Unboxing My Surprise Gift from A Blog Follower

An antique English Ironstone soap dish and two mystery boxes tied with bunny ribbon.

A natural bristle nail brush and a bar of Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners Soap. It is infused with rosemary, sage and time and has fine pumice to gently clean my gardening hands.

The verse on my card is sweet. "It is often difficult to tell if a hedgehog is ticklish. If you try, you're more likely to find him pricklish."

I rearranged the cleaning supplies I leave in plain view on the counter behind my double farm sink and now I am ready for spring garden cleanup too. I always wear gloves when I work outside but I also manage to get my hands very dirty when I take them off for fine work. I already had the Gardeners Hand Scrub and my old nail brush was too embarrassing to leave out. I am fanatical about clean nails and I adore this new brush. Thank you, Katherine for such thoughtful gifts in appreciation of my blog. I am also impressed that you were able to find my address at the office. Some of the associates at my meeting yesterday wanted me to open the gifts right away but I decided to wait and open them for you and my other faithful blog followers and friends after I got home. Today's post was fun to prepare and present. xo

A Gift of Miniature Daffodils

I went to a Broker Open House near my cottage yesterday and the listing agent was handing out pots of miniature daffodils to all the realtors who came to the preview. I was so excited and came directly home to plant these bulbs where I can see them when working at my laptop in my pantry office. I told her this gift was so much better than a catered lunch and she smiled. I was able to divide the root-bound pot into three plantings which will multiply over the years. Now I want more! As you can see I have yet to begin any spring cleanup.

First Day of Spring

Happy First Day of Spring.

It's not until 5:00 this afternoon, but it's here. It will be quite a while before real tulips bloom so here's one of my John Derian tulip plates to help you celebrate. The decoupage paperweight below is from his shop.

I have given up on growing tulips because the deer and rabbits love them. Daffodil bulbs are poisonous and pest free so I'll stick with them. 

Greenhouse and Raised Garden Beds

Yes, please! I love the all the raised beds. This is truly a gardener's paradise though too large for me. I would love a miniature version. via

Cachepot with Gardening Tools

This pot sparked joy when I saw it and couldn't resist buying it at a thrift shop. I trimmed my overgrown thyme and put it in some soup I made recently. It is planted in a clay pot that is sitting inside this cachepot decorated all around with gardening tools. I will plant the herb outside soon. xo

My first SNOWDROPS to Bloom this year.

I just went outside to jump rope on my balcony and I couldn't believe how warm it was. I checked my phone and it's 73° and most of the snow is gone. As soon as I finished jumping, I ran to the front yard to check my biggest clump of snowdrops and they are in full bloom. They have been buried under deep snow for over a week. Hooray! These spring flowering bulbs are true harbingers of spring.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend. xo

Gardener's Hand Soap

I love this French handmade gardener's hand soap and the natural bristle nail brush in the background.  The soap dish looks like a hard rubber waterproof flower pot too. Gardening is currently on my mind even though any possibility of doing any digging in the dirt is buried under piles of snow at my cottage. 

I was just looking at my calendar trying to decide when to pay certain bills and I was shocked to see Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend on March 10th. WHY? I love the way the sun is behaving right now!!! See you later. xo

Wild Snowdrops

I saved this Instagram photo of naturalized snowdrops on the grounds of an English Manor House. Mine are just sending up their green shoots but it will be a while before they are mature enough to bloom. I brought them with me from my old house when I moved in my cottage. Snowdrops are my favorite harbingers of spring.

Geraniums 1888

GERANIUMS

Childe Hassam

1888

via

Egg Carton + Egg Shell Seed Starters

I must start saving my egg shells to use in the lid of the egg carton. I adore this idea for a DIY seed starting kit. Be sure to buy your eggs in paper cartons from now on. It is cold and wintery today with a mixture of rain and snow and slippery roads. A friend just called and she said she had to use her four-wheel drive to get home from an early morning appointment. I'm not going out at all except to walk to the mailbox once the mailman arrives late this afternoon. Be safe wherever you are. xo 

Overwintering Nasturtiums in my Attic

These two small pots of nasturtiums were dug up in the fall and they have continued to thrive in my cool attic all winter long. I never tire of looking at their bright green round leaves on red stems  and am quite amazed at how hardy they are for annuals. They ask for nothing but to be watered when they begin to dry out. I also pick off the yellow leaves. They bloomed for a long time in the fall too. From now on, I'm calling them tender perennials and I'm happy I'll have a couple of plants to put out in the spring instead of having to wait for my seeds to sprout. 

xo, Rosemary @ Content in a Cottage

Blooming Amaryllis at My Cottage

In the few days since I took these photos, a third flower has bloomed on my stunning Amaryllis. I hope I will have success in forcing it to bloom again next year. I have done it in the past but I will have to refresh my memory on how to do it. I seem to remember planting it outside and then bringing it in and putting it in the refrigerator. These flowers are way too pretty for just one season. This pot was a Christmas present from a friend.

xo

Small Space Love

There is not a single thing I do not love in this photograph. Obviously an antique-loving gardener who likes to fish lives here. The painted floor and the old drop leaf table painted white set off the collection of old watering cans. Love it!

I have been advised that the first photo is from this book: "Nora Murphy's Country House Style" Making your Home A Country House. Thank you for all the comments crediting the first photo. I am so glad to know the source. xo

Caterpillar Feasting on A Poppy Pod

Caterpillar Absolem feasting on Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). This stunning photo is straight out of Alice in Wonderland, isn't it? I want to save it forever, I love it so. Mother Nature really outdid herself when designing this caterpillar's body and colorful markings. via

Papaver somniferum "Midnight"

Plants Wintering Over Downstairs

I brought in the geranium and the flowering nasturtiums over a week ago and they are both very happy downstairs looking out of the sliding glass door that gets the morning sun. I dug up the geranium that was planted in a large metal urn. The nasturtiums were grown from seeds in the center pot while the pot on the far right contains nasturtium plants I dug out of pots in my front garden on Sunday. They are still in recovery mode. I have never tried overwintering annuals but I read online that nasturtiums are a good plant to try. We shall see.

These pots are too large to display anywhere else in my cottage. Every available spot is already taken on my main floor and in the attic with smaller pots of rosemary, thyme, geraniums, lavender, and more nasturtiums. I like indoor gardening and tending plants rather than leaving them outside to freeze and die. They are very beneficial for the indoor air quality too. 

I have been very busy washing all my sweaters and mending tiny holes here and there. I started out washing two by hand in the kitchen sink. Then I noticed for the first time there was a setting for knits on my 15 year old front loading washer. I decided to try it with 4 dark sweaters turned inside out. I was thrilled with the results. My washer spins everything almost dry and the sweaters dried quickly on drying racks in my furnace room. The mending is another story. I'm so glad I have so much thread but none of it is wool. I matched the colors perfectly and took little made-up darning stitches and mended the holes almost invisibly. Nobody else will even notice and I will have a fresh wardrobe of my favorite sweaters looking brand new in a few more days.

I posted these two photos on Instagram this morning. I usually don't blog using the same pics but they will be new to those of you who don't do social media.

xo

Cottage Garden

This is what I call an authentic Gardener's Cottage. Aren't the plantings beautiful? I love the simplicity of the cottage as a backdrop. via

Small Fenced Garden to Love

This is a very nice design that would work for me. I found it on Houzz. This could easily be a DIY project. I am digging up my herbs and bringing in my house plants to winter over this week. Last year I almost waiting until it was too late. xo

Topiary Collection

This looks like a private home but it may be a shop. Either way, the topiaries are lovely and beautifully clipped. Photo found on Google Images.

My Green Zinnias

My first chartreuse zinnia called ENVY opened up this morning on an overcast day. Of all the flowers on my hot balcony, which gets direct sun for much of the day, these plants are doing best of all in a big round clay pot that is somewhat shallow. They are heat-loving annuals that grow straight and tall. I posted this photo on Instagram this morning and people are loving it.

Here's a photo of the seed packet. Next year I want to plant them earlier than I did this year and might even start them indoors and transplant them when the weather is warm. The note on the back of the seed packet says "Transplant outdoors after last frost. Zinnias do not benefit from being planted early; wait for warmer weather". I sowed my seeds way too late but better late than never, right?

I edited my photo a little more to get rid of the green reflections on the lower portion. I use the iPhone edits and then go to my Snapseed App (free download for iPhone and Android) for final perfection 😎

Dill Explosion at My Cottage

Dill is probably my favorite summer herb. I love it in tuna salad, potato salad, on cucumbers, in my yogurt, on salmon, etc. It's beautiful too. via