to foster plant growth up the trellises and eventually on to the fence of my patio to further entertwine. It will be another way to create a more private feeling garden for the patio without needing large english hedges (my plans for the future when I have a home and the land to grow a secret hidden garden!). The trellises will also enable me to transport a substantial amount of the plants with me once I have to move again.

This next plant is a Foxglove and they really come in all sorts of shades and colors. I seem to gravitate toward all the cool colors so I will probably get some like these ones. They grow quite well in pots so a few of these will be placed in the corner for sure. I love that they grow quite tall which will be a great visual interest, especially with a few smaller tiny flowers planted right in front of them. Don't we all love the tiered effect?

And of course Hydrangeas! I don't think anyone can not like these round snow balls of color! They just seem so fun! The only dilemma I have with them is that they are more of a bush... I did some research though and it seems it is possible to plant then in a larger pot and they will grow quite nicely. I will only be able to have one but the little bush of happy color can probably go into a corner just fine.

Now I know Golden Creeping Jenny is usually used as a great ground cover plant, but it also loves to hang out from potted plants as well! It has a wonderful bright green fresh color to it, and trailing out in front of a pot or dangling from a hanging pot it is just wonderful.

One day I will have the space for a great entertaining and grilling area right off the back door with a covered eating out space, plus the beautiful landscaped space I can play with. Trees of course will be a must have, and not the crap that grows here in texas. What I would give for some huge pine trees anything! I want at least an area to have a forest feel to it. Then of course a small little orchard would be great with a little wooden table for picnics or tea parties. (I do want children SOME day lol). I still remember living in a place in Washington that had that and I love the memory.

Of course I love hedges and plan on utilizing tall ones to create a feeling or privacy all about the yard, and any fence area visible, will most certainly be covered in ivy or a creeping vine plant.

I also want two hidden gardens. One just for flowers like rose bushes and such, and another vegetable garden! I will probably have hedges lining my fence but then use that to create spaces between the hedge fence and the real fence for these gardens. Ah I do love the english sometimes... ;P